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Press Centre
1996
 A day for tuning in to children
Saturday, 14 December 1996: Thousands of television and radio
stations "Tuned in to Kids" by allowing young people broad
access to the airwaves for the fifth UNICEF International Children's
Day of Broadcasting. Participants this year included Star Television
(Hong Kong), ZDF (Germany), TNT & Cartoon Network, RAI (Italy),
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Nickelodeon, USA Network, TV
Cultura (Brazil) and TV Ontario (Canada). In Africa, the Namibian Broadcasting
Corporation linked up live via satellite to the South African Broadcasting
Corporation for a discussion and messages from Presidents Sam Nujoma
and Nelson Mandela. In Canada, TV Ontario, winner of the 1996 UNICEF/International
Council Special Emmy Award, hosted 12 hours of children's programming.
UNICEF urges end to child 'slavery'
Wednesday, 11 December 1996: UNICEF today called for an immediate
end to hazardous and exploitative child labour. Launching the 1997 State
of the World's Children report, Executive Director Carol Bellamy
described such intolerable forms of child labour as prostitution or
bonded labour as "so grave an abuse of human rights that the world
must come to regard them in the way it does slavery -- as something
unjustifiable under any circumstances." The report estimates at
least a quarter of developing world children -- some 250 million between
5 and 14 -- are working, and proposes other key steps, such as basic
education, stringent child labour laws, data collection and monitoring,
and codes of conduct and procurement policies to deal with the problem.
Young journalists to speak out on child labour
 Monday,
25 November 1996: Three young journalists from the Children's
Express News Service in the US are joining counterparts from Bangladesh
to examine the issue of child labour in Dhaka and New York. UNICEF is
sponsoring the exchange, the first of its kind, as part of a campaign
to tackle the global problem of child labour. The reporters, aged 13
to 17 years, set off from the Children's Express Bureaus in New York,
Washington, DC, and Indianapolis on Friday to Dhaka, where they are
meeting up with the three members of the Bangladeshi team. They will
spend a week together, visiting the homes of former garment workers,
a school for former child labourers and meeting child right activities
and child labour experts.
Children to take over the airwaves
Monday, 20 November 1996: Broadcasters all over the world will
"tune in to kids" for the fifth International Children's Day
of Broadcasting (ICDB), 15 December 1996. Thousands of television and
radio stations will schedule programing by, for or about children, and
children themselves will make their voices heard as broadcasters let
them access the airwaves. ICDB, a joint initiative of UNICEF and the
International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and
Science, has won the support of some of the most powerful and influential
broadcasting organizations.
What would you do if you were mayor?
Wednesday, 20 November 1996: My City, an interactive multimedia
game, puts you in the hot seat at City Hall and challenges you to make
the right decisions -- will you build clinics, parks or recreation centres,
support new laws or police action, fund community programmes, museum
or sporting events? Canadian students grappled with such municipal issues
today as they launched and played the game, developed with support in
part by UNICEF to promote the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. My City teaches young people -- tomorrow's
decision-makers -- that they can make a difference. UNICEF will receive
C$2.50 for each of the C$49.95 CD-ROM sold in Canada by MacGraw-Hill
Ryerson.
Gold and silver coins to mark 50th UNICEF anniversary
Wednesday, 13 November 1996: Twenty-four countries are expected
to mint gold or silver coins to mark the 50th anniversary of UNICEF.
Making up a special series called The Children of the World Coin Collection,
the legal tender will highlight half a century of service to children
by UNICEF. Among the issuing countries are Argentina, Belgium, China,
Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Turkey.
Another 14 countries -- the Bahamas, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Ecuador,
Ethiopia, Fiji, Madagascar, Malta, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles,
Vietnam and Zambia -- plan to put out silver coins. Depicting children
engaged in sports, educational activities, the arts, festivities, or
childhood themes of special national significance, their designs will
be unveiled in the next few weeks.
Women 'key to children's nutrition'
Wednesday, 13 November 1996: Women must play a crucial role
in curbing the crisis of malnutrition that contributes to the death
of more than six million children under five every year, said UNICEF
at the opening of the World
Food Summit in Rome today. As guardians of food security for the
family and principal care-givers of young children, women are key partners
in efforts to improve child nutrition. "By acknowledging the role
of women in nutrition, the Summit can address the vital link between
food security and strengthening of family nutrition, health and care.
