NEW YORK, 28 May 2003 – UNICEF praised new research released today by the Rift Valley Institute that shows that over 10,000 children and adults abducted by militia groups in Sudan over the past 20 years are still missing.

UNICEF said the new information would make the ongoing search for those still missing “far more effective, far more meaningful, and far more hopeful.”

“This has been an absolutely vital initiative,” said JoAnna van Gerpen, the UNICEF Representative in Sudan, speaking of the Rift Valley Institute’s efforts. “For the first time since 1983 the true extent of the abductions has been documented. It’s a huge step in helping us search for the missing children and women. It drives home the fact that they are real people with real names and stories – not just statistics.”

The children’s agency called on the Government of Sudan, as well as major international donors and friends of Sudan’s peace process, to seize the new data as an opportunity to make headway in finding those still missing.

The findings are the result of over 18 months of work by the Rift Valley Institute to identify the names and details of individuals who were abducted in southern Sudan over the last 20 years.

The number of children and adults whose families do not know where they are – some 10,380 according to the data released today by the Institute – demonstrates how serious the problem of abduction remains, even though the incidence of abduction has fallen over the past two years, UNICEF said.

Since the formation of the Government of Sudan’s Committee for the Eradication of the Abduction of Women and Children in May 1999, UNICEF has supported work by the authorities and tribal communities in western Sudan to find abducted children and women and to reunify them with their families.

Over the past four years, over 700 people have been reunified with their families in southern and western Sudan. The most recent family reunifications took place in mid-May, when UNICEF and Save the Children UK flew 62 children across the cease-fire lines to their families in parts of northern Bahr al-Ghazal held by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

However, UNICEF has become increasingly concerned about lack of progress and wants to see significantly more effective work on abduction by the Sudanese authorities. “In our view, empowering local governments and genuine community leaders – people who know their area and feel a responsibility toward it – is essential to progress,” van Gerpen said. “Knowledge of the names, clans and villages of nearly every missing child is an extraordinary tool. It should now be possible to search for every individual by name – although it will be a massive task.”

UNICEF believes donors and friends of Sudan’s peace process have a responsibility to keep the issue of abduction alive in their relations with both the Sudanese government and the SPLA. This means taking a rigorous look at how effective action against abduction can best be encouraged and implemented, setting benchmarks for progress and providing financial support.
“We are grateful to our fellow humanitarian organizations for the tremendous work they have done in carrying out this research and giving these abducted women and children their names back,” van Gerpen said. “We hope it will be a major step toward giving them their lives back.”

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For further information, please contact:

Alfred Ironside, UNICEF Media, New York: (1-212) 326-7261

Statement Attributable to UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy

NAIROBI / GENEVA, 30 April 2003 – I am deeply concerned by the recent breakdown of the limited cease-fire in northern Uganda and by reports in the past few days of renewed abductions of children and women by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Thousands of girls and boys snatched from their families remain unaccounted for. An estimated 20,000 children have been abducted since the conflict began – more than 5,000 in the last year alone. These children are often forced to commit atrocities against their own communities and to fight alongside their captors. They have been brutally used as human shields and sex slaves.

Every resurgence in the fighting brings renewed expressions of concern from governments and a wide range of national and international organizations. But these concerns have yet to be transformed into a constructive peace process.

This intensification of the armed conflict will make more vulnerable an already exhausted civilian population in an area plagued by conflict for the past 16 years. UNICEF fears that the increased fighting may further reduce access to the estimated 800,000 displaced people, causing a rapid and significant rise in child mortality and malnutrition.

Furthermore, the broadening of military operations is a setback to hopes for peace at this crucial time when efforts were underway to establish a peace process.

UNICEF urges both the Government of Uganda and the LRA to renew efforts for dialogue, agree on a cease-fire, and guarantee safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all of northern Uganda.

I call upon the parties to this conflict to do everything in their power to secure the immediate release and return of all of the abducted children and women.

