UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell's opening remarks at the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board
UNICEF
As delivered
03 September 2024
NEW YORK, 3 September 2024 -- "Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, welcome to the second annual session of the UNICEF Executive Board for 2024.
"We have a busy session ahead of us, with critical issues to discuss, and important decisions to take. Thank you in advance for your engagement, and your contributions over the coming days.
"Thank you also to the President of the Board, and to the Bureau, for your leadership and guidance during this session, and throughout the year.
"Excellencies, we are coming together just days before the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and the Summit of the Future, two key opportunities for us to push children's rights to the top of the global agenda.
"It is imperative that we redouble our efforts. Because despite the tremendous progress we have made over the past two decades, millions of children around the world are still denied their rights to survive and thrive. Until we change this, by ensuring that the rights of all children are protected and upheld , we will not realize the promise of the global goals enshrined in the SDGs, and the Pact for the Future. We cannot fail in our mission to create a safer and more sustainable world for future generations.
"We can do it, but it is a long road ahead of us.
"Today, millions of children affected by conflict and other emergencies are being denied their fundamental rights, their rights to protection and shelter , to quality medical care and education , to nutritious food , and to living with their families in peace and safety.
"Nearly one year on from the brutal attack on Israel, and the start of the devastating war in Gaza, the situation for children in the region almost defies description. Israeli children have been killed and held hostage, and thousands have been displaced from their homes.
"In Gaza, more than 40,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed, up to 60 per cent of whom are women and children. All of Gaza's nearly 1.1 million children need humanitarian assistance to survive, and most are now displaced inside an area smaller than 50 square kilometers. Hunger and acute malnutrition are widespread, and thousands of children have suffered grave rights violations.
"At the same time, the collapse of essential water, sanitation and health services has led to disease outbreaks. This includes an outbreak of polio that was first detected in July. We have already seen three suspected cases of paralytic polio in children, and we are deeply concerned that without urgent action, there could be widespread transmission of the disease throughout the Gaza Strip and beyond.
"WHO and UNICEF call on parties to the conflict to implement humanitarian pauses in Gaza so that we can continue the polio vaccination campaigns started over the weekend. Working with partners like UNRWA, we are hoping to reach 640,000 children under age 10 with two doses of oral polio vaccine. The immunizations have begun, but without sustained and predictable humanitarian pauses, the campaign will not succeed.
"After nearly a year of devastation in Gaza, this war must come to an end. Parties to the conflict must immediately agree to a durable ceasefire, facilitate the safe and immediate release of all remaining hostages, and adhere to their obligations under international law to protect children, and the infrastructure they rely on.
"At the same time, the armed conflict in Sudan rages on, ravaging the country's civilian population. Conflict, massive displacement and constraints on humanitarian access have resulted in devastating food insecurity, malnutrition and grave rights violations.
"In August, famine was declared in a camp sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the North Darfur Region. This marked the Famine Review Committee's first determination of famine anywhere in more than 7 years, and only the third time a famine determination has been made since the monitoring system was created 20 years ago.
"Given the horrific conditions across much of Sudan, we are concerned that without urgent action, famine could easily take hold in other parts of the country.
"The conflict is robbing Sudan's children of their right to protection from harm. Last year saw the highest number of verified grave rights violations against Sudanese children in more than a decade. Darfur, in particular, is one of the most dangerous places for children anywhere in the world. In 2023, the Darfur region accounted for more than 60 per cent of all verified grave rights violations that took place across the country, nearly three quarters of which involved the killing or maiming of children. Rates of gender-based and sexual violence against women and girls have also increased significantly.
"Here, I must reiterate that in terms of the number of children impacted, the humanitarian consequences of the war in Sudan are the most distressing we have seen in the past twenty years.
"If UNICEF and our partners do not get safe humanitarian access to reach all those in need, in both Government and RSF-controlled areas, including through cross-border operations, a devastating crisis will get even worse - with implications for the broader region.
