The UN will be holding its Special Session on Children in New York from 8 to 10 May 2002. The purpose is to review the progress made since the World Summit for Children in 1990 and to renew commitments and pledges for specific actions for the coming decade.

Approximately 70 heads of state and government will attend this Special Session. Minister of International Development Hilde F. Johnson will head the Norwegian delegation. Minister of Children and Family Affairs Laila Dåvøy will also participate at the ministerial level. According to Ms. Johnson, it is important to place a clear focus on children’s fundamental right to health, education and development, as well as on the protection of particularly vulnerable groups of children.

Ms. Johnson will take part in a public meeting of the Security Council on Children in Armed Conflict, a panel debate on how to secure the financing of a world fit for children, and a dialogue forum between delegation heads and child delegates.

Ms. Johnson will hold a number of bilateral meetings with representatives of Norway’s main partner countries and UN leaders.

Over 300 children will take part in the Special Session. Norway will have two child delegates in its own delegation, which will also include members of the Storting and representatives of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, NGOs and the Church of Norway.

For more information contact Jon Mørland, tel. +47-22 24 39 11/+47-907 70 206,
or Gry Haaheim, tel. +47-957 60 662 (New York 4-7 May).