Press Releases
September 6, 2012
Global Poverty Project Hosts Sweepstakes to Meet UNICEF Ambassador Selena Gomez
The Global Poverty Project (GPP) has teamed up with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to offer the opportunity for one lucky winner plus a guest to meet UNICEF Ambassador Selena Gomez at GPP’s Global Festival on September 29 in Central Park. Gomez will be participating in the Global Festival, a multi-faceted event that celebrates achievements made towards eliminating extreme poverty. By signing the UNICEF petition on www.globalcitizen.org, festival attendees will be entered into the sweepstakes to meet and have their photo taken with Gomez.
September 5, 2012
IKEA, UNICEF Programs Reach 74 Million Children in India
Throughout the month of September, IKEA and UNICEF will celebrate ten years of working together to help more than 74 million children in India create a better future for themselves and their families. The partnership was launched with a pioneering campaign to promote children’s rights in the carpet belt in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. In 2008 the partnership expanded across 15 states of the country where more than 28 million children are engaged in child labor and an estimated 4,700 children under the age of five die every day.
September 5, 2012
UN Agencies Warn that Cholera Epidemic Is Spreading in West Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF are warning that the current cholera emergency in West Africa is set to get much worse as rains and floods create the conditions for the disease to spread faster and further. Already this year a total of 55,289 cases of cholera have been reported in 15 countries and just over 1,109 people have died. The disease is spreading fast in the countries of the Mano River Basin (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) as well as along the river Congo, and in western Niger.
August 27, 2012
As Refugee Crisis Escalates, Syrian Children in Jordan Need Urgent Support
UNICEF is urgently appealing for additional funds to meet the emergency health, protection, and water and sanitation needs of a growing number of Syrian refugee children and their families arriving in Jordan. Some 17,000 people—half of them children—are sheltering at Za’atari refugee camp in the north of Jordan, but numbers are increasing daily with hundreds of new arrivals from Syria. UNICEF is appealing for $54 million to cover the emergency needs of these Syrian refugees sheltering in Za’atari camp and surrounding communities.
August 27, 2012
UNICEF Advocate Ishmael Beah Calls for the End of Recruitment of Children into Armed Groups in Central African Republic
On a recent visit to the Central African Republic activist and author Ishmael Beah said there were still armed groups using children as combatants. Beah witnessed the release of children by armed forces to a center managed by a UNICEF partner. The center helps children overcome the effects of exposure to violence, abuse and exploitation. Despite the validation of national policies on child protection, the presence of armed groups in towns and other populated areas present an ongoing threat, including re-recruitment of children.
