United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

Humanitarian losses in the Second World War have made Europe and the whole world uneasy, leading to many initiatives in Europe. Humanitarian initiatives have emerged in the direction of protecting human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights. One of the organizations that emerged as a result of these initiatives was the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF was founded in 1946. It serves for the protection of children’s rights, protection and defense of children. UNICEF foresees the direct fulfillment of the rights of children of the world to the right to health, education, life, purification and nutrition without discrimination of any language, religion, race or gender. In this context, it serves to meet the needs of children primarily in the regions where there are natural disasters, disasters, wars, and droughts. UNICEF is involved in the provision of children’s rights and needs by creating a fund with the help of world governments.

Today, UNICEF has 190 members and nine countries are not UNICEF members. These countries are Bahamas, Brunei, Cyprus, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, and Singapore. UNICEF has a strong presence in 190 countries, with 156 Country Offices and 34 National Committees. The UNICEF board consists of 36 member states. These countries are elected by the Economic and Social Council for a three-year term. Distribution of the Board of Directors in the World is as follows; Africa (8 seats), Asia (7), Eastern Europe (4), Latin America and Caribbean (5) and Western Europe and Others (12). You can see the selected members for 2019 on the map.

A world map image with countries in two green shades, a bottom left legend, and a top right compass rose.
Unicef Map 2019

What does UNICEF do?

UNICEF works in the broadest sense to ensure that children can live their lives better and become healthy individuals. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is accepted by the world, the organization that determines what to do has a lot of duties and they have managed to perform these duties in the most effective way. UNICEF’s works;

1. Conducting informative projects to protect children’s rights,

2. To carry out studies to provide the basic requirements for children,

3. Designing projects to create opportunities to help children realize their potential,

4. Designing projects that will help countries to develop and help them achieve a better future for children,

5. Helping to provide the necessary infrastructure for special attention to children with disabilities and endangered children,

6. Designing projects that will improve the quality of life of individuals responsible for children in the best way to care for their children,

7. To carry out projects that will enable women and girls to enjoy their rights more actively in life,

8. It is possible to say the necessary campaigns for the management of the world by healthier individuals.

UNICEF works not only for children but also for countries and individuals. According to UNICEF, a society that wants the well-being of children should develop. It is necessary to create happy individuals for a happy child.

UNICEF’in Görevleri Nelerdir?

Three kids are happily hugging and kissing a person against a blue wall, enjoying a loving moment.

UNICEF is a very large organization and has employees working for itself around the world and is actively supported by many. You can see that big stars around the world work with UNICEF. Angeline Jolie is one of the most well-known stars in the field, and she has been repeatedly chosen as the ambassador for peace.

1. To meet the basic needs of children, (Education, housing, nutrition…)

2. Ensuring the protection of children’s rights, preventing the spread of the AIDS virus to children,

3. Poor children have a future,

4. Defense of children who are subjected to violence,

5. Improving children’s lives and offering new opportunities,

6. Helping children’s families in disaster situations,

7. To carry out studies on poor families and to identify these families,

8. Finding aid for the development of countries.

If you wish, you can donate to the organization over the internet or directly from the contact numbers and actively participate in the projects voluntarily. It is possible to become a member of the organization and work as an official.

History of UNICEF

A black and white photo of a group of children of various ages, some holding cups, with a few adults among them, all appearing to be outdoors.

Founded in 1946, UNICEF’s first name was the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. It was established for a short time to help children in 13 European countries after the Second World War. Initially, the UN was not supposed to have a full-fledged branch, so UNICEF’s only income was government donations.

In 1953, it was decided that UNICEF would become a permanent organization within the UN system and would contribute not only to situations requiring immediate assistance but also to long-term development efforts. However, since UNICEF has now set up a revenue collection system (greeting card sales and permanent donations from individuals and governments), it is thought that this is the best way to continue. Although the international and urgent words were removed from the organization’s name, the well-known UNICEF acronym has not been changed. After working on child health issues for more than a decade, there was a significant improvement in UNICEF’s duties in 1961, and education was included in UNICEF’s field of activity. Four years later, UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its contribution to the development of international fraternity.

In 1982, UNICEF launched a campaign that would accelerate the effort to save the lives of millions of children around the world in simple and inexpensive ways; these included measurement of growth in infants and children, oral fluid therapy, breastfeeding and immunization. In recent years, UNICEF has improved assistance to children in emergency situations and has helped to take important steps in ongoing health and education programs in developing countries.