Special Session of the General Assembly in 2001 for Follow-Up to the World Summit for Children

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 101a Operational activities for development of the United Nations System, published in 1999.

What subjects does this mandate have?

12 subjects

Child Needs Conferences Coordination Within UN System Declarations Least Developed Countries Non-Governmental Organizations Participants Programme Implementation Public Information Regional Organizations Rights of the Child Specialized Agencies

What’s in this document?

22 operative paragraphs

Decides to convene the special session of the General Assembly to review the achievement of the goals of the World Summit for Children at the highest possible level;

Invites the participation of heads of State and Government in the special session;

Decides that the special session shall be convened in the month of September 2001;

Also decides that the special session, while reviewing the achievements in the implementation and results of the World Declaratation on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s,⁴ will undertake a renewed commitment and consider future action for children in the next decade;

⁴A/45/625, annex.

Recognizes the importance of a participatory process at the national, regional and international levels with a view, inter alia, to establishing partnerships between a broad range of actors, including children and youth, in order to raise momentum for children’s rights and needs;

Decides to establish an open-ended preparatory committee, also open to States members of the specialized agencies, to address organizational issues, including the form, the participation of a broad range of relevant actors and the agenda, and to prepare for the outcome of the special session;

Strongly encourages the full and effective participation of Member States, and invites the heads of State and Government to consider assigning personal representatives to the preparatory committee;

Requests the preparatory committee to convene one organizational session on 7 and 8 February 2000 and one substantive session from 30 May to 2 June 2000 and to propose to the General Assembly its requirements for further meetings in 2001;

Requests the Secretary-General, with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund, to assist the preparatory committee in providing substantive input to the preparatory process and at the special session, including a report on emerging issues to be considered at the substantive session of the preparatory committee in 2000;

Invites all other relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, including the funds and programmes, specialized agencies and the international financial institutions, actively to participate in the preparations for the special session;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure an effective and coordinated system-wide response to the preparations for the special session;

Invites the Committee on the Rights of the Child to provide its input to the preparatory process and at the special session;

Invites all relevant experts, including the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, to participate in the preparatory process and the special session in accordance with the established practice;

Recognizes the important role of all relevant actors, including non-governmental organizations, in implementing the Plan of Action, and stresses the need for their active involvement in the preparatory process, including in the preparatory committee, and at the special session, modalities for which will be addressed by the preparatory committee;

Invites Governments and relevant organizations, in particular the United Nations Children’s Fund, as well as regional and subregional organizations, to undertake reviews of progress achieved since the World Summit for Children, and encourages appropriate national, regional and international preparatory activities with a view to contributing to the preparations for the special session and building partnerships for and with children;

Reaffirms its requests to the Secretary-General to submit to the special session, through the preparatory committee, a review of the implementation and results of the World Declaration and Plan of Action, including appropriate recommendations for further action, which also elaborates on the best practices noted and obstacles encountered in the implementation as well as on measures to overcome those obstacles;

Decides to invite States members of the specialized agencies that are not Members of the United Nations to participate in the work of the special session in the capacity of observers;

Stresses the importance of the full participation of the least developed countries in the special session and the preparations for the session, and invites Governments to make appropriate contributions to a trust fund to be established by the Secretary-General for that purpose;

Requests the Secretary-General to assist national Governments, at their request, in their assessment of and reporting on the implementation of the Plan of Action;

Also requests the Secretary-General, in close cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund, to mount a public information programme to raise awareness of children’s needs and rights and of the special session, its objectives and significance, and encourages Governments to do the same on a national basis;

Further requests the Secretary-General to submit a report during the main part of the fifty-fifth session on the state of the preparations for the special session;

Decides to include an item in the provisional agenda of its fifty-fifth session entitled “Special session of the General Assembly in 2001 for follow-up to the World Summit for Children”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents