Press releases

Displaced, disoriented and shocked, children from Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor need urgent assistance and protection

25th August - UNICEF Representative in Syria, Fran Equiza, said: “The impact of war on children across Syria continues to be staggering. Ongoing and heavy fighting has displaced thousands of families from Raqqa city and Deir-ez-Zor.

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Amid scorching heatwave, access to water and electricity down by one-third in the Gaza Strip

22nd August 2017 - The worsening electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip has left families with less than six hours of daily power supply. Half of the two million people living in the coastal enclave are children.

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Use of children as ‘human bombs’ rising in northeast Nigeria

22 August 2017 – Unicef is extremely concerned about an appalling increase in the cruel and calculated use of children, especially girls, as ‘human bombs’ in northeast Nigeria.

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Dramatic increase in violence in the Central African Republic - UNICEF

15 August 2017  - The past year - and especially the last quarter - has seen a dramatic increase in violence. There are now an estimated 600,000 internally displaced people, up from 440,000 at the end of April – a big increase in the past 2-3 months.

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More than half a million children in Libya need humanitarian assistance

10 August 2017- “Six years since the crisis began in Libya, over 550,000 children need assistance because of political instability, on-going conflict, displacement, and economic collapse.

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“Nothing can justify terrible acts of abuse against women and children in Kasai”: UNICEF

7 August 2017 - The world must not turn a blind eye to the dire situation of children and families in the Grand Kasai region. Over the past 12 months, more than 1.4 million people – including 850,000 children – have been forced from their homes, and their lives turned upside down by widespread acts of extreme violence.

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Babies and mothers worldwide failed by lack of investment in breastfeeding

1 August 2017 – No country in the world fully meets recommended standards for breastfeeding, according to a new report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization

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Clooney Foundation for Justice partners with Unicef to open seven public schools to Syrian refugee children

31 July 2017 – The Clooney Foundation for Justice today announced a $2.25 million partnership to support formal education for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

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850,000 children displaced by violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo’s volatile Kasai region

28 July 2017 – More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes by waves of violent conflict in the Greater Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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Children on the move from Africa do not first aim to go to Europe

25 July 2017 - Children on the move into Europe from Africa take the decision to leave home on their own and do not initially intend to go to Europe.

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Abused, exploited and abandoned children caught up in violence in Mosul need immediate care and protection

22 July 2017 –  The worst of the violence in Mosul may be over but for too many children in Mosul and in the region, extreme suffering continues.

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Malala visits Nigeria to draw attention to education crisis

18 July 2017 – During her visit to Nigeria, education activist Malala Yousafzai met today with girls displaced by the Boko Haram crisis.

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Children increasingly targeted in Central African Republic violence

18 July 2017 – Months of renewed fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR) have led to an increasing number of violent acts committed against children, including murders, abductions, rape and recruitment into armed groups.

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Lilly Singh appointed UNICEF’s newest Goodwill Ambassador

15 July 2017 – Actress, comedian, and author Lilly Singh was appointed Unicef’s newest Goodwill Ambassador at a special event today in New Delhi.

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Mosul’s children, sick, alone, wounded and scarred, are in urgent need of assistance and protection

13 July 2017 - UNICEF’s Deputy Representative in Iraq, Hamida Ramadhani, said: “Although the battle for Mosul is coming to an end, children’s deep physical and mental scars will take time to heal. Some 650,000 boys and girls, who have lived through the nightmare of violence in Mosul, have paid a terrible price and endured many horrors over the past three years.

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Funding shortfalls threaten education for children living in conflict and disaster zones

7 July 2017 – Funding shortfalls are threatening education for millions of children caught up in conflicts or disasters, UNICEF said today ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg.

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Voting Opens For Top 100 DJs In Aid Of Unicef

05 July 2017 - Voting opens today for DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs Poll is the world's biggest publicly voted music poll. Unicef, the global children’s organization, is the official charity beneficiary of Top 100 DJs 2017.

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Over 7 million children are on the move in West and Central Africa each year

5 July 2017 – Children account for over half of the 12 million West and Central African people on the move each year, with some 75 per cent of them remaining in sub-Saharan Africa, and less than one in five heading to Europe.

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Beyoncé partners with UNICEF to bring safe water to children in remote areas of Burundi

30 June 2017 – Global entertainer and humanitarian Beyoncé has teamed up with UNICEF through her BeyGOOD philanthropic arm to announce the launch of BEYGOOD4BURUNDI

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UNICEF calls for the protection of children trapped in west Mosul’s violence

29th June 2016 - Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s Representative in Iraq, said: “Thousands of children continue to be trapped in relentless violence in West Mosul’s Old City neighborhoods as the fighting heavily intensified over the past hours.

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