The United Nations Children's Fund (
UNICEF) is seeking more pledges from
China to improve child survival, protection and development in its
global campaign known as "Say Yes for Children."
Launched in April, the worldwide campaign is designed to collect
signatures from people dedicated to promoting the rights of
children.
Those who make that pledge sign a form and are allowed to help
define priorities in regards to issues affecting children. The form
lists 10 principles from which people are asked to select the top
three.
The results of the pledge campaign will be presented for discussion
at the Special Session for Children at the United Nations General
Assembly in New York on September 19-21.
Through making the pledges, the concerns of the Chinese on
child-related issues will be gathered and shown to the world,
according to Edwin Joseph Judd, UNICEF's area representative for
China and Mongolia.
The cooperation between UNICEF and China is based on the spirit of
the "Say Yes for Children'' campaign in support of China's efforts
to fulfill the rights and improve the well-being of China's 380
million children, he said.
The Chinese government and UNICEF have just started a new five-year
cooperative program (2001-05) to improve child survival, protection
and development in China.
It
has attracted dozens of world celebrities, including UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former South African President Nelson
Mandela and Queen Rania of Jordan.
Worldwide, UNICEF has received over 3 million pledges and it hopes
to get 2 million more in China.
UNICEF is now promoting the campaign in China with contributions
from international figures such as UNICEF Ambassador Yue-sai
Kan.
Yue-sai Kan, a well-known Chinese American anchorwoman, signed up
for the campaign last month.
She said it is an innovation aimed at changing the way the world
treats children.
"I
believe the Chinese will take active part in it, as people are
increasingly integrated into the world,'' she said.
People can submit their pledges by visiting http://gmfc.org, http://ccppg.com.cn or http://unicef.org.
(People’s
Daily 08/02/2001)