UNICEF
UNICEF wants investment in world's first child-focused climate risk financing solution
UNICEF is launching a new climate financing initiative to enhance countries' climate resilience and disaster preparedness for children and youth and bolster protection for children from the impacts of future climate-related disasters.
The Today and Tomorrow initiative is an integrated climate change finance solution that, for the first time, combines funding for immediate climate resilience and risk prevention programmes for children today, with innovative use of risk transfer finance provided by the insurance market for cyclone disasters tomorrow.
The combined financing platform is designed to help countries address the current and growing impacts of the climate crisis while preparing for future emergencies and rapidly responding to them when they occur.
“The risks of climate change are no longer hypothetical. They are here. And even while we work to build communities’ resilience against climate disasters, we have to become much better in pre-empting risks for our children,” said Karin Hulshof, UNICEF deputy executive director for Partnerships. “We know more climate disasters are in the making. We just do not know where or when they will hit.”
Children and youth are a critically vulnerable population group that is among the most affected by disaster risk and climate change, including the effects of extreme weather events such as cyclones. Last year, UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index estimated 400 million children (nearly 1 in 6 children globally) are currently highly exposed to cyclones.
In its initial three-year pilot, UNICEF’s Today and Tomorrow will focus on eight countries in four global cyclone basins – Bangladesh, Comoros, Haiti, Fiji, Madagascar, Mozambique, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
UNICEF is raising $30 million for the initiative and is calling for additional private and public partners to take action and join UNICEF in helping to close the intensifying humanitarian financing gap for disaster protection for children and youth.
Read more: Heatwaves to impact almost every child by 2050: UNICEF report
Climate harm in childhood lasts for life and perpetuates and deepens inequality and poverty across generations. However, the unique needs of children are not directly addressed by existing Risk Transfer mechanisms. This leaves a global humanitarian financing gap, or “Child Protection Gap,” that encompasses hundreds of millions of children and youth.
Cyclones and the disasters they trigger, such as floods and landslides, represent the fastest-growing category of climate-influenced disasters and are a major cause of losses and damages worldwide. UNICEF’s research has shown that investments that reduce exposure to and negative impacts from cyclones and other hazards can considerably reduce overall climate risk for millions of children.
UNICEF’s Today and Tomorrow is the first pre-arranged and event-based climate disaster risk financing mechanism that specifically targets this Child Protection Gap, with full support for the Tomorrow portion of the risk transfer instrument, secured from the German and UK governments under the newly launched G7-V20 Global Shield against Climate Risks.
Read more: Children want govt investment in education, health, protection: UNICEF
Heatwaves to impact almost every child by 2050: UNICEF report
UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, has warned that by 2050, nearly every child on earth would be affected by heatwaves, which have already become an inevitable health risk for many nations.
Today, 559 million children are already exposed to a high number of heatwaves, placing them on the front lines of climate change, the UN agency noted.
More than two billion youngsters are expected to be exposed to "more frequent, longer lasting, and more severe" heatwaves by the middle of this century.
“The climate crisis is a child rights crisis – and it is already taking a devastating toll on children’s lives and futures,” warned UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell.
This year’s wildfires and heatwaves that have swept through India, Europe, and North America were “yet another sobering example of the impact of climate change on children”, she added.
New data from the agency published in its report on Tuesday, The Coldest Year Of The Rest Of Their Lives, underscores that young children face greater risks than adults when faced with extreme heat events.
This is because they are less able to regulate their body temperature compared to adults. The more heatwaves children are exposed to, the greater the chance of health problems including chronic respiratory conditions, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases.
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“The world urgently needs to invest in building their resilience – and in adapting all the systems children rely on to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing climate,” UNICEF maintained.
This is regardless of whether average global temperatures rise by 1.7 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels if greenhouse gas emissions are low, or whether they rise by 2.4C, if emissions are high.
Protecting children from the escalating impacts of heatwaves should be a priority for all countries, UNICEF said, in a call for “urgent and dramatic emissions mitigation measures to contain global heating - and protect lives”.
Children in northern regions will face the most dramatic increases in high heatwave severity, while by 2050, nearly half of all children in Africa and Asia will face sustained exposure to extreme high temperatures over 35C (95F), UN Children’s Fund data showed.
“This will have a devastating impact on children,” said Vanessa Nakate, climate activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. “The more frequent, longer lasting and more severe heatwaves children are exposed to, the greater the impacts on health, safety, nutrition, education, access to water and future livelihoods.”
