Vodafone Group Foundation joins
with UNICEF
Vodafone Group Foundation joins forces with UNICEF
to support 'End Child Exploitation'
05 September 2003
The Vodafone Group Foundation has agreed to donate
£1 million over the next two years for UNICEF UK's campaign
to 'End Child
Exploitation' - helping millions of children around the world
exploited by adults who abuse their trust. This vital contribution
by the Foundation will be used to assist UNICEF's work in combating
child trafficking across south eastern Europe.
Child trafficking involves the transportation and
exploitation of unwilling or unknowing victims, often for sex
work. Worldwide, over a million children are trafficked each year
and UNICEF, with the support of partners such as the Vodafone
Group Foundation, is working internationally to prevent child
exploitation from happening in the first place.
"Millions of children all over the world are
exploited at the hands of adults each year," said Robbie
Williams, UNICEF UK Special Representative. "We all have
a role to play in preventing this abuse of innocent young lives
and I am delighted that the Vodafone Group Foundation has agreed
to support UNICEF's campaign to put an end to child exploitation.
Their contribution of £1 million will be invaluable,"
he added.
Over the next two years, the Vodafone Group Foundation
will play a crucial role in supporting a co-ordinated approach
to end child trafficking in South-Eastern Europe. The £1
million contribution will be used by UNICEF teams in the region
to develop and implement initiatives which promote closer cross-border
co-operation between authorities, ultimately reducing the number
of children who are trafficked in the area. It will also support
activities to raise awareness of the problem amongst families
and communities, as well as publicising and running SOS helplines
for those children who have already fallen prey to the traffickers.
John Logan, Director of the Vodafone Group Foundation
comments: "This is the Foundation's biggest donation to date
in the area of human rights and fully supports our mandate of
sharing the benefits of mobile telephony whilst tackling some
of the challenges within society. As well as our desire to offer
financial support to UNICEF to stop child trafficking, our leading
edge mobile technology will also be used to improve the efficiency
of this vital work."
In addition to the financial donation, the Foundation
has agreed to provide mobile technology to support the SOS helplines
which have been established in the region. In the long term, this
will also help to enable border patrols to communicate directly
with local NGOs so that trafficked children, who have been located
and returned to the border of their home countries, can be offered
immediate protection and support. "You just need to look
at the figures to realise the full horror of what we are talking
about with more than a million children trafficked annually worldwide
- and there is reason to suspect that thousands end up in the
UK every year," said David Bull, Executive Director of UNICEF
UK. "Trafficking is a serious abuse of child rights and is
the fastest growing business of organised crime, since it is seen
as less risky than trafficking drugs."
"We are extremely grateful to the Vodafone Group Foundation
for its support for our work in putting an end to child exploitation,"
he concluded.
The Vodafone Group Foundation was set up in 2002. Guided by the
Vodafone Group Social Investment Policy, the Vodafone Group Foundation
focuses on sharing the benefits of mobile communications technology
as widely as possible, whilst endeavouring to protect the environment,
supporting sustainable business practices and supporting the local
communities in which Vodafone's customers, employees, investors
and suppliers live. It also makes donations to the 16 local foundations
of the Vodafone Group operating companies, including the Vodafone
UK Foundation.
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