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For further information, please contact:

Jehane Sedky-Lavandero, UNICEF Media, Tel: 212) 326 7269, jsedky@unicef.org

New York, 29 March 2002 — UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy expressed alarm today over the dangers faced by thousands of abducted girls and boys caught in the midst of a major military offensive that has escalated dramatically in southern Sudan in recent days.

The military offensive involves both the Ugandan and Sudanese authorities in efforts to put an end to ten years of brutality by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony. The offensive is also intended to secure the freedom of the remaining survivors of as many as 10,000 children abducted by the LRA over the past ten years.

UNICEF is deeply concerned that many children may be killed and injured in the attacks, including children who may have been forced to fight alongside their captors.

“The combined effort of the Ugandan and Sudanese governments finally to bring an end to the intolerable abuses of the LRA is indeed welcome,” said Carol Bellamy. “However, reports of the intensity of the military operations raise deep concerns that innocent children and women — the primary victims of Kony’s brutality — are themselves being caught in the crossfire.”

Bellamy repeated her previous appeals to the LRA to immediately and unconditionally release the children they are holding. And recognizing that military action to deal with the LRA has always been an option of last resort, she called on the governments of Uganda and Sudan to conduct their offensives in such a manner as to minimize the risks to children and other civilians. In so doing she cited unconfirmed reports that many children and women have been among the casualties in recent days.

For ten years the activities of the LRA have brought fear and disruption to large areas of northern Uganda from which they abducted an estimated 10,000 children for use as soldiers, porters and sex slaves. At the LRA’s bases in southern Sudan many have died of disease, starvation and at the violent hands of their captors.

“The almost unimaginable suffering of these children has haunted us for years. Yet despite the best efforts of UNICEF and others to seek their safe release and return to their families, these children have continued to endure unspeakable physical, psychological and sexual violence. There has never been a more critical time for the many governments and other partners who have engaged on this issue in the past to act with us now and help put an end to this nightmare,” Bellamy said.

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For further information, please contact:
Liza Barrie, UNICEF Media, New York: 212-326-7593 or 646-207-5178

Nairobi, 20 June 2003 - The targeted killing of three girls in Baidoa on Wednesday and the hijacking of a busload of children in Mogadishu last week are abominable acts that require the strongest condemnation by all Somalis, UNICEF Somalia Representative, Jesper Morch, said today.

”These incidents dramatically highlight the need for Somalis to halt the escalation of conflict in Central and Southern Somalia which has seen growing levels of trauma and violence, increasingly targeting small children. It particularly challenges Somali leaders currently discussing the future of their country to ensure that all children are protected against violence,” said Morch.

On Wednesday, 18 June 2003, three teenage schoolgirls were killed at a house in Baidoa, Central Somalia, in an incident allegedly carried out by members of a local militia group. According to community members and media in Somalia, two of the girls died at the scene while the third died in hospital on Tuesday night. Reports suggest that the attack was a targeted retaliation for another killing.

In a separate incident in Mogadishu during the past week, a girl about eight years old was kidnapped and taken hostage by gunmen during a failed attempt to kidnap her father. The girl remains in captivity. This is the third case of abduction and kidnapping of children in the city in less than one week. Two other children, including a seven year old boy, were also abducted and still remain in captivity.

A week earlier, on Wednesday June 11, a bus belonging to Hamar Kindergarten in Mogadishu that was carrying 37 young children was ambushed and commandeered by gunmen. After a harrowing ride, the gunmen abandoned the children in groups, away from their homes. Community members assisted the children in returning to their families.

These incidents are the latest in a worrying pattern that includes killings, kidnappings and attacks targeting children in Mogadishu and other vulnerable places in Central and Southern Somalia since late last year. Of note, was an attack in December 2002 on another school bus, resulting in the deaths of several children, and an attack on a public bus in January 2003 in which a 12 year old boy died. The June attacks came as celebrations to mark the Day of the African Child were underway in key cities throughout Somalia and underline the precarious situation of children.