In our efforts to ensure food security, protecting women's rights and
improving their health and nutrition is just as important as improved
agricultural technology and trade," said UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy.
Report calls for protection of children from
war
Monday, 11 November 1996: "The world is being sucked into
a desolate moral vacuum," according to Graça Machel, author
of the United Nations Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children,
launched today. The report, detailing the suffering of children caught
up in some 30 wars raging around the world, is the most comprehensive
analysis of this issue ever compiled. Its conclusions are stark and
uncompromising. "Whatever the causes of modern-day brutality towards
children," says Ms. Machel, "the time has come to call a halt...
It is unconscionable that we so clearly and consistently see children's
rights attacked and that we fail to defend them. It is unforgivable
that children are assaulted, violated, murdered, and yet our conscience
is not revolted nor our sense of dignity challenged."
IDC invites you to
'put your imprint on the future'
Friday, 8 November 1996: You're invited to "put your imprint
on the future" by joining leaders and students from all over the
world at the 1997 International Development Conference (IDC) on The
New Face of Development, at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, Washington, D.C.,
13-15 January 1997. The IDC is a non-profit educational organization
serving as a platform for American organizations and individuals concerned
with worldwide development. The conference, celebrating its 45th anniversary,
will highlight new technology, global realities, ways of alleviating
poverty, major new ways of financing social development, political realities
(especially in the US) and new means of collaboration.
Norway gives $24 m for girls' education in
Africa
Friday, 1 November 1996: The Government of Norway today contributed
$24 million to the UNICEF Education For All programme in Africa. The
contribution, the largest UNICEF has ever received for education initiatives,
will go towards developing a learning environment not only to ensure
girls stay in school but also to enhance their educational performance.
Thanking the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, UNICEF Executive
Director Carol Bellamy said: "It is essential that girls' education
be made an immediate priority around the world. Education is the key
to empowerment of girls and improvement of the situation of women."
Finnish Committee
launches Web
Thursday, 24 October 1996: The Finnish Committee for UNICEF
has launched its own Web, serving Finnish and Swedish speaking supporters
and audiences in Finland. It offers general information on UNICEF and
its work in such fields as basic health, education, water and sanitation
and emergencies. People logging in can also find out about volunteer
activities, how to contribute to UNICEF, and what fund-raising products
are available. The Web, which includes a
page in English, has the sponsorship initially of Finnet, one of
two major telephone companies in Finland.
 Superman raises landmine awareness
Monday, 21 October 1996: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman
to the rescue of children threatened by landmines! United States First
Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton launched Superman: Deadly Legacy
at a White House ceremony today featuring the Man of Steel promoting
landmine awareness in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Landmines have inflicted
death and enormous pain and suffering on hundreds of thousands of children
over the last several decades," says UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy. "We must do everything in our power to protect them
from these deadly weapons." DC Comics published the comic book
in cooperation with the US Department of Defense and UNICEF.
Secretary-General's report on goals for children
now available
Monday, 21 October 1996: The full text of
United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's report
on progress towards goals for children is now available online in WordPerfect
format, compressed as a zip file (85KB). Six years ago, the World Summit
for Children held at the United Nations adopted a series of quantifiable
goals for child survival, development and protection, covering specifically
child health, nutrition, basic education, water and sanitation, children
in difficult circumstances and women's health and education. Mr. Boutros-Ghali's
report of progress so far is surprisingly positive. See also Secretary-General
reports big progress for children.
Jane Seymour now UNICEF spokesperson
Tuesday, 15 October 1996: UNICEF today appointed actress Jane
Seymour one of its international spokespersons. The star of the current
CBS series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman has been an active supporter
of UNICEF, donating her own paintings and sketches for auction to raise
funds for UNICEF programmes for children. Ms. Seymour has also appeared
in public television service announcements encouraging volunteer support
and fund-raising for UNICEF Committees in Canada, the Netherlands, the
United Kingdom and the United States. Roger Moore, another UNICEF spokesperson,
representing UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, announced the
appointment.
Broadcasters to 'tune in to kids'
Monday, 7 October 1996: Broadcasters all over the world are
teaming up to "tune in to kids" on the fifth anniversary of
the International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB), 15 December
1996. They are marking the day with programing by, for or about children,
and children themselves will make their voices heard as broadcasters
let them access the airwaves. ICDB, a joint initiative of UNICEF and
the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts
and Science, has won the support of some of the most powerful and influential
broadcasting organizations.
