“I ran as fast as I could, I was so scared.” 7-year-old Felipe Neftaly stands close to his mother, holding her hand. On June 3rd, the Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupted, affecting more than 650,000 children, living nearby. Felipe helps his mum to wash clothes donated to her and her family. Photo: UNICEFGuatemala/Rodrigo Mussapp … Continued

Martin Worth, UNICEF’s Head of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), is no stranger to humanitarian emergencies, yet the crisis facing the Rohingya refugees is by far the most complex he has ever seen. “I’ve been in some difficult places,” he said, “but this could get so much worse. What is already a dire humanitarian situation … Continued

  Families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) seek safety and nourishment for their children. Violence and insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to impede access to critical services for millions of children. In the Kasaï region, an estimated 400,000 children under the age of 5 are at risk of dying … Continued

  UPDATED May 22nd For the third time this year, hundreds of children have been released by armed groups in South Sudan. The latest release brings to 800 the number of children freed in 2018, as part of a process supported by UNICEF. Colleagues in Pibor, South Sudan tell us more than 200 children were … Continued

  Ambassador Cathy Kelly appeared on TV3’s Pat Kenny Show this week, to talk about the children under attack in Syria. Syrian children are enduring their eighth year of war. This week an alleged chemical attack in that region’s key town of Douma led to renewed focus on the humanitarian situation. Cathy Kelly put the facts … Continued

An Aer Lingus cabin crew team of UNICEF Ambassadors recently traveled to India to see the work the organisation is doing for children. The 2018 representatives of the Change for Good initiative visited some of UNICEF’s life-changing programmes for children in the Uttar Pradesh region to learn about the work being done there for children’s rights. In … Continued

By the end of 2017, there were 2.9 million people living in hard-to-reach areas in Syria, including besieged areas. The situation facing people like those in East Ghouta right now is extremely dangerous. They face a daily battle to survive with a severe lack of food, water and healthcare. But you can make a difference … Continued

  A seven-year-old in Syria has never known a day without war. Millions of Syrian children have grown up facing the violence on a daily basis. After seven years of conflict, Syria remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a child. But despite the horrors they have endured and the … Continued

Total number of children in need in Syria – 6 Million  Number of children living in hard to reach areas – Nearly 1.5 million  Number of people under siege in East Ghouta – 393,00 (Half of them are children) UNICEF’s response in East Ghouta The provision of humanitarian assistance to children and families in hard to reach or besieged areas in Syria is … Continued

UNICEF has taken the unusual step of issuing a blank statement in the aftermath of the latest violence in Syria. The blank statement has been sent to all media outlets. See it reproduced below.   Statement The War ON Children in Syria   Reports of mass casualties among children in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus   … Continued

How a kind sister and some theraputic food and medicine saved one little girls life

  UNICEF Ireland polled 400 Irish teens for Safer Internet Day in early February, the results were surprising. Answering anonymously, almost half admitted lying about their age online in order to get around built-in safety measures on various platforms. A further 6% admitted maintaining fake profiles, while 3% own a secret phone. Full results available … Continued