The voice of UNICEF echoes the deep concern of thousands of Somali citizens who want an end to the cycle of violence in Mogadishu and other parts of the country. At a time when Somali leaders are discussing peace and national reconciliation in Kenya, these incidents are a reminder of their obligation to take concrete steps toward the restoration of peace, law and order.
For more information contact:

Julia Spry-Leverton, Communication Officer, UNICEF Somalia, Tel: +254-2-623958. Mob: +254-733-254-021 Email: jsleverton@unicef.org

Robert Kihara, Assistant Communication Officer, UNICEF Somalia. Tel: +254-2-623-958/623-950/623-862. Mob: + 254-721-244-800.

Commits support for urgent action to protect children’s rights

KABUL, 25 September 2003 - The United Nations Children’s Fund today expresses its serious concern over reported incidents of abduction and trafficking of children in Afghanistan.

Reports received from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) indicate that there has been a series of abductions of children as young as four years old in northern and north-eastern regions of Afghanistan. Since early 2003, a number of children have been reportedly abducted for the apparent purpose of trafficking to neighbouring countries.

This week UNICEF has written to the Minister of Interior, His Excellency Ali Ahmad Jalali, calling for his intervention on this issue. UNICEF has requested that the maximum resources possible be made available for the investigation of reports of abductions and for the full weight of the law to be brought against those found responsible for kidnapping and trafficking of children. UNICEF also took the opportunity to congratulate local law enforcement officials in Takhar who have prevented a number of children from being trafficked out of the country.

UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Dr. Sharad Sapra said the reports “are cause for grave concern.”

“The illegal abduction and trafficking of children is contrary to several articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Afghanistan has ratified. The trafficking of children is a serious abuse of their rights and we cannot allow such an abuse to continue,” he said.

UNICEF has assured the Government of Afghanistan, and other parties engaged in the protection of children in Afghanistan, of its full support in raising awareness of this issue, training officials responsible for the protection of children, and cooperating with all actors in the monitoring and prevention of future cases of abduction and trafficking.

UNICEF has sent a child rights professional this week to the northern provinces – namely Takhar and Badakhshan – to discuss cases of trafficking, missing or reportedly kidnapped children with agencies including UNAMA, UNHCR, IOM, child-focused NGOs, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Provincial Governors, representatives of the police and Justice Departments.

In addition, UNICEF has recently supported a workshop on child trafficking led by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. Participants included police officials from all 32 provinces of Afghanistan, as well as the Frontier Force from border provinces, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Kabul Juvenile Court, IOM, and the media. From this workshop a joint mechanism for protection of children from trafficking, and appropriate preventative measures, will be shortly finalised. This workshop follows UNICEF’s support for a fact-finding mission by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs on the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

For more information contact:

Chulho Hyun, UNICEF Media – Kabul +93 (0) 702 78493
Edward Carwardine, UNICEF Media – Kabul +93 (0) 702 74729

UNICEF calls on men in South Asia to say ‘no’ to child sex.

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, 29 September 2004 - Better enforcement against child traffickers and more cross border cooperation by governments in South Asia is being called for by UNICEF.

“There should be no hiding place for those selling and trading children for sex,” said
Dr Sadig Rasheed, UNICEF’s Regional Director. “It seems that more and more women and children are leaving countries like Nepal and Bangladesh and many are ending up being abused in a highly lucrative sex trade. While governments and law enforcement agencies must do whatever they can to protect children, a lot of problems could be stopped tomorrow if men in South Asia said ‘no’ to child sex.”