Make a secure
online contribution to UNICEF today
Friday, 4 October 1996: We've just made it a little easier for you to
help UNICEF help the world's children. You can now make credit card
contributions directly on the World Wide Web to support our efforts
in primary health care, basic education, and safe water and sanitation
in over 140 developing countries. Choose to join the Promise to Children
Pledge Program with a gift of as little as US$15, or make a single donation
of US$30 or more. If you're using the Netscape Navigator or Internet
Explorer browser, you can submit your credit card information securely.
Secretary-General reports big progress for
children
Monday, 30 September 1996: Exactly six years ago today, 71 Heads
of State and Government convened at the World Summit for Children at
the United Nations in New York amid fanfares and celebrations heralding
the elevation of children's issues to unprecedented political prominence.
Has the statesmen's 'promise to children' made a great difference to
young lives, families and communities? Or was the Summit merely an international
show-piece event, long on rhetoric and short on action? The answer is
surprisingly positive, according to a report by United Nations Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
 Report
calls for more vaccine research and immunization support
Wednesday, 25 September 1996: In a new, comprehensive study
of the progress and potential in immunization, WHO and UNICEF say that,
over the next 15 years, revolutionary new vaccines from scientific advances
could save some eight million children who now die each year from infectious
diseases. However, The State of
the World's Vaccines and Immunization, released today in
Washington, DC, warns that despite dramatic advances in molecular biology
and genetic engineering, the promise that science holds for new and
improved vaccines and immunization services may not be fulfilled unless
the international community continues to back scientific research and
global immunization with adequate resources for new vaccines.
US Committee launches
Halloween campaign
 Monday, 23
September 1996: It all began in 1950 when some Philadelphia school-children
went door-to-door collecting money to help UNICEF help children around
the world. They raised a grand total of $17, and started the 'Trick-or-Treat
for UNICEF' Halloween campaign that has since raised more than $100
million. Today, trick or treating for UNICEF is not just about raising
funds or just for little kids in scary costumes with the familiar orange
collection box in hand. Older youths are also learning how kids can
help kids, and there's free
educational materials to guide the young towards a better understanding
of the causes of conflicts, and how to resolve them peacefully.
 Voices
of Youth focuses on girls
Friday, 6 September 1996: Voices of Youth, the UNICEF World
Wide Web forum for the young, has added the girl child as a topic for
discussion and action. With the help of graphics, photographs, stories
and some simple statistics, you can trace the various stages of a girl's
'perilous path' from before birth to adulthood. Then you're invited
to explore - and share - ways in which you can promote girls' rights
in your own community. The forum's other themes for discussion and participation
are cities and urbanization, children's rights, and children and war.
 Transcending the legacy of apartheid
Thursday, 5 September 1996: A new era is dawning in southern
Africa, with the end of the deprivation, fear, distress and destabilization
caused by apartheid and the emergence of the challenge and opportunity
of satisfying the wider - and urgent - developmental needs of the 50
million children in the region. UNICEF is working with member States
of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to reduce child
deaths through immunization and other means, provide quality basic education,
free all girls from illiteracy and reduce women's fear of dying in childbirth.
 Dutch children to walk against
child labour
Friday, 30 August 1996: A record 100,000 children in the Netherlands
will put their best foot forward in a 'Walk for UNICEF' during the last
weekend of September to raise funds for projects against child labour.
The young people themselves ask their parents, neighbours or any other
sponsor to contribute a certain amount of money for each kilometre they
walk. Organized with the help of numerous volunteers, such walks have
been held since 1970, raising an average of $700,000 each year, but
this is the first time so many children are taking part in one weekend.
 Researchers
to meet for Vaccines 2000
Thursday, 29 August 1996: Vaccine researchers will gather in Toronto,
Canada, 27-29 October 1996, for Vaccines 2000, an international conference
on the latest in scientific research, public health policy and biotechnology.
The meeting is part of the global Year of the Vaccine celebration of
the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's discovery of smallpox vaccine
initiated by the International Task Force for Child Survival and Development,
whose members, besides UNICEF, are the World Health Organization (WHO),
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Call for end to commercial sexual exploitation
Tuesday, 27 August 1996: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy
called today for urgent international cooperation to put an end to commercial
sexual exploitation of children. "We are here to affirm, without
compromise, that children are not property to be bought or sold, that
their human rights are to be taken with utmost seriousness and that
their voices must be heard in the fulfilment of those rights,"
she said at the opening of the first ever World
Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Stockholm, Sweden.