“Almost every country is experiencing changing heatwaves,” UNICEF said. “What each government does now will determine the survival of those least responsible for this crisis – our children and young people.”
Girls lag behind boys in mathematics for negative gender norms , stereotypes: UNICEF
Ahead of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF has warned that low levels of numeracy proficiency, particularly among girls, is undermining children’s ability to learn, develop and progress.
Girls worldwide are lagging behind boys in mathematics, with sexism and gender stereotypes among the root causes, according to a new report published by UNICEF on Wednesday.
Solving the equation: Helping girls and boys learn mathematics features new data analyses covering more than 100 countries and territories.
The report finds that boys have up to 1.3 times the odds of obtaining mathematics skills than girls. Negative gender norms and stereotypes often held by teachers, parents, and peers regarding girls’ innate inability to understand mathematics are contributing to the disparity.
This also undermines girls’ self-confidence, setting them up for failure, the report notes.
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“Girls have an equal ability to learn mathematics as boys – what they lack is an equal opportunity to acquire these critical skills,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “We need to dispel the gender stereotypes and norms that hold girls back – and do more to help every child learn the foundational skills they need to succeed in school and in life.”
Learning mathematics skills in turn strengthens memory, comprehension, and analysis, in turn improving children’s ability to create, the report notes.
Ahead of next week’s United Nations Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF warns that children who do not master basic mathematics and other foundational learning may struggle to perform critical tasks such as problem solving and logical reasoning.
An analysis of data from 34 low- and middle-income countries featured in the report shows that while girls lag behind boys, three-quarters of schoolchildren in grade 4 are not obtaining foundational numeracy skills.
Data from 79 middle- and high-income countries show more than a third of 15-year-old schoolchildren have yet to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics.
Read:266,000 grave violations against children verified in conflict situations: UNICEF
Household wealth is also a determining factor. The report notes that schoolchildren from the richest households have 1.8 times the odds of acquiring numeracy skills by the time they reach fourth grade than children from the poorest households.
Children who attend early childhood education and care programmes have up to 2.8 times the odds of achieving minimum proficiency in mathematics by the age of 15 than those who do not.
The report also notes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has likely further exacerbated children’s mathematics abilities.
Moreover, these analyses focus on girls and boys who are currently in school. In countries where girls are more likely to be out of school than boys, the overall disparities in mathematics proficiency are most likely even wider.
UNICEF has called on governments to commit to reaching all children with quality education and sought new effort and investment to re-enroll and retain all children in school, to increase access to remedial and catch up learning, to support teachers and give them the tools they need, and to make sure that schools provide a safe and supportive environment so all children are ready to learn.
“With the learning of an entire generation of children at risk, this is not the time for empty promises. To transform education for every child, we need action and we need it now,” said Russell.
“Icchedana”: A drama series on girls triumphing over gender stereotypes, social restrictions
“Icchedana”, a drama series about a group of Bangladeshi adolescent girls who triumph over gender stereotypes and society’s restrictions, marks its highly-anticipated return to the small screen.
Season 3 of the show continues the story of Tanzila, her all-girl football team and their community as they strive to make their own way, to avoid child marriage and to realize their ambitions.
“Icchedana” is jointly created by UNICEF and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs.
“Girls and women in Bangladesh have so much to contribute to society, yet they are being held back by discrimination and harmful practices. Icchedana highlights positive practices and encourages adolescent girls to thrive and fully participate in life. It is crucial to end child marriage and ensure that gender equality becomes a reality,” said Md. Hasanuzzaman Kallol, Secretary to the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs.
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In “Icchedana”, adolescent girls from the fictional village of Haathmathali overcome the pressure of early marriage, confront sexual harassment, and find ways to manage their menstrual hygiene.
Season 3 features storylines about mental health, bullying and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents.
The series highlights the need to invest in girls’ education, and the importance of encouraging young people to speak out on policies that affect them.
“Too many girls and women in Bangladesh suffer from discrimination, abuse and violence because of harmful social norms and practices. But change is possible. Icchedana is a celebration of what girls can achieve, and a call to each of us to join the fight for gender equality,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh.
Married girls are over four times more likely to be out of school than unmarried girls, to the detriment of their health, well-being, education and career prospects.
Child brides are more vulnerable to domestic violence, and their children less likely to thrive.
Tanzila shows that change is possible, and that girls can overcome adversity to win respect and equal treatment, especially if we are united and support and encourage each other,” said actress Priyam Archi, who plays the lead character Tanzila.
