World's children. (Children & Families).

ANGOLA -- The special needs of former child soldiers in Angola are being neglected in recovery efforts, stated UNICEF child protection officer for Angola Abubakar Sultan. The problem is "extremely complex".

BANGLADESH -- Juvenile crime in Bangladesh--including murder, crimes against women, drug trafficking and robbery--has risen 13 percent during the past 12 years, according to police statistics, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. A police officer interviewed by AFP said arrests of children under age 16 has increased from 44 in 1990 to 565 last year.

IRAQ -- Child malnutrition in Iraq has fallen in the last six years but still remains a problem, UNICEF representative in Iraq, Carel de Rooy said. He attributed the development to the U.N.--monitored oil-for-food program.

NIGERIA -- The U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) has given Nigeria $35 million for reproductive health, advocacy, population and development activities, National Population Commission Chairman Chief Samu'ila Danko Makama said this week after meeting with UNFPA Deputy Executive Director Kunio Waki.

NEPAL -- The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said yesterday it had dispatched a fact-finding team to Nepal to investigate 18 reports of sexual assault of Bhutanese refugees by aid workers from local nongovernmental agencies.

CHILD LABOR- Poverty and poorly educated farmers represent the biggest barriers to eliminating abusive child labor on West African coca plantations, delegates were told at a four-day industry conference in Ghana.

BURKINA FASO -- The U.N. Development Program launched two years ago by the French Embassy in Burkina Faso is expanding, providing school materials to 10,000 children this year after reaching 850 in its first year. Many of the children are AIDS orphans.

MEXICO -- Nearly 20,000 children work in the streets of Mexico City despite national laws and international agreements to prevent child labor, the president of the National Legislative Assembly's Commission on Vulnerable Groups, Juan Diaz Gonzalez, reported at the opening of a diagnostic workshop on the worst forms of child labor.

NEPAL -- Bhutanese refugee children living in camps in eastern Nepal signed an appeal on thursday asking for permission to return to their homeland and urging steps toward the resolution of the refugee problem.