 Tune into Kids 15 December
Friday, 23 August 1996: More than 2,200 broadcasters from over 170 countries
will participate in the fifth annual UNICEF-sponsored International
Children's Day of Broadcasting on 15 December 1996. The occasion provides
governments, broadcasters, communities and children themselves with
a powerful opportunity to create not only a better broadcast environment
but also a better world for young people. Tune
into Kids pages include television programme listings, country participation
and endorsements from leading broadcasters around the world.
 Congress to focus
attention on child sexual exploitation
Tuesday, 6 August 1996: A World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation
of Children taking place in Stockholm, Sweden, 27-31 August 1996, will
focus attention on more than a million children worldwide forced every
year into prostitution, trafficked and sold for sexual purposes or used
in pornography. Guided by the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the Congress will consider a Declaration
and develop an Agenda for Action calling for national plans against
the coercion and luring of children into the world's billion-dollar
sex market that robs them of their dignity and childhood.
 Cartoon history of UNICEF now available
Friday, 2 August 1996: UNICEF for Beginners, the
official cartoon history book of the United Nations Children's Fund,
is now available and can be ordered from several bookshops around the
world. Published on the occasion of the agency's 50th anniversary, the
128-page book is funny as well as informative. Proceeds from its sales
help children in developing countries.
Unique Olympic tee-shirts to highest bidders
Tuesday, 30 July 1996: Everyday until the close of the Atlanta Olympic
Games on Sunday, 4 August, you can bid for a one-of-a-kind Hanes tee-shirt
created by such well-known athletes as Johann Olav Koss, Bonnie Blair,
Sheryl Swoopes, Bart Conner, Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Shannon
Miller, Olga Korbut, Michelle Kwan and Mike Eruzione. The daily auctions
to raise funds for Olympic Aid-Atlanta take place in Atlanta's Centennial
Olympic Park, but you can place an absentee bid via the World Wide Web.
Chat
with Olympian Koss about helping children
Friday, 26 July 1996: Olympic speed skating champion and UNICEF special
sports representative Johann Olav Koss will answer questions on his
career, his humanitarian efforts and the Olympics in an Internet chat
on ESPNET SportsZone
tomorrow at 2.30 p.m. EDT. The Norwegian gold medalist donated his prize
money from the 1994 Winter Olympics to the people of Sarajevo, has raised
more than $15 million and is leading Olympic Aid-Atlanta to help children
in war-torn countries.
Shelling disrupts Olympic shots in Afghanistan
Wednesday, 24 July 1996: A big rocket attack on Kabul, Afghanistan's
capital, this morning ended a truce brokered by UNICEF since the opening
of the Atlanta Olympic Games to allow health workers to immunize three
million children. Shrapnel tore through the offices of UNICEF, which
is working with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) to
provide humanitarian assistance to children in war through a programme
called Olympic Aid-Atlanta 1996. UNICEF officials are appealing to all
warring factions to re-establish the truce at least for the remaining
days of the Olympics.
 Committee unveils Olympic Aid-Atlanta
Saturday, 20 July 1996: The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic
Games (ACOG) today unveiled Olympic Aid-Atlanta, a joint humanitarian
initiative with UNICEF and the United States Committee for UNICEF to
bring hope to children in war. ACOG chief executive officer Billy Payne
said the aim was "to honour the spirit of peace and cooperation,
the defining principles of the Olympic Games." " If we go
home in 14 days saying we just put on a great sports meet then we will
have failed."
 Contribute online to UNICEF
Thursday, 11 July 1996: You can now support UNICEF online via
the Internet. A fund-raising World Wide Web page allows you to make
credit card contributions to the United States Committee for UNICEF
for the Olympic Aid-Atlanta initiative to help children in war-torn
countries. You can also make cheque
donations to UNICEF and UNICEF National Committees for other programmes.
 US Committee relaunches Web with
Olympic Aid-Atlanta
Monday, 1 July 1996: The United States Committee for UNICEF
relaunched its Web today, featuring Olympic Aid-Atlanta, as "a
rare and wonderful opportunity for all of us to light a beacon of peace
for young people everywhere, but especially for children in war."