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“There should be no difference in the way girls and boys are treated, or the opportunities we are given. Icchedana shows that girls’ empowerment is also good for boys – we become allies who help each other rather than rivals,” said Arosh Khan, who plays the role of Charger.
Over 14,000 children die in Bangladesh due to drowning every year
Marking the World Drowning Prevention Day, WHO and UNICEF on Monday called on the governments, development partners, communities and individuals each to do their part to raise awareness and work to prevent the untimely deaths of thousands of children across the country.
Each year, over 14,000 children in Bangladesh die due to drowning.
Although largely unrecognized, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children under the age of five in the country, making it a major public health problem.
“It is heart-breaking that so many lives are lost each year in this country. We know that these deaths are preventable. We urge individuals, communities and the government to join us in raising awareness and doing all we can to ensure every child’s right to survive and thrive,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh.
Globally, drowning claims the lives of over 230,000 people every year.
Nine in ten drowning cases occur in low- and middle-income countries, with children under the age of five being at the highest risk.
Read: Drowning kills 2.5 million people in last decade: WHO
In Bangladesh, where large areas of land remain submerged due to yearly floods, the absence of awareness and swimming skills can prove to be life-threatening.
Children in rural areas who grow up near bodies of water are also exposed to the risk of drowning daily.
Drowning is a significant public health concern and the third leading cause of unintentional death worldwide. Drowning is one of the leading causes of death among children in Bangladesh.
WHO recommends strategies and interventions to prevent drowning and continues to promote a multisectoral approach. By enhancing multisectoral collaboration, promoting strong leadership on drowning prevention, and implementing necessary actions, we can prevent the tragedy of drowning and achieve a safer, healthier future for all,” said Dr. Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Representative to Bangladesh.
Evidence shows that drowning is preventable through low-cost solutions. Increased awareness among families and communities, providing safety and swimming skills for children and adolescents, ensuring childcare facilities for pre-school children, and national policies and investments for prevention can make a significant difference.
In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 25 as World Drowning Prevention Day to acknowledge drowning as a leading cause of death around the world and highlight that every drowning death is preventable.
WHO and UNICEF have been working with Government and non-government partners around the country to increase awareness on drowning prevention and provide children and adolescents with safe swimming skills.
Around 3 in 4 youth lack skills needed for employment, new report says
Nearly three quarters of young people aged 15 to 24 in 92 countries with available data are off-track to acquire the skills needed for employment, according to a new report published by the Education Commission and UNICEF on Thursday ahead of World Youth Skills Day.
Recovering learning: Are children and youth on track in skills development? features analyses on skills development in early childhood, and among children of primary school age and youth.
The data highlight low levels of skills among children and young people across all age groups, with young people in low-income countries the least likely to have the skills required to thrive, particularly in future employment opportunities, decent work, and entrepreneurship.
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“An inspired, skilled generation of children and young people is critical for prosperity, progression, and the success of societies and economies. Yet, the majority of children and young people across the world have been failed by their education systems, leaving them uneducated, uninspired, and unskilled – the perfect storm for unproductivity,” said UNICEF Director of Education Robert Jenkins.
“Investment in cost-effective, proven solutions to fast-track learning and skills development for today’s generation and future generations is urgently needed to address this crisis.”
With high rates of out-of-school young people and low attainment of secondary-level skills, countries worldwide are facing a skills crisis, with the majority of youth unprepared to take part in today’s workforce, the report notes.
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Deep disparities across countries and among those from the poorest communities are increasing inequalities.
In at least 1 in 3 low-income countries with available data, more than 85 percent of young people are off-track in the secondary-level, digital, and job-specific skills attainment, the report notes.
"To give young people the best chance to succeed and recover learning losses due to the pandemic, we need to support them holistically. But we can't recover what we don't measure. We need to know where children and youth are in building the range of skills they need and monitor their progress," said Education Commission Executive Director Liesbet Steer.
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"That's why the Education Commission, UNICEF, and partners have been working to address critical data gaps, including the launch of the World Skills Clock to help track progress on and raise awareness around youth skills attainment around the world so we can target urgent action to prepare this generation to thrive in the future."
Data from 77 countries show that less than three-quarters of children aged between 3 and 5 years old are developmentally on track in at least three out of the four domains of literacy-numeracy, physical, social-emotional, and learning.
At approximately 10 years old, the majority of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text.
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These foundational skills are the building blocks for further learning and skills development, the report notes.
Basic literacy and numeracy; transferable skills including life skills and socioemotional skills; digital skills, which allow individuals to use and understand technology; job-specific skills, which support the transition into the workforce; and entrepreneurial skills are essential for children to thrive.
These skills are also critical for the development of societies and economies.
UNICEF and the Education Commission are urging governments to reach every child with quality education and break down the barriers that put them at risk of dropping out; assess children’s learning levels and provide tailored catch-up classes to bring them up to speed; prioritize foundational skills to build a strong base for lifelong learning; and support psychosocial health and well-being by providing holistic support.
Also read: HSBC, IBA award young talents of Bangladesh with future skills
The report outlines the need for more extensive data on the skills gap among children and young people across all age groups.
UNICEF "deeply concerned" about recent attacks on teachers in Bangladesh
UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh Sheldon Yett has said attacks on teachers are attacks on education.
"If we fail to protect teachers from violence, it will be children who ultimately suffer," Yett said in a statement on Wednesday.
Read: 266,000 grave violations against children verified in conflict situations: UNICEF
UNICEF is "deeply concerned" about the recent series of attacks on teachers in Bangladesh, Yett said.
"UNICEF stands with the country in condemning these attacks, and we call for the safety and security of teachers to be upheld."
Teachers play a critical role in ensuring children’s right to education, Yett said.
Read: Children want govt investment in education, health, protection: UNICEF
"But to do their job – to teach students to think critically, grow to their fullest potential and be good human beings – they need to be able to teach without fear."
Thai envoy visits Rohingya camps
Thai Ambassador to Bangladesh Makawadee Sumitmor has visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of the Teacher Resource Center damaged by conflagration in 2021.
Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Country Representative and delegates also joined and witnessed the ceremony.
Thai Government contributed Tk 4.3 million taka (approximately 50,000 USD) to the said project to elevate educational quality as well as to promote equality, dignity and self-reliance for all Rohingya children and youth in the camp.
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266,000 grave violations against children verified in conflict situations: UNICEF
The United Nations verified over 266,000 grave violations against children committed by parties to conflict in more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America between 2005 and 2020, UNICEF said on Tuesday in a new report.
This figure is a fraction of the violations believed to have occurred, as access and security constraints, among others, and the shame, pain, and fear that child and family survivors suffer often hamper the reporting, documentation and verification of grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict.
The report – 25 years of children and armed conflict: Taking action to protect children in war – found that between 2005 and 2020 more than 104,100 children have been verified as killed or maimed in situations of armed conflict; more than 93,000 children have been verified as recruited and used by parties to conflict; at least 25,700 children have been verified as abducted by parties to conflict; parties to conflict have raped, forcibly married, sexually exploited, and committed other grave forms of sexual violence against at least 14,200 children.
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The United Nations verified more than 13,900 incidents of attacks against schools and hospitals and verified no fewer than 14,900 incidents of denial of humanitarian access for children since 2005.
“This report lays out in the starkest possible terms the world’s failure to protect its children from grave violations during times of armed conflict,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“Grave violations devastate children, families, and communities – and they tear at the fabric of society, making it even harder to restore and sustain peace, security, and stability. We must refuse to accept violations against children as an unavoidable outcome of war.”
Based on sixteen years of data from the Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, the report illustrates the impact that armed conflicts have had on children, by presenting trends of grave violations across the world and over time.
The report examines how information on the documented patterns of grave violations is being used to respond to children’s needs and how engagement with parties to conflict – State and non-State actors alike – enables ending and preventing grave violations.
The annual number of verified violations has gradually increased since 2005, surpassing 20,000 in a year for the first time in 2014 and reaching 26,425 in 2020.
Between 2016 and 2020, the daily global average of verified grave violations stood at an alarming 71 violations.
The elevated number of violations observed in recent years demonstrates the dramatic impact that armed conflict – and increasingly complex and protracted protection crises – have on children.
The report notes that many children suffer from more than one violation, increasing their vulnerability.
For example, abduction is often combined with or leads to other violations, particularly recruitment and use and sexual violence.
Children – especially girls – who have been abducted and/or associated with parties to conflict are exposed to elevated risks of sexual violence, including rape, sexual exploitation and forced marriage.
The report found that grave violations against children were committed by all parties to conflict, States and non-State actors alike. Between 2016 and 2020, State actors – including national and international forces and coalitions – were responsible for at least 26% of all violations.
