President Valdas Adamkus took part in the annual meeting of the executive directors and chairpersons of national UNICEF committees held in Vilnius.

 

President Valdas Adamkus took part in the annual meeting of the executive directors and chairpersons of national UNICEF committees held in Vilnius.

In his welcome address, President Adamkus said that members of UNICEF have assumed a global moral responsibility to protect children and safeguard their inherent right to grow up and develop to their full potential.

“UNICEF fearlessly confronts new challenges and consistently continues to perform its mission: it fights poverty, violence and disease across the world. Military conflicts, social and natural disasters change children’s life in a dramatic and tragic way. Unfortunately, this is happening on our world. The little ones of this planet are deprived of shelter and loving parents, education and the opportunity to reveal their talents. Children are actually deprived of their childhood and are forced to fight for survival from their early years,” Mr. Adamkus said.

President Adamkus underlined that it is only through united global efforts and through every-day dedicated work of people from UNICEF that we could expect to preserve and realize the hopes that every child has for a better life.

“It is always extremely difficult to speak about pain. It is even more difficult to speak about the suffering of children because their suffering does not differ much across the world: pain and grief are the same in Lithuania, in zones of military action, and elsewhere,” Mr. Adamkus said. “I would therefore invite to react with utmost swiftness and attention to even the tiniest spot of pain and suffering on this planet. We must act immediately before the pain does not dramatically change the child’s faith in us and the world.”

President Adamkus noted that when speaking about children we cannot be guided by statistics only: “Quality health care, education and adequate living conditions have to be accessible to all children wherever they might live: in Africa or Lithuania, in Asia or Western Europe, in well-off or poor families.”

Continuing, President Adamkus pointed out that Lithuania became a donor country after it had joined the European Union. “I am therefore proud of the people of Lithuania who are opening up and who understand that we have to take care not only for our children, but also for all those who need help and support even though they live far away from us. They have the same needs like our children: their fairytales, playgrounds, and school desks are just like those that our children have,” Mr. Adamkus said.

In 2007, people and businesses in Lithuania donated a sum of 594,393.17 litas through fund raising events and by giving UNICEF cards and gifts. UNICEF has been operating for more than 60 years in 158 countries of the world.