Xinhua, UNICEF Unveil Website for "Global News Day for Children"

10 November 2009, Beijing - China's Xinhua News Agency and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Monday unveiled a new logo for the "Global News Day for Children" and launched the official website for the event.

"Global News Day for Children" is a global media campaign co-sponsored by Xinhua News Agency and UNICEF, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which falls on Universal Children's Day, November 20th.

Wu Jincai, Deputy Editor-in-chief and Director of Audio and Video Department of Xinhua News Agency, said on the launching ceremony that the logo features rays of light -- a symbol of the sun, longitude and latitude -- a symbol of the earth, electronic waves that represent the media, and sprouts that symbolize children. Together, the four icons convey the message "Global News Day for Children".

Wu said, "It's a ground-breaking event that Xinhua and UNICEF co-designed a logo to rally global media attention to children. We hope this logo will exert everlasting influence in future global media coverage on children."

Dale Rutstein, Chief of Communication for UNICEF in China, said the logo really is a wonderful symbol for the world. "It's of simple, graphic, bold and optimistic design which will surely appeal to people in any country of the world."

According to UNICEF, after 20 years, and the near universal acceptance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is still a wide gap between its principles and the reality of how millions of children live. Over 100 million children are engaged in child labor; 51 million childbirths are not registered every year; 1.2 million children are trafficked every year and an estimated 300,000 children are fighting as armed combatants in more than 30 wars around the world. Under an agreement signed by Xinhua's management and UNICEF representatives on Nov. 5, the two sides agreed that against the backdrop of the 20th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, they would collaborate with worldwide media organizations to launch child rights advocacy activities and a global news reporting campaign under the theme "protecting the rights of children" culminating on Universal Children's Day which falls on November 20th.

The two organizations announced that the combined global child rights advocacy activities and media coverage are aimed at raising government and general public awareness of children's rights and interests, urging more concern and urgent action from the international community for the protection of children and the promotion of their health and development.

In an effort to amplify the effect of the campaign and live coverage, Xinhua and UNICEF have developed a logo for the activities and the live broadcast, under which all participating media will release their news coverage.

Dale Rutstein said, "Xinhua has shown a great example of the role mass media needs to play in calling people of the world to greater and more urgent actions to protect Children from exploitation, poverty and hunger."

The website which was also launched on Monday, www.news.cn/world/2009ucd, includes the latest reports, pictures, videos and other sections for subscribers to browse, download the logo and acquire other information pertaining to the event.

Starting from 8 a.m. (Beijing time) on Nov. 20, Xinhua will work with all participating media organizations to launch a 24-hour, multimedia "relay" coverage on six continents.

Xinhua has mobilized all its 31 domestic bureaus and 118 overseas branches to provide subscribers with news and information in text, photos, graphics, audio, video, online and text message formats and in eight languages: Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and Japanese.

UNICEF will provide support to Xinhua's reporting during the event by calling on its communication specialists in more than 150 countries and regions to provide technical expertise, advice on reporting about children, on-the-ground knowledge of the situation of children and access to multi-media archives on children's issues.