The four members of the pop group ABBA will donate all the royalty payments they receive from their new single Little Things to UNICEF. The royalties are generated each time someone purchases the holiday season single, taken from the group’s latest Album Voyage, or streams it on Spotify, iTunes or YouTube.
ABBA’s contributions will be paid into UNICEF’s Global Child Protection Fund, helping to support the growing number of children who have been affected by economic shocks, school closures and interruptions in social services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Programmes supported by the fund aim to protect girls against violence and provide opportunities for empowerment, among other objectives.
More than one billion children experience violence, including sexual violence, every year. The consequences are profound, enduring and often deadly. Every ten minutes, an adolescent girl somewhere in the world dies because of violence. In addition, a growing number of children face mental health challenges that affect their safety and well-being. Girls face specific violations, such as child marriage.
“We are very grateful to the four members of ABBA for their generous commitment to UNICEF. Their support to the Global Child Protection Fund will help us to target our support where we can achieve the greatest impact for children, help tackle the root causes of gender inequality and promote girls’ empowerment around the world,” said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.
ABBA and UNICEF have a longstanding relationship. Since 1979, ABBA have supported UNICEF through royalties earned on their song Chiquitita, raising US $4.8 million to date. ABBA will donate royalty payments from Little Things to UNICEF for the next five years.
“We think it is impossible to eradicate poverty without the empowerment of women. That is why we support UNICEF in protecting girls from sexual violence and empowering them through the Global Child Protection Fund. We have done so for many years with our song Chiquitita and now we have decided to give UNICEF a Christmas gift in the form of a second song: Little Things from our album Voyage,” said Agnetha, Björn, Benny & Anni-Frid.
The donation comes as UNICEF celebrates 75 years of working for children’s rights around the world. The organizations’ achievements include helping reduce the child marriage rate from one in four girls married last decade to one in five today. UNICEF has established programmes to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse in more than 150 countries. Last year, UNICEF provided mental health support to 31.2 million children in humanitarian settings, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
