Abstract
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INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACK GROUND OF STUDY.
United Nations children?s fund is an agency of the United Nations responsible for program to
aid education and the health of children and the mothers in developing countries. UNICEF is the
world?s leading organization focusing on children and child rights. UNICEF is the world leading
advocate for children with strong presence in 190 countries. UNICEF (united nation children
fund). UNICEF is a United Nations program headquartered in New York City. It is one of the
members of the United Nations development group and its executive committee. UNICEF was
created by the United Nations general assembly on December 11, 1946 to provide emergency
food and health care to children in countries that had been divested by World War II. In 1953
UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations system and its name was shortened
from the original United Nations international children emergency fund but it has continued to be
known by the popular acronym based on the previous title. UNICEF relies on contributions from
the governments and private donors.
Governments contribute two third of the organization?s resources; private groups and some
6million individuals contribute the rest through the national committees it is estimated that
91.8% of their revenue is distributed to program services. UNICEF?s programs emphasize
developing community level services to promote the health and well-being of children. Most of
UNICEF work is in the field, with staff in over more than 200 country offices carryout UNICEF
mission through a program developed with host government seventeen regional offices provides
technical assistances to country offices as needed. UNICEF supply division based in
Copenhagen and serves as the primary points of distributions for such essential items as
vaccines, antiretroviral medicines for children and mothers with HIV, nutritional supplements,
emergency shelters, educational supplies, among others. UNICEF is an intergovernmental
organization (IGO) and thus is accountable to those governments. UNICEF is the main UN
organization defending, promoting and protecting children?s rights. It also works towards
protecting the world?s most disadvantage children. UNICEF believes that children have the
rights to;
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? Rights to adequate nutrition.
? Rights to education.
? Rights to health.
? Rights to participate.
? Rights to protection.
UNICEF have 36 national committees that promotes children?s rights, raise funds etc. child
rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection
are care afforded to minors, including the rights to associate with both parents, human identity as
well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education, health care and criminal laws
appropriate for the age and development of the child, equal protection of the child „s civil rights
and freedom from discrimation on the basic of child?s race, gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, religion, disability, color, ethnicity or other characterizes. A child is any human being
below the age of 18years unless the under law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
The term “child” often but does not necessarily mean minor, but can include adult as well as
adult non-independent children.
UNICEF helps children who have been hurt during World War II. They help children all over
the world during crisis and help with the funding. They help in protecting children from any
form of violence?s and abuse, protecting and advocating the rights of children and also
immunization of infants from different diseases. Nigeria was one of the very first African
countries where the United Nations children?s fund (UNICEF) establishes a program of cooperation. UNICEF work for survival, protection and development of Nigerian children has
continued ever since. Today UNICEF is still working in partnership with many stakeholders
including children and families to achieve national and international goals instrumental in the
fulfillment of children?s rights.
UNICEF was created December 1946 by the United Nations to provide assistances to European
children facing famine and disease after the Second World War. On October, the first basic
agreement was signed to establish UNICEF?s presences in Nigeria and subsequently an office
was opened in Lagos. UNICEF first interventions in Nigeria were related to the endemic disease
control through mass campaigns. In May 1967, Nigeria civil war led to humanitarian crises that
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posed a challenge for UNICEF. The United Nations mandate did not allow it to intervenein civil
conflict without the permission of the national government. However UNICEF insisted that its
mandate was to provide assistances to all Nigerian children.
The milestone in the history of UNICEF includes the adoption of declaration of the rights of the
child (1959) and the convention on the rights of the child (1989). The latter entered into force in
September 1990 and became the most vilely accepted human rights treaty in the history of the
UN. UNICEF was led by an executive director Ms. Ann .M. Veneman. The 1990 world summit
for children in New York set ten years goals for children?s health, nutrition and education. The
general assembly special session on children convened in New York in 2002 reviewed progress
made since the world summit for children?s rights. It was the first session devoted exclusively to
children and also the first to include them as official delegates. The goals of the “world fit for
children” plan of action agreed upon during special session include protection against abuse,
exploitation and violence?s and the promotion of healthy lives for children. Today UNICEF?s
work covers a wide range of child-related issues. Priorities include immunization, education,
early hood development, child protection and HIV/AIDS.
