Soliloquy of a Postage Stamp #104, The International Year of the Child,1979 : Fouad Kronfol

I have decided to resume my column on philatelic materials related to the UN or UNICEF. This week I feature items related to IYC issued by countries starting with the letters K and L . From the philatelic point of view the fall -out from IYC has been greater than all other UNICEF-related events put together. That says something about the importance of the Year for UNICEF and for Children. Interesting that the 1979 year now falls almost exactly mid-way through the entire life of the Organization, and no other event has generated such widespread recognition and commemoration. 2024 also happens to be the 45th year anniversary of this singular event in UNICEF history and one which I hope will be appropriately recognized by the international community.

On the down side, however, this year started with the worse situation for children the world has seen since the second World War. The catastrophy and desperation in Gaza , and in the Occupied West Bank, has resulted in more children being killed, injured, amputated, terrorized, tortured, imprisoned as well as starved and diseased than in almost all recent conflicts put together. The plight of these unfortunate, innocent and vulnerable children has been documented, filmed, recorded and disseminated all over the world's media. Every single one of the top UN Officials, from the SG to Heads of Agencies, has pled for the fighting to stop in order to enable humanitarian assistance to reach them, but all has been in vain todate, with only minimal aid reaching those within the Gaza Strip. This Column is therefore published in solidarity with the Palestinian children !

From Kenya we have this four stamp set showing children in different activities; playing, fishing, dancing by the beach and tending a camel.

An attractive First Day Cover from Kenya, includes two stamps from the above set.The cachet shows a vivacious and smiling young girl with a colorful headband. The post mark is dated 5 February 1979 from Nairobi.

The Pacific island of Kiribati issued this four stamp set for IYC. Each stamp shows a child in a different activity.

The Republic of Korea (South Korea) issued this stamp in 1979 for IYC. It shows the face of a young boy looking at a group of five children running across a green field. The IYC logo is shown within a bright yellow circle like the sun rising from behind three green mountains.

This FDC from South Korea has two stamps of the IYC issue indicated above. The cachet is a photo of a smiling child in a rectangular frame with the UN and IYC emblems. The post mark is quite elaborate as it shows a series of six children atop the globe with a date of issue of 5 May 1979.

Here is another FDC from Korea with the same two stamps as above, but with a different cachet which shows three children running across a field with two of them carrying a flag with the IYC emblem. The post mark is again similar to the one above.

 

North Korea, or the Peoples Republic of Korea, issued these stamps for IYC. They show various situations of children playing soccer with the national flag in the background.

This is a four stamp Souvenir Sheet from the Republic of Korea with the above three stamps as well as a fourth stamp with the IYC emblem. The two margins above and below the block of stamps indicate the International Year of the Child and drawings of children playing soccer.

This is another set of five stamps issued by North Korea for IYC. Here we have children enjoying different activities. Each stamp has the national flag in the corner. It is noted that the stamps have both the IYC and the UNICEF emblems.

Yet another set of five stamps was issued by North Korea for IYC. This set reflects the political importance of the country's Leader, Marshal Kim Il Sung, as he mixes with children in different settings.

Another set of five stamps issued by North Korea for IYC (it is the country with the largest number of stamps issued for IYC) which show children in various playing activities.

Also from North Korea this five stamp set complements the one preceding and also shows children in different playing activities.

The last set of eight stamps issued by North Korea for IYC shows drawings of fairy tales from different countries (Russian, Japanese, German, Italian, Icelandic, Swedish, Irish and Korean).

From the Gulf State of Kuwait we have a two stamp set for IYC which show a school with children standing on a bridge across a pond where an adult is playing the accordion. Next to the palm tree stands the IYC logo.

This is the FDC of the two stamps indicated above with a cachet showing a child with a turban like wrapping around its head. The post mark is of floral design and shows it was issued from Kuwait on 24 January 1979.

This is a relatively rare set of stamps issued by Laos when it was the Democratic and Popular Republic of Laos during the Pathet Lao regime. The seven stamps show different children's activities as well as health care and MCH .I obtained this recently from an auction in Ontario, Canada.

This is the Souvenir Card issued for the above set of stamps commemorating IYC.

 

Photo : From my home country here is the stamp issued by Lebanon for IYC.I do not particularly like the design by Samir Ghantous. It shows four kids in a sea shell one of whom is waving to another group in a boat with a dog swimming between the two. Rather unusual motif for IYC !

 

This is the FDC for the above stamp.Its cachet shows a smiling young girl under a fruit tree. The post mark shows it was issued from Beirut City and is dated 21 March 1981. This was the time when the civil war was raging in the country and postage as well as other basic services were considearbly constrained.

 

This set of three stamps was issued by Lesotho for IYC. It is interesting that the stamps show scenes of a European nature, probably designed as copies of some famous painters from the Middle Ages. It is disappointing that nothing of African culture was included.

 

Liberia's selection of stamps for IYC included this four stamp set showing children in front of a hill within two circles, the inscriptions of which are : "Our Children, Our National Future", and "Decade of the African Child ". Besides the IYC logo two of the stamps have the UNICEF Emblem also.

 

This regular postal envelope has the four stamps issued by Liberia for IYC. The two post marks show they were issued from Monrovia on 6 April 1979.

Here is a set of five stamps issued by the Jammahiriyya of Libya for IYC. They show a series of children's drawings on different topics.

 

This sheet of twenty-five stamps includes those indicated above which are the country's commemoration of IYC.

 

This is another set of five stamps issued by the Jammahiriyya of Libya for IYC. The designs are similarly on the theme of children's drawings.

From Liechtenstein we have this set of three stamps for IYC.Designed by Roberto Altmann they show a child drinking, another eating and a third reading.

 

This is the FDC of the above three stamps from Liechtenstein. The cachet is a smiling blond child holding a glass. The two post marks are dated 8 March 1979 and were issued from Vaduz with the number 9490 probably being the postal code. 

Here again we have a FDC with the same three stamps from Liechtenstein, but with another cachet showing four flowers. The post marks are the same as the ones before this.
 

 

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg issued this stamp for IYC. It shows a young boy running over a fleet of cars holding a stop or slow sign and five balloons related to traffic and including the IYC logo in one of them.

 

The FDC with the stamp for IYC has a cachet showing a young girl in a rectangular frame.The post mark is dated 10 September 1979 and was issued from the city of Luxembourg. It includes an anchor which is the city's emblem.

 

 The final item is another FDC with the Luxembourg stamp for IYC. The cachet is a bright dark red IYC Emblem. Both post marks are similar to that of the previous FDC

++++++++++++++++++++++Fouad