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Press Centre
January 1998 - June
1998
UNICEF condemns abduction of girls
in Uganda
Wednesday, 24 June 1998: UNICEF has learnt with shock of the abduction
of 40 girls from a college in Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
It strongly condemns the continuing abduction of children by the LRA
and calls upon all Governments and international agencies to put pressure
on this group and those that support them. An estimated 8,000 children
have been abducted by the LRA and 2,000 to 4,000 remain in captivity.
Landmine ratifications pass halfway
mark
Thursday, 18 June 1998: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today congratulated the
20 countries that have ratified the landmine treaty so far. They expressed
hope for completion of the process by the end of the year or sooner
-- 40 ratifications are needed to give the treaty the force of international
law. "The world community must ensure that the landmine treaty
comes into force as quickly as possible," Ms. Bellamy said.
Exhibit highlights AIDS toll on
young
Tuesday, 16 June 1998: UNICEF presents Children, Youth & AIDS, a
multimedia exhibition on the Web that shows the impact of HIV/AIDS on
children and serves as an educational forum for AIDS awareness and prevention.
Presented in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
the exhibit examines the social and economic toll of this global epidemic
on families, youth and children, including the millions of AIDS orphans
and other vulnerable groups.
Focus on illicit drugs' impact on
children, says UNICEF
Monday, 8 June 1998: The campaign against the world drug problem is
an opportunity not only to strengthen global cooperation in the fight
against illicit drugs, but also to focus attention on the vast destruction
to child health and development caused by all forms of drug abuse, including
alcohol and tobacco, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told a
United Nations General Assembly's Special Session today.
ILO Convention 'a child labour milestone'
Tuesday, 2 June 1998: UNICEF says that a new Convention proposed by
the International Labour Organisation (ILO), if adopted, will be a milestone
in the worldwide campaign to eliminate all forms of hazardous child
labour. Among the proposed provisions of the convention, which is being
discussed at the annual ILO Conference in Geneva, are measures to immediately
halt extreme and exploitative forms of child labour and to create national
programmes to protect the very young, especially girls.
Pacific rights group wins Maurice
Pate award
Monday, 1 June 1998: The Pacific Regional Human Rights Education Resource
Team (RRRT) has won the UNICEF Maurice Pate award for its work in improving
the legal and social status of children and women in the Pacific region.
"As advocates and educators, as legal advisers and community workers,
the team has championed the cause of human rights and social progress
throughout the region at the grassroots level, with special emphasis
on child rights and women's rights," said UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy presenting the award today.
Save children from tobacco scourge,
UNICEF urges
Friday, 29 May 1998: World No-Tobacco Day on Sunday should mark the
beginning of a global drive to halt the rapid spread of tobacco-related
illnesses, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said today. "There
is no cause of premature death more preventable then the use of tobacco,"
she said, adding that the World Health Organization's recent call for
a global campaign against tobacco comsumption is the most significant
development to date in the fight to stem non-communicable diseases.
Action needed against Sierra Leone
atrocities
Friday, 22 May 1998: Outraged by the latest reports of atrocities in
Sierra Leone that get "worse and worse", UNICEF Executive
Director Carol Bellamy called today for concerted international action
to ensure that children are protected. "The children of Sierra
Leone have had three strikes against them during these long years of
civil conflict," she said. "First, they were made into child
soldiers; then they became targets during recent atrocities; and now
they are largely forgotten by the international community."
UNICEF gets $6.5 million from Turner
foundation
Wednesday, 20 May 1998: UNICEF will move quickly to begin using nearly
$6.5 million in programme grants announced by the United Nations Foundation,
formed to distribute a $1 billion gift to the UN from Ted Turner, the
founder of Cable News Network (CNN). The foundation announced its first
set of grants to UN agencies today, among them awards for six UNICEF
proposals for immediate work in Africa, Indonesia and Viet Nam on issues
ranging from fighting diseases to demobilising child soldiers.
UNICEF backs debt relief by the year
2000
Friday, 15 May 1998: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy put UNICEF
support solidly behind the rising chorus of voices advocating the year
2000 as a target date for the removal of unsustainable debt from the
world's poorest countries. "Past and current debt reduction efforts
have been far too slow-moving," she said. "The year 2000 should
signal a new start. We have enough information now to know that debt
reduction is a critical key to poverty reduction -- and to the prospect
of hope for millions and millions of children."
