You need to get up in the morning and say, 'Boy, I'm going to - in my own stupid way - save the world today.'

Children have in the past and continue to influence policy makers.

By ratifying the Convention, governments become legally bound to implement the rights therein.

Instant telecommunication allows better and updated information, lessons learnt and problems encountered to be exchanged and debated, it alerts us more quickly to problems and brings to many households around the world visions and information which hopefully spur us to action.

While the technology revolution has yet to reach far into the households of those in developing countries, this is certainly another area where more developed countries can assist those in the less developed world.

When the lives and the rights of children are at stake, there must be no silent witnesses.

The Convention is not only a visionary document. We are reminded daily that it is an agreement that works - and its utility can be seen in the everyday use to which I have seen it increasingly being put by country after country, in policy, in practice and in law.