Press releases
7,000 newborns die every day, new report says
19 October 2017 - Every day in 2016, 15,000 children died before their fifth birthday, 46 per cent of them – or 7,000 babies – died in the first 28 days of life, according to a new UN report.
South Sudan Conflict: 5,000 children reunited with family by UNICEF, Save the Children and partners
18 October 2017 – Since conflict broke out in South Sudan in 2013, UNICEF, Save the Children and partners have successfully reunited more than 5,000 children with their families.
Endless violence shutters schools, teachers unpaid for a year, threatening education for 4.5 million children in Yemen
18 October 2017 - Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa said: “More than two and a half years of renewed conflict in Yemen have once again put the education of 4.5 million children on the line, adding to the long list of bitter hardships that children have endured.
Geneva Palais briefing note – Unicef Rohingya refugee funding
17 October 2017 - Without immediate additional funding, UNICEF will not be able to continue providing lifesaving aid and protection to Rohingya children who have fled horrific violence in Myanmar for refuge in Bangladesh.
Muzoon Almellehan returns to Jordan to meet Syrian refugees striving to get an education
16 October 2017 – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Muzoon Almellehan travelled to Jordan to meet children who, like her, fled the Syria conflict and are now determined to go to school despite extremely challenging circumstances. It was the first time Muzoon had returned to the country – where she spent three years in refugee camps, before being resettled in the United Kingdom with her family in 2015.
Violence in al-Mayadin district, Deir ez-Zor, reportedly destroys cold room and vaccines
12 October 2017 – “UNICEF has received reports that ongoing violence in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria has destroyed a UNICEF-supported vaccine cold room in al-Mayadin district, with at least 140,000 doses of vaccines lost, including some planned for use in tackling vaccine-preventable childhood diseases in the area.
Joint UN Statement on the Rohingya Crisis
4 October 2017 - We leave Bangladesh moved by the stories of suffering that we heard from refugees fleeing the violence in Myanmar – and all the more determined that the United Nations do all it can to assist the Government of Bangladesh in coping with this crisis.
UNICEF setting up hundreds of new learning centres for Rohingya refugee children
29 September 2017 - UNICEF announced today that it is planning to establish more than 1,300 new learning centres for Rohingya children who have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh.
More than half of all schools remain closed in Borno State, epicentre of the Boko Haram crisis in northeast Nigeria
29 September 2017 – The crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria means that over 57 per cent of schools in Borno, the worst-hit state, are closed, even as the new school year begins.
Investment in children should be at the core of Mexico’s reconstruction efforts after devastating earthquakes – Unicef
29 September 2017 – Unicef called today for children to be at the heart of public and private investment in reconstruction efforts following the devastating earthquakes of 7 and 19 September.
Unicef emergency supplies for Rohingya refugee children arrive in Bangladesh
24 September 2017 - A consignment of Unicef emergency supplies for hundreds of thousands of refugee Rohingya children and their families has arrived in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.
Education at risk for thousands of children after successive earthquakes in Mexico – Unicef
23 September 2017 – Nearly 5,100 schools have been damaged or destroyed in Mexico following two powerful earthquakes that struck less than two weeks apart, threatening access to education for thousands of children
UNICEF intensifies efforts after second earthquake in Mexico
21 September 2017 - UNICEF has stepped up its efforts to support children following the second earthquake to hit the country in two weeks.
Only 15 countries worldwide have three essential national policies that support families with young children – UNICEF
21 September 2017 – Only 15 countries worldwide have three basic national policies that help guarantee the time and resources parents need to support their young children’s healthy brain development, UNICEF said today in a new report. Worse, 32 countries – home to one in eight of the world’s children under five – have none of these policies in place.
DR Congo: Children’s access to education under threat from ongoing violence in Kasai region
15 September 2017 - A large campaign to get 150,000 primary school-aged children back to the classroom has kicked off in the volatile Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following months of clashes between militias and security forces that have displaced thousands of families and left 850,000 children without access to essential services like education and healthcare.
Severe shortages of shelter, food and clean water as thousands of Rohingya arrive in Bangladesh every day
14 September 2017 - Up to 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 25, with thousands more arriving every day and around 60 per cent are children, according to preliminary estimates. The sheer number of refugees has overwhelmed pre-existing refugee camps, with new arrivals seeking shelter anywhere they can find space.
New Rankin film puts spotlight on children forced from their homes
13 September 2017 - Renowned photographer and director Rankin has joined forces with Unicef UK to create a film to highlight the plight of children uprooted by war, poverty and disaster.
One in five children across the Middle East and North Africa needs humanitarian aid
11 September 2017 - Nearly one in five children across the Middle East and North Africa need immediate humanitarian assistance, according to latest data and analysis. Over 90 per cent of these children live in countries affected by conflict.
Statement from UNICEF Regional Director, Geert Cappelaere on children in conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa
8 September 2017 - “Heavy fighting has intensified over the past months especially in Syria and Iraq. While we are seeing a lull in fighting and encouraging signs of recovery in some areas,children are left scarred by years of violence they have been subjected to. They are in dire need of immediate protection and lifesaving assistance.”
Growing concern for nearly 1.4 million internally displaced people living in cholera ‘hotspots’ as outbreak spreads in northeast Nigeria
7 September 2017 – There is growing concern for the health and wellbeing of 1.4 million displaced people, including 350,000 children under the age of five, living in cholera ‘hotspots’ in northeast Nigeria, UNICEF warned today.