© Alejandra Martins

UNICEF helps children receive the support, healthcare and education they need to survive the threats of childhood poverty - such as preventable disease or malnutrition - and grow up to become healthy adults.

We encourage families to educate girls as well as boys, so both men and women can play a full role in family life and broader society.

We strive to protect children from violence and abuse, and from exploitation through child labour or trafficking. We also protect children in the midst of war and natural disasters, and provide emergency assistance, usually within 48 hours.

We strive to educate and care for children affected or orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and campaign globally for affordable, improved drug treatments for children. Our first global campaign “Unite for children, Unite against AIDS” was launched in 2005. We also undertake research into the reality of life for children worldwide and work with governments and other partners to improve life for children through policy changes.

UNICEF supports young people, wherever they are, in making informed decisions about their own lives, and strives to build a world in which all children live in dignity and security.

Working with national governments, NGOs (non-governmental organisations), other United Nations agencies and private-sector partners, UNICEF protects children and their rights by providing services and supplies and by helping shape policy agendas and budgets in the best interests of children.

Mission statement

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights and enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.

• UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress
• UNICEF mobilises political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a “first call for children” and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families
• UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children – victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms and violence and exploitation and those with disabilities
• UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care
• UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority
• UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social and economic development of their communities
• UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realisation of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations