Queen’s Baton spends Christmas with children in Vanuatu

A small girl in one of the villages
welcomes the Queen Baton Relay

The holiday season in Vanuatu was even more special with the visit of the Queen’s Baton Relay over the Christmas break. The Baton Relay is currently taking place around the world in the lead up to the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and has recently finished its leg of the journey through the Pacific.  UNICEF is the charity partner of the Commonwealth Games, providing a great opportunity to focus on the children of Commonwealth countries, highlighting what a contemporary Commonwealth country looks like and the dreams and lives of the children that live in them. Vanuatu was the last Pacific country to host the baton. But it was not just a relay that was held in honour of the visit – there was also a UNICEF-supported fun event held in Port Vila for children and their families to highlight the importance of play and sport in children’s development and learning. This is an issue of critical importance in Vanuatu due to challenges children face in accessing quality care and education.

End Violence Against Children

Every day, out of the spotlight, children are subjected to appalling cruelty and abuse. It happens all over the globe, in every setting—public and private, urban and rural, industrialized and developing, rich and poor. UNICEF Pacific believes that every child deserves to be safe and works throughout the world to protect girls and boys from abuse and exploitation. #ENDviolence is UNICEF's new multi-year global initiative to generate momentum in preventing and responding to violence against children.

From Japan with love

Between 11 and 15 November, The Japanese Committee, Vaccines for the World’s Children visited Vanuatu to monitor their support to the expanded routine immunisation programme (EPI). As a key EPI partner, UNICEF Pacific joined the Committee. This is what we learned.

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Five Questions with Karen Allen, UNICEF Pacific Representative

The Kiribati Family Health Association youth group with Karen Allen 
UNICEF Pacific Representative and UNICEF Colleague 
© UNICEF Pacific/2013/Teannaki

Running for WASH in Solomon Islands

UNICEF Pacific/2013/Atenia Tahu
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In 2014, Glasgow, Scotland will host the XX Commonwealth Games with UNICEF as the charity partner. To kick off the lead-up to the Games, the Queen’s Baton Relay is taking place – the baton travels to all of the Commonwealth countries around the globe. As the baton travels through each country, it is a great opportunity to talk about the lives and aspirations of children and youth around the world. The baton has arrived in the Pacific and last week visited the Solomon Islands. UNICEF staff took part in the Baton Relay through Honiara and here Communications for Development Officer Atenia Tahu shares his experience of the relay.