Thursday, 22 January
Concluding its first regular session for 2004, the Executive Board today adopted decisions on its working methods and on the annual report of the Executive Director to the Economic and Social Council. The President, Ambassador Lebohang Moleko (Lesotho), said that the session had addressed some of the most pressing challenges of the day – child trafficking, campaigns to fight polio and iodine deficiency disorders, efforts to promote better parenting and a supportive family environment for children, and NGO-led efforts to protect children and youth from violence. The lively inter-active dialogue between delegations and the secretariat was one of the results of ongoing efforts to improve the Board’s working methods. The Board also formally approved 13 country programmes of cooperation. The success of the annual Pledging Event was another indication of delegations’ high level of commitment to UNICEF.
Wednesday, 21 January
Some 55 countries pledged over $250 million to UNICEF regular resources for 2004 during today’s annual Pledging Event, held as part of the Executive Board session. Many other delegations, although not in a position to announce their pledges because of their Governments’ fiscal cycles, nonetheless indicated their continued strong support for UNICEF and its work. Regular resources are voluntary, untied contributions from Governments. They are critical to UNICEF operations as they allow the organization to have a solid base of core funding for its global operations. Regular resources are supplemented by other resources, which are provided by Governments and other partners for specific purposes and programmes.
The Board also heard a presentation on the global drive to eradicate polio by 2005 by Dr. David Heymann, Representative of the WHO Director-General for Polio Eradication. Dr. Heymann said that because of the success of the world’s largest public health initiative, spearheaded by national Governments, Rotary International, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF, polio was endemic in only six countries – Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan. During 2004, there will be an all-out push in those countries, but funding shortfalls and the existence of certain “polio hotspots” remain as major challenges. A representative of Rotary International said that globally, Rotary members raised $111 million for polio eradication in 2003, for a total of $600 million raised since 1988.
In other action, the Board approved the work plan and budget for the UNICEF Private Sector Division for 2004. The Division focuses on the sale of greeting cards and other products and on private sector fund-raising. It works closely with the 37 National Committees for UNICEF, which contribute approximately one third of UNICEF's funding each year. The Board also agreed to discontinue the WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Coordinating Committee on Health, based on the recommendation of an evaluation by the three member agencies which had found that new mechanisms for inter-agency coordination meant that the Committee was no longer necessary. Another discussion focussed on the Executive Board’s working methods.
Tuesday, 20 January
The plight of the hundreds of thousands of children around the world who are trafficked for domestic or agricultural labour or as child prostitutes was the subject of an extensive debate by the Executive Board today. UNICEF Regional Director Mehr Khan said that the largest number of women and children trafficked are in or from Asia, although no one knows how many. In East Asia alone, estimates range from 250,000 to 400,000 per year. Rima Salah, Regional Director for West and Central Africa, added that in her region, many children are trafficked either as domestic workers (girls) or agricultural or street workers (boys), with a growing number being sent to Europe for sexual exploitation. Both Directors stressed the underlying factors of poverty, cultural traditions and lack of education as reasons for the phenomenon. They added that UNICEF is working with Governments to develop national, regional and cross-border cooperation to fight trafficking and to ensure enforcement of existing laws.
In another oral presentation, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy reported on the progress of the working group on transition established by the United Nations Development Group’s Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs. The term “transition” refers to the period in a country in crisis when external assistance is crucial in providing support to a still fragile cease-fire and peace process by helping to create the conditions necessary for political stability, security, justice and social equity. The working group undertook field-based studies in eight countries with a variety of transition challenges, and the varying roles the United Nations has in each country. The role of UNICEF in transitions focuses on the assessment of rights, the restoration of services and effective inter-agency coordination with national authorities. The approaches to fulfilling children’s rights can include immunization, back-to-school programmes, mine education, and the rehabilitation of former child combatants.
Other discussions focused on UNICEF monitoring and evaluation activities during 2004 and the abolition of the UNICEF/WHO/UNFPA Coordinating Committee on Health. Mr. Jack Ling, Chairman of the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders. made a statement on the continued importance of eliminating iodine deficiency, which is the single most common cause of mental retardation and brain damage and affects some 2 billion people around the world. Although countries have made great progress in efforts to iodize salt, in some regions coverage levels are dropping. ICCIDD is urging that in order to meet the goal of eliminating iodine deficiency disorders by 2005, the issue remain high on the international agenda.
Monday, 19 January
Opening its first regular session of 2004, the Executive Board elected Ambassador Lebohang K. Moleko of Lesotho as President. The Board elected as Vice-Presidents Mr. Mehdi Mirafzal (Islamic Republic of Iran), Ambassador Vsevolod Grigore (Republic of Moldova), Ambassador Eduardo J. Sevilla Somoza (Nicaragua) and Ms. Diana Rivington (Canada).
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said that the international community’s preoccupation with the issues of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the highly volatile situation in Iraq, had diverted attention from the spectrum of threats to the survival, protection and full development of hundreds of millions of children and their families. She urged the Board to focus on the achievement of the targets for 2004 and 2005 set forth in the Millennium Declaration, especially the goals for gender parity in education, child survival and maternal mortality, fighting HIV/AIDS, enhancing immunization and improved emergency response.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Moleko said that during the coming year, the Board should focus on how the UNICEF medium-term strategic plan could contribute to the Millennium Development Goals. He added that fighting HIV/AIDS was a prerequisite for attaining all of those goals, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Africa.
The outgoing President, Ambassador Jenö Staehelin of Switzerland, reflected on the successful work of the Board during 2003, especially in the complex areas of the UNICEF recovery policy and the allocation of regular resources. He suggested the Board could improve its working methods in a number of ways, and expressed particular appreciation to the National Committees for UNICEF because of their important work in terms of advocacy and fund-raising.
In other business, the Board gave final approval to 13 country programmes that are beginning in 2004 (Angola, Benin, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia and the programmes for Palestinian children and women).
The Board also held a wide-ranging discussion of United Nations reform and follow-up to decisions of the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council, and a discussion of UNICEF participation in the Tenth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family.
