United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- August 25, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Subject – IR and Environment
Context – Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk,’ warns new UN report.
Concept –
- UNICEF is a special program of the United Nations (UN) devoted to aiding national efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children.
- History
- UNICEF was created in 1946as International Children’s Emergency Fund (ICEF) by UN relief Rehabilitation Administration to help children affected by World War II.
- UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations in 1953.
- The name was shortened to United Nations Children Fund but it is still referred to as UNICEF.
- It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.
- UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989.
- It strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.
- Awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1965 for “promotion of brotherhood among the nations”.
- Headquarters: New York City
- It works in over 190 countries and territories with 7 regional offices.
- UNICEF is governed by an Executive Board consisting of 36 members that are elected to terms of three years by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council.
Fridays for Future (FFF)
- FFF is a dynamic global student movement pushing for immediate action on climate change through active campaigning and advocacy.
- The movement was inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who sat in protest in front of the Swedish parliament for three weeks in 2018 to draw attention to the climate emergency.
- Greta Thunberg was recently awarded the Right Livelihood Award-2019, also known as Sweden’s alternative Nobel Prize.
- The FFF movement was chosen as Champion of the Earth award for inspiration and action because of its role in highlighting the devastating effects of climate change.
“The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis”
- Report is released by UNICEF
- First climate report to combine high-resolution geographic maps detailing global environmental and climate impacts with maps that show regions where children are vulnerable due to an array of stressors, including poverty and lack of access to education, health care or clean water.
- Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India are among four South Asian countries where children are at extremely high risk of the impacts of the climate crisis, with a ranking of 14th, 15th, 25th and 26th respectively.
- The report introduces the new Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI), a composite index that ranks nations based on children’s exposure to climate shocks, providing the first comprehensive look at how exactly children are affected by the climate crisis, offering a road map for policymakers seeking to prioritise action based on those who are most at risk.
- Index has placed India among one of the 33 extremely high-risk countries where flooding and air pollution are repeated environmental shocks. Such shocks lead to the socio-economic adverse consequences for women and children.