Princess Madeleine of Sweden attended the Thank You Gala on behalf of the World Childhood Foundation USA last night in New York City.
The black-tie gala was held at Cipriani, where Andrea Bocelli, Forest Whitaker, and Paul Polman, Unilever were awarded for their work in furthering the cause of children’s rights worldwide. Bocelli also performed with the “Voices of Haiti” Children’s Choir during the event.
An auction was held where attendees bid on various items, as well as a dinner for eight at Marcus Samuelsson’s newest Red Rooster in London with Her Royal Highness, which went for $20,000. All proceeds from the Thank You Gala went to different Childhood projects and the ABF Haiti Mobile Clinic Project.
Earlier in the day, Madeleine attended panel discussions on the rights of children at the United Nations. Specifically, they spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals regarding ending sexual violence against children. During this discussion, Sweden vowed to double their investment for children through UNICEF. Princess Madeleine said on Facebook, “The objective of this high-level meeting at the United Nations this morning is to conceptualize solutions that would contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals for the global benefit of children. This meeting aims to illustrate the power of working together to address the needs of children and ending violence against children.” Andrea Bocelli; Forest Whitaker; Swedish Ambassador to the UN, Olof Skoog; Irina Bokova, Director-General UNESCO; Susan Bissell, Director of Global Partnerships to End Violence against Children; Italian UN Ambassador, Sebastiano Cardi; and Nobel Peace Price Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi were in attendance with the Princess, as well as influential academics.
Madeleine also helped to launch a new app called Stewards of Children Prevention Toolkit, where she filmed a short video explaining the importance of adults and children in educating themselves on sexual abuse and protection approaches. Madeleine said, “Now as a mother of two, I am even more determined to help create a world free from sexual abuse for all children in our lifetime…We live in a digital world and it is crucial that technology is integrated in our fight to end child sexual abuse and not for online child abuse. Let us commit together to keep our #EyesWideOpen and ensure that we keep the children in our lives safe from all forms of violence. Please, download the app today.”
The app was launched in coordination with the World Childhood Foundation, Darkness to Light and Ericsson.
Princess Madeleine’s mother, Queen Silvia of Sweden created the World Childhood Foundation in 1999 to combat sexual abuse against children and fight for children’s rights. Childhood is in accordance with UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The foundation has offices in Sweden, the United States, Brazil, and Germany.
