How Unicef and the EU Are Teaming up to Promote Children’s Rights Around the World.
UNICEF: for every child
Founded in 1946, the United Nation Children’s Fund, better known as UNICEF, is a United Nation (UN) agency devoted to aiding children from early childhood through adolescence in over 190 countries and territories around the world [1].
Its origins lie in the aftermath of the Second World War, when UNICEF was created to provide short-term relief to millions of refugee children in Europe, regardless of their ethnicity, creed, nationality, status or political belief. Soon after, the relief efforts spread to other continents, reaching almost 100 countries during its first five years.
Despite some resistance in continuing UNICEF’s mission beyond post-war relief, it eventually became a permanent part of the UN in 1953. Since then, UNICEF started expanding the scope of its mission, providing programmes for the improvement of children’s rights, particularly in developing countries.
Making a difference
UNICEF’s activities include efforts to decrease child mortality and malnutrition, the organisation of vaccination and disease prevention campaigns and the promotion of education for both boys and girls. Furthermore, the agency is also one of the first international actors to provide emergency relief in response to disasters [2].
Despite being entirely funded by the voluntary contribution of governments and individual donors, UNICEF has been remarkably successful in helping children all over the world, gaining international recognition in 1965, when the agency was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for its effort to enhance solidarity between nations and reduce the difference between rich and poor states”[3].
The European Union and UNICEF: partners for children
The relationship between the European Union (EU) and UNICEF has deepened in the last few years, with the EU now ranking as one of UNICEF’s largest financial supporters. As such, the EU has significantly contributed to improve children’s wellbeing and to promote children’s rights in over 140 countries in the last decades.
UNICEF has ongoing partnerships with various European bodies: the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European External Action Service and the European Council. Among these European institutions, the European Commission contributes the most to UNICEF and in 2019 it has become its fifth-largest supporter, reaching children in over 65 countries [4].
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, European countries agreed to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights (including children’s rights) in the EU, making the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union legally binding for European member states [5]. This shows that UNICEF’s partnership with the EU is built on the mutual recognition of the importance of human rights and children’s rights.
Over the years, the EU has invested generous sums to fund several life-changing programmes for children, especially aiding its neighbouring countries like Egypt, Georgia, Libya, Moldova, Syria and Ukraine [6]. UNICEF and the EU, coordinated by the UNICEF Office for Relations with EU Institutions in Brussels, have mainly collaborated in advocating for the protection of children’s fundamental rights, in providing resources for children all around the world and in delivering humanitarian aid.
COVID’s impact on children
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the unprecedented social and economic disruption, drastically changing our daily lives and routines. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), millions of people might end up living below the International Poverty Line (i.e. $1.90 per day), lacking resources to secure necessities [7]. Unfortunately, children are not excluded from this alarming trend and they are likely to be severely affected by this global health and socio-economic crisis.
Although the impact of the pandemic on children has often been overlooked by the media, the effects on their lives might be devastating. All over the world, children and adolescents will be negatively impacted in fundamental domains for their development, such as education, nutrition, health and mental health. Furthermore, the distributional consequences of the pandemic will not be borne equally, with children in less developed countries (LDCs) likely suffering the most and potentially remaining trapped in the vicious circles of the development trap.
The alarming data gathered by UNICEF shows that in LDCs, the number of children living in monetary-poor households is estimated to increase by 142 million by the end of 2020 and that about an additional 150 million children will not have access to essential services (i.e. education, health services).
The crisis is further impacted by the impossibility of at least 463 million children to access remote learning, sharpening the already existing inequalities and potentially increasing child labour and child marriage [8]. Moreover, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) expects malnourishment to affect over 36 million children by the end of the year [9], increasing the possibility of stunting and consequent learning disabilities. Lastly, UNICEF reported that lockdown measures have exposed children to increased risks related to violence, exploitation and abuse.
Upholding the rights of children during a pandemic
Since the beginning of the pandemic, European institutions have participated in many initiatives in cooperation with UNICEF and they have provided large sums to UNICEF’s programmes, aiding some of the most vulnerable children in the world.
In the summer of 2020, the EU has contributed €1.5 million to UNICEF’s COVID response in Syria, aimed at raising awareness on the disease, while providing water and sanitation, education, healthcare and nutrition to over one million children. Such services, fundamental during a pandemic, are lacking in the country due to the ongoing conflict that started almost ten years ago [10].
Furthermore, on World Children’s Day, the EU and UNICEF sent a joint call for governments to safeguard the future of children in the world, stressing the importance of education and emphasising the deep inequalities in the level of protection of children worldwide. Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative, together with UNICEF Director Sandie Blanchet, inaugurated the #Backpack2School installation, with 200 UNICEF backpacks that formed a giant SOS sign in Schuman Square, in Brussels.
Recently, the EU has also funded essential medicines in the fight against COVID-19 in Kyrgyzstan to overcome the shortage of medicines in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. The EU Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid Operations contributed to this procurement for a total of €298,551 [11].
Finally, only a few months ago, the European Commission and UNICEF launched a programme in seven EU member states aimed at breaking the “cycle of child poverty and social exclusion”[12]. Alarmingly, about one-fourth of children in Europe are likely to face poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these risks. The programme, “Child Guarantee”, will start in 2021 in Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Spain, where UNICEF and the European Commission will test various policies to reduce child poverty and exclusion which, if successful, might be implemented in national action plans.
Despite UNICEF’s achievements, a lot remains to be done for all children to thrive and to stand a fair chance in life. In the last few years, however, the EU and UNICEF have joined efforts to support children in Europe and worldwide, delivering truly life-changing programmes.
List of references:
[1] https://www.unicef.org/where-we-work
[2] https://www.unicef.org/what-we-do
[3] https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1965/unicef/facts/
[4] https://www.unicef.org/public-partnerships/european-union
[5] Douglas-Scott, S. (2011). The European Union and human rights after the Treaty of Lisbon. Human rights law review, 11(4), 645–682. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngr038
[6] EU & UNICEF Partners for Children. Retrieved from: https://www.euneighbours.eu/sites/default/files/news/2017-03/PP%20Unicef%20EN%20FINAL.pdf
[8] https://data.unicef.org/covid-19-and-children/
[9] The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020. Retrieved from: http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html
