Press Releases
Nearly Half a Million Children in Europe and Central Asia Live in Residential Care Facilities
NEW YORK (January 18, 2024) – Nearly half a million children – or 456,000 – across Europe and Central Asia live in residential care facilities, including large-scale institutions, according to a new...
As Cholera Cases Continue to Rise in Parts of Southern Africa, UNICEF Calls for Increased Focus on Children in the Cholera Response
NEW YORK / NAIROBI (January 15, 2024) - The cholera epidemic that affected multiple countries in Eastern and Southern Africa in 2023 persists and continues to impact the region, placing additional...
96,000 children affected by earthquakes in western Afghanistan in dire need of support this winter, UNICEF warns
NEW YORK (January 15, 2024) - 100 days after earthquakes struck western Afghanistan, UNICEF is calling for greater support for over 96,000 children affected in the aftermath, as a crippling winter...
Ecuador: Homicide Rate Among Children and Adolescents Soars 640 Percent in Four Years - UNICEF
NEW YORK/PANAMA CITY (January 12, 2024) – At least 770 child and adolescent homicides were recorded in Ecuador in 2023 [1] , a drastic increase of 640 percent from 104 cases in 2019, according to the...
Intensifying conflict, malnutrition and disease in the Gaza Strip creates a deadly cycle that threatens over 1.1 million children
NEW YORK (January 5, 2024) – Children in the Gaza Strip face a deadly triple threat to their lives, as cases of diseases rise, nutrition plummets and the escalation in hostilities approaches its...
At least two children reportedly killed, and 15 injured in latest wave of deadly attacks across Ukraine
NEW YORK (January 3, 2024) – “Two children have reportedly been killed and at least 15 children have been reportedly injured in a wave of deadly attacks across several areas in Ukraine. “Over the last...
‘Barely a drop to drink’: children in the Gaza Strip do not access 90 percent of their normal water use
NEW YORK (December 20, 2023) – Recently displaced children in the southern Gaza Strip are accessing only 1.5 to 2 liters of water each day, well below the recommended requirements just for survival...
STATEMENT BY KITTY VAN DER HEIJDEN, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF AT THE CONCLUSION OF COP28
NEW YORK (December 13, 2023) – “The COP28 climate negotiations generated welcome breakthroughs on both the urgent need to address the root causes of climate change – fossil fuels – and some glimmers...
Children hit ever-harder by Lebanon’s unrelenting crises – UNICEF
NEW YORK (December 13, 2023) – The impact of Lebanon’s unrelenting, overlapping crises continues to worsen, increasingly robbing children of their education and forcing many into child labor, as...
Statement by Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa on the continued killing and injuring of children in the Gaza Strip and the humanitarian situation
NEW YORK (December 9, 2023) – “The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods...