Bao Wei of Qinghua University and his former teacher Amourence Lee
from the United States received awards presented by
United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) Wednesday for their strong support for the worldwide "Say
Yes for Children" campaign.
A
total of 19 recipients from various Chinese institutions, including
the China Children's Publishing House and Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), won similar
awards for mobilizing large numbers of people to sign forms
pledging to show their support for offering a better world for
children.
This is a key part of the Global Movement for Children, conducted
by the UNICEF.
The pledge form lists 10 actions and responsibilities needed to
improve the lives of children and adolescents everywhere. These
actions highlight the importance of educating every child,
protecting children from war, fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS, and
protecting the earth for children.
According to UNICEF, more than two million Chinese have signed the
pledge forms to show their support for the 10 listed goals and
tasks since the campaign was officially launched in China in late
April this year.
The campaign is determined to deliver the clear and unmistakable
message that the citizens of the world care about children and
expect governments to keep the promises they make to them,
according to the UNICEF.
"I
just handed out the forms to my fellow students, and to my surprise
over 6,000 feedback letters came back," said Bao, who also
expressed his firm willingness to continue to be involved in such
activities that really benefit children on the whole.
"It is our obligation to help every child, and more young people
should be encouraged to contribute to the child protection
campaign, which will help to form a healthy world view and attitude
toward others," Amourence Lee remarked in fluent Chinese.
China is one of the few nations that has achieved most of the 24
global goals for child development set at the World Summit For
Children, according to Mehr Khan, regional director of UNICEF's
East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, saying at today's awards
ceremony that "China's achievement is very impressive".
Over the past decade, the status of and environment for child
development have been improved significantly, and their rights of
survival, development, protection and participation have been
effectively guaranteed, according to various statistics provided by
UNICEF and relevant Chinese departments. Therefore, children's
overall quality has made further improvement.
"This remarkable achievement was made largely through the political
will of the government, very careful planning at all levels and
relocation of various resources at all levels", she noted, "But
challenges still remain in China as far as children are
concerned."
To
realize the goals of improving the quality of education and health
services for children, fighting HIV/AIDS, giving help to disabled
children, and cracking down on trafficking in women and children,
China still has a long way to go, she added.
Mehr Khan said that he still feels optimistic about the
collaboration between UNICEF and China in the next 10 years based
on the past accomplishments, and that he believes that more Chinese
institutions will participate in the global child protection
campaign.
(China
Daily November 23, 2001)