UNICEF seeks USD 6.4bn for 2021, says 'we are facing child rights emergency'

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday issued its largest emergency fund appeal for USD 6.4 billion for next year (2021), to reach 300 million people including 190 million children. As per UNICEF, 2021's fund appeal is 35 percent more than the funds requested for 2020. The top five appeals by funding requirements for 2021 are for Syrian refugees (USD 1.0 billion), Yemen (USD 576.9 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (USD 384.4 million), Syria (USD 330.8 million), and Venezuela (USD 201.8 million). 

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UN Children's Fund issues emergency appeal to donors

The release by UNICEF also informed that the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the routine immunization services for children in more than 60 countries. It also said that nearly 250 million students across the world are still affected by COVID-19 school closures. Pointing towards the current tough time, UNICEF said that the economic instability has disrupted the essential services and also made it harder for families to make ends meet. The economic instability due to the pandemic has also increased the risk of domestic and gender-based violence, it added. 

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Pointing towards the new humanitarian crisis which has emerged this year, the United Nations said that the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has left approximately 2.8 million people in urgent need of assistance. The release by the UN also showed reports of killings, abductions, recruitment and use of children as soldiers have been increasing day by day. The release also asserted that COVID-19 has worsened protracted emergencies in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, South Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela. 

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Stating that the number of climate-related disasters has tripled in the last 30 years, UNICEF said that this has resulted in a threat to food security, increase in water scarcity, forced people out of their homes, increased the risk of conflict and public health emergencies. Giving examples of some climate-related disaster and the destruction caused by them, UNICEF said that powerful storms have greatly devastated vulnerable communities in Central America. These storms have affected over 2.6 million children in Central America. The storms in East Asia have affected 13.4 million children in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. 

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(With ANI inputs)