PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR CHILDREN’S SPECIAL SESSION SUSPENDS MEETING DUE TO LACK OF CONSENSUS ON PROPOSED OUTCOME DOCUMENT

Special Committee for the
Special Session of the General Assembly
on the Children’s World Assembly
15 June 2001
10th Meeting (PM)




Will Resume Third Session in July-August


Due to the lack of consensus on the proposed outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly for follow-up to the World Summit for Children, to be held in September this year, the Preparatory Committee for the event suspended the work of its third session early Saturday morning, 16 June.

The Acting Chairman of the Committee, Hanns Schumacher (Germany), explained to the delegates that the final document -- “a World Fit for Children” -- was to be annexed to the report of the Preparatory Committee. Instead, the annex would be attached to that text at a final formal meeting, to be held following further consultations to reach a consensus, which would resume as soon as possible. The dates and the venue of the resumed formal session to be held in July-August will be announced at a later date.

Part one of the Preparatory Committee’s draft report was adopted paragraph by paragraph, as orally amended, at the conclusion of the meeting today. [That document contains a description of this week’s proceedings in the Preparatory Committee. Annexed to the document are the two organizational drafts approved at an earlier meeting Friday.]

Regarding the text of the draft report of the Preparatory Committee and the procedure to be followed for of the adoption of the documents, statements were made this morning by the representatives of Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, United States, Croatia, Poland, France, Senegal, Mexico, Ghana, Algeria, Sweden and Benin.

The Director of the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council Affairs Division, Vadim Perfiliev, and the Secretary of the Preparatory Committee, Timur Alasaniya, responded to questions from the floor and provided clarifications regarding the procedural issues. The Acting Chairman also made a closing statement.

The final meeting of the Preparatory Committee will be held at a date to be announced.



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