Around the world, children are facing an unprecedented convergence of crises taking forms as diverse as conflict, migration, climate change, epidemics and soaring malnutrition rates. For this, UNICEF has just launched an emergency appeal for the year 2023 to meet the unprecedented humanitarian needs of this vulnerable category.
According to the UN agency, never have so many children needed humanitarian aid since the Second World War. She specifies that rlthough in this year, we have seen a wave of deadly climate-related disasters, including catastrophic floods in Pakistan, historic drought in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa and scorching heat waves in parts of Europe, the Middle East and North America“. For UNICEF, it is the children, millions fighting for their survival, who are paying the price for a world in the midst of crisis.
The United Nations Children’s Fund has reported that more than 400 million children live in a conflict-affected area, one billion children, or almost half of the world’s children, live in a country particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and at least 36.5 million children have been displaced, in addition to eight million children under the age of 5 spread across 15 crisis-hit countries and at risk of dying from wasting severe.
However, the situation is far from hopeless. ” We know how to help the most vulnerable and deprived children. Targeted and timely humanitarian action can save children’s lives, while sowing the seeds of future development“, said the agency, adding that it is paramount that UNICEF and its partners ” receive the necessary support, namely flexible and timely funding, in order to respond quickly to crises and anticipate future risks“.
“The flexibility of funding also allows us to base our humanitarian responses on needs and to allocate resources equitably to different crises,” she continued.
Through ” our appeal Humanitarian Action for Children“, UNICEF is requesting $10.3 billion to support more than 110 million children, including 54 million girls and 10 million children with disabilities, with humanitarian assistance in 155 countries and territories in 2023.
” With your support, we can achieve these goals. We can reach the children and families who need us most. We can respond to existing crises and help children and their communities build resilience for future ones. We hope you will join us in this ambition for every child“, concluded the agency.
Note that the 2022 Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal was launched in December 2021 with a total financial need of $9.4 billion. The appeal was designed to help 177.7 million children in need in 145 countries and territories. By the end of October 2022, total humanitarian needs had risen to $11.12 billion.
Additionally, the $1.72 billion increase in appeal needs between December 2021 and October 2022 was primarily due to climate change emergencies, including floods and droughts, which affect children across multiple continents and expose them more to food insecurity, proliferation of conflict and economic downturn.