The State of the World's Children 2000

Reporting on the lives of children at the end of the 20th century, The State of the World’s Children 2000 calls on the international community to undertake the urgent actions that are necessary to realize the rights of every child, everywhere - without exception.

• An urgent call to leadership: This section of The State of the World’s Children 2000 appeals to governments, agencies of the United Nations system, civil society, the private sector and children and families to come together in a new international coalition on behalf of children. It summarizes the progress made over the last decade in meeting the goals established at the 1990 World Summit for Children and in keeping faith with the ideals of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. And it presents the disparities between the visions and hopes of a decade ago and today’s reality.

• Undeclared war: Despite the progress made, the last decade has also witnessed countless abuses of women and children. This section of the report discusses four of the most daunting obstacles to full human development: HIV/AIDS, armed conflict and violence, increasing poverty and gender discrimination.

• In a single generation: The picture that ultimately emerges in The State of the World’s Children 2000 is a hopeful one, based on the belief that intergenerational patterns of poverty, violence,disease and discrimination can be broken in a single generation. This section offers compelling arguments about the power of early childhood care, quality education, and participation and development for adolescents in ensuring children’s rights and human development. Finally, the essay concludes with an invitation to a grand, broad-based international alliance, necessarily visionary and pragmatic at once, committed to realizing the rights of women and children.