The three day meeting in Colombo is set to review efforts to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of children in South Asia and progress since the Yokohama Global Commitment of 2001, which called for greater efforts globally to protect children. Representatives from 8 South Asian governments along with children from the region and officials from 11 UN and non governmental agencies will be attending the event, which is to be addressed by the President of Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

Because of links with organised crime it is extremely difficult to get reliable figures on trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children. But it is estimated that from Bangladesh about 300, 000 women and children have been trafficked to India and 200,000 to Pakistan. In addition between 100,000 and 200,000 Nepali women and girls are said to be working in India’s sex industry.  While not all those trafficked will be employed as prostitutes, a considerable proportion will have become involved in such exploitation.

For further information, please contact:

Martin Dawes, UNICEF Regional Office +977 1 441 7082 mdawes@unicef.org
Geoffrey Keele, UNICEF Sri Lanka +94 11-255-5270 gkeele@unicef.org

Greater Mekong Sub-Region commits to fight human trafficking

YANGON, MYANMAR, 29 October 2004 – Today ministers from China, Cambodia, Thailand, Lao PDR, Viet Nam and Myanmar signed a landmark memorandum of understanding that sets forth a framework of action to fight human trafficking.

The six nations of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region have committed themselves to coordinated action on trafficking prevention, law enforcement, the prosecution of traffickers, and the recovery, reintegration and support of trafficking victims.

“This is an important step forward in our joint efforts to fight human trafficking and the suffering it leaves in its wake,” said Carroll Long, UNICEF Representative in Myanmar.  “UNICEF applauds the commitment of the region’s countries in joining together to combat this scourge that’s destroying children’s lives and ripping families apart.”

UNICEF-supported studies indicate that some 1.2 million children around the globe are trafficked every year.  Approximately one-third of all trafficking in women and children takes place from and within the East Asia region.

Human trafficking takes many forms, including forced marriage, exploitative labor and domestic service, and prostitution.

“While not all trafficking involves commercial sexual exploitation, this is an all-too-frequent phenomenon,” noted UNICEF Representative Carroll Long.

Children are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, with surveys indicating that approximately one third of those involved in prostitution in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region are between 12 and 17 years of age.  Most victims of commercial sexual exploitation are women and girls.

“Children and women forced into the commercial sex industry suffer particularly acute trauma, and the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region places their lives in severe peril,” said Ms. Long.  “UNICEF especially focuses its efforts on protecting these most vulnerable children and youth.”

In Myanmar and the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, UNICEF and its many partners – all of which coordinate their activities as members of the UN Inter-Agency Project on Trafficking (UNIAP) – support a range of actions to combat human trafficking and create a protective environment for children.  UNICEF-supported activities in the region include the reintegration of trafficking victims, psychosocial support services for these victims, support for community-level prevention activities, education services, and the enhancement of legal protections.

In Myanmar, UNICEF is working in partnership with communities, NGOs and others to train community officials, teachers, Parent-Teachers Associations and other civil society groups in trafficking prevention, and to reintegrate trafficked victims in their home communities, thanks to funding provided by the Government of Japan.

Next Steps

Officials at today’s meeting confirmed that in early 2005, a Regional Plan of Action on trafficking will be enacted based upon the framework set forth in today’s MOU.

“We welcome the commitment of these countries to begin forging an action plan to address the many factors that give rise to human trafficking in the region, including economic disparity, a lack of educational opportunities, gender bias, and the breakdown of traditional family support mechanisms,” said Ms. Long.

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UNICEF provided financial support for this week’s Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking along with many other UNIAP partners, including sister UN agencies, international NGOs, bilateral donor agencies, and governments.  The U.N. Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, of which UNICEF is a member, is serving as secretariat for this process.

For more information, please contact:

Jason Rush, UNICEF Myanmar, + 95 1 212 090, jrush@unicef.org

UNICEF-supported counselling centre to offer support for victims

Vientiane, 16 January 2006  The Lao Women’s Union, with support from UNICEF and other international partners, has opened Lao PDR’s first shelter for women and girls who have suffered abuse through domestic violence or trafficking.

At a launch ceremony held in Vientiane last week, UNICEF Representative Olivia Yambi called the shelter’s opening a “momentous event” and “a symbol of the lives of children and women who are protected and cared for by their own people”.  The new Counselling and Protection Centre, built on land donated by the Lao government on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, consists of a walled facility with 3 buildings, each supported by a donor agency.  The other donors supporting the centre are the Embassy of Japan and the Asia Foundation.

The Counselling and Protection Centre offers the first permanent safe house for Lao women and children who have suffered physical, sexual and psychological exploitation.  Shelter staff have received UNICEF supported training to counsel victims of abuse and support their recovery.  The drop in and residential facilities can accommodate up to 50 women and children.

As one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia,  Lao PDR has until now lacked a dedicated facility for women and girls in need of protection. Trafficking of women and children, notably to neighbouring Thailand, has become increasingly common as the country’s internal communications develop and border movements have been relaxed.  Between 2001 and 2002, Thai officials repatriated 220 trafficked women to Lao PDR, almost three-quarters of whom were under 17 years of age. This number is estimated to be a fraction of the total of Lao women trafficked every year.  Many of those who return from trafficked situations with physical and mental scarring are afraid to return home to traditional villages where their fates may be publicly debated and they may be vulnerable to further abuse.

Describing construction of the shelter as “a concrete example of the government’s response to children’s rights,” Ms. Yambi lauded progress made in the past two years to protect the country’s women and children.   Since 2004, UNICEF has supported the Lao government to launch the first national study on child trafficking, to sign a regional memorandum on trafficking and to prepare a law on development and protection of women. UNICEF is also assisting in the drafting of a comprehensive children’s law which is expected to be adopted by the National Assembly in 2006.

According to Ms. Thoummaly Vongpachan, Deputy Director of the Lao Women’s Union Department of Protection and Rights of Women, these legal efforts have been the key foundation in providing a supporting environment for vulnerable women and children in
Lao PDR.  “The Law on Development and Protection of Women stipulated that such a Centre would be built,” said Mrs. Thoummaly, “and we will need other centres in the future.  The problem of abused women and children is not a new phenomenon, but it is growing with economic development. We must be prepared to combat abuse whenever it occurs.”

A UNICEF-supported television drama on the trafficking of children, filmed in part at the centre, is to be broadcast on Lao television in early 2006.  The drama is designed to raise young people’s awareness of the risks of being trafficked and help them make wise decisions so as to protect themselves from abuse.  Later this year, UNICEF will also support training of Lao Women’s Union staff in five provinces in counselling and psychosocial help.

Support for the recently opened Lao Women’s Union shelter was provided by the German National Committee for UNICEF.

For more information, please contact:
Ruth Landy, UNICEF Communication,  Mobile 856 20 561 1270
Email:  rlandy@unicef.org
Amy Delneuville, UNICEF Child Protection, Mobile 856 20 562 0425

UNICEF: Funding will help with reintegration of thousands of children associated with fighting forces & provide safe water supply to more than 225,000

MONROVIA, Liberia, 1 March 2006 - The Government of Japan has contributed US$6.78 million to UNICEF to help provide more than 5,000 demobilized children associated with fighting forces with a basic primary school education or vocational skills training.  The funding will also be used by UNICEF and its partners to provide 300 Liberian schools and 50 health centres with new water and environmental sanitation services.

“We are profoundly grateful to the Government of Japan for their continued commitment to assist Liberia’s vulnerable children,” said UNICEF Liberia Representative Angela Kearney. “This generous contribution from the people of Japan will support UNICEF’s interventions to reintegrate 11,780 children who were demobilised from fighting forces. We will work simultaneously with partners to reconstruct water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities in areas of the country that are undergoing high rates of return of internally displaced persons and refugees who are coming back home.

