The United Nations Children's Fund has appealed for a new drive to eradicate suffering among the world's children. The head of the fund, Carol Bellamy, made the appeal in a speech in Norway to mark the tenth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The convention is the most widely supported in UN history, with only two countries having failed to ratify it. However, attempts to implement it have fallen far short of the original target.
Tens of millions of children are forced to work in order to survive, and 12 million children under five die every year from preventable causes. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has called for governments to ensure that the measure is better implemented.
