News

Hong Kong (9 June 2011) – Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU) celeates its 25^th anniversary tonight at a cocktail reception at the Chancellor room, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Honourable Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of HKSAR attended this remarkable event.

For the past 25 years, HKCU established a firm foundation in Hong Kong to advocate for the 4 rights of children: survival, protection, development and participation and to strive for a better world for all children. HKCU has raised over HK$1.6 billion for funding children's welfare programmes in over 150 developing countries and territories. Also, more than HK$450 million has been mobilised for supporting humanitarian operations to save children in emergency situations. What's more, the number of donors has reached 310,000 and we have also nurtured close to 1,300 child rights advocates over the years.

Ms Judy Chen, Chairman of HKCU, said in the welcoming speech, ‘The words, “we believe”, represent the key drive that pushes us forward to advance the cause for children. We believe every child everywhere has the rights to survival, development, protection and participation. We also believe we can make things happen for the well-being of children around the world. Because ‘We Believe’, UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children and the key driving force for the realisation of children’s rights since its establishment in 1946.’

Frankly, our achievements today would not be made possible without the continuing support of the HKSAR Government, corporate partners, donors and volunteers. During the cocktail reception, HKCU presented souvenirs to its 10 most supportive corporate partners and 18 most dedicated volunteers who have been serving HKCU for over 10 years to acknowledge their long-term support (please see Table 1 for details of the 10 most supportive UNICEF's corporate partners in Hong Kong).

Cathay Pacific Airways, the most outstanding corporate partner, has co-organised “Change for Good”, the airline’s inflight fundraising programme, with HKCU for 20 years. To date, over HK$110 million has been raised to support UNICEF’s programmes such as maternal and child health services, education and sanitation projects in more than 150 developing countries around the world. Mr John Slosar, Chief Executive of Cathay Pacific Airways said after receiving the souvenir presented by the Honourable Leung Chun-ying, the former Council Member of HKCU, ‘We at Cathay Pacific are very proud of "Change for Good" and we'll continue to work closely with UNICEF - a loyal and very trusted partner - to ing help and support to those who really need it.’

The Honourable Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of HKSAR together with Judy Chen, Chairman of HKCU, Mr Johnny Ng and Mr Joseph Yu, Vice-Chairmen of HKCU, officiated the ceremony by placing their hands on a crystal ball, symbolising HKCU’s determination to continue its effort in delivering love and care to every child by promoting the welfare of children all over the world and advocating for children’s rights in Hong Kong hand in hand with all local partners and citizens.

8 beneficiary children of UNICEF from mainland China also attended the ceremony: 2 of them are the beneficiaries of UNICEF Qinghai earthquake emergency relief last year and the others are benefited through UNICEF’s Local Action for Rural Children Program (LARC) in different regions of China. Besides sharing the happiness of the 25^th Anniversary of HKCU, they also presented their drawings to Ms Gigi Leung, Mr Louis Koo and Mr Eric Suen, Ambassadors of HKCU to thank their concern and support and also that of Hong Kong people. Their presence surely added much joy to the ceremony.

“The road ahead for children is certainly challenging with grave global difficulties, including natural disasters, armed conflicts, the worst effects of climate change and economic difficulties. HKCU will hold firmly on our belief, continue to support all UNICEF offices worldwide to develop plan of action to mitigate the risks and overcome the issues, thus, build a better world for children.” said Ms Judy Chen.

Look back to Hong Kong, this year, HKCU has newly launched Child Rights Advocacy Project by allocating HK$1,500,000 to 3 outstanding non-government organisations including Against Child Abuse, End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation and Youth Outreach to assist them in realising child rights locally. They will implement 3 different projects to provide assistance and support for marginalised and unreachable children in Hong Kong.

With all the support from the HKSAR Government, partners, donors, volunteers and supporters, UNICEF will continue to strive for the best for the children and unite all efforts to protect the rights of every child.

(Table 1) UNICEF’s 10 outstanding corporate partners in Hong Kong: