Latest United Nations Children's Fund News

Nearly 250 million children missed school last year because of extreme weather, UNICEF says

Jan. 24, 2025 08:56 AM EST

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 242 million children in 85 countries had their schooling interrupted last year because of heatwaves, cyclones, flooding and other extreme weather, the United Nations Children's Fund said in a new report Friday. UNICEF said it amounted to one...

Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll

Jan. 07, 2025 21:41 PM EST

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas with prayers for peace in the Horn of Africa nation that has faced persistent conflict in recent years. Ethiopians follow the Julian calendar, which runs 13 days later than the Gregorian...

UNICEF urges nations to prioritize safety of migrant children after parents are lost in shipwrecks

Jan. 02, 2025 07:00 AM EST

ROME (AP) — The U.N. children’s fund urged governments on Thursday to prioritize the safety of migrant children after the latest Mediterranean shipwreck left about 20 people missing and added to a gruesome annual tally. Among the seven survivors of the New Year’s Eve wreck off...

Turkey's soaring costs are creating a 'lost generation' of kids forced to help their families get by

Dec. 25, 2024 00:03 AM EST

ISTANBUL (AP) — In a dim one-room apartment in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods, 11-year-old Atakan Sahin curls up on a threadbare sofa with his siblings to watch TV while their mother stirs a pot of pasta. The simple meal is all the family of six can look forward to most...

What to know about Vanuatu, the Pacific island nation struggling to recover from a massive quake

Dec. 20, 2024 07:08 AM EST

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A search expanded on Thursday for those killed or trapped alive by an earthquake in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, as rescue workers arriving from abroad fanned out through the capital, Port Vila, encountering flattened buildings that had not yet been...