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UNICEF Milestones
UNICEF Milestones by Year
provides significant moments in the
efforts to promote maternal and child well-being for 60 years.
Thematic Overview
provides content-based historical analysis.
See
UNICEF at 40, for an overview of UNICEF's first 40
years.
See
1946-2006 Sixty Years for Children, for an overview of UNICEF's first
60
years.
UNICEF at
60: A brief look back, and ahead provides video and photo
essays.
Introduction
On December 11, 1946, the International Children's Emergency Fund
was founded in the aftermath of World War II to bring "some milk and
some fat, on bread" to millions of children victimized by war.
Its assistance was to be given on the “basis of need without
discrimination because of race, creed, nationality, status, or
political belief” — a policy which has been the bedrock of UNICEF's
programmes in providing aid to children everywhere without regard to
politics.
Maurice Pate agreed to become UNICEF’s Executive Director only on
condition that the new agency would be able to help children of
“ex-enemy countries.” Directing UNICEF’s work for 18 years, he had a
deep commitment to bettering the lives of children, a responsibility
he regarded as “service to humanity.” The staff Pate brought into
UNICEF, the Board members who shaped the basic policies of UNICEF
during its early crucial years, and dedicated supporters in many
countries, were all basically inspired by the same beliefs
as UNICEF’s founders and Maurice Pate: there was a need for human
values to predominate in international cooperation; UNICEF’s work in
behalf of children was an important way of helping create an
atmosphere of international solidarity transcending political and
ideological boundaries.
UN Secretary-General U Thant eloquently reaffirmed UNICEF's mission
in his 1971 statement “UNICEF has been one of the most moving
examples of human solidarity at the individual level arising
directly from the sufferings of war....Reflecting on UNICEF’s
accomplishments of the past quarter of a century brings to mind the
Preamble of the United Nations Charter and the way in which
UNICEF aid has given life and meaning to the Charter’s mandate ‘to
save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’, and ‘to
promote social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom’....In offering its aid to all children, without regard to
their colour...UNICEF has demonstrated to the world that the highest
aspirations of mankind embodied in the United Nations Charter can,
indeed, be fulfilled in a practical way.”
Entirely funded
by voluntary contributions, for 60 years UNICEF's efforts on behalf
of the world's most vulnerable — children and their mothers — has
expanded rapidly. The organization's mandate has grown beyond
short-term relief for the 'loud emergencies' of armed conflict and
natural disasters to long-term survival and development programmes
for the 'silent emergencies' of malnutrition, deadly disease, the
AIDS pandemic, gender inequality and child abuse including child
trafficking, child labour and child soldiers.
To further ensure
the basic rights of every child, the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, after years of negotiation, was finally drawn up in 1989, and
is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate
the full range of human rights — civil, cultural, economic,
political and social rights. It is the most widely and rapidly
ratified human rights treaty in history, now signed by a total of
over 190 nations.
Since the turn of the millennium, the health, welfare and protection
of women and children has become a top priority for the
international community and national governments and is enshrined in
the Millennium Development Goals for 2015. UNICEF, in partnership
with UN Agencies, NGOs and the private sector is focusing all
efforts to achieve the MDGs. At the same time, global emergencies
continue to increase in magnitude and complexity, requiring the
entire world's support and attention, and integrated cooperation has
become the driving force behind all current humanitarian aid for
both the 'loud' and 'silent' emergencies.
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