Press Centre
January 2000 - June
2000
UNICEF supports children's elections in Mexico
Thursday, 29 June: Millions of Mexican children will go to special
polling stations on 2 July -- the same day on which adults vote in the
country's Presidential elections -- to register their opinions about
their schools and communities and about the state of Mexico's democracy.
UNICEF: Ending poverty begins with children
Tuesday, 27 June 2000: Poverty reduction begins with children, most
urgently the 600 million who are among the world's most deprived. UNICEF
Executive Director Carol Bellamy said this in a statement delivered
at a follow-up conference to the World Summit for Social Development.
She said the world could escape unimaginable poverty in a generation
if it agrees to focus on the urgent needs of the 600 million children
and young people who are among the most deprived in today's world.
More donor support needed for drought relief
in Horn
Wednesday, 21 June 2000: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today
urged government and individual donors to provide more support to drought
relief efforts in the Horn of Africa region, where at least 13 million
people in five countries are facing displacement, disease and the grim
toll of conflict.
In Horn, Bellamy welcomes peace deal
Friday, 16 June 2000: Executive Director Carol Bellamy, today welcomed
news of a cease-fire in the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict, saying that
it cleared the way for a renewed emphasis on humanitarian relief in
the drought-starved region.
UNICEF condemns nurse's murder during Angola
polio campaign
Friday, 16 June 2000: UNICEF laments the tragic and violent death of
Luis Felipe Gomes, Chief Nurse of Belize Municipal Hospital in Angola,
on Saturday, 10 June. The 30-year-old medical worker was serving on
the front line of the intense global campaign to eradicate polio for
all time by reaching children in still-endemic areas wracked by conflict.
UNICEF gives and receives film, television
awards
Wednesday, 14 June 2000 : UNICEF has long recognized the value of the
moving image to promote children's rights worldwide. Not only does the
organization produce an array of creative work, it also sponsors awards
for excellence in children's television and films. Recently, two UNICEF-sponsored
awards were presented at prestigious festivals in Europe. The organization
also won an award for one of its animated spots.
Drought draws Bellamy to Horn
Wednesday, 14 June 2000: While the drought crisis in East Africa has
temporarily faded from the headlines, its enormous human impact still
requires the world's help. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy's
five-day, five-nation tour seeks to draw renewed attention to the desperate
circumstances facing millions of people across the region.
Sierra Leone children released to UNICEF
Tuesday, 13 June 2000: A group of 138 children associated with the fighting
forces were handed over to UNICEF and Caritas Makeni by the pro-government
Civil Defence Force (CDF) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, yesterday.
Latin American and Caribbean children speak
out
Monday, 12 June 2000: More than half of some 12,000 Latin American and
Caribbean children interviewed in a recent survey said they were not
heard, at home or school, and a third of them thought their countries
would fare worse in the future, but more than three quarters of them,
nevertheless, were hopeful their lives would be better than their parents'
lives.
UN humanitarian agencies express 'grave concern'
over Congo fighting
Friday, 9 June 2000:The chiefs of five United Nations humanitarian
organizations expressed 'grave concern' today about the deteriorating
situation for civilians in the town of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, where fighting has been raging between troops from Rwanda
and Uganda.
UNICEF urges support for Horn drought appeal
Wednesday, 7 June 2000: UNICEF urged international donors to support
the urgent appeal made today by the United Nations for drought relief
in the Horn of Africa.
Major Japanese donation for polio eradication
Thursday, 1 June 2000: A donation of more than $28 million from the
Japanese Government to UNICEF will move the world closer to the complete
eradication of polio, the children's agency said today.
Violence against women and girls still a global
epidemic
Wednesday, 31 May 2000: Five years after the Beijing World Conference
on Women called for global action to end violence against women, a UNICEF
study states that not enough progress has been made in addressing the
most common form of such violence, domestic violence.
UNICEF welcomes GA adoption of improved protections
for children
Thursday, 25 May 2000: The United Nations Children's Fund heartily welcomed
the adoption today of two UN protocols that it said will strengthen
global standards for the protection of children.
UNICEF honours Jamaican non-profit for outstanding
work with children
Thursday, 25 May 2000: The United Nations Children's Fund today gave
its highest honour to the Rural Family Support Organization (RuFamSo),
a Jamaican non-profit that reaches out to children and adolescents in
many of the country's poorest communities.