In comparison, non-State actors accounted for about 58% of all verified violations, underscoring the importance of engagement with all parties to conflict, including non-state actors, to meaningfully end and prevent violations against children.
In order to bolster accountability, parties to conflict listed in the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict develop and implement Action Plans with specific, concrete, and time-bound actions to establish sustainable measures to protect children from the impact of conflict.
Between 2005 and 2021, a total of 37 Action Plans have been signed by parties to conflict in 17 conflict situations.
Around 70 per cent of Action Plans were signed with non-State actors, with the remaining 30 per cent signed with State actors.
The report lays out several examples highlighting the critical value and impact of Action Plans in bringing about positive change for children, both in the immediate and long terms, as well as outlining challenges and obstacles.
The report also found: Children from poorer backgrounds and children of specific status or characteristics – including refugee, internally displaced and indigenous children, among others – remain at heightened risk of grave violations.
Available sex-disaggregated data indicates that verified incidents of grave violations have predominantly affected boys.
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For instance, in 2020, boys accounted for 73 per cent of all child victims, with the vast majority of child victims of recruitment and use (85 per cent boys), abduction (76 per cent boys) and killing and maiming (70 per cent boys) being boys. In comparison, girls accounted for one-fourth (26 per cent) of all child victims, including 98 per cent of child victims of rape and other grave forms of sexual violence.
Between 2016 and 2020, 79 per cent of all verified child casualties – or about 41,900 children – occurred in only five situations: Afghanistan (30 per cent), Israel and the State of Palestine (14 per cent), Syria (13 per cent), Yemen (13 per cent) and Somalia (9 per cent).
The use of explosive weapons, particularly in populated areas and those with wide area effect, are a persistent threat to children and their families. In 2020 alone, explosive weapons and explosive remnants of war were responsible for at least 47 per cent of all child casualties, resulting in more than 3,900 children killed and maimed.
Whilst the overall ability of the United Nations to document and verify incidents of grave violations has increased over time, it has fluctuated from one year to another, from one situation to another, and from one violation to another.
In this regard, and based on all of the above, direct comparisons between situations, years, or violations should be undertaken with caution.
“UNICEF and our partners will not waver in our work to prevent grave violations against children,” said Russell. “With more children affected by conflict, violence, and crises now than at any time since the Second World War, this work has never been more urgent.”
The report recommendations, based on the evidence and analysis presented, aim to mobilize all concerned stakeholders, including parties to conflict, States, and the UN Security Council, to effectively and sustainably protect children and to accelerate action at local, national, regional, and global levels.
In addition to calling on parties to conflict, and states, to abide by their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, the report includes recommendations on: how to better provide adequate care and response services to children affected by conflict, ways to improve data disaggregation and analysis for better response and prevention, how to support Country Task Forces on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMRs) to accelerate action, and improve CTFMR engagement with governments; ways to better engage with parties to conflict to develop Action Plans and sustainably protect children.
Global hunger crisis pushes one child per minute into severe malnutrition: UNICEF
Every single minute, the global hunger crisis is pushing one child into life-threatening, severe malnutrition, according to the UN Children's Fund UNICEF.
It called for $1.2 billion to meet the urgent needs of eight million children at risk of death from severe wasting, mainly in African nations, such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and also Afghanistan and Haiti.
The UN agency Thursday said the number of desperately hungry children suffering from severe wasting continued to grow.
Between January and June, that number increased by well over 250,000, from 7.67 million to 7.93 million children.This comes as the price of ready-to-use food to treat severe wasting soared by 16 percent in recent weeks, owing to a sharp rise in the cost of raw ingredients.
UNICEF said the price spike left up to 600,000 more children without access to life-saving treatment and at risk of death.
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"We are now seeing the tinderbox of conditions for extreme levels of child wasting begin to catch fire," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.
"Food aid is critical, but we cannot save starving children with bags of wheat. We need to reach these children now with therapeutic treatment before it is too late."
Soaring food prices driven by the war in Ukraine, persistent drought due to climate change in some countries, at times combined with conflict, and the ongoing economic impact of Covid-19, are driving up food and nutrition insecurity worldwide, resulting in catastrophic levels of severe malnutrition in children under five.
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Within the 15 countries highlighted as most at risk by UNICEF, the agency estimates that at least 40 million children are severely nutrition insecure, meaning they are not receiving the bare minimum diverse diet they need to grow and develop in early childhood.
Also, 21 million children are severely food insecure, meaning they lack access to enough food to meet minimum food needs, leaving them at high risk of severe wasting.