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Media advisory
95 million people mobilize for world's
children; their 95 million pledges go to Mandela, Machel
and Mrs. Annan Tuesday in ceremony with young people
WHAT: Arriving in New York after year-long global
journey, 95 million ballots representing a grassroots
movement for children will be handed over to Nelson
Mandela, Graça Machel and Nane Annan in a ceremony
involving 370 young people from around the world.
WHEN: Tuesday, May 7, 2002, 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: At the Children's Forum, a meeting of child
delegates to the UN Special Session on Children. The
Manhattan Center, 311 West 34th Street, at 8th Avenue.
Background: Say Yes for Children began last year
with initial pledges from Mandela, Machel and the
Secretary-General. It quickly grew into a worldwide
grassroots movement in support of children. In both
industrialized and developing nations, Say Yes ballots
were available on Internet sites (www.gmfc.org) and
widely distributed in paper form, adapted into local
languages and re-written especially for young children.
The ballots were distributed and votes collected at
public events ranging from festivals and concerts
to book fairs and workshops, and at public venues
such as malls, parks, cinemas and rural markets. Teams
of volunteers were deployed to the most rural and
remote areas in countries to distribute ballots to
adults and children and collect their pledges.
- In China, over 20 million people filled out Say
Yes ballots
- In just one day in Kazakhstan, 3.5 million students,
parents and teachers voted
- One of four people in Turkey - some 16 million --
pledged their support for child rights
* * *
Join us on Tuesday to hear the amazing stories behind
these numbers. Young people will be available to describe
how they collected these millions of votes.
PLEASE NOTE: AT THE REQUEST OF
MR. MANDELA'S OFFICE, THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO FLASH
PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED DURING THE CEREMONY
or more about this event or for interviews with
"Say Yes" youth, please contact:
Alison Qualter, UNICEF, aqualter@unicefusa.org,
917 929 0582
Mark Thomas, UNICEF, mthomas@unicef.org,
917 731 2897
B-roll covering Special Session themes is also available:
View and order at http://www.unicef.org/broadcast/brolls/specialsession/
A satellite news feed will be available twice daily
during the Special Session.
Learn more at http://www.unicef.org/broadcast/feeds/
If you are unable to attend this event but would like
to obtain photos, please send your request to photo@unicef.org;
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