PHA-Exchange> URGENT Action Alert: McUnicef?

[WGNRR]

Dear friends,

Althoug yesterday was November the 20th, it will still be important to sign
this action alert and mail it to UNICEF's Executive Director. It just
involves pasting the e-mail addresses into the prepared letter. It is worth
drawing - once more - the attention to the fact that this kind of 'resource
mobilisation' (euphemism for fundraising) public-private partnership is bad
for those whose interests UNICEF stands for.

Attached you find the original UNICEF press-release. Just sign today - and
pass this message on.

Many greetings




Subject: URGENT Action Alert: McUnicef?

Tomorrow, November 20, marks the thirteenth anniversary of the United
Nations adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which took
place on November 20, 1989. Today, please consider participating in this
Action Alert proposed by the Alliance for a Corporate-free U.N.

ACTION ALERT

BIG MAC ALLIANCE - GOOD OR BAD FOR KIDS?

  Every year, November 20 commemorates the anniversary of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. On November 20, 2002, World
Children's day will be rebranded into "McDonalds's World Children's Day", to
celebrate the Alliance between UNICEF, which promotes the best interests of
the child, and McDonald's. There have already been several attempts by
leading NGOs working on child health and nutrition and citizens' coalitions
to persuade UNICEF's Executive Director Carol Bellamy to cancel the
partnership with MacDonald's. Despite petitions and letters sent to UNICEF,
the agency is going ahead with the Alliance with McDonald's, and maybe next
year will evaluate the deal. Your letters can make a difference in
persuading UNICEF to reconsider this partnership and cancel it  - thus truly
acting in the best interests of children.

 McDonald's is a worldwide company selling highly popular - and highly
unhealthy - hamburgers and other fatty fast foods. It is required by law to
dedicate itself to making money.  UNICEF, the United Nations Children's
Fund, also operates worldwide. It  works "to save children's lives and build
children's futures" and is  dedicated to the well-being, including good
health and nutrition, of  children everywhere.  Now UNICEF and McDonald's
have agreed, so UNICEF says, "to team up to raise  money on behalf of the
world's children".

This unlikely, if not unhealthy partnership - a kind of Big Mac Alliance -
includes money-raising stunts in 121 countries. It is to be launched on
November 2O, 2002, now to be called "McDonald's World Children's Day".  And
the money-raising stunts?  In China, for example, children who buy a Big
Mac get "exclusive" access to an Internet concert, with a portion of the
proceeds going to UNICEF. And in other countries, "UNICEF offices will work
directly with McDonald's restaurants...to raise funds and awareness for
children's causes" (UNICEF Press Release, July 2002, see attached).

So, does UNICEF now endorse fast food - or help McDonald's sell products
that makes kids overweight? The answer in both cases, says UNICEF, is a
categorical NO!  We don't believe the Big Mac Alliance will be good for
kids - or, in the  long run, for UNICEF. Nor do we think that pursuit of
private profit and  promotion of children's well-being go well together. In
both cases our  answer is also a categorical NO!

The bizarre nature of McDonald's alliance with UNICEF is highlighted by the
billboard from Austria and Italy shown below, which equates eating a
hamburger with breastfeeding.   Is eating a hamburger really as natural and
health-promoting as  breastfeeding?  Can you imagine an image less
compatible with the mission of  UNICEF, with its history of promoting
breastfeeding?  Three years ago, in 1999, UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol
Bellamy, warned  that "it is dangerous to assume that the goals of the
private sector are  somehow synonymous with those of the United Nations,
because most  emphatically they are not. "

Has Carol Bellamy changed her mind? If so, why?  If you agree with our
request to Carol Bellamy to annul the Big Mac  Alliance, then please write
to her (and if you wish use the sample letter  below).

Her address is UNICEF House,
3 UN Plaza, New York,
NY 10017, USA.
Her fax number is: fax: +1 212 326 7758.
Her e-mail address is:  cbellamy at unicef.org,

And please forward a copy to Kenny Bruno at the Alliance for a
Corporate-free United Nations kenny at earthrights.org and/or to info at gifa.org.
For IBFAN-GIFA's full postal address please see below.  -end draft text of
Action Alert-

SAMPLE LETTER TO UNICEF

Dear Ms. Bellamy,

I am appalled at the partnership between UNICEF and McDonald's. Your
organisation is dedicated to the well-being of children everywhere, while
McDonald's is dedicated to making money by selling unhealthy food. The
commercial motivation of McDonald's in this partnership is evident in
calling November 20, 2002,  "McDonald's World Children's Day."

Though the McUNICEF partnership may raise funds for UNICEF in the short run,
in the long run it will harm children by destroying its credibility. It will
also harm children and their families by giving the false impression that
McDonald's is officially endorsed by the United Nations and deemed
beneficial to children by UNICEF, the world's only global protector of
children. The popularity of McDonald's is a fact of life in many countries,
but that does not make its products beneficial to children.  UNICEF's
implicit endorsement of a company that targets children in order to sell the
unhealthy food damages its image and reputation.

As a supporter of UNICEF, I urge you to end the shameful partnership with
McDonald's and to distance UNICEF from this branding of the anniversary of
the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as "McDonald's
World Children's Day".

 Sincerely,

 (Signature)

 -end sample letter-


The Alliance for a Corporate-free UN is a global network of human rights,
environmental and development groups working to address undue corporate
influence in the United Nations, and to support UN Initiatives to hold
corporations accountable on issues of human rights, labor rights and the
environment.

 Platform

 The members of the Alliance believe in a United Nations which:  * Holds
commercial rules subservient to human rights, labor and  environmental
principles,  * Avoids excessive and undue corporate influence,  * Holds
corporations accountable in a legal framework,  * Maintains integrity of
international social and environmental agreements,  * Receives adequate
funding from governments.

 The Alliance has three main activities:

 * Monitoring and exposing corporate partnerships and undue corporate
influence at the UN.  * Taking action to pressure the UN to avoid such
partnerships and influence.  * Promoting and supporting UN-related measures
to hold corporations  accountable.

 The Steering Committee of the Alliance includes:

 * Brazilian Institute for Social and economic Analysis (Brazil)  *
Corporate Europe Observatory (the Netherlands)  * Corpwatch USA  * Council
on Economic and Public Affairs (USA)  * Focus on the Global South (Thailand)
* Institute for Policy Studies (USA)  * International Baby Food Action
network (Switzerland/International)  * International NGO Committee on Human
Rights in Trade and Investment  (India)  * Tentebba Foundation (the
Philippines)  * Third World Institute (Uruguay)  * Third World Network
(Malaysia)  * Women's Environment and Development Organization (USA)


ALISON LINNECAR,  Coordinator, IBFAN-GIFA,  C.P. 157,  1211 Geneva 19,
Switzerland.
fax. + 41 22 798 44 43  tel: + 41 22 798 91 64

INTERNATIONAL BABY FOOD ACTION NETWORK  RECIPIENT OF THE 1998 RIGHT
LIVELIHOOD AWARD


The information in this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the
addressee(s) named. Any unauthorised use of the e-mail or its contents is
prohibited. Kindly advise me if you have received the e-mail in error. If
so, please delete it; if printed, destroy the document; if forwarded, kindly
advise the recipient of action to be taken.








WGNRR Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights
RMMDR Red Mundial de Mujeres por los Derechos Reproductivos
RMFDR	Réseau Mondial des Femmes pour les Droits sur la Reproduction

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e-mail office at wgnrr.nl
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