The Rotary Foundation honours UNICEF
Monday, 22 May 2000: The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International today
honoured the Supply Division of UNICEF for procuring and coordinating
the delivery of oral polio vaccine to over 100 countries in the global
effort to eradicate polio.
UNICEF Executive Board Session
Monday, 22 May 2000: Today, the UNICEF Executive Board, the organization's
36-member governing body, begins its annual session for the year 2000.
Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, President of the Board,
will open the week-long deliberations, which take place at United Nations
headquarters in New York.
Humanitarian crisis looming in Eritrea
Friday, 19 May 2000: UNICEF warned today of a looming humanitarian crisis
in Eritrea, where the government estimates that as many as 1 million
people have been displaced within the last week due to the conflict
with neighboring Ethiopia.
Children seeing 'heat of battle' in Sri Lanka
Tuesday, 16 May 2000: UNICEF said today that children are "being forced
to feel the heat of battle" in Sri Lanka, where fighting for the town
of Jaffna over the last few days has been putting children and women
at enormous risk.
Global polio eradication campaign on track
Monday, 15 May 2000: Lead agencies in the global effort to eradicate
polio today issued a statement calling for intensified efforts and additional
resources for the areas of Africa and the Indian sub-continent where
there would be continued transmission of poliovirus at the end of the
year 2000.
Crisis in Sierra Leone could bring new efforts
to recruit children
Wednesday, 10 May 2000: The head of UNICEF in Sierra Leone said today
that the current crisis in the country could result in the renewed recruitment
of child soldiers, a practice that most military leaders have repeatedly
disavowed in the last two years.
85 million newborns protected from iodine deficiency
Monday, 8 May 2000: Salt iodization protects 85 million new-borns every
year from a 10 per cent loss in learning ability, UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy told participants today at the opening ceremony of Salt
2000, the eighth World Salt Symposium.
Mandela and Machel to lead global children's
initiative
Saturday, 6 May 2000: Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela and
child rights champion Graça Machel today proposed an ambitious
new global partnership for children and pledged to play a direct and
personal role in urging other leaders to join them.
For the Horn, every day counts
Friday, 5 May 2000: UNICEF today urged government and individual donors
to continue giving generously to drought victims in the Horn of Africa,
saying that millions of dollars of additional support is needed to save
the lives of children in the next few months and to lessen the impact
of future droughts.
Threat to National Immunization Days in Sierra
Leone
Thursday, 4 May 2000: UNICEF deplores the breakdown of peace in Sierra
Leone and points out that the violence threatens the third of four rounds
of polio immunization in the country.
UNICEF calls for debt forgiveness for education
Thursday, 27 April 2000: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today
called on the world's donor countries to forgive immediately the debt
of poor countries that have a viable plan for achieving the goal of
education for all.
Only strong political will can 'roll back malaria'
in Africa
Tuesday, 25 April 2000: UNICEF today appealed to African Heads of State
to provide the leadership and resources to control malaria, which kills
a large number of children and women in Africa every year.
Kabul agrees to cease-fire for polio vaccination
Monday, 24 April 2000: Kabul authorities have given a verbal agreement
to UNICEF that they will respect a cease-fire for the 1-3 May round
of polio immunization. Northern Alliance authorities in Faizabad have
also issued a verbal agreement on the cease-fire.
Call for global child development initiative
Thursday, 20 April 2000: Child survival specialist William Foege has
called on the World Bank to lead a global initiative for child development
comparable to the Global Alliance for
Vaccines and Immunization. Dr. Foege was speaking at the World Bank
Conference on Investing in Our Children's Future earlier this month.
Earth Day: Stake for children
Wednesday 19 April 2000: Children have the biggest stake in environmental
protection. Their survival, growth and development depend on the existence
of a safe and clean environment, a theme that needs to be reaffirmed
on Earth Day this Saturday.
It's not too late for the Horn
Tuesday, 18 April 2000: UNICEF said today that it is "by no means too
late" to save the lives of millions of children and women in the Horn
of Africa but added that "immediate action is crucial" and that "no
time can be lost to red tape or political inaction."
Dakar meeting will reinforce commitment to
education for all
Tuesday, 18 April 2000: The world's failure to achieve education for
all can no longer be tolerated, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy
said today, ahead of the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, April
26- 28 -- the biggest global meeting on education in a decade.
