Japan will cohost an international conference in Yokohama next week to reconfirm an international commitment to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The commitment will be part of a declaration to be drawn up at the end of the four-day Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children starting Monday, a ministry official said.

The ministry said the event -- to include representatives from the government, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector -- will also be an opportunity for Japan to review its own action plan on the issue. As the host country, Japan will report the results of the forum before a special U.N. session on children scheduled for 2002.

The ministry said the conference, which is a followup to the inaugural congress in Stockholm in August 1996, will be a key forum on children's issues, after the special session set for September was postponed following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

It will also be unique because the Japanese government will host it on an equal footing with three other sponsors -- UNICEF; End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT); and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ahead of the conference, which will also include child delegates, Kawasaki will host a separate youth event for about 100 young boys and girls.

Among noted participants slated to attend the Yokohama event are Sweden's Queen Silvia and UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.

The Japanese government will be represented by Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, who will chair the conference and give the opening address Monday; Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama; and Kaori Maruya, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, who will act as chairwoman in Tanaka's absence, the ministry said.

The participants will review actions taken by various governments to protect children from exploitation, as well as aim to strengthen measures to stamp out child prostitution and pornography, the ministry said.

The conference will also cover private sector involvement and issue profiles of exploiters of children. It will be divided into panels, workshops and plenary sessions, at which government representatives will deliver speeches.