For 75 years, UNICEF has been an unstoppable force for change in the lives of children everywhere. The quintessential cyan blue shirts and determined faces have marked the frontlines of humanitarian situations from the aftermath of World War II to natural disasters and armed conflicts today, its owners always reimagining what it really takes to protect and help children not only survive but thrive. Today, that power to reimagine is crucial. With a worldwide pandemic rolling back many of the gains made these past 75 years, the only way forward is to work even harder, to keep going, and to never give up.
Founded in the aftermath of World War II as the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF’s first mission was to help children suffering from the effects of the war. One of the children receiving aid in the Netherlands in 1946 grew up to be a legendary film and fashion icon as well as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador: Audrey Hepburn.
“I did emerge from the war, along with hundreds of thousands of other children in Holland, with very poor health because of years of malnutrition,’ Hepburn once said in a recorded interview. “UNICEF came in right after the liberation, the way they do now in all kinds of emergencies, with food and clothing, medication and blankets,” she recalls in the interview.
With a focus on both short-term relief and long-term change and development, UNICEF has since built healthy, safe, and sustainable environments for children and families in countries and regions all over the globe.
Before, during and after emergencies
Since World War II, UNICEF has been on the ground before, during and after hundreds of humanitarian emergencies. In 1968, UNICEF provided aid for mothers and children in civil conflicts in Nigeria and Vietnam, underlining its philosophy of non-political and non-discriminatory aid. In 2004, UNICEF and its partners organised a rapid humanitarian response to the devastating tsunami. On average, UNICEF responds to around 300 emergencies every year, able to ship humanitarian supplies within 48 to 72 hours from its giant supply hub in Copenhagen, as well as local supply hubs worldwide.
Providing building blocks for the future
In 1961, UNICEF expanded its focus to include education, launching innovative programmes worldwide. Education is an important key to building a better future for every child. A good educational basis can provide opportunities for the future, helping not only the child itself but also his or her community and country. Yet 258 million children worldwide still do not have access to education. With programmes like Plastic Bricks, UNICEF combines sustainable development with education, empowering a women-led recycling market in Côte d’Ivoire that transforms waste into safe and sustainable building materials for schools. Fifty-eight classrooms were already constructed, making education possible for 2,900 children. UNICEF aims to support the building of a total of 528 classrooms before 2023.
Protecting refugee and migrant children
UNICEF’s work with refugee children started with displaced families in 1946 and hasn’t stopped since. The child refugee crisis we are facing today is the worst since World War II, with families fleeing from violence, conflicts and natural disasters as well as the direct consequences of climate change. According to the UNHCR, 84 million people were displaced in 2021, including 35 million children. From the Middle East to Central America, Southeast Asia and Southern Europe, UNICEF supports children and families on the move to stay safe, healthy, and continue to learn and thrive under difficult circumstances.
Fighting against preventable diseases
Working together with local health care professionals and international partners, UNICEF leads the fight against preventable childhood diseases. Smallpox was wiped off the planet, and polio reduced by 99 percent since 1988. Today, tetanus has been eliminated in 47 out of 59 at-risk countries. Perhaps surprisingly, UNICEF also plays an important role in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. UNICEF currently leads the largest vaccine supply operation ever on behalf of COVAX, an international partnership and programme aiming for the equal distribution of covid vaccines, sending both purchased and donated vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. On January 15th, the programme reached its 1 billion vaccines delivered milestone. A significant number, yet just over eight per cent of the population in low- and middle-income countries has received a single dose. UNICEF will continue to support COVAX by shipping vaccines, training health care workers, and enhancing cold chain vaccine storage capacity. With a high global percentage of vaccinated people, we have a chance to stop the virus and its mutations, and a chance to end the pandemic and its consequences for children everywhere.
Changing the course for climate change
Every child on earth is or will be exposed to the shock and stress of climate change. What seems like a thing of the future in the Western part of the world is already a harsh reality in countries like South Sudan. Extreme climate changes – from extreme warmth and long droughts to unpredictable and catastrophic rainstorms – wreak havoc on villages along the Nile, drowning homes, livestock, harvests and people. UNICEF works tirelessly to protect children from the immediate effects of climate change, providing emergency relief during floods or other natural disasters, constructing solar powered water pumps, implementing air pollution programmes and supporting climate and environmental programming in 74 countries and counting.
UNICEF’s resilient and innovative focus on education, malnutrition, child protection and equality has allowed millions of children to thrive, to build a better and more promising future for themselves, their families, and their countries. Yet in 2022, millions of children everywhere face the biggest global crisis in UNICEF’s 75-year history. The impact of COVID-19 is significant, challenging decades of progress in areas like poverty, health, education, and nutrition. An alarming 100 million additional children are now living in poverty because of the pandemic, a 10 per cent increase since 2019, meaning approximately 1,8 children was pushed into poverty every second since mid-March 2020.
“This 75th anniversary is a time for marking UNICEF’s history, but it is also a time for action,” says UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.*
“A time for action by ensuring vaccines for all, revolutionising learning, investing in mental health, ending discrimination, and addressing the climate crisis.”
The world and the work have changed, but after 75 years UNICEF’s call remains the same. To reimagine and rebuild a better world for every child. To work together to invest in the future, end the pandemic, and build a resilient and sustainable environment that allows every child, everywhere, to survive and thrive.
* Fore has since retired from the position, Catherine M. Russell replaced Fore in December 2021
UNICEF the Netherlands
UNICEF’s national committee in The Hague was founded in 1955 and works hard to defend children’s rights in the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands, including the Dutch Caribbean. UNICEF monitors the government and holds policymakers accountable to make sure they comply with the agreements in the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Around 110 employees and 1,700 determined volunteers in the Netherlands are committed to issues like the well-being of child refugees and fair asylum procedures, climate change, socioeconomic inequality, mental health, and good nutrition. The COVID-19 crisis has made it abundantly clear that there is still a lot of work to be done to make sure every child knows his or her rights, can speak up for what they believe in, and gets every opportunity to build a better future.
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