FSM First Lady Addresses UN Children SummitNew York (FSM Permanent Mission to the UN): May 9, 2002 - FSM First Lady, Mrs. Iris G. Falcam addressed the 27th Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Children today. Mrs. Falcam stressed the importance of the youth in the Federated States of Micronesia with roughly half of the current population being under the age of 20. Highlights of Mrs. Falcam's statement include progress FSM has made in the past decade such as the elimination of polio and neonatal tetanus as well as the drastic reduction in infant and maternal mortality. Mrs. Falcam, however, also pointed to new threats emerging from climate change and from the spreading of new diseases as well as to chances and challenges offered by new Information technologies. Mrs. Falcam heads the delegation of the Federated States of Micronesia to the 27th UNGA Special Session and is accompanied by Pohnpei State Senator Nancy Salomon, Dr. Jefferson Benjamin from the Department of Health, Education & Social Affairs, Mrs. Jane Chigiyal from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Ms. Marilyn Jack from the President's Office. Other FSM activities during the Special Session include the participation in the round table on the "Renewal of commitment and future action for children in the next decade" and the signing of two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely "on the involvement of children in armed conflict" and "on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography" by H.E. Mr. Masao Nakayama, Permanent Representative of the FSM to the United Nations. |