UNICEF

Basics
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Investing in poor children saves lives, and money

The total number of children that die of preventable causes worldwide continues to decline, says the United Nations children’s agency, but such progress disguises a still-massive and intolerable death toll. At the current pace of progress, UNICEF has estimated, some 70 million children will die before turning 5 years old by 2030 from easily preventable causes.

World Politics
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Battle for Mosul puts 100,000 children at risk, aid groups can’t keep up

The months-long surge of Iraqi forces to retake Mosul continues to force people to flee the city and leaves 100,000 children trapped in the city in “extremely dangerous conditions,” warns UNICEF. Aid organizations are being overwhelmed by both the challenge of trying to reach suffering people within Mosul and providing basic needs to half the city’s population who has fled to outside refugee camps.

World Politics
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G7 summit in Italy may drop migration from agenda, despite dramatic increase in child refugees traveling alone

More than 300,000 children traveled alone as refugees or migrants in 2015 and 2016 – a fivefold increase from 2010 – UNICEF officials said today, reflecting a surge in the number of people fleeing conflict and poverty. UNICEF officials hope that the data will move the seven leading economies to adopt measures at the G7 Summit in Italy that would protect refugee and migrant children. Meanwhile, the U.S. is putting pressure on the Italian government to drop the topic of migration from the G7 meeting later this month.

World Politics
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U.N. raises $1.1 billion for Yemen crisis; officials call for an end to the war

The U.N. hosted a humanitarian pep rally in Geneva today, and raised $1.1 billion for Yemen. “Yemen today is experiencing a tragedy of immense proportions. Two years of conflict have devastated the lives of ordinary Yemenis,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the event. “We are witnessing the starving and the crippling of an entire generation. We must act now, to save lives.”

Human Rights
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Record number of children killed in Syria last year, U.N. reports

A record number of children were killed in Syria last year, more than a third of them in or near a school, the U.N. children’s agency said ahead of the sixth anniversary of the war. More than 850 children were also recruited to fight – more than double the number in 2015 – with some used as executioners and suicide bombers, UNICEF said.

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