The UNICEF State of the World's Children 2012 report will be jointly launched by UNICEF and Sri Lanka at the Presidential Secretariat tomorrow (Mar.2).

President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed his satisfaction at this joint launch of the important annual report on children as it demonstrates the close relationship between Sri Lanka and UNICEF.

The State of the World's Children Report is UNICEF's authoritative annual assessment of the well-being of children worldwide, with country by country and region by region statistics. Every year the report explores a specific challenge to child well-being. 2012 edition highlights the situation of children living in urban areas.

During the Humanitarian Operation to defeat the LTTE and during the earlier period of the conflict, UNICEF and Sri Lanka work in close cooperation to ensure the release to their parents of several thousands of children and child soldiers who had come under the control of the LTTE.