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Recently a three-day event was held at the United Nations that was just for children.
Five years ago, the UN General Assembly held its first Special Session on Children, in which it outlined what needed to be done to make the world a better place for children. Now it was time to revisit those goals and see if things had improved. And while progress has been made, all the member nations who met in these special sessions agreed that there was still much to do to help children live and thrive--with overcoming poverty being the most vital step towards childhood survival. You can read the whole five-year review and see video and photos here.
Since theses sessions were all about children, kids were front and center for the three-day event. The Assembly’s closing speaker was 15-year-old Millicent Atieno Orondo from Kenya (pictured), who called on all nations to make saving the lives of children their priority. This was only the second time in the UN’s history that children have directly addressed the General Assembly.
In addition, 20 children participated in the UN General Assembly as delegates from their country, and 90 children were part of the United Nation’s Youth Forum. At the Forum, these kids laid out which issues they wanted the UN to address during the Special Session. It was an exciting time for all the participants, as children from all over the world had their voices heard, loud and clear.
To read more about these landmark sessions, visit UNICEF’s Progress for Children page.