Press releases

"Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of the deaths of children under five and the single largest cause of death among women. Policy commitments made by the UK Government at today’s Nutrition for Growth Summit will have a positive impact on children’s lives, but without additional funding to match, these commitments will not address the life-limiting consequences of malnutrition on the lives of those worst affected.

07 December 2021| "The discovery of the Omicron variant comes at a time when over 90 per cent of people in low-income countries have not received a single dose of the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. Health workers and those at greatest risk remain perilously exposed to the virus and unable to protect themselves while the pandemic continues to destabilise essential health and education services for children.

NEW YORK, 3 December, 2021 – All around the world, the nearly 240 million children living with disabilities -- 1 in 10 children worldwide -- are being denied basic rights, UNICEF said ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

29 November 2021 - A child was infected with HIV every two minutes in 2020 – UNICEF

26 November 2021 – The latest shipwreck in the English Channel – where at least 27 people lost their lives - calls for swift and decisive collective action to protect the lives of migrants at sea.

25 November 2021 - At least 14 children, including five girls, are among those killed by militiamen during the latest violence against displaced civilians in the province of Ituri in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UNICEF said today.

24 November 2021 - Responding to the tragic news of loss of life due to a boat capsizing in the Channel today, Joanna Rea, Director of Advocacy at the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), said the following.

GENEVA, 23 November 2021 - West and Central Africa has recorded the highest number of children recruited and used by armed forces and armed groups. This amounts to more than 42,000 violations between 2005 and 2020. "Over this same period, the region also ranks first – and worst – when it comes to numbers of rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against children, with more than 8,000 violations.

DAKAR, 23 November 2021 – Since 2005, when a United Nations mechanism for monitoring and reporting on the six grave violations against children was established, West and Central Africa has been the region in the world with the highest number of children verified as recruited and used by armed forces and non-state armed groups and the highest number of children verified as victims of sexual violence.

BEIRUT, 23 November 2021 ­- With no sign of a let-up in Lebanon’s crisis, the impact on children is progressively worsening, with a new poll showing an increase in the number of children going hungry, having to work to support their family and not getting the health care they need. These are the findings released today in UNICEF’s report ‘Surviving without the basics; the ever-worsening impact of Lebanon’s crisis on children’.

18 November 2021 – Children and young people are nearly 50 per cent more likely than older people to believe that the world is becoming a better place with each generation, according to a new international survey by UNICEF and Gallup released ahead of World Children’s Day.

16 November 2021 – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Millie Bobby Brown, is featured in a new video to raise children’s voices ahead of World Children’s Day on 20th November.

AMMAN, 15 November 2021 – “Three children, a 14-year-old girl and two boys aged 15 and 17 were reportedly killed during violence around protests in Sudan’s capital Khartoum. The exact circumstances of their deaths are under verification.

14 Nov, "COP26 was a chance for world leaders to recognise the climate crisis as a child rights crisis and agree ambitious and concrete action to tackle climate change. “For the one billion children around the world already affected by the climate crisis, the outcomes of the Summit have fallen short of the urgent action needed to protect them today. Many of them will feel their futures remain at risk.

12 November 2021 – “We are UNICEF UK’s Youth Advisory Board and strive to ensure children and young people are placed at the heart of discussions that affect us the most. Despite being the least responsible for climate change, we are disproportionately affected, and future generations will continue to be unfairly affected by the decisions made today about how to protect our planet."

12 November 2021 – “We have received credible reports of families offering daughters as young as 20 days old up for future marriage in return for a dowry. Even before the latest political instability, UNICEF’s partners registered 183 child marriages and 10 cases of selling of children over 2018 and 2019 in Herat and Baghdis provinces alone."

10 November 2021 – The number of children with disabilities globally is estimated at almost 240 million, according to a new UNICEF report. Children with disabilities are disadvantaged compared to children without disabilities on most measures of child well-being, the report says.

GENEVA, Statement by Afshan Khan, Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Response in Europe: UNICEF deeply concerned about instrumentalization and pushbacks of children on Europe’s borders

NIAMEY, 9 November 2021 – "UNICEF is profoundly saddened by the loss of life in a tragic fire that ravaged a primary school in the town of Maradi, Niger.