Conflict and the associated forced migration; have accelerated the spread of HIV/AIDS virus.
HIV/AIDS has both direct and indirect effects on the security of children. United nations AIDS
currently estimates that the majority of all new HIV infections occur in children are also affected
by the virus through the death of the parents and the caregivers, creating an estimated 13.2
million orphaned by AIDS are more likely than other orphans to be at risk for malnutrition,
diseases, abuse and sexual exploitation.HIV/AIDS has a particular impacts on girls who are left
to care for ailing parents or who have to become the head of the household upon the death of the
caregiver. The risk of sexual exploitation is particularly significant for those left alone to cope
with poverty that are forced to adopt adult roles. In addiction children orphaned by AIDS often
face stigmatization and discrimination within their communities. The survival strategies
employed by children and families to deal with the diseases pandemic illustrate the link between
the fundamental threats to the security of children. (UNICEF 1991)
Sexual violence especially against girls and young women is an extremely important dimension
of children?s insecurity especially in the light of often undetected consequences. Sexual abuse of
children is associated with a range of physical, social, emotional, and academic impacts.
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Although sexual abuse and violence affects boys and girls, girls and young women are the most
frequent victims. Most studies of the west documents a far higher prevalence?s of sexual abuse
against girls than boys with an estimated ratio of 4 abused girls to every abused boy. During wars
and civil conflicts, girls and women are particularly vulnerable to rape and other form of sexual
violence with increasingly international travel and new channels of communication via the
internet and other Medias, a burgeoning industry of international child sexual exploitation and
trafficking in girls and women now thrives.
Recent data indicates that the internet has become an increasingly important medium for the
exploitation of children. In some places families sell their daughters into sexual slavery as a
strategy for family economic survival. Even international peacekeeping forces may be consumers
of child prostitution and perpetrators of sexual exploitation in a number of the world are most
poor and conflict ravaged zones. All domains of children?s security from physical safety, basic,
physiological need, access to education and livelihood and community connections and
relationships are implicated in the sexual exploitations of children. Civil society organization are
closely involved in the work of UNICEF at the country level, but they are also consulted in the
formulation of policy at headquarter currently, UNICEF has formal agreement with hundreds of
NGOs and individual leaders in 160 countries around the world, ranging from large networks,
such as the save the children alliances to village water communities. UNICEF enters into various
kinds of formal agreements depending on the nature of the collaboration.
For instances at the country level, it may sign a project co-operation agreement with a
community of NGO. At the regional level, it may sign a joint program work with an inter faith
network of organization and individuals. At the global level, it negotiates memoranda of
understandings of the scouting movements or the international pediatrics associations. Each of
these types of agreements has set criteria by which UNICEF identifies suitable partners. In all
cases, the organization must be child rights oriented and fiscally sound. In some cases further
strengthening those very capacities is the objectives of the collaboration.
Another highlight of NGO activity was the involvement of some 250 children and young people
who served as NGO delegates to the children?s forum and the special session. A large number of
NGOs had been participating in both national and regional consultations and other advents that
took place prior to the session. NGO views strongly influenced the outcome document which
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was carefully crafted to take account of the contributions of the NGOs at the national, regional
and international level.
UNICEFs 1998 state of the world?s children reports termed hunger a “silent emergency” citing
evidences from WHO that child malnutrition was implicated in over half of the deaths of
children in developing countries in 1995 (UNICEF 1998). Although over the last three decade
the rate of severe malnutrition has fallen globally, some areas of the world particularly subSaharan Africa, has felt increasing chronic food insecurity. In some regions, conflict exacerbates
failures to secure the basic nutritional and health needs of civilians, with children being
particularly affected for example the protected 12 years civil conflict in EL- Salvador aggravated
chronic problems of hunger in the region.
Child malnutrition persisted at extremely high rates, the rates of child malnutrition was directly
related to a delay in the implementation of reconstruction program and failures to provide basic
health and social services. The problem of persistent malnutrition was strongly associated with
delay in full cultivation of redistributed land in provision of water. UNICEF maintains a number
of partnerships with the private sectors to immunize. Feed and educate children across the world.
UNICEF has forged alliances with business community for more than fifty years in order to help
improve children?s live in a principled and effective manner that is benefited to everyone.
Alliances are made with those behavior demonstrates a willingness to exercise corpote social
responsibility and a commitment to UNICEF mandate and core values.
UNICEF provides funds for training the personnel including health and sanitation workers,
teachers and nutritionist. A universal child immunization against preventable diseases by 1990
was one of the leading goals for UNICEF. They helped prevent diseases such as T.B, malaria,
eye diseases and skin diseases. UNICEF performs various other functions such as the sole
agency for children, it speaks on behalf of children and upholds the convention on the rights of
the child and works for its implementation. UNICEF has helped secure improved treatment and
legal aid for juveniles in conflict with the laws. As part of the project partnership that comprises
the Nigerian association, it helped train magistrates, policy makers, prison officers, lawyers and
social workers.
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UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in the year 1965 and the Indian Gandhi prize
for peace in 1989.UNICEF supports and demands the universal application of the 1951
convention on human rights, insisting on the need to reunite and regroup refugees, as well as the
need to preserve the civilian and humanitarian charters of refugee camp and their attendant
facilities as enunciated in1987 by UNHCR?s executive committee. (Richard Lawson 2001)
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
i. The establishment of UNICEF however did not help to protect the children due to conflict with
the law for a variety of reasons.
ii. UNICEF is mandated to advocate the protection of children?s rights and to help them meet
their basic needs, but in recent times the UNICEF organization does not work in that standard
way.
iii. UNICEF was created to profer the solution to the problem of child abuse in the society, to a
reasonable extent the UNICEF organization has failed in that aspect because children are still
being abused in the society.
iii. UNICEF obligation was to work actively in enhancing the standard and welfare of children,
and also prevent them from violence but they have failed to take up the responsibility given to
them.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY.
i. To examine the extent to which UNICEF can collaborate with other organization meant for
helping children.
ii. To assess the performances of UNICEF in the protection of children.
iii. To suggest possible methods by which UNICEF can be of assistances to both the children and
their mothers in developing countries.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
i. To what extent do you think that UNICEF can collaborate with other organization meant for
helping children?
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ii. What is the current performance of UNICEF in the protection of Nigerian children?
iii. What are the possible methods by which UNICEF can be of assistances to both the children
and their mothers in developing countries?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS.
HO: UNICEF can not collaborate with other organizations meant for helping children.
HI: UNICEF can collaborate with other organization meant for helping children.
HO: There is no significant effect to the performances of UNICEF in the protection of children.
HI: There are significant effects to the performances of UNICEF in the protection of children.
HO: UNICEF can be of assistances to both the children and their mothers in developing
countries.
HI: UNICEF can not be of assistances to both the children and their mothers in developing
countries.
1.6 SIGNIFANCES OF THE STUDY.
i. The study is important because it will add to the existing knowledge of individuals and also it
will help them to understand the different questions which they ask about UNICEF and how it
helps the children in the society.
ii. The study will be useful to the society because it educates people on what child rights means
and it also explains to people what UNICEF is all about.
iii. The study will be useful to the society because attempts will be made to profer workable
solutions that will curb the high rate of children in the world that needs to be helped.
1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION.
The research is limited to the roles of UNICEF in the protection of the rights of children,
with special references to Nigeria.
1.8 ORGANSATION OF THE STUDY.
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For easy analysis of the project, it has been divided into five chapters;
CHAPTER ONE; INTRODUCTION, this will cover background of the study, statement of
problem, objectives of the study, research questions, research hypothesis, signifances of study,
scope and limitation, organization of study, definition of terms.
CHAPTER TWO; LITERATURE REVIEW; this will cover the introduction, conceptual
clarification, theoretical framework.
CHAPTER THREE; RESEARCH METHODLOGY; it will cover introduction to research
metholody, historical background of the case study, restatement of the research design, research
population or population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, including data analysis
and validity.
CHAPTER FOUR; DATA ANALYSIS; Introduction of data analysis, analysis of all data
collected, description of research instruments used in the analysis and why each is used for
purpose it is used for summary of data analysis and the results achieved.
CHAPTER FIVE; CONCLUSION; The summary of the findings, discussion, conclusion and the
recommendations.
1.9 DEFINTION OF TERMS
In a study of this magnitude, it is necessary to define the various terms to distinguish between
operational definitions and constitutive definitions to avoid ambiguity. Constrictive definitions
involve substituting the concept or construct being defined with other concepts or constructs.
Operational definitions requires that the concept or construct be assigned a type of meaning
which one wants it to carry throughout the study (Asika, 1999)
UNITED NATION: The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization established 24
October 1945 to promote international co-operation. The replacement for the ineffective League
of Nations. The headquarters of the United Nations is situated in Manhattan New York city a
coalition of 26 countries that signed a joint declaration in January 1942, pledging their full
resources to defeating the axis powers. International organization composed of independent
states brought together to encourages diplomacy and peace between various countries. The UN is
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also in charge of maintaining treaty obligations and ensuring that countries included in the
organization obey international laws.
HUMANITARIAN: Having concern for or helping to improve the welfare and happiness of
people. Humanitarian means someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social
reforms. One who limits the sphere of duties to human relations and affections, to the exclusion
or disparagement of religious or spiritual believes.
DEVELOPMENTAL ASSISTANCES: Flows of official financing administered with the
promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as the main
objective.
HEALTH CARE: The prevention, treatment and management of illness and the preservation of
mental and physical well-being through the services offered by medical and allied health
professions. It is the services rendered by members of the health profession for the benefit of a
patient.
TECHINAL ASSISTANCES: It is a form of aid given to less-developed countries by
international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and its agencies, individual
governments, foundation and philanthropic institutions. Their object is to provide those countries
with the expertise needed to promote development. Most technical-assistances programs began
after World War II.
DISCRIMINATION: it is an action that denies social participation or human rights to
categories of people based on prejudices. This includes treatment of an individual or group based
on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or social category. Discrimination
such as race, ethnicity, nationality, class, religion or belief, sex, gender identity, age or health
status. It is an act or instances of discriminating or of making a distinction.
HIV&AIDS VIRUS: HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus.
H- Human – this particular virus can only infect human beings
I-Immunodeficiency- HIV weakness your immune system by destroying important cells that
fight disease and infection. A “deficient” immune system can?t protect you.
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V-virus- A virus can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its host.
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
A-acquired – AIDS is not something you inherit from your parents. You acquire AIDS after
birth.
I-immunodeficiency- your body?s immune system includes all the organs and cells that work to
fight off infection or diseases.
D-deficiency- you get aids when your immune system is “deficient”, or isn?t working the way it
should.
S-syndrome- a syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs of diseases. AIDS is a syndrome
rather than a single disease, because it is a complex illness with a wide range of complications
and symptoms.
HIV&AIDS has a great impact on society, both as an illness and as a source of discrimination.
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: Sexual exploitation is the sexual abuse of children and youths
through the exchange of sex or sexual acts for drugs, food, shelter, protection, and other basics of
life or money. Sexual exploitation is when a child or youth is below 18, and its forced to have
sex with an adult unwillingly is called sexual abuse. It means any actual or attempted abuse of a
position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust for sexual purposes.
MALNUTRITION: a term used to refer to any condition in which the body does not receive
enough nutrients for proper functions. Malnutrition may range from mild to severe and lifethreatening. It can be a result of starvation, in which a person has an inadequate intake of
calories. Malnutrition can also occur because a person cannot properly digest or absorb nutrients
from the food they consume.
IMMUNZIATION: immunization is the process by which an individual?s immune system
becomes fortified against known as immunogenic. When this system is exposed to molecules
that are foreign to the body, called non-self, it will orchestrate an immune response and it will
develop the ability to quickly respond to a subsequent encounter because of immunological
memory. This is a function of the adaptive immune system.
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NUTRITIONIST: A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition
impacts on health. They advise people on what to eat in order to stay healthy