Press releases
More than one million children have fled escalating violence in South Sudan
8 May 2017 – More than one million children have now fled South Sudan where escalating conflict is ravaging the country, UNICEF and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, announced today.
Urgent action needed to protect children in ‘forgotten crisis’ in Central African Republic: UNICEF
5 May 2017 – Without increased support, the lives and futures of more than 1 million children in the Central African Republic are under threat, UNICEF said today.
Refugee and migrant children stranded in European transit countries suffer psychologically in the face of uncertain future - UNICEF
4 May 2017 – Nearly 75,000 refugees and migrants, including an estimated 24,600 children, currently stranded in Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Western Balkans are at risk of psychosocial distress caused by living in a protracted state of limbo, UNICEF warned today.
Leo Messi Foundation helps UNICEF get Syrian children back into the classroom
2 May 2017 – UNICEF has installed 20 new prefabricated classrooms in Tartus, Syria, and rural areas of Damascus, thanks to a generous donation from the Leo Messi Foundation.
Projected number of severely malnourished Somali children up 50 percent
2 May 2017 – The projected number of children who are or will be acutely malnourished has shot up by 50 per cent since the beginning of the year to 1.4 million, including over 275,000 who have or will suffer life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in 2017.
EU and UNICEF aim to mitigate risk of violence in schools in the Lake Chad Basin
27 April - A multi country effort to protect children and teachers from the effects of conflict is underway in the Lake Chad region.
Unicef Statement in Response to Home Office Statement on Dubs Child Refugee Transfer Scheme
26 April 2017 -In response to this afternoon’s Home Office statement Hayley Cull, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at Unicef UK, said: “This will be a much needed lifeline for these 130 children. It is vital they reach safety in the UK quickly, so that they can be protected and start to rebuild their lives.
In drought-hit Somalia, children also face potentially deadly measles threat
25 April 2017 – Almost 30,000 young children, many of them displaced by a searing drought, are being vaccinated against measles this week in an emergency campaign in Baidoa
RACE AGAINST TIME TO SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES IN YEMEN
25 April 2017 - The continuing violence in Yemen is fuelling one of the worst hunger crises in the world, with nearly 7 million people in desperate need of food assistance.
25 million children out of school in conflict zones
24 April 2017 - More than 25 million children between 6 and 15 years old, or 22 per cent of children in that age group, are missing out on school in conflict zones across 22 countries, UNICEF said today
1.5 million children affected by violence in Kasaï region of Democratic Republic of Congo
21 April 2017 - The crisis in the Greater Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is having a devastating impact on children, UNICEF warned today.
More than 150 children estimated to have died taking Central Mediterranean migration route this year
21 April 2017 – According to UNICEF estimates, more than 150 children have died crossing the Central Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy so far this year.
Systematic failures led vulnerable children to the burnt out camp of Dunkirk
19 April 2017 - A new study by Unicef UK and Unicef France, Family Reunification and Failing Protection in Dunkirk, reveals that children living in the Grande-Synthe camp faced exploitation and violence on a daily basis.
Statement by Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, on reported child killings in Syria
16 April 2017 – “After six years of war and human carnage in Syria ... six years of heartbreak for so many Syrian families... there comes a new horror that must break the heart of anyone who has one. More than 60 children reportedly killed in an attack on a bus convoy yesterday outside Aleppo. A convoy of families who for so long had already known so much suffering. Now the survivors must bear such a new and terrible loss.
UNICEF and UNHCR welcome EU policy to protect migrant and refugee children
12 April 2017 - UNICEF and UNHCR today welcome a new policy guidance from the European Commission as an important milestone for the protection of migrant and refugee children.
Lake Chad conflict: alarming surge in number of children used in Boko Haram bomb attacks this year – UNICEF
12 April 2017 - The number of children used in ‘suicide’ attacks in the Lake Chad conflict has surged to 27 in the first quarter of 2017, compared to nine over the same period last year.
Unicef UK statement in response to the fire in Dunkirk
11 April 2017 - Statement from Unicef UK on the fire in Dunkirk from Hayley Cull, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy.
200,000 children need urgent support to overcome trauma of volatile conflict in eastern Ukraine
7 April 2017 – More than 200,000 children – or 1 in 4 - in the two regions most severely affected by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine require urgent and sustained psychosocial support to address the trauma of living through more than three years of violence.
At least 27 children killed in Idlib attack - UNICEF
6 April 2017 - At least 27 children were confirmed killed in the attack in Idlib, northwest of Syria, UNICEF said today. A further 546 people, among them many children, have been injured. Casualty figures are expected to rise.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake on reports of chemical weapons attacks on children and families in Syria
5 April 2017 - “The images of children choking and dying in the streets of Idlib, Syria, following alleged chemical weapons attacks, are as horrific as they are heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.