Veneman outlines policy for UNICEF

Former US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, left,
speaks at a news conference after being appointed
head of UNICEF by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,
right, at United Nations headquarters in New York,
Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

UNITED NATIONS — Outgoing Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday that in her new job as head of the U.N. children's agency she will focus on promoting education and health rather than on social issues such as reproductive health and sex education. She was questioned on key youth-related issues after Secretary-General Kofi Annan introduced her at a news conference and said she would take over for Carol Bellamy as executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund on May 1 if confirmed by the UNICEF board. Veneman was asked to clarify her views on the U.N.'s longstanding policies of reproductive health programs and education for girls, which are at odds with those of the Bush administration promoting abstinence as the best prevention for AIDS. “I don't come with any broad agenda with regard to those or any other social issues,” she said. “I come with an agenda of helping children, particularly in the areas of education and health, and to address the issues of hunger and malnutrition.” She said the issues of reproductive health and education were not relevant “to the mission of UNICEF.”

After the formal news conference, she was asked again whether this meant that she would not work on reproductive issues with young people. “As I get into the job, we'll look at the whole array of issues,” she said. “I think what's most important is I don't come with a social agenda, so to speak. Rather, I come with an agenda of helping youth of the world in terms of hunger, education and health issues primarily as the major missions.” UNICEF's executive board, which is composed of member governments including the United States, has for years promoted reproductive health and education as part of its programs to ensure maternal survival and healthy babies. The U.N. agency supports governments in their efforts to ensure good health care for women of childbearing age, which includes teenagers in many countries. Veneman, 55, a lawyer who grew up on a family farm in California's San Joaquin Valley, said she comes to her new job “with a commitment to an approach that will yield for the world's children results not rhetoric, benefits not banalities. “The plight of children around the world is enormous. Children today must face issues that no child, no human being should have to confront — malnutrition and hunger, illiteracy and disease, especially the scourge of HIV/AIDS, exploitation and suffering, wars and natural disaster,” she said. “UNICEF was created to address disease and desperation at the end of World War II. Modern crises such as the recent tsunami disaster show the needs today are just as great and the mission of UNICEF is as relevant as it is noble.”

Annan called Veneman's qualifications “outstanding,” citing her focus on new ways of feeding the hungry and strong support for programs to advance the welfare of children at home and abroad, including one to foster a new generation of agricultural leadership in the United States. Since UNICEF was founded in 1946, the United States has been its biggest financial supporter, and the executive director has always been an American. Annan and Veneman were asked whether her appointment would help repair the U.N.'s relations with the United States, which have been seriously damaged over allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program. “Obviously her relationship and contacts in Washington will be helpful as we have used, in the past, contacts and relationships of others,” Annan said. Veneman said the United States believes the United Nations is an important institution and she would work “to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and the U.N.”

Annan paid tribute to Bellamy, 62, who was selected for the job by former President Bill Clinton. She will end her second, five-year term as UNICEF's chief on April 30. “She has led UNICEF into the 21st century with exemplary skill, determination and conviction, facing numerous challenges along the way,” Annan said. “Her legacy must inspire us all, as I'm sure it will inspire Ann to do everything we can to make the world a safer, better place for children everywhere.”

Edith Lederer
18 January 2005

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=UNICEF

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