UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to visit Afghanistan

Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 11 July, 2001 - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Japanese celebrity and outspoken advocate for children, will visit Afghanistan from 21 to 26 July to urge a greater global response to the needs of Afghan women and children.
Ms. Kuroyanagi, accompanied by a group of Japanese journalists, will travel to two major areas of Afghanistan where UNICEF has been active. Her schedule in Herat includes visiting Maslakh camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), while in Faizabad, Ms. Kuroyanagi will visit health facilities, an orphanage, and schools.

The mission, arriving here on 19 July, will also visit Afghan refugee camps near Peshawar, Pakistan.

Afghanistan is Ms. Kuroyanagi's latest destination for yearly advocacy and fundraising missions, since her 1984 appointment as Goodwill Ambassador. Her high-profile visits to such places as Rwanda, Iraq, Haiti, and Kosovo have raised more than US$26 million, more than any other UNICEF celebrity advocate.

Ms. Kuroyanagi is part of the organisation's roster of 17 celebrity advocates-Goodwill Ambassadors, Special Representatives, and International Spokespersons-who help publicise UNICEF programmes.

Last October, she received UNICEF's first-ever Leadership Award for Children, recognising her unsurpassed record in advocacy and fundraising on behalf of children.

Ms. Kuroyanagi, born in Tokyo, enjoys huge popularity in Japan as both actress and best-selling author. She has been voted the country's favourite television personality 14 times, most notably for Tetsuko's Room, a daily talk show which debuted in 1975. Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (1981), an autobiographical look at her childhood and education, has been published internationally; and Totto-chan's Children (1999) describes her experiences working for UNICEF.

For further information, please contact: Chulho Hyun Communication Officer
UNICEF Afghanistan Country Office (Islamabad, Pakistan)
Tel: (92-51) 2212948-51, Ext: 306, Direct: (92-51) 2213437
E-mail: chyun@unicef.org