2021: A year marked by conflict, COVID and climate change
Two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the globe, life remains upended for hundreds of millions of children. Classrooms have sat empty. Families have struggled through financial crisis. Life-saving immunizations have been halted. Compounding the ongoing devastation of the pandemic in 2021 has been a deadly combination of conflict,…, Cyclone Eloise in Mozambique, Mozambique. A young girl takes shelter in a school in Beira to escape from the winds and heavy rains of Tropical Cyclone Eloise. A girl takes shelter in a school in Beira to escape from the winds and heavy rains of Tropical Cyclone Eloise. For Mozambique, 2021 started with a powerful storm that hit a region still recovering from the devastation of…, Malnutrition in Yemen, Yemen. A child in the malnutrition unit of Al-Sadaqa Hospital in Aden. A child receives care in the malnutrition unit of a hospital in Aden. Life has become a living hell for many of Yemen’s children. Years of armed conflict and economic decline, the COVID-19 pandemic and a severe funding shortfall for the humanitarian response are pushing…, Ten years of conflict in Syria, Syrian Arab Republic. A child carries a newly-received winter clothing kit in Al-Hol camp for displaced persons. A child carries a winter clothing kit in a camp for displaced persons in northeastern Syria. The conflict in Syria has left the lives and futures of a generation of children hanging by a thread. A decade of conflict has had a staggering…, Crisis in northern Ethiopia, Ethiopia. A child is screened for malnutrition in Tigray. A child is screened for malnutrition in Tigray, Ethiopia. Six months after conflict erupted in northern Ethiopia, families in the region were dealing with multiple crises, with no end in sight. By mid-April, more than one million people had been displaced as fighting continued, separating…, Water under fire in Ukraine, Ukraine. A girl stands in front of her home holding a bucket for water. A girl stands in front of her home in eastern Ukraine. A UNICEF report released in May found that eastern Ukraine had experienced around 380 attacks on water infrastructure since 2017. Attacks on water and sanitation facilities and workers in conflicts around the world…, Violence in the State of Palestine, State of Palestine. A Palestinian boy wades in water at the site of his destroyed home in Gaza City. A Palestinian boy wades in water at the site of his destroyed home in Gaza City. Gaza’s children were left reeling from a violent escalation in conflict in May. Lives were lost and families shattered, with devastating impacts on children. In Gaza,…, South Asia battered by COVID-19 wave, India. Workers sort oxygen canisters before they are dispatched to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Workers sort oxygen canisters at a facility on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, before they are dispatched to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients. A deadly surge in COVID-19 cases in South Asia – home to almost 2 billion people – placed an…, Decade of independence marked in South Sudan, South Sudan. A young girl stands at the side of the road in Juba in front of a UNICEF vehicle. A young girl stands by the side of a road in front of a UNICEF vehicle in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. A decade after South Sudan’s independence, more children are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance than ever before. Bouts of violence and…, Humanitarian emergencies in Afghanistan…, Afghanistan. Children hold hands at a child-friendly space in a displacement camp near Herat. Children hold hands at a child-friendly space in a displacement camp near Herat. Afghanistan was already one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a child. But as the crisis escalated in August, the situation became even more desperate.…, …and in Haiti, Haiti. A boy stands in front of a house following an earthquake. A boy stands in front of a damaged house following an earthquake in August 2021. A powerful earthquake in Haiti in August devastated homes, schools and hospitals. Even before the disaster, Haiti was facing multiple crises, including growing political instability, growing gang-related…, A COVID-induced education crisis, UN Headquarters. A view of UNICEF's No Time to Lose installation. UNICEF unveiled its ‘No Time to Lose' in September at United Nations Headquarters in New York. In September, UNICEF announced that schoolchildren around the world had lost an estimated 1.8 trillion hours – and counting – of in-person learning since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic…, #DonateDosesNow, Madagascar. A woman receives her second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. A woman receives her second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has been a huge step forward in the global effort to end the pandemic and to get back to doing more of the things we enjoy…, Crossing the Darien Gap, Panama. A woman carries a child at the Migrant Reception Station in Bajo Chiquito. A woman carries a child at a migrant reception station at Bajo Chiquito, Panama. In October, UNICEF warned that the number of migrant children who cross the Darien Gap – a jungle that separates Colombia and Panama – had hit an all-time high. In this dense tropical…, Climate crisis = Child rights crisis, Fiji. Students are photographed inside a school library destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Yasa. Students are photographed inside a school library in Fiji destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Yasa. As extreme weather events such as cyclones and heatwaves increase in frequency and ferocity, they threaten children’s lives and destroy infrastructure critical to…, “Hellish conditions” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two children and a woman photographed in the Rhoe camp for internally displaced persons in Ituri Province. Two children and a woman are photographed in the Rhoe camp for internally displaced persons. Tens of thousands of children living in a remote and inaccessible hilltop camp for displaced people in the province…, Largest-ever appeal launched, UNICEF has been on the ground protecting children, keeping them learning, and supporting their health and nutrition across new and worsening crises. In December, UNICEF launched a US$9.4 billion emergency funding appeal for children – its largest ever – to reach 177 million children affected by humanitarian crises and the COVID-19 pandemic…
