Editor's Note: We have run several stories on the extraordinary role Patras Bokhari played in keeping Eleanor Roosevelt and the US delegation from closing in UNICEF in October 1950.
Click here for A Little History - The Run-away from Peshawar Who Stood Up to the US and Won
Here is an excerpt from that article:
"So it was that on 6 October 1950 Patras Bokhari found himself at Lake Success on Long Island, NY.
That day, as Pakistan’s permanent representative, Bokhari acted as co-chair of the fifth session of the General Assembly’s Third Committee. The morning session had included a lengthy debate on issues of press freedom and protection of minorities. A debate over a possible extension of UNICEF was next on the agenda. Brazil and Venezuela opened the debate with strong arguments for continuation of UNICEF’s work.
After lunch, the US delegate, Eleanor Roosevelt, spoke. She read a statement thanking UNICEF for its work, but taking the position that the emergency was over and that the functions of UNICEF should now be absorbed by permanent agencies, in particular WHO and FAO.
Here I will let Helenka Pantaleoni take over the story:
“The Vice-Chairman of the Third Committee was a Pakistani named Ahmed Bokhari. He was a passionate supporter of UNICEF. Worldwide. He wanted the Fund to continue and to come to the aid of children, especially children in Asia, and it was then, even though he was Acting Chairman of the Third Committee, that he said he was stepping down from his role as chairman, because he wanted to speak as the Pakistani delegate. He waited until Mrs. Roosevelt spoke to this resolution.
Without taking any notes, Bokhari took that speech and point by point - there were eight or nine points she made - he tore it to pieces, starting out saying, “I hate to differ with my most respected and admired, colleague, Mrs. Roosevelt, but I feel as though I were at the funeral service of UNICEF. “
There was a great silence in the hall, Mrs. Roosevelt blanched, the blood ran out of her face. I think Ahmed’s action was as great a factor in establishing the continuation of UNICEF as that of any single person, because immediately when he finished this eloquent talk, brilliantly delivered - putting the US on the mat - all the other Asian countries and all the other developing countries started talking, each of them in essence saying, “Well, you talk about the children’s emergency being over. The European emergency may be over, but our children are in a continual state of emergency”. This is what happened that famous day at Lake Success.”
Click here for A Little History - The Run-away from Peshawar Who Stood Up to the US and Won
Here is an excerpt from that article:
"So it was that on 6 October 1950 Patras Bokhari found himself at Lake Success on Long Island, NY.
That day, as Pakistan’s permanent representative, Bokhari acted as co-chair of the fifth session of the General Assembly’s Third Committee. The morning session had included a lengthy debate on issues of press freedom and protection of minorities. A debate over a possible extension of UNICEF was next on the agenda. Brazil and Venezuela opened the debate with strong arguments for continuation of UNICEF’s work.
After lunch, the US delegate, Eleanor Roosevelt, spoke. She read a statement thanking UNICEF for its work, but taking the position that the emergency was over and that the functions of UNICEF should now be absorbed by permanent agencies, in particular WHO and FAO.
Here I will let Helenka Pantaleoni take over the story:
“The Vice-Chairman of the Third Committee was a Pakistani named Ahmed Bokhari. He was a passionate supporter of UNICEF. Worldwide. He wanted the Fund to continue and to come to the aid of children, especially children in Asia, and it was then, even though he was Acting Chairman of the Third Committee, that he said he was stepping down from his role as chairman, because he wanted to speak as the Pakistani delegate. He waited until Mrs. Roosevelt spoke to this resolution.
Without taking any notes, Bokhari took that speech and point by point - there were eight or nine points she made - he tore it to pieces, starting out saying, “I hate to differ with my most respected and admired, colleague, Mrs. Roosevelt, but I feel as though I were at the funeral service of UNICEF. “
There was a great silence in the hall, Mrs. Roosevelt blanched, the blood ran out of her face. I think Ahmed’s action was as great a factor in establishing the continuation of UNICEF as that of any single person, because immediately when he finished this eloquent talk, brilliantly delivered - putting the US on the mat - all the other Asian countries and all the other developing countries started talking, each of them in essence saying, “Well, you talk about the children’s emergency being over. The European emergency may be over, but our children are in a continual state of emergency”. This is what happened that famous day at Lake Success.”
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