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	Children must always be protected by Catherine Russell UNICEF Executive Director   UNICEF calls for urgent investment in life-saving services for children as global humanitarian needs reach new extremes.   Surging conflicts, rising hunger, global funding cuts, and collapsing basic services are driving humanitarian needs for children to extreme levels worldwide.   As UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children 2026 (HAC) appeal is launched today, US$7.66 billion is urgently required to provide life-saving assistance to 73 million children - including 37 million girls and over 9 million children with disabilities – across 133 countries and territories next year.   Across every region, children caught in emergencies are facing overlapping crises that are growing in scale and complexity.   Escalating conflicts are driving mass displacement and exposing children to grave violations at the highest levels ever recorded.   Attacks on schools and hospitals continue unabated, while verified cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence against children are rising sharply. In many crises, children and the aid workers attempting to reach them are being deliberately targeted.   “Around the world, children caught in conflict, disaster, displacement and economic turmoil continue to face extraordinary challenges,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Their lives are being shaped by forces far beyond their control: violence, the threat of famine, intensifying climate shocks, and the widespread collapse of essential services.”   The global humanitarian funding environment has deteriorated dramatically in 2025. Announced and anticipated funding cuts by donor governments are already limiting UNICEF’s ability to reach millions of children in dire need. Severe shortfalls in 2024 and 2025 are forcing UNICEF to make impossible choices.   Across UNICEF’s nutrition programming alone, a 72 per cent funding gap in 2025 forced cuts in 20 priority countries – reducing planned targets from more than 42 million to over 27 million women and children.   In education, a shortfall of US$745 million has left millions more children at risk of losing access to learning, protection and stability.   For child protection, rising violations coincide with shrinking resources, threatening programmes for survivors of sexual violence, children recruited or used by armed groups, and those requiring urgent health support.   “Severe funding shortfalls are placing UNICEF’s life-saving programs under immense strain,” said Russell. “Across our operations, frontline teams are being forced into impossible decisions: focusing limited supplies and services on children in some places over others, decreasing the frequency of services children receive, or scaling back interventions that children depend on to survive.”   At the same time, humanitarian access is being restricted at levels unseen in recent years. In many emergencies, UNICEF and partners cannot reach children trapped behind shifting frontlines, making sustained humanitarian diplomacy essential to secure access and to protect children from escalating violations.   UNICEF warns that more than 200 million children will require humanitarian assistance in 2026. Many live in protracted crises, leaving entire generations at risk of under-nutrition, denied education, exposed to disease outbreaks, and deprived of safety and stability.   “The current global funding crisis does not reflect a decline in humanitarian need, but rather a growing gap between the scale of suffering and the resources available,” said Russell.   “While UNICEF is working to adapt to this new reality, children are already paying the price of shrinking humanitarian budgets.”   UNICEF is urging national governments, public sector donors and private sector partners to increase their investment in children, prioritising flexible and multi-year funding; support locally led response and national systems; uphold humanitarian principles and the centrality of protection; and remove barriers that impede humanitarian access.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-calls-urgent-investment-life-saving-services-children-global-humanitarian http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/remarks-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-launch-unicefs-humanitarian   Feb. 2026   2026 brings no respite to children living in violence and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa - Statement by UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder:   "We are only a few weeks into the new year and already the toll of violence and conflict on children in the region is devastating.   “Children have been killed, injured, displaced, arrested and detained, and denied education and other essential services. The conflicts and crises across the Middle East and North Africa are experiencing ongoing flashpoints that are altering children’s lives, often irreparably.   “In Syria, renewed violence and clashes in the northeast of the country have displaced almost 200,000 people, about half children, and disrupted essential services. At least five children are reported to have died in Ain Al Arab/Kobani due to the lack of health services and winter supplies.   “In Sudan, in January 2026, at least 20 children were killed, most of them killed in the Kordofan and Darfur states. Millions of children in Sudan require lifesaving assistance, protection and the restoration of essential services. Famine has already been confirmed in Al Fasher, North Darfur and Kadugli, Kordofan, with nearly 20 other areas at risk as conflict restricts the delivery of critical humanitarian supplies.   “In Iran, recent events have had devastating consequences for children and adolescents. More than 144 children have been reportedly killed, while many others have been reportedly injured or detained. UNICEF is strongly advocating with the Iranian authorities for the protection of children from violence, including to end any arrest or detention of children. The fear of a further escalation in Iran is also taking a heavy toll on children and their parents. We urge all involved to deescalate tensions and prioritise peace.   “In the Gaza Strip, while a fragile ceasefire has provided some improvements, the situation remains extremely precarious and deadly for many children. Children continue to endure airstrikes, and are impacted by shattered health, water and education systems. Since the beginning of the year, 37 children have been reported killed across the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire must hold and deliver on its promise to end the suffering of children in Gaza.   “In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, rising violence and conflict continues to undermine children’s access to safety, leaving families in a perpetual state of fear and uncertainty. In January, two children were killed in the West Bank and 25 injured.   “Elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, protracted conflicts and fragile contexts are increasing humanitarian needs. Yemen’s children continue to face multiple crises, including ongoing conflict, economic insecurity and widespread malnutrition, and families in Lebanon continue to struggle to recover from the recent war, while dealing with the fear of ongoing strikes.   “Violence, including grave violations against children, such as killing and maiming, are unacceptable. Children must always be protected, yet the first month of 2026 across the Middle East and North Africa has already been marked by the devastating loss of young lives.   “UNICEF urges all governments and parties to conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and take immediate action to end the violence, killing, injuring, arrest and detention and traumatizing of children. What all children need most is peace.”   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/2026-brings-no-respite-children-living-violence-and-conflict-middle-east-and-north http://www.unicef.org/emergencies http://www.unicef.org/media/press-releases   Aug. 2025   UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban's remarks following his recent travel to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank:   "I just returned from a five-day mission to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and I speak to you with deep urgency and profound concern today.   "This was my fourth visit to Gaza since the war began after the horrors of October 7th, itself building on decades of an unresolved conflict. You see the images on the news, and you know what has happened, but it is still shocking when you are there.   "The marks of deep suffering and hunger were visible on the faces of families and children. Over 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war. That’s an average of 28 children a day, the size of a classroom, gone. Children have lost loved ones, they are hungry and scared, and they are traumatised.   "Gaza now faces a grave risk of famine. This is something that has been building up, but we now have two indicators that have exceeded the famine threshold. One in three people in Gaza are going days without food, and the malnutrition indicator has exceeded the famine threshold, with global acute malnutrition now at over 16.5 per cent [in Gaza City]. Today, more than 320,000 young children are at risk of acute malnutrition.   "On Monday, when I was in Gaza, I met the families of the 10 children killed and 19 injured by an Israeli airstrike while they were queuing for food with their mothers and fathers at a nutrition clinic in Deir el-Balah that UNICEF supports.. This simply should not be happening. The children I met are not victims of a natural disaster. They are being starved, bombed, and displaced.   "At a stabilisation centre in Gaza City, I met acutely malnourished infants whose bodies were little more than skin and bone. Their mothers sat nearby, desperate and exhausted. One mother told me she no longer produces breastmilk - she herself is too hungry.   UNICEF is trying to do everything we can to address the situation but the needs are enormous after 22 months of war, two months of a blockade, aid is not at the required scale to meet the overwhelming needs.   We have over 1,500 trucks of life-saving supplies ready across corridors in Egypt, Jordan, Ashdod, and Turkey.   "We have called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in - moving closer towards 500 trucks a day - to stabilize the situation and reduce the desperation of the population.   "In order to address that, we need to flood the strip with supplies using all channels and all gates. This is not going to be achieved through humanitarian aid alone, and so we also pushed for commercial goods to get into the strip - eggs, milk and other essential supplies that complement what the humanitarian community is bringing in.   "We pressed for 'dual-use' items and more fuel to be allowed in so that the water system can be repaired. It is very hot in Gaza - 40 degrees -and water is in short supply, with the risk of disease outbreak looming everywhere.   "We pressed for a review of their military rules of engagement to protect civilians and children. Children should not be getting killed waiting in line at a nutrition centre or collecting water, and people should not be so desperate as to have to rush a convoy.   "We will continue to advocate so that the humanitarian pauses do not lead to further displacement, pressing the population into an ever smaller area.   "I should also say that I visited the West Bank. There, too, children are under threat. So far this year, 39 Palestinian children have been killed. I visited a Bedouin community east of Ramallah, which was forcibly displaced due to violence.   "We also met with Israeli children impacted by the war. Children who have endured fear, loss, and displacement. Children don't start wars, but they are the ones impacted by the wars.   "But today, I want to keep our focus on Gaza—because it is in Gaza where the suffering is most acute, and where children are dying at an unprecedented rate.   "We are at a crossroads. The choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or die. We know what must be done and what can be done. The UN and NGOs that form the humanitarian community can address this, along with commercial traffic, if the measures are in place to allow access and eventually have enough goods in the Strip that some of the issues that are there with law and order abate.   "Funding is needed. UNICEF’s appeal for Gaza is critically underfunded - only 30 per cent of health and nutrition needs are covered.   "We hope that the parties can agree on a cease-fire and the return of all remaining hostages by Hamas and other armed groups. This has gone on for far too long. 22 months. What is happening on the ground is inhumane. What children need - children from all communities - is a sustained ceasefire and a political way forward.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/devastating-rate-child-malnutrition-gaza-strip-august-surpasses-july-record http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-attributable-unicef-regional-director-middle-east-and-north-africa-edouard http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-deputy-executive-director-ted-chaibans-remarks-following-his-recent-travel http://www.wfp.org/news/un-agencies-warn-key-food-and-nutrition-indicators-exceed-famine-thresholds-gaza http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-133/en/ http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/july/as-mass-starvation-spreads-across-gaza-our-colleagues-and-those-we-serve-are-wasting-away http://www.warchild.net/news/in-gaza-starvation-doesnt-just-kill/   * IPC Child Acute Malnutrition Classification latest: http://tinyurl.com/4n25jjbz Visit the related web page
	Climate Change is an Existential Threat to Humanity by International Court of Justice, agencies   The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, issued its advisory opinion on the obligations of States in respect of climate change, read out by the President of the Court, Judge Iwasawa Yuji, on Wednesday.   The UN’s principal judicial body ruled that States have an obligation to protect the environment from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and act with due diligence and cooperation to fulfill this obligation.   This includes the obligation under the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.   The Court further ruled that if States breach these obligations, they incur legal responsibility and may be required to cease the wrongful conduct, offer guarantees of non-repetition and make full reparation depending on the circumstances.   UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the historic decision. "This is a victory for our planet, for climate justice and for the power of young people to make a difference," he said. “The world must respond.”   The case was “unlike any that have previously come before the court,” President of the International Court of Justice Judge Yuji Iwasawa said while reading the court’s unanimous advisory opinion outlining the legal obligations of United Nations member states with regard to climate change.   This case was not simply a “legal problem” but “concerned an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet,” Iwasawa said.   “A complete solution to this daunting and self-inflicted problem requires the contribution of all fields of human knowledge, whether law, science, economics or any other; above all, a lasting and satisfactory solution requires human will and wisdom at the individual social and political levels to change our habits and current way of life to secure a future for ourselves and those who are yet to come”.   "Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system … may constitute an internationally wrongful act," court president Yuji Iwasawa said. "The legal consequences resulting from the commission of an internationally wrongful act may include … full reparations to injured states in the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction."   The court added that a "sufficient direct and certain causal nexus" had to be shown "between the wrongful act and the injury".   The Court used Member States’ commitments to both environmental and human rights treaties to justify this decision. UN Member States are parties to a variety of environmental treaties, including ozone layer treaties, the Biodiversity Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement and many more, which oblige them to protect the environment for people worldwide and for future generations.   The right to “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a precondition for the enjoyment of many human rights,” since Member States are parties to numerous human rights treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they are required to guarantee the enjoyment of such rights by addressing climate change.   In September 2021, the Pacific Island State of Vanuatu announced that it would seek an advisory opinion from the Court on climate change. This initiative was inspired by the youth group Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change, which underscored the need to act to address climate change, particularly in small island States.   After the country gaind the support of other UN Member States, the UN General Assembly, on 29 March 2023, adopted a resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the ICJ on two questions: (1) What are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the environment? and (2) What are the legal consequences for States under these obligations when they cause harm to the environment?   The ICJ ruling was welcomed by Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology & Geo-Hazards, Energy, Environment and Disaster Management for the Republic of Vanuatu.   “Today’s ruling is a landmark opinion that confirms what we, vulnerable nations have been saying, and we’ve known for so long, that states do have legal obligations to act on climate change, and these obligations are guaranteed by international law. They’re guaranteed by human rights law, and they’re grounded in the duty to protect our environment, which we heard the court referred to so much,” Regenvanu said.   