TV series
looks at globalization
Monday, 17 April 2000: Just launched on BBC
World, a 26-part series by TVE
entitled Life looks at globalization, and its myriad human
consequences, including growing inequality. It features contributions
from leading academics and writers like Noam Chomsky, Francis Fukuyama,
Susan George, Robert Reich and Lester Thurow as well as stories from
ordinary people around the world.
Child growth key to human development
Wednesday, 12 April 2000: Monitoring early childhood growth and development
should be the "gold standard" for measuring the success of human development
efforts, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kul Gautam told a major United
Nations meeting on nutrition yesterday.
Poor donor response to Ethiopian emergency
Friday, 7 April 2000: Critical, life-saving health and nutrition interventions
planned for children and women affected by the current drought emergency
in Ethiopia are being undermined by poor donor response to non-food
humanitarian interventions, said UNICEF Ethiopia Senior Programme Officer,
Rodney Phillips, today.
World makes little progress on low birthweight
Wednesday, 5 April 2000: Babies born under 2.5 kilograms have a 40-fold
greater risk of dying in the neonatal period and a 50 per cent greater
risk of serious developmental problems in addition to other illnesses,
including premature death and illnesses associated with cardiovascular
disease and diabetes, in later life, UNICEF said today.
North Caucasus conflict tears children apart
Thursday, 30 March 2000: UNICEF remains deeply concerned about the impact
that the ongoing crisis in the Russian Federation's North Caucasus region
is having on children -- both the thousands of children inside Chechnya
and the tens of thousands who have fled into neighbouring Republics.
Tuberculosis now a global threat
Thursday, 23 March 2000: UNICEF today called tuberculosis "one of the
most seriously neglected and under-estimated health, human rights and
poverty problems of our era" and said only a concerted effort could
conquer a disease that accounts for 2 million deaths a year, including
over 250,000 children.
The Balkan region, one year later
Tuesday, 21 March 2000: One year after the start of NATO air strikes
on Yugoslavia and the massive humanitarian relief effort that followed,
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy declared today that the children
of the Balkans region "remain the most endangered children in Europe"
and said their long-term prospects remained dreary unless "adults throughout
the region fulfill their moral duty to end the ethnic hatred and violence
that so insidiously shadow every new generation."
Water alone is not enough
Tuesday, 14 March 2000: Arguing that things as simple as regular hand-washing
and access to a toilet can significantly reduce child mortality and
improve children’s health and development, the United Nations Children’s
Fund today urged leaders and experts attending the World Water Forum
to provide all children with access to adequate sanitation facilities
and hand-washing materials and facilities.
Crops destroyed in Madagascar, UNICEF finds
Friday, 10 March 2000: UNICEF assessment teams travelling in the north-east
of Madagascar have found serious damage to the island's subsistence
and cash crops, with rice fields submerged for over a week and coffee
and bananas swept away.
UNICEF assistance arrives in former rebel-held
areas of Sierra Leone
Wednesday, 8 March 2000: For the first time in 18 months, outside assistance
has reached northern communities in Sierra Leone formerly held by rebel
forces, UNICEF announced today. UNICEF helped deliver school books and
other essential supplies to over 15,000 children.
Universal teams with UNICEF for child rights
Thursday, 9 March 2000: Fievel Mousekewitz, beloved by children as the
star of the popular animated An American Tail home videos,
inspired by the hit motion picture, will become the official icon for
UNICEF's worldwide media promotion of children's rights at an Ellis
Island ceremony tomorrow.
UNICEF Executive Director targets violence
against women
Tuesday, 7 March 2000: In a statement marking International Women's
Day, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy issued a strong attack
against culturally-sanctioned homicidal violence directed at women and
girls around the world. She said 'honour' killings, acid violence, female
infanticide and bride burning are examples of men and boys killing or
seriously injuring female family and community members with impunity.
UNICEF heightens its flood response in stricken
Madagascar
Friday, 3 March 2000: The UNICEF Representative in Madagascar today
warned that the island nation “could become the next Mozambique”
after Cyclone Gloria swamped the island yesterday, increasing the number
of people affected by flooding to more than 600,000 -- half of them
children. At least 55 people have been killed, according to preliminary
figures.
