News & Commentary

The Tuscany Region and UNICEF IRC signed the renewal of the collaboration agreement until end of 2010. Based on the framework of common interests between the REGION and UNICEF, and with the purpose to strengthen the collaboration between them, the partners agreed to develop joint activities to promote the rights of the children and to protect them from all forms of abuse, and maltreatment, including the translation of some IRC reports into Italian, as well as the organization of meetings and events to facilitate knowledge generation and sharing on children's rights and well-being. The collaboration agreement between UNICEF IRC and the Tuscany Region has been in place since 2002, and has led in the past to the dissemination to an Italian audience of key publications such as the Report Card series on child poverty in rich countries, as well as to the organization of major events like the S. Rossore meeting dedicated to women and children in 2007.

A first IRC Community of Practice was implemented on the Child Friendly Cities website to support the development of the CFC research initiative among the researchers and partners participating in the project. The new wiki-based tool (password protected) was created to be an active work space for uploading documents, sharing comments and receiving feedback among the community of participating researchers. It is the first example of its kind developed by IRC and it is meant to become an innovative key component of doing research at IRC in the future.To know more on the CFC research initiative visit the CFC website.

As a core component of the UNICEF research function, the Innocenti Research Centre functions as the organization's dedicated research centre, maintaining academic freedom and contributing to UNICEF's strategic agenda. The Centre's activities promote knowledge generation and brokering to fill research gaps and address emerging and sensitive issues concerning children in developing, middle-income and industrialized countries. With UNICEF support, and through other resources contributions of governments and civil society, the Centre continues to pursue its work in cooperation with academic and policy institutions around the world. Building on twenty years of experience, expertise and lessons from the implementation of its programme, the Centre pursues research in two thematic areas: (a) Social and economic policies and children, and (b) Implementation of international standards for children, including for the protection of children from violence, exploitation and abuse.

The long-standing commitment of UNICEF to end the discriminatory and harmful practice of female genital mutilation/cutting,

UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre is hosting an expert consultation on domestic and inter-country adoption from 19 to 20 March. Practitioners and experts from all over the world will convene in Florence to debate if and how the international juridical system can guarantee the best interest of the child in adoption procedures.

Expert Consultation on South Asia in Action to Prevent Child Trafficking and Assist Affected Children convened in Florence, Italy, on 29-30 June 2006.

"A great read and a fresh perspective! This book not only covers the historical and practical realities of working children, but also offers strong theoretical frameworks for discussing the most difficult issues -and most important, gives guidance onwhat should be done next." - Martha Nelems, Former Senior Policy Analyst, Children's Rights, CIDA

The book Child Labour and Human Rights was recently released, containing three chapters authored by UNICEF staff members Victor Karunan, Victoria Rialp, and Susan Bissell. This book brings the child rights discourse face to face with the human rights discourse, finding some critical middle ground on the issue of child labour. We conducted an interview with child labour expert Dr. Bill Myers on the occassion of the release of the book, and here are a few of his comments.

Innocenti publications catalogue

The Social Monitor is a new high-impact annual publication of the MONEE Project.

Promoted by WHO, Tuscany Region, International Society of Doctors for the Environment - ISDE, International School on Environment, Health and Sustainable Development - SIASS, in collaboration with: Italian Government (?), Regional health agency of Tuscany - ARS, Environmental Protection Agency, Tuscany Region - ARPAT, A.Meyer University Children's Hospital, Innocenti Institute, International Accademy of Environmental Sciences - IAES, WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion Capacity Building in Child and Adolescent Health - Florence.