Indian children to tell United Nations - We deserve better

NEW DELHI, India -- Nearly half the toddlers in India suffer from malnutrition. Almost half the girls can't read. And 22 percent of children have no access to safe drinking water.

Those are intolerable odds, say Nawaz Ali and Reena, two delegates to the U.N. Children's Summit that opens today in New York. As children from India, they speak with the voice of experience.

"I want to ask the leaders of the world what they will do for the children of the world," said Nawaz, a 17-year-old from the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir. He spoke Friday before his departure from the Indian capital.

Delegates from more than 150 countries are meeting in New York to review the successes and failures of the past decade. Some 65 world leaders plan to attend.

This year's delegates also include over 300 children who will attend as full participants, making speeches and leading round-table discussions.

Several will address the U.N. General Assembly. Nawaz hopes to be among them as does Reena, a 12-year-old girl from the state of Uttar Pradesh who goes by one name.

"We have a right to better education. We have a right to better health care," she said. "And we have a right to fun. Few children in India have the chance to just play."

Since the first World Summit for Children in 1990, more children are in school, there are 3 million fewer child deaths per year and polio has been nearly eradicated. India is one of the last holdouts, though fewer than 300 cases remain.