Universal child immunization
Thursday, 2 March 2000: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy thanked
U.S. President Bill Clinton for energizing the global effort to immunize
all the world's children. She said Clinton's leadership in bringing
together key representatives of the public and private sectors to today's
White House meeting on the President's "Millennium Initiative" is precisely
what is needed to begin to save the lives of nearly three million children
who still die each year of vaccine-preventable illnesses.
Help needed to combat flood disaster in southern
Africa
Wednesday, 1 March 2000: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy today
said that the people of southern Africa were facing a “massive
humanitarian disaster” unless the international community stepped
up emergency relief for flood-ravaged Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe,
Swaziland and Madagascar.
Poverty reduction starts with children
Tuesday, 29 February 2000: In a keynote address at the World Bank's
annual Conference on Human Development today, UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy said the rights of children should be the focal point
of a global movement to reverse poverty in the developing world.
UN agencies launch polio campaign in contested
Nuba mountains of Sudan
Wednesday, 23 February 2000: A program to immunize 77,000 children against
polio was launched today in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan as part
of a campaign to vaccinate all children under five throughout the country.
UK campaign
'Growing Up Alone' launched
Wednesday, 23 February: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy and
actor Ralph Fiennes have launched The United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF's
new campaign Growing Up Alone: the hidden cost of disease, poverty &
war. Growing up without the love and security of a family and outside
the protection of the state, millions of children are bearing the brunt
of poverty, war and the growing spread of HIV/AIDS.
UNICEF Executive Director to tour flood-damaged
areas of Mozambique
Thursday, 17 February 2000: UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy
will tour flood-affected areas of Mozambique on Friday, 18 February,
getting a first-hand look at UNICEF's response to a disaster that has
created urgent humanitarian needs for 150,000 people, including 30,000
children, and which has sparked concern over outbreaks of disease.
UNICEF rushes aid to flood-damaged communities
in Mozambique
Friday, 11 February 2000: The United Nations Children's Fund has launched
a major effort to prevent the outbreak and spread of diseases such as
cholera, malaria and diarrhoea in flood-affected Mozambique, where high
waters have affected more than 800,000 people and created urgent humanitarian
needs for 150,000, including 30,000 children.
UNICEF Executive Director embarks on Africa
journey
Tuesday, 8 February 2000: Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF,
begins a four-nation, 14-day tour of Africa this week, during which
she will meet national leaders, visit education and health projects,
speak with children, and address several grave challenges facing young
people across the continent, including AIDS, widespread poverty, gender
discrimination, and conflict.
UNICEF Executive Board Session
The UNICEF Executive Board met daily from 31 January-4 February in its
first annual session for the year 2000
Children's immunization campaign launched at
World Economic Forum
Monday, 31 January: A global alliance of business leaders, philanthropic
foundations, development banks, UN agencies and national governments
today urged the world's economic powerbrokers to view children as the
key to sustainable human development, and said that millions of young
lives could be saved each year through an ambitious new campaign to
immunize all the world's children.
UNICEF applauds return of Uganda abductees
Thursday, 27 January 2000: UNICEF today welcomed the retrieval of 75
people, including children and women, some of whom had been abducted
from Northern Uganda by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. The children's
agency congratulated the Governments of Sudan and Uganda for their evident
determination to implement the provisions of the accords reached in
Nairobi last month.
FIFA teams up with UNICEF
Monday, 24 January 2000: The Fédération Internationale
de Football Association (FIFA) and the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) announced a unique partnership today that aims to raise $2
million for UNICEF programs this year and reach out to children with
messages on child rights and fair play.
UNICEF hails raising of military age
Monday, 24 January 2000: UNICEF today welcomed the decision by governments
to raise from 15 to 18 years the age at which participation in armed
conflicts will be permitted and to establish a ban on compulsory recruitment
below 18 years.
UNICEF: Child sex trafficking must end
Thursday, 20 January 2000: UNICEF's Carol Bellamy today attacked the
greed and brutal disregard for human rights which she said underpin
the worldwide trafficking in children and women, most often for sexual
exploitation.
Quarter of refugee children in West Timor malnourished
Tuesday, 18 January 2000: A survey by UNICEF in the Belu District of
West Timor has found that an estimated 25 per cent of refugee children
under the age of five are suffering from moderate to severe malnutrition.
Final push in campaign to eradicate polio
Thursday, 6 January 2000: In a strong turn-of-the-millennium appeal,
the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF today urged leaders of
countries where the final battle to eradicate polio is being waged to
give full cooperation to the global effort.
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