Global

This advocacy brief was developed by the United Nations Task Force on Children Deprived of Liberty, of which UNICEF is a member, and provides an overview of promising practices and lessons learned to end child immigration detention and sets out a range of policy actions needed to scale up efforts to end this form of violence.

WHEN: 13 - 15 to December WHERE: Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland. WHY: The 2023 GRF is centered around the theme of inclusion of refugees into national systems. As the world grapples with unprecedented levels of displacement, this year's Global Refugee Forum (GRF) stands at a critical juncture, with a profound impact on the lives of millions of…

UNICEF’s Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2030 guides communities, governments and global leaders to work together to prioritize children’s needs. By 2030, UNICEF with partners, aspires to reach 500 million children in 100 countries with integrated climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction solutions, including 30…, Our commitments, UNICEF endorses the COP28 Relief, Recovery and Peace Declaration and has pledged the following commitments, Climate and disaster financing for children, To address the ever-widening finance gap for climate resilience and disaster risk reduction, UNICEF launched the Today & Tomorrow Initiative, the world’s first integrated climate and disaster risk finance solution for children. Today & Tomorrow combines climate resilience and risk prevention programmes “today” with an innovative use of…, Early warning systems and child-responsive preparedness, Child-responsive early warning systems are essential for protecting the most vulnerable members of society when disasters strike. Yet, half of countries globally are not protected by early warning systems, with the lowest coverage in Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries.   The Secretary General’s Early Warnings for All…, Child-focused climate and disaster risk analysis, Risk information is required to develop strategies and programmes that help build climate-resilient services for children, including preparedness, response and national and subnational recovery efforts. In many countries, there is a lack of disaggregated, timely, geo-referenced, subnational data at high resolution vital for targeted action (…, Conflict-sensitive and peacebuilding programming, Many of the most climate vulnerable countries are also affected by conflict, which undermines state capacity to prevent, mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. It is essential that we ensure support to countries to address conflict and climate risks. UNICEF’s Strategic Plan (2022-2025) elevates peacebuilding as a priority and aims to…, About the Declaration, The Climate Relief, Recovery, and Peace Declaration is a voluntary commitment to increase climate adaptation efforts and access to finance for communities and countries threatened or affected by fragility or conflict, or facing high humanitarian needs and insecurity; to strengthen knowledge and programmatic solutions for climate action in such…

‘Children displaced in a changing climate: Preparing for a future already underway’ analyses the most common weather-related hazards that lead to the largest number of displacements: floods, storms, droughts and wildfires. Millions of children are being driven from their homes by weather- related events, exacerbated by climate change. While the…, South Sudan. A girl holds up her books to keep them out of the floodwater on her way home from school. UNICEF/UN0548063/Grarup, Floods, The 10 countries with the most child displacements triggered by floods, including coastal flooding and flash floods from 2016 to 2021 were: Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Philippines. A child stands by her destroyed home following Typhoon Rolly. UNICEF/UN0358916/Saldico, Storms, The 10 countries with the most child displacements triggered by storms, including tropical storms, tornadoes, blizzards and sandstorms from 2016 to 2021 were: Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Philippines, the United States and Viet Nam Angola. Children and animals are pictured sharing water from a pond in Cunene…, Drought, Droughts are different from most other hazards in that they develop slowly, sometimes even over years, and their onset is generally difficult to detect. The 10 countries with the most child displacements triggered by droughts from 2017 to 2021 were: Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Burundi, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Madagascar, Somalia and South Sudan., Wildfires, Wildfires can be triggered by lightning or human actions. The 10 countries with the most child displacements triggered by wildfires from 2016 to 2021 were: Australia, Canada, China, France, Greece, Israel, Spain, Syria, Türkiye and the United States. October 2023, CHILDREN DISPLACEDIN A CHANGING CLIMATEpreparing for a future already underway CHILDREN DISPLACED IN A CHANGING CLIMATE 2 AcknowledgementsThis United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) publication was developed jointly by UNICEFs Programme Division; Division of Data and Analytics, Planning and Monitoring; and Division of Global Communication and…

NEW YORK, 14 July 2023 – At least 289 children are estimated to have died or disappeared this year attempting to cross the perilous Central Mediterranean Sea migration route from North Africa to Europe, according to UNICEF. This equates to nearly eleven children dying or disappearing every week as they search for safety, peace and better…

ATHENS/GENEVA/ROME, 15 June 2023 – “UNICEF is deeply saddened and shaken by multiple reports of up to a hundred children being among those trapped in the hold of a ship which capsized and sank off the coast of Greece yesterday, in the Mediterranean’s largest sea tragedy in recent years.   “We can assume that many of these children will have lost…

NEW YORK, 14 June 2023 – By the end of 2022, a record 43.3 million children lived in forced displacement, according to UNICEF estimates, many of them for their entire childhood. The number of children forcibly displaced from their homes doubled in the last decade, outpacing efforts to include and protect refugee and internally displaced children.…

Between 2020 and 2022, UNICEF and UNHCR implemented a bold new joint approach to refugee inclusion in 10 countries. Inspired by this experience, in February 2023, UNICEF and UNHCR signed a new Strategic Collaboration Framework that sets out our common vision of a world where all children, including refugee and stateless children, are protected,…

Social protection has emerged as a crucial policy and programme measure to reduce poverty and help those impacted by crises to prepare for, cope with and recover from shocks. Despite the recognition of the value of social protection, only 26.4 per cent of children globally receive social protection benefits.  Global data on access to social…

As the leading UN organizations working for refugees and for children, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and UNICEF have established a Strategic Collaboration Framework to promote the inclusion of refugees in the national systems of host countries and to bring about transformational change for refugee children and their families.  The Framework is a…

Smiling is contagious and these happy children from around the world are sure to put a smile on your face! Find out what's been making them smile this year: Above: 13-month-old Jonaila from the Philippines is grinning from ear to ear the day before her first routine immunizations. UNICEF procures and distributes vaccines and other essential…

GENEVA/NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, 25 July 2022 – The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Georgetown University, and the United Nations University have today launched new guidelines to provide the first-ever global policy framework that will help protect, include, and empower children on the move…