UN postpones special session on children

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday postponed next week’s Special Session on Children in recognition of the terrorist attacks against the US on Tuesday. Speaking from her agency’s headquarters on Manhattan’s East Side, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said “we are all touched by the events that struck New York and the US on Tuesday. We strongly support the General Assembly in its decision to postpone the summit on children. The City of New York needs to focus its energies on more urgent matters right now.” In light of the fact that the summit was expected to bring more than 70 heads of state, hundreds of children, and thousands of other delegates to New York starting this weekend, Bellamy thanked the thousands of governments and NGOs that had devoted themselves to planning the special session over the last 18 months, assuring them that their commitment would pay off. “This is a postponement, not a cancellation,” she affirmed. “The General Assembly will reschedule this special session when the time is right. World leaders have shown they want it, and the children of the world surely deserve it.” The UN Special Session on Children was to have taken place from 19-21 September at the UN complex in New York City to review global progress for children since 1990 and set new goals for the decade ahead. A UN report released earlier this year indicated that many of the world’s goals for children, set at the 1990 World Summit for Children, had not been fully achieved and that much work remained. Bellamy said the “unfinished business” detailed in that report provided a clear roadmap for moving forward immediately.