Protecting our future

It was on 11 December 1946 that the United Nations created an agency especially to serve the needs of children, primarily in those parts of the world which had been torn asunder by the recent World War. That this was perceived as a temporary expedient is reflected in the title of the organisation – the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, or UNICEF for short.

The importance of this agency relative to the aims of the United Nations as a whole is reflected in the fact that, when the UN office in New York began issuing its own stamps in October 1951, UNICEF was the only agency singled out for recognition. While the majority of the stamps merely showed scenes and symbols representing the UN in general, the 5 cent stamp (actually the commonest denomination at the time, prepaying the basic international rate) was inscribed UNICEF and showed an adult hand clasping that of a small child. Subsequently the needs of children were well to the fore in the occasional special issues. The pair of 1954 marking Human Rights Day, for example, showed a mother hugging a young child.

Today, six decades