UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND, UNIVERSALLY APPLAUDED, SAID TO REPRESENT WORLD ORGANIZATION AT ITS BEST, IN ERA OF CRITICISM
Press Release
GA/9197
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND, UNIVERSALLY APPLAUDED, SAID TO REPRESENT WORLD ORGANIZATION AT ITS BEST, IN ERA OF CRITICISM
19961211 In 50th Anniversary Tribute, Assembly Speakers Hail UNICEF Role In Bettering Lives of Millions, Urge Support to Meet Challenges AheadSince 1946, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had been on the humanitarian frontline for children and its work had saved millions of children's lives; it was the symbol of the United Nations as a whole and had come to be seen as the pre-eminent international advocate on behalf of the world's children, the General Assembly was told today at a commemorative meeting to mark UNICEF's fiftieth anniversary.
Paying tribute to the work of UNICEF since its creation in 1946, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said today it remained on the frontline of conflicts that were more numerous and complex than ever before.
The President of the Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said UNICEF had done well, but it was challenged in a world of diminishing resources and the drying-up of humanitarian impulses. The involvement of children in conflict situations and child labour, in addition to the physical, mental and sexual abuse of children, were violations of universal values.
As the host country to UNICEF, the representative of the United States described it as "the symbol of the United Nations", adding that "that bright image was the result of the dedication, vision and tireless efforts of the leadership and staff of UNICEF, past and present". The UNICEF had come to be seen as the pre-eminent international advocate on behalf of the world's children
One of the key factors to UNICEF's success, said the representative of Mexico, on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States, was its resilience in responding to the world's changing needs. Created as an emergency fund, it had evolved into a permanent organization. Support for UNICEF had been essential to the conclusion of the most comprehensive judicial instrument on behalf of children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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The representative of Congo hailed the important achievements in Africa by UNICEF in combating disease, illiteracy, and the eradication of smallpox. Speaking for the African States, he expressed thanks to UNICEF staff in his country who had demonstrated courage, and given hope to "the innocent victims of the madness of adults". The UNICEF was a needed in the next century to ensure that childhood be a time of hope and promise for all.
On behalf of the Western European and Other States, the representative of Canada said that until the time when children no longer starved, and were no longer exploited or abused, the world would desperately need UNICEF, and UNICEF needed the international community in order to do its work. He said there probably would not have been a Convention on the Rights of the Child but not for the existence of UNICEF.
Recalling the 1990 World Summit for Children, the representative of Mongolia, for the Asian States, said it was heartening to note from the mid- decade follow-up review to that conference that more than 90 countries had clearly achieved significant progress in the betterment of living standards of children.
The role of UNICEF in raising the world's awareness and mobilizing its resources was unquestioned, said the representative of Poland, on behalf of the Eastern European States. But despite all the good work that had been done, further work by the international community was needed to strengthen "safety nets" for children.
The Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 12 December, to consider its agenda items related to cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; note by Secretary-General on matters before the Security Council; strengthening coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance; cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU); Declaration of the OAU on the attack against Libya by the United States in April 1986; consequences of Israeli aggression against Iraqi nuclear installations; consequences of the Iraqi occupation and aggression against Kuwait; implementation of United Nations resolutions; question of the Comorian Island of Mayotte; financing of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina; financing of the United Nations Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium; and financing of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force.
Assembly Work Programme
The General Assembly met this afternoon to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Created by the General Assembly in 1946 to meet emergency needs of children in post-war Europe and in China, UNICEF now cooperates with governments to improve the lives of children everywhere. Through its extensive field network in developing countries and within national development objectives, UNICEF carries out with governments, local communities and other partners, programmes in health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, the environment, women in development and other areas of importance to children. Emphasis is placed on low-cost, community-based programmes in which people participate actively and train in such skills as health care, midwifery and teaching. As the only United Nations agency devoted exclusively to the needs of children, UNICEF speaks on their behalf and promotes the universal ratification and full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Among its wide range of activities, UNICEF supports immunization programmes estimated to prevent each year the deaths of more than 3 million children and untold suffering, from six diseases -- diphtheria, measles, pertussis (whooping cough), poliomyelitis, tetanus and tuberculosis.
Statements
The President of the General Assembly, RAZALI ISMAIL (Malaysia), said that during its 50 years UNICEF had improved the prospects and lives of children around the world. When much of the United Nations was viewed negatively, UNICEF was a success story. However, the international community could not in all conscience maintain that it had done everything to protect the most basic of children's rights -- the right to life -- if millions of children were being killed, facing bleak prospects or conscripted into wars and becoming victims of endless terror.