"In June, I visited Port Sudan and saw firsthand how children, especially girls, are impacted every day by a conflict that has left more than half of the country's 24 million children in urgent need of assistance.
"I urge you to continue to advocate on behalf of the children of Sudan, to focus global attention on this crisis, to help us secure both humanitarian access on the ground, and funding, to end grave rights violations , and to push the parties to the conflict and those with influence over them to reach a ceasefire.
"Excellencies, the humanitarian community often speaks of so-called 'forgotten' emergencies. We may not see these crises on social media or major news broadcasts, but they are very real for the children and families living through them.
"In Myanmar, for example, an estimated 3.3 million people - nearly 40 per cent of whom are children - have been displaced by violence. This includes intensifying conflict in Rakhine State where UNICEF has received alarming reports that civilians, particularly children and families, are being targeted or caught in the crossfire, resulting in deaths and severe injuries.
"Or in Haiti, where the number of children internally displaced by violence has increased by an estimated 60 per cent since March - the equivalent of one child every minute.
"These children are at increased risk of violence, sexual assault, exploitation and abuse, and family separation. And many are facing disrupted access to services, including health care, clean water and sanitation.
"In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, nearly 15 million children affected by conflict need humanitarian assistance and protection. We are working hard to contain a surging outbreak of a new, deadlier variant of the mpox virus. Since the start of the year, approximately 9,000 children have contracted the disease, almost 500 of whom have died.
"UNICEF has acted quickly, declaring a Level 3 emergency response, and coordinating with WHO and the Africa CDC.
"We are focusing on the countries with ongoing circulation of mpox, while also ensuring we are prepared to respond in other affected countries. The objectives of our response are to interrupt transmission, prevent morbidity and mortality, and limit the secondary impacts of the outbreak - especially for children.
"In each of the contexts, insecurity and conflict are preventing us from reaching children and families in need, costing innocent lives in the process.
"I would like to pause here to emphasize the unprecedented dangers faced by humanitarian workers in these settings, who are coming under attack at record levels. Since October last year, 250 aid workers have been killed in Gaza alone. While so far in 2024, 187 humanitarians have been killed globally.
"This is unconscionable.
"Parties to conflict have both a moral and a legal obligation to ensure that humanitarian partners can safely reach all those in need. We must redouble our advocacy efforts with the parties, as well as with those who have influence over them, to meet their obligations under humanitarian law.
"Despite the complexities of working on the ground in these crises, UNICEF and our partners stay, and we deliver. Every day we are reaching thousands of children and families with essential services and supplies, including safe water and sanitation, protection and psychosocial support, health and nutrition, medical supplies and vaccines, and education.
"And we continue to invest in early warning systems, anticipatory action, and preparedness measures so that we can respond quickly and effectively to emerging crises.
"Excellencies, here I wish to point out that approximately two-thirds of UNICEF's resources are directed towards our operations in humanitarian and fragile contexts. This is to be expected given the unprecedented levels of humanitarian need we see around the world today, and it underscores the importance of sustaining support for our humanitarian action.
"But core resources - one of UNICEF's most critical revenue streams - have been stagnating. Further reductions in core funding would reduce our capacity in both our humanitarian action and development work, including for critical oversight functions.
"Let me pause here to acknowledge the importance of UNICEF's partnerships in sustaining our work for children. This includes our National Committees, unique within the UN system, who play a critical role in advocacy, and fundraising. National Committee revenue makes up more than half of UNICEF's flexible income, and it is vital to our operations.
"I hope we can count on you to help increase funding for UNICEF, particularly for core resources, and quality thematic funding.
"This past July, I visited the Pacific region where I met with children and young people facing a range of challenges, including the very real and present threat of climate change. I look forward to discussing this topic with you during the Special Focus Session on climate change later this week.
"Excellencies, as you know, the ongoing threats to children's rights go beyond conflicts and the climate crisis. They include discrimination, increasing levels of poverty, and hostility to the concept of children as a distinct group of rights holders.
