9/7/2004
UNICEF Teams Up With H&M To Fight AIDS And Help Girls’
Education In Cambodia

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the global fashion company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) have announced a joint partnership to promote HIV/AIDS prevention and to help girls obtaining the same basic education as boys. H&M will start off the partnership with a donation of $1.5 million for a three-year UNICEF project in Cambodia.

The Swedish company will help the agency’s “25 by 2005” campaign, which aims to help 121 million children out of school, most of whom are girls. The donation will help thousands of girls obtain the same
access to basic education as boys.

Under the Cambodia project, thousands of adolescents in the country will receive HIV/AIDS awareness training, 75 youth club associations will be started and 2,500 teachers will receive HIV/AIDS prevention training. Part of the money is invested in the set-up of a toll-free hotline where youngsters can get information about HIV/AIDS and receive counselling, if needed.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy praised H&M’s donation and called it an example of how sponsors can use their resources to work for the good of children.

H&M CEO Rolf Eriksen said the new partnership demonstrated the company’s sense of social responsibility. “The presence of H&M on four continents makes us sensitive to cultural differences,” he said. “ For us it means respect for human rights and the responsibility for the effects of our business on the local environment.”

H&M is a member of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Global Compact initiative, which aims to promote corporate responsibility in the areas of the environment, human rights and labour standards. The company’s Ingrid Schullström said its work with UNICEF “is also in line with our participation in the UN Global Compact.”