Mr Regenvanu hailed the court's decision as a "landmark milestone". "It's a very important course correction in this critically important time," he said. "Even as fossil fuel expansion continues under the US's influence, along with the loss of climate finance and technology transfer, and the lack of climate ambition following the US's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, major polluters, past and present, cannot continue to act with impunity and treat developing countries as sacrifice zones to further feed corporate greed."   Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, legal counsel for Vanuatu’s ICJ case, said the opinion meant that the “era where fossil fuel producers can freely produce and can argue that their climate policies are a matter of discretion—they’re free to decide on the climate policies—that era is over. We have entered an era of accountability, in which states can be held to account for their current emissions if they’re excessive but also for what they have failed to do in the past.”   Vishal Prasad, the director of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change and one of the students who initiated the case, said the advisory opinion would play a major role in holding polluters accountable.   "The ICJ's decision brings us closer to a world where governments can no longer turn a blind eye to their legal responsibilities," he said. "It affirms a simple truth of climate justice: those who did the least to fuel this crisis deserve protection, reparations, and a future."   ICJ president Yuji Iwasawa said the climate "must be protected for present and future generations" and the adverse effect of a warming planet "may significantly impair the enjoyment of certain human rights, including the right to life".   The detailed ICJ advisory opinion dealt with obligations of states under various climate conventions and treaties and humanitarian law. The court concluded that in terms of the climate agreements, state parties:   To the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have an obligation to adopt measures with a view to contributing to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change.   Have additional obligations to take the lead in combating climate change by limiting their greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing their greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs.   To the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, have a duty to cooperate with each other in order to achieve the underlying objective of the convention. To the Kyoto Protocol must comply with applicable provisions of the protocol.   To the Paris Agreement have an obligation to act with due diligence in taking measures in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities capable of making an adequate contribution to achieving the temperature goal set out in the agreement.   To the Paris Agreement have an obligation to prepare, communicate and maintain successive and progressive, nationally determined contributions, which, when taken together, are capable of achieving the temperature goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.   State parties to the Paris agreement have an obligation to pursue measures which are capable of achieving the objectives set out in their successive nationally determined contributions.   State parties to the Paris agreement have obligations of adaptation and cooperation, including through technology and financial transfers, which must be performed in good faith.   In addition, the court was of the opinion that customary international law sets forth obligations for states to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.   These obligations include the following:   States have a duty to prevent significant harm to the environment by acting with due diligence and to use all means at their disposal to prevent activities carried out within their jurisdiction or control from causing significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.   States have a duty to cooperate with each other in good faith to prevent significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment, which requires sustained and continuous forms of cooperation by states when taking measures to prevent such harm.   State parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the ozone layer and to the protocol and to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete ozone layer and its Kigali amendment, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa, have obligations under these treaties to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.   State parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea have an obligation to adopt measures to protect and preserve the marine environment, including from the adverse effects of climate change, and to cooperate in good faith.   However, the court did not end there; it was of the opinion that states have obligations under international human rights law and are required to take “measures to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment.”   The court said a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was a precondition for exercising many human rights, such as the right to life, the right to health, the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to water, food and housing.   * ICJ Summary: Obligation of States in respect of climate change (7pp): http://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/187/187-20250723-pre-01-00-en.pdf   * ICJ complete advisory: Obligation of States in respect of climate change (140pp): http://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/187/187-20250723-adv-01-00-en.pdf   http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165475 http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1t/k1tey5ro2w http://www.icj-cij.org/case/187/press-releases http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/turk-hails-landmark-icj-ruling-affirming-states-human-rights-obligations http://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/institute-responds-to-international-court-of-justice-advisory-opinion/ 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