* "Having visited Oxfam-funded school programs in rural communities has made me realise how vital education is to developing countries in bringing people out of poverty and giving them a sense of dignity, self-worth and confidence." -- Scarlett Johansson * "I'm not a statistician, but it doesn't take a genious to work out that 100 million children being denied an education is ridiculous. There is nothing lost in translation here, it's obvious that's wrong. -- Scarlett Johansson

* “Over 20 million children of conflict are out of school. Education is often forgotten.” ~ Angelina Jolie

To rescue our children we will have to let them save us from the power we embody: we will have to trust the very difference that they forever personify. And we will have to allow them the choice, without fear of death: that they may come and do likewise or that they may come and that we will follow them, that a little child will lead us back to the child we will always be, vulnerable and wanting and hurting for love and for beauty. -- June Jordan "...we condemned them, our children, for seeking a different future. We hated them for their flowers, for their love, and for their unmistakeable rejection of every hideous, mistaken compromise that we had made throughout our hollow, money- bitten, frightened, adult lives -- June Jordan

* "I believe deeply that children are more powerful than oil, more beautiful than rivers, more precious than any other natural resource a country can have. I feel that the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life is to be associated with UNICEF." -- Danny Kaye

* The message of our campaign is "Make every mother and child count". This campaign is not just about health. It is also a powerful call for radical progress in women's rights and the rights of their children. Too often, the health of mothers and children does not count. In too many parts of the world, they are forgotten. -- Liya Kebede

* The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness. -- Robert F. Kennedy

* We are living in a science-fiction nightmare where children are gasping for breath on bad-air days because somebody gave money to a politician. And my children and the kids of millions of other Americans can no longer go fishing and eat their catch because somebody gave money to a politician. ~ Robert Kennedy, Jr.

* "I felt my country should do more for its children. Its children are not born gangsters. In fact, they have in them the potential to be heroes because most of the kids who are in these gangs are leaders, very charismatic and good organizers." -- Azim Khamisa

* I think it's important for me as an actor that I say these are the issues I'm going to be committed to. One of them for me is women and children's health around the world and their rights;the other is ovarian cancer. -- Nicole Kidman

* "I won't give up until the exploitation of all children has ended and all children have their rights." -- Craig Kielburger "If we are to achieve true peace in this world, it shall have to begin with the children." -- Craig Kielburger

* "Peace is a culture that we create by putting it in the curriculum for young people, through creating this next generation where young people get a chance to go across borders, across cultures, to learn more about each other's life, to create a global community, learn about opportunities for helping others. It's investing in peace and tolerance training, ending the gap between rich and poor."
-- Craig Kielburger

* Give young people a chance, our generation may just surprise you! -- Marc Kielburger

Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously.
-- Alfie Kohn

“Let's concede that we have decided to let our children grow up in two separate nations, and lead two separate kinds of lives. If, on the other hand, we have the courage to rise to this challenge to name what's happening within our inner-city schools, then we also need the courage to be activist and go out and fight like hell to change it.” -- Jonathan Kozol “I write books to change the world. Perhaps I can only change one little piece of that world. But if I can empower teachers and good citizens to give these children, who are the poorest of the poor, the same opportunity we give our own kids, then I'll feel my life has been worth it.” -- Jonathan Kozol

* Hope is not enough to change the world, to bring peace, to end starvation and poverty, to provide a decent education for all children, or to prevent nuclear holocaust. Yet it is a critical starting point for building a better and brighter future. All of us are challenged to connect hope to action until we have created a might river that will carve a new path to the future. -- David Krieger

* "We're not locked in to these conditions that degrade the environment, and jeopardize the future of our children." -- Dennis Kucinich

* There can be no better measure of our governance than the way we treat our children, and no greater failing on our part than to allow them to be subjected to violence, abuse or exploitation. -- Jessica Lange

"... the growing child must not be treated by those rigid rules of criminal procedure which confessedly fail to prevent offenses on the part of adults or cure adult offenders." -- Julia Lathrop

* We have an opportunity to focus global attention on what should be obvious: every mother, and every child, counts. They count because we value every human life. The evidence is clear that healthy mothers and children are the bedrock of healthy and prosperous communities and nations. ~ Dr. LEE Jong-wook, WHO Secretary-General

* "There is no greater cause than making the world fit for children. I feel very strongly about carrying on the family tradition by working with UNICEF to help improve the lives and well-being of children everywhere." -- Téa Leoni

* "If I have brightened up one single sad childhood, then I have at least accomplished something in my life." -- Astrid Lindgren

* "I love children. I work with UNICEF and one of the reasons I love that is because they deal specifically with children. For me I think it’s just really important to always embrace that side of you. -- Lucy Liu * "I've witnessed the total devastation of HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa... I've met too many brave and beautiful children who are struggling to care for their sick parents or their orphaned brothers and sisters. Many children infected with HIV will not live to see their fifth birthday... Children suffer not only from this virus but also the stigma, poverty and destruction that accompany it. As a UNICEF ambassador I hope to draw more attention and funding to this crisis. The tsunami in Asia revealed the deep compassion and generosity of people worldwide. By working together and applying that same focus and support, we can protect a new generation of children from suffering." -- Lucy Liu