If children were to meet their full potential, he said, society must provide them the best chance by fully investing in their education and by inculcating values of tolerance and pluralism. Resources, including financial, must be mobilized to support such efforts. There must be greater expenditures for children's education and health care, rather than on military weapons.
In a world of diminishing resources and the drying-up of humanitarian impulses, he went on, serious questions arose as to how to resolve the question of different institutions competing for those resources. While the work of UNICEF had positively affected children's health and well-being, the lack of adequate resources to tackle the root causes of poverty and marginalization highlighted the gap between global commitments and purposes. Of great concern today was the exploitation of children. The involvement of
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children in conflict situations and child labour, in addition to physical, mental and sexual abuse of children, were violations of universal values. The crushing effects of poverty and the absence of development placed millions of children at risk.
He said he believed the international community could find the compassion and tenacity required to protect children all over the world, but it would require the sacrifice of time, energy and commercial profit. It also required a global commitment to overcoming poverty and marginalization. All parents, adults, governments and members of civil society were responsible for the protection of children's rights. The idea that the exploitation of children took place only in the developing world must be rejected, for it happened everywhere.
Secretary-General BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI said that since 1946 UNICEF had been on the humanitarian frontline for children. The UNICEF and its many partners -- governments, national committees for UNICEF, non-governmental organizations and the public at large -- had worked in every region of the world. "They have brought astonishing improvement to the lives of millions of children".
On this anniversary, he continued, there was cause to celebrate achievements in health, nutrition, education, water supply and sanitation, as well as in the care of children in crises. In just three decades, the average life expectancy of a child had increased from 37 to 67 years. In the 1960s, fewer than half the world's children had a primary education; by 1995, almost 80 per cent of children were in school. Two decades ago, fewer than 10 per cent of the world's children were immunized against the main killer diseases before their first birthday; today, communities had been mobilized to dramatically increase that number to 80 per cent. And child mortality rates were reduced by more than half between 1960 and 1995.
The Secretary-General said UNICEF today remained on the frontline of conflicts that were more numerous and complex than ever before. The principle of "first call for children" affirmed that the protection and development of children should be given priority at all times. None of the advances would have been possible, he said, without UNICEF staff and the leadership of four Executive Directors: Maurice Pate, Henri Labouisse, Jim Grant and Carol Bellamy.
He noted the findings of a recent two-year study by a group headed by Graca Machel (of Mozambique) on the impact of armed conflict on children. They described a "desolate moral vacuum" in which children were victimized, used as soldiers and "poisoned by hate and mistrust".
What was most encouraging, the Secretary-General went on, was the fact that common ground could always be found when children's interests were at
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stake. This was manifested in the first-ever World Summit for Children in 1990. The resulting World Declaration for the Survival, Protection and Development of Children had gone beyond rhetoric and brought concrete results. The same common ground was also expressed in the near-universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UNICEF's leadership, credibility and insistence on "zones of peace" for children had paved neutral paths through political and cultural minefields.
It was the suffering of children, he said in closing, that prompted the founding of UNICEF 50 years ago. "It is the continuing suffering of children that reminds us how much more we need to do, and how enormous is the task facing UNICEF."
DANIEL ABIBI (Congo), on behalf of the African States, said UNICEF was an organization whose work lay at the very heart of the most noble concerns of mankind. It was work that was based on defending the rights of the child, and the achievements of the last 50 years had been substantial. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was the cornerstone of the legal edifice protecting children's fundamental rights and enshrining them in the actions of States.
He spoke of the achievements of UNICEF in Africa, and cited the combating of disease and illiteracy, and the eradication of smallpox. Twenty million children had survived since 1980 because of immunization and other simple measures. The UNICEF staff in his country had demonstrated courage and given hope to the innocent victims of the madness of adults.
However, he went on, the safety nets for children were still very fragile. Many battles still needed to be won. Too many children were still victims of diseases, disasters, armed conflict and poverty. Too many children were forced to harm their integrity and jeopardize their physical development. Furthermore, the economic situation in Africa undermined efforts aimed at providing conditions for children's harmonious development. The UNICEF was needed in the next century to ensure that childhood be a time of hope and promise for all, not a time of misery and exclusion.
MENDSAIKHANY ENKHSAIKHAN (Mongolia), on behalf of the Asian States, said that one of the most important highlights in UNICEF's history was the 1990 World Summit for Children, crowned by the adoption of action-oriented goals to the year 2000 to ensure the survival, protection and development of children. It was heartening from the mid-decade review, he noted, that more than 90 countries had clearly achieved significant progress in the betterment of living standards of children.
He said UNICEF's country and regional offices around the world, in partnership with governments and others in society, had helped to improve the health care of hundreds of thousands of boys and girls. Asian States, he added, paid tribute to the staff of UNICEF for their untiring efforts.
