© UNICEF/Ahmed Elfatih Mohamdee. In central and eastern Sudan, the children are waiting for UN agencies to distribute humanitarian aid.
Speaking at a press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva today, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said the outlook for 2024 is bleak for children, especially those affected by conflict and disasters.
In his more than 25 years of working for UNICEF, it is difficult to recall a time when children were affected by conflict and disasters as dire as they are now, highlighting the importance of humanitarian work.
"The terrible situation in Gaza shakes humanity to the very core, and our work as a humanitarian organization has never been more important and perhaps more complex," he said. ”
Earlier this week, UNICEF launched an emergency appeal for $9.3 billion to reach at least 93.7 million children in 155 countries.
Lack of funds
However, at a time when humanitarian and protection needs are at an all-time high and 2024 is approaching, UNICEF faces increasingly gloomy funding projections, and its ability to meet children's needs is likely to be under pressure, Chaban said.
"Flexible funding is shrinking, which limits our ability to respond quickly and ensure principled action based on demand, because only flexible funding allows us to react with the fastest speed, the largest scale, and the most flexible way," he said. ”
In addition, UNICEF faces severe underfunding in responding to emergencies in Sudan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Haiti, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Bangladesh.
Countless children have been devastated
With attacks against humanitarian aid workers around the world, the ability of humanitarian actors to reach affected populations is increasingly threatened.
For the past year, children around the world have been victimized and deprived of their rights, Chaiban said.
"In November, I made a week-long visit to Ukraine, visiting the frontline areas of the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions and stressing the urgent need to continue humanitarian assistance in conflict-affected areas," he said. In October, I visited Gaza, where an unprecedented number of children are believed to have been killed in this round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In July, I met with families in Sudan, where millions of children have been forced to leave their homes, in what is currently the largest child displacement crisis in the world. ”
In addition to hotspots affected by conflict and other crises, children elsewhere are also suffering, Chaiban noted.
"This year, I have seen many children in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Chad and Mali in need," he said. Devastating conflicts in these regions, coupled with increased climate disasters, disease outbreaks and displacement, continue to bear the disproportionate impact of protracted crises and new threats on children. ”
Helping children get out of trouble
In all conflict zones, UNICEF is on the ground providing essential life-saving assistance to children and their families, and exploring innovative solutions to the challenges that have plagued humanity for centuries, Chaiban said.
"UNICEF and our partners are committed to a comprehensive response to the many humanitarian crises affecting children, but children should not have to pay with their lives for our inaction or sacrifice their future," he said. They need ongoing access to basic services such as health care, safe drinking water, basic sanitation and education. ”
Chaiban then shared the example of two conflict-affected children. "During my visit to Sudan, I met 12-year-old Mahmoud at a makeshift Xi centre outside Atbara who was Xi through UNICEF's online learning Xi programme, but what he really wanted to do was go home, back to his home in Khartoum," he said. He showed me a picture he had drawn of the bombed-out pharmacy across the street from his house and the parking lot where he and his friends played soccer, and he just wanted to go home. During my visit to Gaza, UNICEF Executive Director Cathy Russell and I met a 16-year-old girl at Khan Younis Nasser Hospital, who had been hit by shrapnel in her back and could no longer walk. ”
Chaiban stressed that these children should not have to go through these hardships, and we need to do everything we can to put our heart and soul into the work to free the children from such hardships and difficulties.
