A/51/536 English Page 20 IV. SPECIALIZED AGENCIES AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM 70. The substantive information submitted by UNICEF, UNCHS, ILO and UNESCO is summarized below. A. United Nations Children’s Fund 71. On 22 January 1996, the Executive Board of UNICEF had adopted a new Mission Statement which stated that UNICEF was guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strove to establish children’s rights as enduring ethnical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. In view of the virtual universal ratification of the Convention, UNICEF supported the efforts of its main partners, the Governments, in implementing the principles contained therein, including article 30, which referred to the protection and promotion of the rights of children belonging to minorities. For example, it cooperated with Governments in their preparation of State party reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and provided technical assistance for the review and reform of national legislation and for the establishment of national mechanisms to monitor the implementation of children’s rights. 72. In addition, UNICEF either organized or supported activities that aimed to examine discrimination against minorities, racism and intolerance in order to facilitate better understanding of those issues. Those included activities using the education for development approach in the areas of advocacy and training; research studies by the International Child Development Centre in Florence, Italy; workshops that addressed issues of religious, ethnic and cultural discrimination; and dissemination of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the public in numerous local languages. UNICEF was also involved in prevention and education for peace campaigns, based on combating racism, intolerance and xenophobia. More specifically, it was concerned about protecting the rights of children of minority groups who were often victims of discrimination and made up a disproportionate number of children who were commonly categorized as "children in especially difficult circumstances". 73. Overall, UNICEF had expanded its scope of analysis, updated strategies and generally increased its activities worldwide to protect the rights of children. It was developing appropriate programme guidelines that took into account the need for special protection measures for children who were the most disadvantaged as a result of the difficult circumstances in which they lived, and was increasingly addressing issues of discrimination and intolerance that affected the well-being of many children belonging to minorities and vulnerable groups throughout the world. B. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) 74. Information was provided by the Centre on the references to minorities included in the Habitat Agenda and the Global Plan of Action adopted by the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. With reference to a participatory approach to sustainable human settlements through the development /...