[afro-nets] UNICEF and the Code

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

UNICEF and the Code
-------------------

From: Lida Lhotska <lida.lhotska@gifa.org>

What many of us in IBFAN were afraid of has happened: UNICEF is
no longer prepared to be the main advocate and supporter for im-
plementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-
milk Substitutes, one of the few codes that have ever been
adopted by the UN. IBFAN has been working in synergy with UNICEF
on its implementation. (WHO has never been very strong on the
notion of holding corporation accountable through implementation
of legal measures). We did what UNICEF could not do: monitoring
company practices against the Code and exposing the violations.
And together with UNICEF we have been assisting governments in
the Code implementation. This synergy led to quite some achieve-
ments: 30 countries with strong national laws, 34 with laws cov-
ering many provisions of the Code, 25 with some provisions and
23 countries with measures drafted and awaiting final approval.

As the response below, which I received from David Clark, a law-
yer who has worked on Code implementation at HQ level for the
past 10 years, shows, UNICEF is rolling back its support for
this hot political work. We in IBFAN and in other NGos working
on infant feeding issues know that there is no UNICEF legal ex-
pertise at the regional level and that reducing the Code work to
the regional level would be a clear signal of not taking it se-
riously any longer.

IBFAN and the closest breastfeeding allies have already ex-
pressed their concern in series of similar letters addressed to
Ann Veneman. (copies available from Lida L.) It's not clear
whether the abolition of the post is Ann Veneman's decision.
However, there are, in the field of nutrition, more and more
signals that partnerships with the industry (e.g. UNICEF /
Unilever national projects or UNICEF and Unilever joint plans
for Latin America) is also her trend of the day. The point is
that she is the head of the agency and thus ultimately responsi-
ble for the decision taken at any level. Writing directly to her
is to draw her attention to the fact that many people who for
years saw UNICEF as their best ally are very concerned. If she
is not behind the decision, she may still shift it back; if she
is behind this decision, she will learn about our concern and
may still re-consider (very unlikely) or try to figure out how
to keep us quiet. In fact, we have already received our response
(available from Lida L.). The same letter to all those who
wrote. And it does not have Ms. Veneman's signature but that of
the Director of Programme Division - quite high in the UNICEF
ranking system. And the response is somehow exactly what one
could have expected the public relations people would prepare.
Interestingly, it is no longer about Code work at regional level
but straight down to country level -- decentralization.... It
clearly is not a satisfactory response and we will follow up.

However, at this stage of the campaign, we are turning to you to
invite you to join us. We need the campaign to grow so please
join in with your letters to Ms. Veneman and use the UNICEF
Watch mechanisms. Also, those in PHM who have contact with UNI-
CEF offices, ask them if they know about this and see if they
could inquire and express their concern at Headquarters. They
will know best that they cannot manage to move on with Code im-
plementation without strong technical support and advocacy from
the HQ level. Especially those countries with pending drafts may
be very concerned. And there are, I am sure, many other actions
you can think about. So please join in and help us to do the
best we can to prevent this from happening.