Opinions & Interviews

Rashed Sarwar said: “This year a representative of Belarus sits on the UNICEF Executive Board. I hope that thanks to this appointment Belarus will make its tangible contribution to the implementation of the children’s agenda on the global scale.”

The UNICEF representative also pointed out that apart from the state the UN agency’s most important partners in the country include the civil society and private companies since they contribute heavily to the development of the organization.

“We have established tight ties with sport organizations, too. We are happy we have signed an agreement on partnership with the ice hockey club Dinamo Minsk. We enjoy partnership relations with the Belarusian Football Federation and the National Olympic Committee. We hope to sign similar agreements with other representatives of the Belarusian sport sector since one can work with vulnerable children via sports,” said the UNICEF representative.

Timed to the International Day for Protection of Children, the special event Partnership for Children took place in the Dipservice Hall. It was organized by the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in association with the UNICEF office in Belarus.

Attending the event were Belarusian Labor and Social Protection Minister Irina Kostevich, Economy Minister Vladimir Zinovsky, Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Melchenko, Deputy Emergencies Minister Gennady Lasuta, heads of several commissions of the Belarusian parliament, representatives of municipal government agencies. Heads of the representative offices of the UN agencies in Belarus, diplomatic missions, heads of charity foundations, public organizations, mass media and their families were also present during the social function.

Children were the most important guests during the event. Among them were students of Belarusian schools, children with special needs, and children from asylums, including the Perezhir secondary school named after A.E. Gurinovich and the social and pedagogical center of Minsk’s Moskovsky District.