The humanitarian partnership between the committee and the Atlanta Committee
for the Olympic Games will bring world-class athletes and the public
together to raise funds for 18 million children in 14 war-torn countries.
Netherlands Committee
spins its Web
Monday, 24 June 1996: The Netherlands Committee for UNICEF today
officially launched its Web, offering Dutch-speaking Internauts information
on UNICEF - and a chance soon to contribute to UNICEF via the Internet,
together with a message stating why they are making such a 'cybergift'.
Such a message, chosen at random from a collection of 50 and can be
read by other Web surfers, briefly describes how UNICEF is helping children
around the world.
UNICEF Web wins top rating
 Monday,
24 June 1996: The UNICEF Web has won four stars - the highest rating
- in the Magellan directory hosted by the McKinley Group, whose editorial
team judged it to have "excelled in ...'depth of content,' 'ease
of exploration' and 'net appeal'." This is the third award the
site has won. The Usenet newsgroup comp.infosystems.www.announce recently
rated The Progress of Nations 1996 pages 'the Best of c.i.w.announce'.
Point Web Reviews rated The Progress of Nations 1995 among the
'Top 5% of Websites' last year.
Many more hospitals now 'baby-friendly'
Monday, 24 June 1996: There are almost twice as many hospitals
in the world that encourage and facilitate breastfeeding as there were
at the beginning of the year. According to UNICEF figures released today,
7,779 hospitals are "baby-friendly," up from 4,282 at the
end of 1995. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), a joint project
by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, encourages hospitals to
promote exclusive breastfeeding by making "rooming in" of
mothers and their new-borns possible, and by prohibiting the supply
of free and low-cost breastmilk substitutes.
Ceasefire allows relief efforts in Monrovia
Friday, 21 June 1996: A two-week old ceasefire is enabling UNICEF
to provide humanitarian assistance to children and women in Liberia's
war-ravaged capital of Monrovia. UNICEF has chlorinated 4,500 wells
that supply 750,000 people, thus helping to forestall water-borne epidemics,
especially among displaced persons living in unhygienic and overcrowded
temporary shelters. UNICEF is also supplying vaccines and immunization
equipment to health centres, treating an estimated 25,000 people since
the crisis began.
Rwandan Government to release child prisoners
Thursday, 20 June 1996: The Rwandan Government will release
about 400 children from prisons soon into a juvenile re-education centre
at Gitagata, 40 kilometres south of the capital Kigali, according to
Dan Toole, UNICEF Representative in Rwanda. The Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs will supervise the transfer. Children at Gitagata follow
a regular school curriculum, including civic education, and take part
in sport and agricultural activities.
Day of the African
Child reminds of children in war
 Sunday,
16 June 1996: Africa and the international community mark a special
day today by turning the spotlight on children in armed conflict, in
the hope of bringing about "a world without war". Declared
by the Organization of African Unity in 1991 in memory of schoolchildren
killed in the 16 June 1976 massacre in Soweto, South Africa, the Day
of the African Child has helped raise awareness of the continent's enormous
potential as well as the obstacles hampering its development.
Plaza to be dedicated to Grant
Friday, 14 June 1996: UNICEF will name a plaza adjoining UNICEF
House in New York after its late Executive Director James P. Grant as
part of its 50th anniversary celebration during its annual Executive
Board session next week (17-19 June 1996). Mr. Grant devoted his life
to service to humanity. Through his work in UNICEF and his commitment
and determination, he heightened the global conscience to help better
serve the needs of the world's most vulnerable -- mothers and children.
Benin health centre wins Pate Award
Friday, 14 June 1996: The Centre régional pour le développement
et la santé (CREDESA) (Regional Centre for Health and Development)
of Benin has won the 1996 Maurice Pate Award for its outstanding work
in primary health care and community financing. The award, named in
honour of the first UNICEF Executive Director, is given to an institution,
organization or individual in a developing country for extraordinary
leadership in and contribution to the survival, protection and development
of children.
Report spotlights women's 'unimaginable suffering'
Tuesday, 11 June 1996: The UNICEF Progress
of Nations 1996 report, published today, calls the deaths of
nearly 600,000 women in pregnancy and childbirth each year "a conspiracy
of silence ...a story of unimaginable suffering." "It is no
exaggeration to say that this is one of the most neglected tragedies
of our times," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said at
an international news conference in Paris, France, to launch the publication.
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