“Earlier this year, the Government of Japan provided UNICEF Liberia with US$2.21 million to protect children from infectious diseases. This high level of commitment not only reflects the strong partnership between UNICEF and the Government of Japan, but the will of respected donors to support the Government of Liberia,” said Kearney. “It is indeed a new day for Liberia and a huge step for Liberia’s kids.”
With targeted assistance to 5,445 demobilized children, UNICEF will also use Japan’s contribution to develop community-based support structures to facilitate the reintegration of nearly 5,000 other vulnerable children, including many who were separated from their families during Liberia’s 14 years of war.  These services will be provided in seven focus counties: Bomi, Bong, Grand Gedeh, Lofa, Maryland, Montserrado, and Nimba.

Water and environmental sanitation services in the seven counties will be strengthened through the provision of a safe water supply to at least 225,000 beneficiaries. In the battle against cholera and diarrhea, an estimated 15,000 families in 500 communities will receive hygiene promotion education.

“The new funding for UNICEF Liberia is part of my Government’s strong support of life changing sustainable development programmes in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Japan’s Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Masamichi Ishikawa. “Japan has also recently provided US$10.95 million to UNICEF in the Democratic Republic of Congo for education and child protection and US$7.26 million to UNICEF Burundi for primary education. UNICEF is a proven and effective partner and together we are making the world a better place for children.”

“With Liberians returning to parts of the country that were destroyed during the war, we need to work tirelessly to make the reintegration process a success,” said Mr. Yoshiteru Uramoto, Director of UNICEF’s Tokyo Office in Japan. “Thanks to the Government of Japan’s contribution, we can protect even more young lives by making sure their communities have a safe water supply. We’re also helping to build a future for thousands of kids who had their childhoods forcibly taken from them during the war years. These children dream about going to school, and soon their dreams will be answered.”

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About UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working on the ground in 155 countries to help children survive and thrive from early childhood through adolescence.  The world’s largest provider of vaccines for poor countries, UNICEF works to advance the Millennium Development Goals by supporting child health and nutrition, quality basic education for all boys and girls, access to clean water and sanitation, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals. UNICEF is a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Patrick Slavin, Communications Officer, UNICEF Liberia, tel:  ++321 (06) 538 298  pslavin@unicef.org

To receive a copy of this press release and other communications materials via e-mail, please contact Alexandria Cooper-Wrimene, Secretary, Information and Communication, UNICEF Liberia, Cell ++ 321 (06) 06 514012.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/NAIROBI/KAMPALA, 29 August 2006 – UNICEF welcomes the agreement between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to cease hostilities, which is aimed at ending 20 years of armed conflict.

We urge both the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army to fully embrace this opportunity to finally resolve decades of conflict through a comprehensive peace agreement and to keep women and children foremost in the discussions.

We are encouraged by the prospect in the agreement for “the LRA to re-locate and make special provisions for any non-essential members of the LRA in the care of specialized humanitarian agencies.”  In this regard, UNICEF urges the prompt return of all children and women who have been separated from their families and communities in northern Uganda.  UNICEF will continue to work with partners to provide the necessary and appropriate assistance to, and protection of, the returning children and women, and is fully prepared to support the process of release, reception and reintegration in collaboration with the Amnesty Commission, District Local Governments, traditional and religious leaders, and national and international humanitarian organizations.

The protection of children is a universal imperative, and it is critical that the reintegration of all separated children – including formerly abducted children – be reintegrated into their families, extended families or communities of origin.  Children and women in Uganda must have unhindered access to health, education, safe water, shelter, protection and other essential services.
For background

The agreement was reached during negotiations in Juba mediated by the Government of South Sudan.

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About UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working on the ground in 156 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.  The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

For more information, please contact:

Chulho Hyun, UNICEF-Uganda: Tel + 256 41 234591/2; chyun@unicef.org

Gordon Weiss, UNICEF- New York: Tel + 212-326 7426; gweiss@unicef.org

Wivina Belmonte, UNICEF- Geneva: Tel + 41 22 909 5712; wbelmonte@unicef.org