In its State of the World’s Children 2023 report, UNICEF says that vaccination coverage levels decreased in 112 countries during the pandemic, “the largest sustained backslide in childhood immunization in 30 years”. According to the agency, a rise in misleading information on vaccines is one of the factors at play. UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell…
Meanwhile, thousands more girls and boys have been subjected to grave violations amid ongoing conflict in the region, UNICEF added, underscoring the need to protect children in Nigeria. As recently as 7 April, some 80 children were abducted by militants in the Tsafe Local Government Area in Zamfara state, the UN agency said, citing local…
“We are deeply concerned at reports that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going missing and are at high risk of being trafficked within the UK,” the three experts, or Special Rapporteurs, said in a statement. Local authority responsibility They said that instead of being housed in hotels, children should be placed in the care of…
UNICEF Representative in Türkiye, Regina De Dominicis, said that while the humanitarian response to the disaster was swift, “immediate futures of millions of children remain uncertain”. Urgent health and protection needs To cover the most pressing needs, UNICEF has reached more than 390,000 people with hygiene kits, winter clothes, electrical heaters and blankets. The…
Children in conflict zones must be protected, not punished, said the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, together with Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, in a joint statement. “It is now time to bring them home,” they said. “Many children are…
“Many of us take our gender identity for granted, but for many children it is not so easy,” said Mahesh Mahalingam, the UNAIDS Director of Communications and Global Advocacy. “It’s a matter of daily survival, a daily struggle. Children all around the world must be supported in expressing their identity freely.” Stigma, discrimination, and criminalization…
Some 13 months of often brutal fighting and attacks on civilians since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine began, have left millions displaced, with key civilian infrastructure in need of urgent protection. Ensuring nuclear safety Touring the area around Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met with…
The study, released on Monday ahead of the historic UN Water Conference, reviewed household access to WASH services, the burden of WASH-attributable deaths among children under five, and exposure to climate and environmental hazards, revealing where children face the biggest threat, and where investment in solutions is desperately needed to prevent unnecessary deaths. “Africa is…
“Brutal” armed conflict has left 10 million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in need of humanitarian assistance – more than double the number in 2020, UNICEF warned in a new report. And hostilities spilling over into neighbouring countries, are putting an extra four million children at risk. “The conflict may not have clear boundaries, there…
She added: “We want to make sure that street children are an issue of the past. That’s what we will be working for day-in and day-out.” Recognizing the unprecedented economic hardship that people in Lebanon are facing and renewing the UN’s commitment to supporting Lebanon to respond to increasing needs, are two main issues addressed…