New WHO chief means child health
benefit, UNICEF says
Wednesday, 13 May 1998: Gro Harlem Brundtland's leadership of the World
Health Organization will bring a powerful new focus to the cause of
child health everywhere, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said
today. "It is hard to exaggerate our elation at Dr. Brundtland's
ascension to the helm of WHO," Ms. Bellamy said of Brundtland's
confirmation at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Central Asian cooperation vital for
children
Monday, 11 May 1998: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today told
Heads of State and Government from 10 Central Asian, Middle Eastern
and Eastern European nations that regional cooperation is vital to ensure
children's well being. Speaking at the Fifth Annual Summit Meeting of
the Economic Cooperation Organisation in Amaty, Kazakhstan, she adressed
specific problems of the region, and noted that some of its most serious
environmental problems were having a direct and terrible effect on child
health and development.
Meeting addresses wide gap in girls'
education
Wednesday, 6 May 1998: An international conference, beginning in Washington,
DC, today, focuses on the importance of girls' education as a key to
social equity and poverty reduction. convened by the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and UNICEF,
the meeting on Educating Girls: A Development Imperative, is being attended
by more than 500 leaders and experts from around the world.
Awards
for young film and video makers
 Tuesday, 5 May 1998: The US National Children's Film Festival
is to hold its second annual award ceremony in August at the Indianapolis
Children's Museum. The festival encourages high school seniors (between
nine and 18 years old) to write, direct and produce original works that
express their points of view and promote understanding between children
and adults. Nearly 2,000 young people from across the US and Canada
have submitted 225 entries this year. The festival aims to become international
by the year 2000.
UNICEF condemns murder of rights
figure in Guatemala
Wednesday, 29 April 1998: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today
issued a statement condemning the murder of Monsignor Juan Gerardi Conedera,
General Coordinator of the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of
Guatemala, killed last Sunday in Guatemala City. According to a human
rights report recently released by Monsignor Conedera, many victims
of violence during the years of armed conflict in Guatemala were children.
Look for our publications
and videos online
Tuesday, 28 April 1998: Web visitors can now search our publications
catalogue and video list online. The fully annotated publications catalogue
lists hundreds of free and for-sale items, including corporate annual
publications, technical papers, books, booklets and kits. Searches can
be made by subject, ISBN, title, author, editor, publication year or
language. Selected videos are listed according to themes, including
child rights, children in armed conflict, child labour and UNICEF past
and present. Order forms can be printed out, filled and mailed in.
World AIDS campaign focuses on young
Wednesday, 22 April 1998: UNICEF, the Joint United Nations Programme
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other partners launched the World AIDS Campaign
with Young People in Moscow today. Every day 7000 young people are infected
with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. More than half of all new HIV
infections are among young people aged between 10 and 24 years. The
campaign covers drugs, sex and HIV/AIDS, human rights in the AIDS era,
important life skills in the HIV/AIDS world, sexual health education,
what young people can do as a 'force for change' in HIV/AIDS prevention,
and what support adults can give.
UNICEF and WWF to cooperate on freshwater
Tuesday, 21 April 1998: UNICEF and the World Wide Fund For Nature signed
an agreement today committing them to work together to seek solutions
to the emerging global freshwater crisis. The two organizations will
carry out joint projects at the local, national and regional levels
to promote sustainable community management of water resources and to
establish the fundamental importance of overall ecosystem conservation.
UNICEF calls for release of aid workers
in Somalia
Monday, 20 April 1998: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy called
today for the immediate and unconditional release of 10 international
aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross kidnapped
and taken hostage last week in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. "The
Somali faction leaders must remember the basic principles of African
and Somali culture, which encourage respect for human life," Ms.
Bellamy said, adding that the kidnappings dramatized the terrible risks
faced by humanitarian aid workers everywhere.
UNICEF hails curb on female genital
mutilation
Thursday, 8 January 1998: Egypt's reimposition of a legal ban on female
genital mutilation (FGM) is a major step toward the universal elimination
of a horrific, dangerous and indefensible violation of human rights,
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said today. "The clarity
and authoritativeness of this decision is a dramatic affirmation of
the rights of women and girls that will reverberate far beyond Egypt,"
Ms. Bellamy said. "Misogyny cannot continue to be hidden under
the rubric of `traditional practices.'"
Older Newsline Items
Please email media@unicef.org if you need to
refer to earlier Newsline items.
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