Transcript: Clinton Foundation and UNICEF announcement of Tsunami Water and Sanitation Fund

January 11, 2005

Press conference participants:
President Clinton
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy
President of the US Fund for UNICEF Chip Lyons

President Clinton: “Thank you very much. Thank you. I am delighted to be here with my long time friend Carol Bellamy, who said that the first time I met her she never could have dreamed that I would become President, and I didn’t really dream she would become the head of UNICEF (laughter). Chip, thank you for what you do. I’d like to thank all the UNICEF people here, who have been an inspiration to me over the years, including my old friend and colleague Tony Lake and others.

Like most people after the tsunami struck, I wanted to do something to help, and we know millions and millions of people in our country and throughout the world have done so. And President Bush has asked his father and me to coordinate and try and lead an effort to increase the overall level of giving. I was glad to do so. And we’ve been urging people to donate to charities of their choice for whatever reasons move them. The response has been extraordinary already. More than a third of a billion dollars has been contributed to charities. President Bush has made a personal donation to one of his favourites, AmeriCares, and is having special relief efforts in his home town of Houston. The partnership that we announce today between UNICEF and the Clinton Foundation is really a continuation of the work we are already doing together with our foundation’s HIV and AIDS initiative, which is run by Ira Magaziner who is also here today.

When I was asked to undertake this effort with former President Bush, I knew that a lot of money had been given and an enormous amount of supplies had been given, but I tried to determine whether there was any area of critical need where as far as we could determine the funds were insufficient to meet not only the immediate but the medium and the longer term needs. Our inquiries determined that in the weeks and months ahead more resources will be needed to provide clean water and adequate sanitation, both for survival and for the prevention of disease. Diseases such as dysentery and diarrhea accompany the absence of clean water, the presence of polluted water and they disproportionably impact children. Even before this tsunami struck, an inordinate percentage of the people who died here on earth died because of the absence of clean water. So, we decided to set up through the US Fund for UNICEF this special Tsunami Water and Sanitation Fund. The money will be used by UNICEF; working with others to make sure that we do everything we can to keep people alive and to prevent the spread of disease.

Hillary and I have made a contribution to the fund today and we hope others will follow suit. I am gratified that so many people have already called me or my office to volunteer to contribute, and so we’ll be doing what we can to swell the size of the fund. Already UNICEF has delivered hundreds of thousands of liters of safe water in those severely affected areas, but as I said more is needed over the long run. The trains have to be constructed, contaminated water has to be purified, chlorine, soap and other hygiene supplies are needed, wells and other water systems have to be restored or built anew, and priority has to be given to hospitals, health centers, and schools. We also have to look over the long run to see that governments and organizations can resume responsibility for managing their water supply and sanitation systems, and monitor their adequacy. In the coming days and weeks I will continue the efforts that I am making with President Bush tomorrow at my Presidential Library in Arkansas. We will do some international press interviews to advance the effort, urging people to donate to any reputable charity they choose. A list of them, including UNICEF, is included on the government’s website at www.usafreedomcorp.gov Those who wish to aid this particular effort to provide water and sanitation to tsunami victims and communities can do so directly in the way that is clear up here, by making a check out to that fund to the US Fund for UNICEF or by going to my foundation website www.clintonfoundation.org, or the UNICEF site www.unicefusa.org where secure credit card contributions can be made with just a few clicks with the computer.

I’d like to make one important point anticipating one of the questions. The effort to help those who have lost so much as Carol said is not a competition between charities. We have many great groups doing different kinds of work in different places. The whole is greater then the sum of its parts. One of the reasons I wanted to do this with UNICEF, for example, is in this water and sanitation effort UNICEF works with other groups on the ground like the International Rescue Committee and Oxfam which is – since I lived in England 35 years ago – one of my favourite endeavors. So I want to say to anyone who listens. Here’s the reasonable report of this event. I decided to focus on this because I determined it was the area most likely to need more resources in the short and medium term. In spite of all the generosity that’s forth come, a lot of other good work is being done, and we’re working together.

I’d like to thank the members of the media. I believe the media has done an extraordinary job of covering this tsunami. And we explain to people why it happened, making it clear why we need better warning systems, making it clear why over the long run we need to develop better disaster management systems all across the world, and showing the human face of the tragedy to people in the United States and to others across the globe which is what sparked this enormous outpouring of generosity.

I want to thank the UNICEF folks again for their extraordinary response to human crises generally, and this one in particular. This tsunami may illustrate the fragility of human life but, the response to it represents the strength of the human spirit. And I hope we can make a real difference here. Thank you very much.” (Applause)