Press releases

“An increasing number of children are at imminent risk of injury or death because of the escalation in fighting – the worst in years – in and around Tripoli.

RHOE, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 6 April 2022 – UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell today appealed for an urgent political resolution to end ongoing violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ms. Russell had just concluded a visit to Ituri Province, an area which has been hard-hit by attacks on civilians.

LONDON, 24 MARCH 2022, Joanna Rea, Director of Advocacy UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) says: “In just a month, the war has wrought devastation for Ukraine’s 7.5 million children, and they urgently need peace and protection.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/KYIV, 24 March 2022 – One month of war in Ukraine has led to the displacement of 4.3 million children – more than half of the country’s estimated 7.5 million child population. This includes more than 1.8 million children who have crossed into neighbouring countries as refugees and 2.5 million who are now internally displaced inside Ukraine.

UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russel's statement following a reported attack against maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine

NEW YORK, 28 February 2022 – “Today’s landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report removes whatever shred of doubt remained: The climate crisis is not a future threat. It is here, it is accelerating, and it will continue to affect the world in increasingly devastating ways.

GENEVA, February 9, 2022 - World leaders will today launch a call to end the pandemic as a global emergency in 2022 by funding the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a partnership of leading agencies that is providing low and middle-income countries with tests, treatments, vaccines, and personal protective equipment.

6 February 2022 - UNICEF meets child surivors of the attack on northeast Syria prison and calls for immediate release of children

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 3 February 2022 – UNICEF revises its emergency fundraising appeal for children affected by Typhoon Rai (locally named Odette) from an initial US$11.5 million to US$39 million. More than a month after the Super Typhoon hit the Philippines, assessments reveal that the needs of affected families are greater than initial estimates. Of the sixteen million affected people, an estimated 2.4 million people, including 912,00 children, need assistance. UNICEF’s appeal targets 492,000 people and 293,000 children, focusing on the hardest-to-reach and impoverished families.

02 February 2022, "The UK Government's announcement of new funding of £1.5 billion over the next 8 years to global nutrition programmes will provide a much-needed life-line for millions of children.

24 January 2022 – On International Day of Education, IHS Towers and UNICEF announced a three-year international partnership to support the Giga initiative’s objective to map internet connectivity of all schools worldwide. Giga is a joint initiative of UNICEF’s Office of Innovation and ITU’s Telecommunications Development Bureau.

24 January 2022 – More than 635 million students remain affected by full or partial school closures. On the International Day of Education and as the COVID-19 pandemic nears its two-year mark, UNICEF shares the latest available data on the impact of the pandemic on children’s learning.

23 January 2022 - A statement attributable to Bo Viktor Nylund, UNICEF Syria Representative as UNICEF calls for the release of children in detention, taking them through restorative justice and the return of foreign children in the northeast of Syria to their home countries.

22 January 2022 - Statement attributable to Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, as the number of children reported killed doubles in one month in Yemen