From May 8 to 10, the streets of New York City were adorned by the presence of 60 heads of state and their bodyguards, 3,000 government officials, 3,000 nongovernmental organizations and children from 180 countries. They were delegates of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children, the first General Assembly meeting to be devoted to children. Royalty from Sweden to Bhutan attended. Former South African President Nelson Mandela and many celebrities also turned up to show their support.
This special assembly was a followup session to the 1990 World Summit for Children. The meeting was originally slated to be held last September but because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center it was postponed to May. The delay proved to be a good thing because only the faithful gathered. This made the sessions more concrete and less frivolous. The results of the meeting showed that many of the delegates had given much thought to and taken action on issues affecting children.
The main themes addressed in the 1990 meeting were the education and health of children. In this year's meeting, however, the exploitation of children and HIV/AIDS were the subjects of much attention. And while the previous meeting focused on young children, this time adolescents received considerable attention in an effort to make target groups more inclusive.