"Many countries struggle to provide essential services like healthcare and education for children. Despite significant progress made across a range of child wellbeing indicators over the last twenty years, millions of children are still being left behind.
"This November will mark 35 years since the 1989 adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. By ratifying this international legal framework, world leaders acknowledged that all children have inalienable rights. And they promised that governments would protect and uphold those rights, a promise which too often falls short.
"Each of us plays a critical role in ensuring that the rights of every child are realized. UNICEF and our partners in the child rights community, governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector must be stronger advocates for the fulfillment, and protection of children's rights.
"This means supporting the alignment of national legal frameworks with the CRC, and other international standards, and putting those standards into practice. It also means reaffirming children's status as distinct, independent rights holders, and ensuring accountability for violations of children's rights wherever they occur.
"And it means seizing key opportunities over the remainder of the year to advance the child rights agenda. These include the General Assembly, and Summit of the Future later this month, as well as COP-29 in November.
"At both the General Assembly, and the Summit of the Future, we will reiterate UNICEF's call to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Given that we are currently on track to meet just 15 per cent of the SDGs by 2030, it is imperative that world leaders heed this call to action.
"I hope you will join us in advocating for cost-effective, evidence-based policy solutions that can be implemented across countries regardless of income. These are solutions that can effectively tackle the root causes of inequality, generating benefits for children's overall wellbeing. We know that when we invest in systems that lift up children, communities flourish, and economies thrive.
"More specifically, we will continue to urge governments to increase investment and action in critical thematic areas, which include, ensuring nutrition in the early years to improve survival, growth and development, increasing global immunization coverage, improving access to quality education, and services for adolescent girls to boost life-long economic prospects, expanding climate mitigation and adaptation measures, and strengthening child benefits, and social protection to reduce poverty.
"Excellencies, as part of our efforts to accelerate progress on the SDGs, and to advance the child rights agenda, UNICEF has been developing our Africa strategy. The strategy - which we will present later this week - aims to work with African governments to seize the opportunity of demographic change across the continent.
"Almost 250 million children will join Africa's child population over the next 25 years, and by the year 2100, there will be more children in Africa than anywhere else in the world.
"In line with the SDGs and UNICEF's Strategic Plan, the Africa strategy features several key areas for action: accelerating human capital development, enhancing resilience, climate action and humanitarian action, and renewing commitments to the African Charter on the Rights, and Welfare of the Child.
"The African Union has set bold goals for its children, and young people in its development plans, including the Agenda for Children 2040, and Agenda 2063. We must match these plans with action, investment, and partnership. UNICEF stands ready to deliver.
"We will have an opportunity to engage further on the Africa strategy during our discussions on Wednesday.
"Excellencies, before closing, I would like to say a few words on UN Development System Reform, which UNICEF fully supports.
"As we look to our Strategic Plan cycle, we believe the forthcoming Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review will be critical, especially to ensuring alignment of UN activities with national priorities, and SDG targets.
"UNICEF is recommending that the QCPR incorporate several key additions. These include specific language on child rights mainstreaming, a child-centric approach to digital equality, expanding the framework of PSEA to encompass general safeguarding measures from all forms of harm, addressing the complexities of working across the humanitarian-development nexus, and full support for the new Funding Compact 2.0.
"Excellencies, colleagues, friends, it is sobering to consider how much the world has changed since we met at this time last year, the war in Gaza, famine in Sudan, advancements in artificial intelligence, wildfires, storms and warming seas, disease outbreaks, and groundbreaking vaccines. All of this continues to have profound implications for the world's children, and more changes are sure to come before the year is out.
"UNICEF's mission is to be there for all children during these challenging times, and to ensure that their rights are protected and upheld. Thank you for being our steadfast partners in this mission, and for working hand-in-hand with us until the mission is complete - for every child.
"Thank you, and I wish us all a productive session."
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