UNICEF commemorates 70 years of tireless work for the world’s most vulnerable children

NEW YORK/COLOMBO: On the 70th anniversary of its founding, UNICEF celebrates the immense progress made for the world’s children – and renews the urgent call to reach millions of children whose lives and futures are endangered by conflict, crisis, poverty, inequality and discrimination. 

“UNICEF was founded after World War II to bring help and hope to all children at risk or in need – no matter which country they lived in or what role that country played in the war.  Our mission is no less urgent and universal today,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “With so many children around the world in so much need, we are recommitting ourselves to delivering results for every child.”

The organisation was established by the United Nations General Assembly to help children in post-war Europe, China and the Middle East. Funded entirely through voluntary contributions from governments, civil society, the private sector and concerned citizens, it rapidly expanded its reach and by 1955 was working for children in more than 90 countries. In Sri Lanka UNICEF has worked with and for the nation’s children since the 1950s, firstly through the Delhi Regional Office, before the 1973 establishment of a country office in Colombo, focused on improving health, education, social welfare and water and sanitation for women and children.

Today, UNICEF is the world’s largest children’s organisation, working with partners in 190 countries and territories and through the efforts of 13,000 national and international staff to reach every child. 

UNICEF’s relentless engagement in the world’s toughest places has helped create remarkable progressfor children in recent decades. The number of children dying before their fifth birthdays has been more than halved in the past 25 years. Hundreds of millions of children have been lifted out of poverty. Out-of-school rates among primary-school-aged children have been reduced by more than 40% since 1990.

In the 1940s, UNICEF provided emergency nutrition aid, mainly in the form of milk, to children in post-war Europe. In 2015, the organisation and its partners treated 2.9 million children for severe acute malnutrition worldwide. In the 1950s, UNICEF led its first immunisation campaigns against diseases such as tuberculosis and yaws. In 2015, the organisation procured 2.8 billion doses of vaccines, and with its partners helping to protect 45 per cent of children under 5 years old worldwide from a range of deadly diseases. In Sri Lanka, UNICEF was key in the achievement of Universal Child Immunisation status in 1989, and the declaration of a Polio-free Sri Lanka in 1993.

In 1953, UNICEF launched its first water, sanitation and hygiene programmes. Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources and 2.1 billion gained access to improved sanitation facilities. In Sri Lanka the UNICEF funded, Government commissioned Tangalle Water Scheme tripled the number of people with access to safe drinking water in the area in 2008.

In 1961, UNICEF expanded its programmatic focus to include children’s education. In 2015, UNICEF and its partners provided 7.5 million children aged 3 to 18 with access to formal or non-formal basic education. In Sri Lanka UNICEF was instrumental is getting 200,000 children back to school within four weeks of the 2004 tsunami, before launching a three-year recovery plan that included the construction of 26 ‘child friendly’ schools.

In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which specifies that all children should be registered at birth to establish their identity under the law and thus to safeguard  their rights. The UNCRC was signed and ratified by Sri Lanka in 1991, with a National Plan of Action for Children (NPA) drafted soon after. In 2015, UNICEF supported the registration of more than 9.7 million children’s births in 54 countries. In 1998, UNICEF became a founding member of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership to support malaria treatment and research, and expand prevention measures such as long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets. In 2015, UNICEF procured 22.3 million bed nets to protect children and families in 30 countries. In 2016 Sri Lanka was certified as malaria-free.

Since its founding, UNICEF has responded to thousands of humanitarian emergencies affecting children. In 2015, UNICEF and partners vaccinated 11.3 million children against measles in countries affected by crisis; provided 4 million children in emergency situations with access to formal or non-formal basic education; and provided psychosocial support for 2 million children caught in conflicts and natural disasters. In addition to humanitarian relief provided to women and children during the Sri Lankan conflict, UNICEF played a key role in brokering 1992’s ‘Days of Tranquility’, that secured a temporary cease of hostilities between warring parties in order to allow children living in conflict areas to be immunised and to receive vital healthcare.

Despite this impressive progress globally, millions of children are still being left behind because they live in poverty or in hard-to-reach communities, because of their gender, race, religion, ethnic group, or because they have a disability. Nearly 250 million children are growing up in countries affected by conflict and nearly 50 million children have been uprooted from their homes. In Sri Lanka key strides have been made in the areas of health and education yet child poverty, violence against children, and undernutrition, especially among pregnant women and children under 5 remain priority areas to be address urgently.  “UNICEF’s vision for the next 70 years is a world in which our work is no longer necessary – a world in which every child is healthy, safe, educated, cared for and protected … and all children can make the most of their potential,” said Lake. “It’s the right thing to do, and the surest path to a better future for us all.”