The World - News from Dec. 9, 1986

UNICEF was criticized by a U.N. auditor for “mixing show business a little too closely with the pursuit of programs.” Alain Gourdon of the U.N. Joint Inspection Unit, which reviews the operations of U.N. bodies, said the children’s aid agency was too deeply involved in show-business fund-raising activities like last year’s Sport Aid, launched in association with the Band Aid extravaganza organized by Irish rock star Bob Geldof. Not only was this event not the financial success that was expected, but, in publicity terms, Britain was the main beneficiary, the 82-page auditor’s report said. UNICEF must give up such publicity campaigns, which tend to turn an agency into “a kind of show-business enterprise,” Gourdon said.