Madame President,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Eastern European group. At the outset, allow me, to express my sincere pleasure for being given an opportunity to speak at the 60th anniversary of UNICEF.
Let me start by thanking UNICEF in the name of children from Eastern Europe who have received help from UNICEF in times of dramatic political changes in this part of the World.
And let me also thank UNICEF in the name of their parents who have been children themselves when they received the first ever shipment of UNICEF emergency aid just after the Second World War.
By making a difference, UNICEF directly implemented highest United Nations ideals. At the beginning of its activities in the region, UNICEF supplied millions of refugees with food and clothing which saved many children's lives. As years passed by, UNICEF continued to improve children's lives by providing penicillin for hospitals and accomplishing the eradication of polio in the region.
Not many people are aware that the first UNICEF National Committee in Europe was established in Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1947, followed by Committees in other countries, including Bulgaria and Romania. They raised money by selling UNICEF greeting cards; well known as well as nowadays very popular part of UNICEF information campaigns and funding.
In many countries of Eastern European region, UNICEF helped people to maintain safe water sanitation to schools, especially in rural areas. It also started some of the first nutrition programs in several countries of the region.
Madame President,
No other region in the world has recently gone through this kind of changes. Political, economic and social systems have transformed; some of them followed by armed conflict, the other experiencing difficult transition processes.
Unfortunately, children suffer too often in many ways. This is where the work of UNICEF makes a true difference in everyday children's lives.
Although children in most parts of the region no longer need emergency aid, states of the Eastern European group highly appreciate today's role of UNICEF.
Since primary needs of children are satisfied and taken care of by their respectful governments, UNICEF can now focus on needs of specific, more vulnerable groups of children in the region as well as in the world; the disabled, the poorest, those with HIV/AIDS, victims of trafficking and especially girls.
Madame President,
We have all witnessed how much UNICEF has done for children in the past 60 years and how much it is still doing. UNICEF helped children to survive, to have access to clean water, get vaccinated, stay healthy, get educated and it protected them on many occasions from violence and exploitation.
We specially commend tireless and often even dangerous work of UNICEF for children in armed conflict. Through its demobilization, disarmament and reintegration programs, UNICEF has targeted around 300.000 child soldiers, helping them to be children again.
As many of us walk on our way to join donor countries of the region in order to help children in need around the world, we remain aware that there is still a lot to be done for the sake of children and their rights. We as the Eastern European group of states remain committed to our children as well as to the work of UNICEF whom we applaud today.
Thank you.
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