UNICEF Speech to mark the UNICEF/ Melia partnership in Tanzania (24/11/12) – Melia Hotel Zanzibar

UNICEF Speech to mark the UNICEF/ Melia partnership in Tanzania (24/11/12) – Melia Hotel Zanzibar

Andy Brooks, Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Tanzania

1. Acknowledgements

- Marko Janssen/ Cesar Martinez – all the Melia Hotel Management

- H.E. Luis Manuel Cuerta Civis, Ambassador of Spain and the Diplomatic Corps

- Members of the Media

- Ladies and Gentlemen

2.

UNICEF - UNICEF created in 1946 in the wake of the Second World War – United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund - Now operating as the United Nations Children’s Fund in over 150 countries - Working across sectors of water and sanitation, HIV and AIDS, Health and Nutrition, Education and Social Policy - The partnership with Melia is focussed on my area of responsibility – child protection; protecting children from abuse, violence and exploitation

3

Strategic Alliance

- Melia has a global network of 350 hotels with over 23 million customers per year and over 33,000 employees – the reach and scale of Melia offers a huge potential to raise awareness on child protection that UNICEF is happy to engage

4.

A Day for Children - Today Melia has provided "24 hours for children" and all the children that came have had a great day - One day this week, 23 years ago, children had a day to celebrate so it is fitting that we had this day today for them - On November 20th 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was

　

passed by the General Assembly and it has now become the most ratified Human Rights Convention in the world with 193 signatories - We think of November 20

th as Children’s "Independence Day" when Governments globally recognized their rights to survival, development and protection

5.

Relevance to Tanzania - Two ground-breaking pieces of legislation have transformed the landscape for children in the past three years in Tanzania – the Law of the Child Act (2009) in the Mainland and the Children’s Act in Zanzibar

6.

Evidence of child abuse and violence - The momentum to translate the laws into policies, programs and actions to protect children was given a major boost by a Study on Violence against Children – the first comprehensive study of its kind in Africa - The Study highlighted that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys had experienced sexual violence in their childhoods, 3 in 4 boys and girls had experienced physical violence and 1 in 4 boys and girls had experienced emotional violence - the evidence of children’s exposure to risk is ensuring that the laws are operationalized and do not gather dust on the shelves - but the scale of the problem is massive and for UNICEF and the Government this means looking for partnerships beyond our traditional engagements – partnerships with civil society, religious leaders, children themselves and, as you can see tonight, with the private sector

7.

High level government commitment - In both the Mainland and Zanzibar we have a strong high level Government commitment to build an effective system to protect children from all the Ministries that count the most – Health, Education, Social Welfare, Community Development, Justice, Police etc. - We have a strong legal framework and political buy in so we have to make the most of the opportunity

8.

Moving from policy and law to action - Already in 6 districts in Mainland Tanzania, UNICEF has supported the national government to engage with Local Authorities to build

　

functioning District Child Protection Systems - The success of this model has brought commitments in the Mainland to scale up to 25 districts by 2015 and in Zanzibar to get started in one particular region – North Region, the same one as where we are enjoying this beautiful evening tonight

9.

UNICEF commitment to your contributions - We thank all of you for coming tonight and I would like to personally commit that the proceeds from this evening are channelled into supporting the establishment of a district child protection system here in this region - This can mark in a local context the global partnership between UNICEF and Melia that has been so successful - We hope that, just like the partnership with Melia, the child protection work in the district can set new standards for effectiveness and represent the work we are doing by ensuring that as beautiful as this place is to come on holiday, it can also be a protecting environment for children

10.

Your contributions…. - On the table in front of you, you will see the different price tags that can support children’s protection – how $5 can provide an hour’s counselling for a child in distress, $20 support a child’s reunification, $100 contribute to an effective police response. How little or large your contribution, we will make it work for strengthening children’s protection

11.

Investing in children.. - Investing in children is a solid investment. They make up over 50% of the population of Tanzania - Protecting children from abuse and violence gives the investments being made in their health and education a chance to add up to a healthy, intelligent and productive member of society

12. Final word -

Ladies and Gentlemen, most of us are lucky to come from the countries we come from and we may take many things for granted - We may look around us tonight and feel we are in paradise - But we should also remember that there are children and communities

　

not far from here that are facing real hardships and there are children that are at risk and need improved protection - To Melia Hotel Management, I would like to thank you once again for all the hard work and commitment that has made tonight possible. I look forward to watching our partnership grow through our joint actions on the ground - Let’s Work Together to Stop Violence against Children