What:     The first ever conference on child poverty in the Middle East and North Africa, will take place in Rabat, Morocco from 15-17 May. Hosted by UNICEF, the Moroccan National Observatory for Human Development (ONDH), the Moroccan Ministry of Family, Solidarity, Equality and Social Development, and the Moroccan National Observatory on Child Rights, the conference will bring together governments, international child poverty experts and development partners to improve policies for child poverty reduction.
                   
The conference is open to media on the morning of 15 May.
 
Who: Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa & Arthur van Diesen, UNICEF Social Policy Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa.
 
When: In person - 15 May, 2017 at the Centre de Conference Fondation Mohammed VI via skype or phone: 15-17 May
 
Why: A recent UNICEF analysis covering 11 countries in the Middle East and North Africa shows that the proportion of children living in extreme poverty has declined over the past decade but still affects over 29 million children – approximately 1 in 4 children in the countries studied.
Over 51 million children – almost 45 per cent of children included in the study – are deprived of basic necessities including education, quality housing, nutrition, health care, safe water, sanitation and access to information.
 


For further information and interview requests:
Juliette Touma, UNICEF Regional Office, Amman, +962-79-867-4628, jtouma@unicef.org
Tamara Kummer, UNICEF Regional Office, Amman +962 797 588 550, tkummer@unicef.org
Aniss Maghri, UNICEF Morocco, +212 661 489 493, amaghri@unicef.org