United Nations Children’s Fund

This year's World Children's Day marks the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The United Nations Convention

With the coronavirus crisis spreading to more countries with broader social and economic implications, the United Nations is mobilizing its global workforce to help affected Governments to contain or slow the onslaught of this deadly disease.

United Nations country teams around the world continue to provide medical, logistical and socio-economic support to local authorities, coordinating resources to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Through stronger coordination, these teams are mobilising local, regional, and global partners to provide life-saving medical supplies to vulnerable communities, combat misinformation on vaccine efficacy, and ensure equitable distribution of vaccine through the COVAX programme.

The street vendor Nereide Fernandes, 49, had her life strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a significant portion of the Brazilian population. Living in São Paulo, Fernandes lost her job and faced difficulties to take care of her 2-year-old daughter Melissa, who has Down syndrome.

In Venezuela, FAO, UNICEF, and WFP are implementing a pilot program that seeks to strengthen the resilience of school communities in two municipalities of Falcón state, in the northwest of the country.

Our UN teams are on the ground in 162 countries and territories, coordinating joint programmes and tackling a range of priorities and initiatives — from climate action and food security to gender equality and safety of civilians.

Nearly 820 million children worldwide do not have basic handwashing facilities at school, putting them at increased risk of COVID-19 and other

Our UN teams are on the ground in 162 countries and territories, coordinating joint programmes and tackling a range of priorities and initiatives — from climate action and food security to gender equality and safety of civilians.

A resurgence of violence in the Central African Republic in December 2020 caused 5,000 Central Africans to seek refuge across the border in Cameroon. A 30-minute drive from the border, Gado’s refugee site is already home to more than 26,000 Central African refugees who had previously fled from violence in 2014. Teams of carpenters are already working to build shelters.

The children of families who were affected by the massive earthquake which devastated large parts of south-west Haiti in August this year are receiving free hot meals at school as part of an initiative by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) to support the recovery of the country’s most vulnerable communities.