Launched in April, the worldwide campaign is designed to collect signatures from people dedicated to promoting the rights of children.

Those who make that pledge sign a form and are allowed to help define priorities in regards to issues affecting children. The form lists 10 principles from which people are asked to select the top three.

The results of the pledge campaign will be presented for discussion at the Special Session for Children at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 19-21.

Through making the pledges, the concerns of the Chinese on child-related issues will be gathered and shown to the world, according to Edwin Joseph Judd, UNICEF's area representative for China and Mongolia.

The cooperation between UNICEF and China is based on the spirit of the "Say Yes for Children'' campaign in support of China's efforts to fulfill the rights and improve the well-being of China's 380 million children, he said.

The Chinese government and UNICEF have just started a new five-year cooperative program (2001-05) to improve child survival, protection and development in China.

It has attracted dozens of world celebrities, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Queen Rania of Jordan.

Worldwide, UNICEF has received over 3 million pledges and it hopes to get 2 million more in China.

UNICEF is now promoting the campaign in China with contributions from international figures such as UNICEF Ambassador Yue-sai Kan.

Yue-sai Kan, a well-known Chinese American anchorwoman, signed up for the campaign last month.

She said it is an innovation aimed at changing the way the world treats children.

"I believe the Chinese will take active part in it, as people are increasingly integrated into the world,'' she said.

People can submit their pledges by visiting http://gmfc.org, http://ccppg.com.cn or http://unicef.org.

(People’s Daily 08/02/2001)