BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- A report on the living conditions and development of children, as well as the protection of their rights, was published on Thursday before the Universal Children's Day on Nov. 20.

    The report, issued by the Xinhua News Agency and leading global market research company, the Nielsen Company, presented the living conditions and development of children, as well as the protection of their rights. It was based on a survey of more than 2,000 people in the United States, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Poland and Brazil.

    Target sample included parents of children between three to 14 years old and researchers on children topics including specialists in pediatrics, psychology and sociology, as well as editors of children magazines and charity NGO members.

    Data were collected online in the six countries except Nigeria, where face-to-face interviews were applied. The sample size of parents was 300 per country, with a gender quota of 1:1.

    The sample size of specialists was 10 per country, covering different professions. The interviews were done via telephone.

    The survey was part of a global media campaign jointly launched by Xinhua and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for children's rights in the run-up to Nov. 20. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by the United Nations on Nov. 20, 1989.

    A 24-hour global live multimedia coverage of events related to children's welfare is scheduled on the day, dubbed the "Global News Day for Children". It will be the first time that global media report at the same time on the same topic.

    More than 600 media organizations worldwide have participated in the joint campaign, a move to expand on the impact generated by the World Media Summit held in Beijing in early October, which concluded that media' s care for mankind should first go to children.

    The CRC is the first legally binding international agreement on protection of children's rights, which requires abidance from the legal systems of all countries that have ratified the document.

    China joined the CRC in 1992. It has been a leading player as a developing country in terms of implementing the convention.

    The CRC spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere are entitled to, including the right to survival, to development to the fullest, to being protected from abuse and exploitation, and to participation fully in family, cultural and social lives.

Special report: Global News Day for Children