World's children. (Child & Family).

UNICEF and the Turkish Education Ministry launched a campaign to get every school-age Turkish girl in the classroom by 2005.

U.N. special rapporteur on indigenous people Rodolfo Stavenhagen, completing a 16-day mission to Mexico, will report to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on numerous cases of indigenous women who were sexually abused by Mexican soldiers.

To Combat Genital Mutilation. A donors' conference in Cairo agreed to raise money to eliminate female genital mutilation. They met in Cairo with activists hoping to bring in $15 million for a 10-year project.

Child soldiers are being seen daily among the ranks of fighters loyal to outgoing Liberian President Charles Taylor.

A group of Colombian rebels released 40 child soldiers being held by a paramilitary group in Colombia and is preparing a reintegration scheme with school as the top priority.

UNICEF and an association of nongovernmental organizations in Europe yesterday launched a campaign against exploitation and abuse of and violence against children in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics.

The U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, with the support of local Angolan institutions and the Italian government, inaugurated in Angola a juvenile court as part of a program to restore the country's judicial system.

UNICEF and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime joined forces to fight human trafficking in Vietnam, where thousands of women and children have been captured and traded illegally, the world body announced.

The safety of women and children in Iraq is of growing concern, say U.N. officials in Baghdad. UNICEF reported today that there are an increasing number of street children in Baghdad, a problem that did not exist in the country prior to the 1991 Gulf War. The organization is concerned that these children will be exploited and may be subject to trafficking. In addition, U.N. officials report that Sunni and Shiite Muslim extremists are pressuring women and girls to wear veils.