From climate change, education and mental health, to ending racism and discrimination, children and young people are raising their voices on the issues that matter to their generation and calling for adults to create a better future. This World Children’s Day (20 November), kids are standing up for a more equal, inclusive world. What will you do? on World Children’s Day!
UNICEF
asked young climate advocates how climate change has impacted their lives. Watch the video to find out what they answered, and their message for world leaders at COP27. Faced with a growing energy crisis, record greenhouse gas concentrations, and increasing extreme weather events, COP27 seeks renewed solidarity between countries to deliver on the landmark Paris Agreement for people and the planet.
After millennia of living with poliovirus and the suffering the paralysis it causes, today nearly everyone lives in a polio-free country. However, cases of polio have been recently reemerging worldwide, including in Malawi. There are several factors behind those outbreaks, including conflict and displacement, disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccine hesitancy. With support from , a nationwide immunization campaign was launched in Malawi in March 2022 and its impact has been profound. Since the vaccination drive began, about 9 million children in Malawi have received a polio vaccination. Find out more about the campaign .
Around 33 million people, including 16 million children, have been affected by this year’s torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan triggering the most severe flooding in the country’s recent history. Villages have been washed away leaving about 3.4 million children in need of assistance and at an increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition. is helping deliver safe drinking water, medical supplies, therapeutic food supplies and hygiene kits to children and families. The UN agency is establishing temporary learning centres and supporting the protection and psychosocial wellbeing of children affected by these devastating floods.
“We asked around and found the woman who cuts girls in the village,” , “She strongly warned us to keep it a secret.” Childhood and adolescence can be a time fraught with peer pressure and insecurity. Many go to great lengths to fit in. Although her father firmly opposed FGM, Bereket made a secret pact with 4 friends when they were just 15: to undergo FGM during their school summer break.
FGM has been outlawed in Ethiopia , but many pursue the practice anyway. Changing social norms requires building broader social movements uniting women, girls, men, and boys against FGM. To this end, is engaging faith-based organizations, community institutions, and government stakeholders in the .
In response to a global crisis in , and in order to provide a unique opportunity to elevate education to the top of the global political agenda, the Transforming Education Summit is being convened Sep 16-19. Today is "Leaders' Day"; dedicated to the presentation of National Statements of Commitment by Heads of State and Government in the form of Leaders Roundtables. In addition, thematic sessions are held to place a focus on cross-cutting priorities. Also featured are presentations of the Summit Youth Declaration and the Secretary-General’s Vision Statement.
Nearly two-thirds of 10-year-olds are unable to read and understand a simple text. Without , this global learning crisis will become a generational catastrophe.
The Transforming Education Summit is being convened on 16, 17 and 19 September at the United Nations in New York, in response to a global crisis in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality and relevance. Often slow and unseen, this crisis is having a devastating impact on the futures of children and youth worldwide. The Summit provides a unique opportunity to elevate education to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilize action, ambition, solidarity and solutions to recover pandemic-related learning losses and sow the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world.
Consecutive years of below-average rainfall in the Horn of Africa have created one of the worst climate-related emergencies of the past 40 years. Over 20 million people, including 10 million children, in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will need water and food assistance in 2022. As severe malnutrition and the risk of water-borne disease collide, children could die in devastating numbers unless urgent support is provided. is providing essential health, nutrition, education and child protection services to children and their families in dire need across the Horn of Africa.
In a remote corner of far-western Nepal you see communities in the distance, perched on top of the hills. Bringing vaccines to the children and families that live in remote communities often requires steep climbs and navigating treacherous roads and a strong cold chain. The cold chain refers to a series of precisely coordinated events in temperature-controlled environments to store, manage and transport the doses. To facilitate this, has been working closely with Nepal’s government and key partners, to expand and strengthen the country’s cold chain capacity.
Mohammad Al-Amin was 14 years old when he was arrested. He had been accused of vandalism and was transferred to a child detention centre in the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. He was terrified. Al-Amin would go on to spend 9 months in detention. He was eventually released through a virtual court system that had been established by Bangladesh’s Supreme Court, with UNICEF’s support. Since Bangladesh’s first virtual children’s court was set up, more than 5,000 children have been granted bail and released from detention. The majority have been reunited with their families and so far, only two children have reoffended.
travelled to Poland this week to meet refugee children and families who fled the war in Ukraine.
Globally, only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults where three quarters (76%) are receiving antiretrovirals, according to the data that has just been released in the . Concerned by the stalling of progress for children, and the widening gap between children and adults, , , and partners have brought together a global alliance to ensure that no child living with HIV is denied treatment by the end of the decade and to prevent new infant HIV infections.
The largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in 30 years has been recorded in data published by and . According to the agencies, global vaccination coverage continued to decline in 2021, with 25 million infants missing out on lifesaving vaccines such as DTP. The decline was due to many factors including an increased number of children living in conflict settings where immunization access is challenging, COVID-19 related service and supply chain disruptions and resource diversion to response efforts.
The war changed everything for Ukraine’s children, robbing them of stability, safety, their friends. As the fighting moved closer to civilian populations, life for many children moved underground. Relatively protected from the physical horrors unfolding above their heads, children who sought shelter below struggled to piece together some semblance of normalcy. brings us the stories of five children whose lives have been upended by the war.