Unicef seeks to maintain children f

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Subject: Unicef seeks to maintain children fund

		Politics 
Unicef seeks to maintain children fund

THE importance of protecting hard-won social sector gains and alleviating
the impact of the current economic crisis on children and other vulnerable
groups in order to speed recovery will be a major theme of a regional
gathering of social ministers in Bangkok next month. 

Governments in East Asia will be asked to maintain the budgets for
development of children despite the pressure for cuts, said Kul Gautam,
regional director of United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) for East Asia
and Pacific Region. 

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai will preside over the meeting which will
comprise high-level delegations from 18 East Asian and Pacific nations made
up of health, education, social welfare and planning ministers. Joining
them will be representatives from donor community, non-government
organisations and the United Nations. 

Other Thai speakers at the gathering of 160 participants at the Hilton
Hotel are Unicef ambassador from Thailand Anand Panyarachun and Deputy
Foreign Minister MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra. 
Gautam said Unicef offices in the region have been trying to come up with
innovative ways to convince parents to keep their children in schools
despite the economic pressure. In Indonesia a famous entertainer went on TV
in a big social mobilisation promotion to put the message across to parents. 

Unicef Thailand communication officer MR Usnia Sukhsvasti said the Thai
office is due to organise a promotion from December to March to encourage
school enrolments. 

With the social upheaval in Indonesia, Unicef's budget for the country rose
this year by 40 per cent to about US$25 million. Thailand has about $2
million budget from Unicef annually, China $25 million, Vietnam $15
million, Burma $10 million, the Philippines $10 million, Laos $2-3 million,
Cambodia $10 million and North Korea $14 million. 

The Bangkok meeting is the fourth in a series of ministerial meetings in
the East Asia and Pacific region aimed at improving progress toward the
Goals for Children adopted at the 1990 World Summit for Children. 


The Nation