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Much had yet to be done, he continued, since children still faced major threats to their survival and development, including malnutrition, lack of access to clean water and sanitation, illiteracy, exploitative labour, prostitution, violence and sexual abuse, and above all being turned into targets and victims in armed conflicts. Meeting those challenges would require enhanced international cooperation. The growing political will in favour of children was demonstrated by the fact that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was now almost universally ratified and was being used by governments as a framework for national programmes and cooperation with UNICEF. The international community must redouble its efforts to attain the objectives set at the World Summit and ensuring a better life for every child around the globe.
ZBIGNIEW MATUSZEWSKI (Poland), for the Eastern European States, said those countries had been deeply convinced from the very beginning that problems of children deserved the highest attention of the international community. Through the years, UNICEF had worked to meet the needs of children, emphasizing the interrelation between progress, peace and children's well-being.
Concrete actions undertaken to improve the lives of children had resulted in an enormously increased life expectancy for the average child, he said. By 1995, almost 80 per cent of children attended schools, and an equal percentage were protected by vaccines. Child mortality rates were reduced by more than half between 1960 and 1995.
He said the role of UNICEF in raising the world's awareness and mobilizing its resources in favour of children was unquestioned. Yet despite all that good work, children were still threatened by malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, exploitation and drug abuse. Studies showed that more than 250 million children around the world were working, often in hazardous and exploitative labour. Millions were victims of armed conflicts and natural disasters. Further work by the international community to "strengthen safety nets" for children was required.
MANUEL TELLO (Mexico), on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States, said United Nations work in favour of childhood and the family was undoubtedly one of its most important tasks. The future of the children of the world would have been very different without the work of UNICEF since its creation 50 years ago. Its imaginative vaccination campaigns had often made the difference between life and death.
One of the key factors of UNICEF's success, he said, had been its resilience in responding to the world's changing needs. Created in the dramatic years following the Second World War, it later became a permanent institution that responded to the needs of a great number of children. In 1960, the vision of the late James P. Grant had inaugurated a new stage in the
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history of UNICEF. The World Summit for Children had gathered more than 170 heads of State and government and put the welfare and development of children at the centre of the world agenda. The UNICEF support was essential to the conclusion of the most comprehensive judicial instrument for the protection of the rights of children; it was likely, he said, that the Convention on the Rights of the Child would be the first instrument of human rights to be universally ratified.
ROBERT FOWLER (Canada), for the Western European and Other States, said that although UNICEF was designed as an emergency, temporary fund, it gradually developed into one of the most important and familiar global organizations. It was so important to so many people. Throughout the world UNICEF brought comfort, hope and help to children confronting disease, famine and deprivation, maintaining children's problems as a priority.
The UNICEF rallied many thousands of volunteers to the cause of children worldwide -- saving, nurturing and educating millions. There probably would not be a Convention on the Rights of the Child if not for UNICEF; there certainly would not have been a World Summit, and its resulting declaration and plan of action, if not for UNICEF. It had made an enormous difference, but a review of the major goals of that Summit showed that much work lay ahead, requiring a renewed pledge. Until the time that children no longer starved and were no longer exploited or abused, the world desperately needed UNICEF, and UNICEF needed the international community to do its work.
Senator ROD GRAMS (United States), speaking on behalf of the host country, said that for millions of people, especially children, UNICEF was the leading symbol of the United Nations. That bright image was the result of the dedication, vision and tireless efforts of the leadership and staff of UNICEF, past and present. It was also due to the cooperative spirit among the many nations involved in UNICEF activities and to the generosity of many donors who had contributed to the cause of the world's children.
Describing UNICEF's activities, he noted that through immunization, oral rehydration and other activities, millions of children's lives had been saved. The UNICEF had come to be seen as the pre-eminent international advocate on behalf of the world's children, particularly those who were abused, abandoned, exploited or victimized by war, poverty and disaster. He noted that one of the prominent themes in the recent report on the State of the World's Children was child labour. The United States was a strong supporter of international efforts to eliminate exploitative forms of child labour.
He paid tribute to the late Jim Grant, the former leader of UNICEF, and to its current Executive Director, Carol Bellamy. Recent initiatives in management, programme planning and organizational structure were helping to forge an even more effective UNICEF, poised to meet the challenges of the future, and setting a strong precedent for United Nations reform.
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He said he was confident UNICEF would take inspiration from its past in confronting the problems of the future. Cooperative effort was needed on behalf of all children, especially those afflicted by poverty, disease, violence and exploitation. One of the world's most violent centuries was coming to an end. The United States pledged to work with the international community and with UNICEF to build a more peaceful and humane civilization on the earth.
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