Ha pp y B ir th da y

Amid this grim picture portrayed in the World Youth Report 2005, there are positive signs. Since 1995, the number of children completing primary school has continued to increase, while the current generation is the best educated in history. Premarital sexual relations appear to be increasing, according to the report, but early pregnancy has declined in many countries. HIV/AIDS is the primary cause of death, followed by violence and injuries. Youth have been disproportionately involved in conflicts over the past decade, and legal protections have not been enforced.

The report was published just two days ahead of a daylong General Assembly session devoted to the issue of youth. Nearly 48 young delegates from two dozen countries are registered to attend, as well as 300 youth organizations.

Speaking to reporters at a press briefing held in conjunction with the report's release, Johan Scholvinck, Director for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said, "The year 2015 is the year when we are supposed to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but large numbers of youth live in poverty."

He told to an audience of mostly young delegates attending the briefing that action taken now will benefit not only them but also children who will grow to be youths in 10 years. "You should not be talked down to, like I am doing," he said, "but should be participants in your own future."

Nguyen Hong Nhung, a student leader and freelance journalist from Vietnam who also spoke at the briefing said that the upcoming plenary sessions represented an "opportunity to raise our voices, and to understand that youth are now very important."

Almost half of Iraq’s total population is aged under 18. Even before the conflict began, many children were highly vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. One in four children aged under five is chronically malnourished. One in eight die before their fifth birthday.

Overcoming extraordinarily difficult circumstances, UNICEF staff are working now to help meet the needs of Iraq’s children.

Since the end of the war, UNICEF has delivered thousands of tons of supplies. These include emergency medical and water supplies, as well as high-protein food for malnourished children and medicines targeting serious outbreaks of water-borne diseases among children. UNICEF tankers have supplied tens of millions of litres of water to southern Iraq, repaired water treatment plants, and supplied millions of dollars worth of water treatment chemicals.

Iraq's situation is unique in many ways. An eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s and the Gulf War in 1991 greatly damaged Iraq's infrastructure. The country was under comprehensive United Nations sanctions for 12 years.

However, the Oil for Food Program (OFFP), passed by the Security Council in late 1996, did help to reduce the impact of sanctions on the population by allowing the Iraqi government to sell oil and use the revenue to purchase humanitarian supplies. On 22 May, 2003, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1483 lifting civilian sanctions on Iraq and phasing out the Oil-for-Food Program over the next six months.

UNICEF has been working to improve the situation of children and women in Iraq since 1952 and has had a permanent presence in the country since 1983. It plays a leading role in helping to fulfil the fundamental rights of children and women, working in the areas of education, health, nutrition, water and environmental sanitation, child protection and women’s rights.

UNICEF has issued a $182.7 million appeal for the children of Iraq.