The real solution is to improve the incomes of the poor and provide their children with decent education.

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.

Northern Uganda presents a situation of extraordinary violation of the rights of children.

Girls' education is the single best investment that any society can make.

What is needed now are increased efforts to promote youth participation and commitment; more services aimed at youth; more parental involvement; more education and information, using schools and other sites; more protection for girls, orphaned children and young women;and more partnerships with people with HIV and AIDS.

It's estimated that there may be two hundred and fifty million children in the world engaged in some form of exploitative child labour.

For example, UNICEF works with governments to change legislation such as in India where a law was passed raising the age of compulsory school completion to keep children in school and away from the workplace for longer.