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Special Exhibits from UNICEF
Archives
Copy of a handwritten note
from Maurice Pate,
UNICEF's First Executive Director
On December 10, 1946, the day before UNICEF was born, a telling
handwritten note was penned by UNICEF's soon-to-be first Executive
Director Maurice Pate. In the note
Pate described the establishment of the United Nations International
Children's Fund as 'a minor item in the news which may grow larger
in time'.
Pate firmly set UNICEF on its future course by
accepting the leadership role on one condition — that UNICEF serve
children of 'ex-enemy countries'. For 60 years UNICEF has
assisted all children in need regardless of race or politics and
been permitted access to conflict zones where no other UN agency has
been allowed. This is one of the major reasons not only of UNICEF's
effectiveness, but of its enduring value in the global community.
(click picture for
display size)
Excerpt
from 2nd paragraph on
'Children
of ex-enemy countries'
"A minor item in the news, which may grow larger in time, is
the establishment of the International Children's Fund under
U.N.O. I had been asked to take an active part in it to
which I agreed on one condition
—
namely that it include all children of ex-enemy countries:
Japanese, Finnish, Austrian, Italian, and German. This was
accepted so I may soon be at work again."
From a copy of a handwritten note to Hans Paschen
from Maurice Pate, 10 December 1946
(One day prior to UNICEF's founding and preceding his
appointment as UNICEF's first Executive Director) |
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