"Regardless of what the law or your teachers have to say about this, you are as human as anyone over the age of 18 or 21, yet, 'minors' are one of the most oppressed groups of people in the world, and certainly the most discriminated against legally."
-- Grace Llewellyn "The Teenage Liberation Handbook"

There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men. -- John Locke

* "We physicians have focused on the nuclear threat as the singular issue of our era. We are not indifferent to other human rights and hard-won civil liberties. But first we must be able to bequeath to our children the most fundamental of all rights, which preconditions all others; the right to survival. -- Bernard Lown

* The impact of armed conflict on children is everyone's responsibility. And it must be everyone's concern. -- Graça Machel-Mandela * In a disparate world, children are a unifying force capable of bringing us all together in support of a common ethic. -- Graça Machel-Mandela * Therefore my challenge to each of you ... is that you ask yourself what you can do to make a difference. And then take that action, no matter how large or how small. For our children have a right to peace. -- Graça Machel-Mandela it is clear that increasingly, children are targets, not incidental casualties, of armed conflict. -- Graça Machel-Mandela

* "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear." -- Nelson Mandela

"The most revolutionary thing anybody can do is to raise good, honest and generous children who will question the answers of people who say the answer is violence. That's what the schools should be doing." -- Colman McCarthy * Unless we teach children peace, someone else will teach them violence. -- Colman McCarthy

* Care for all the animals they need our help Care for all the children stop thinking of ourselves. And if we work together to try for harmony Someday we will live in peace -- Country Joe McDonald

* I want to live long enough to see every school child in the world getting a good, nutritious lunch every day. -- George McGovern

* 'As fathers, we know what a force for life children can be. They represent all of our futures. UNICEF is successfully giving children and young people all over the world opportunities and hope. Just like the ones we met on the Long Way Down - protecting them from exploitation and giving them chances in life.' -- Ewan McGregor I am so honoured to have been given this opportunity to become an Ambassador. It’s a new and different venture for me and one that I know will widen my wider perspective on life. I’m in a position to use the recognition from my work to do something really positive for children -- Ewan McGregor

UNICEF is doing amazing things here. They’re helping these groups of kids to be mine aware, and using drama and workshops to teach children in all of the schools in the area to be aware of mines and what to do if they find one, and if somebody’s hurt, not to rush in – all of the essential things that kids need to know.”
-- Ewan McGregor

I was determined to make working with UNICEF not just something that I did on the trip but something I’d do for the rest of my life
-- Ewan McGregor

* "The solution of adult problems tomorrow depends in large measure upon the way our children grow up today. There is no greater insight into the future than recognizing that, when we save children, we save ourselves." -- Margaret Mead We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world. -- Margaret Mead "No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded." -- Margaret Mead

 

"Rather than standing or speaking for children, we need to stand with children speaking for themselves. We don't need a political movement for children... [we need to] build environments and policies for our collective future."
-- Sandra Meucci

 

* One world, one people, living together as a global family! Young people will cross religious, ethnic and cultural divides to recognize the universal human as family. WE ARE ONE and the elders of tomorrow will carry this torch. -- Nina Meyerhof

* "What can we do to make the world's children a priority..." -- Alyssa Milano "I am moved by the spirit of Angolans and the work UNICEF is doing, but I am saddened by the hardships I have seen, and the fact that a little flexing of financial muscle from rich countries could do so much.” -- Alyssa Milano

* Within the child lies the fate of the future. -– Maria Montessori “One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.” -– Maria Montessori

* "Teach love, generosity, good manners and some of that will drift from the classroom to the home and who knows, the children will be educating the parents. Lets face it; the children who do that are the hope of tomorrow." -- Sir Roger Moore

* "The saddest sight these days is the image of hundreds of thousands of children kidnapped and lured into being child soldiers from the age of eight. " -- Sir Roger Moore Working with UNICEF made me grow up and recognize how fortunate I am. -- Sir Roger Moore

* "A child, like all other human beings, has inalienable rights." -- Lucretia Mott

* "I always try to see things with children's eyes. Are they happy? Sad? What do they need? Everywhere I went, I realized that children are society's victims … We have a duty to speak to political leaders, to influence people to give these children a better future." -- Nana Mouskouri "I have been so lucky to receive so much love from those who enjoy my music, that I feel I have to give as much of it as I can back to children." -- Nana Mouskouri All children are my children. -- Nana Mouskouri

* 24,000 people, 18,000 of them children, die every day because of hunger. Each year we bring food to nearly 90 million people in more than 80 countries. Food – there’s no greater gift, and no better way to give it than the World Food Programme. -- Dikembe Mutombo

* I am selfish. I reach for the world I want to live in. And I believe in leaving our best we can do to our children -- Holly Near

"I believe that UNICEF is the most important branch of the U.N.; they do exceptional work to help the neediest children around the world" -- Liam Neeson * "The cause of making the world a better place for children unites us all..." -- Liam Neeson “Forget the statistics…we have to do more. You cannot look these children in the eye and see how desperate is their situation without wanting to help.” -- Liam Neeson

Children are the seed for peace or violence in the future, depending on how they are cared for and stimulated. Thus, their family and community environment must be sown to grow a fairer and more fraternal world, a world to serve life and hope. -- Zilda Arns Neumann

 

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Universal Children's Day -November 20

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