XUNICEF News and Views

Background I was privileged to serve the world’s children and women as a Unicef staff member. I was posted in three continents and worked in all regions of the world where Unicef served to improve children’s life opportunities and the empowerment of girls and women. My unicef career helped me realize my commitment to make a difference in the lives of other people and communities I had the opportunity to serve.

The Executive Board approved, in 1994, the Strategy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Girls and Women. The paper provided the directions for our preparations for the Beijing Conference. Quietly, the Women in Development moniker was changed to Gender in Development Section. The Vienna Conference on Human Rights: The first success  “The Girl Child: An Investment in the Future” was hurriedly prepared in time for the distribution at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, in June1993. However, dark clouds were forming. The idea of promoting gender equality through action for girls was not embraced by internationally renowned women’s rights activists. It was a wake-up call for us. Closely collaborating with the “Girls Lobby”, we succeeded in formulating Article 18 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. It states: “The human rights of women and the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights”. Alliance Building We then began t...