(1st meeting) UNICEF Executive Board, Second regular session 2026

Hello, good morning. Please take your seats. Let's start our meeting. So, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good morning indeed. It is my pleasure to call to order and welcome you to the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board for 2026. We will begin this morning with agenda item one, which is the adoption of the agenda. The provisional annotated agenda, time label, and organization of work can be found in document E/ICEF/2026/25/Rev.2, which is available on the documents page of Executive Board website. I invite the Secretary of the Executive Board, Mr. Andres Franco, to introduce the agenda and the conduct of business for the session. Sir, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, the details and the agenda have been published on the Executive Board website. They were presented during the pre-session on the 18th of August, 2026, and published in the Journal of the United Nations. I am pleased to inform you that today Tuesday the 1st of September and Thursday the 3rd of September there will be morning meetings from 10 a.m to 1 p.m and afternoon meetings from 3 to 5 p.m. Tomorrow Wednesday the 2nd of September and on Friday the 4th of September there will be morning-only meetings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. If there are any changes to the timetable, we will announce them periodically during the session. An updated agenda for each day will be available in the daily UN journal. The President will use the following priority order in granting the right to speak. First, members of the Bureau of the UNICEF Executive Board who may wish to take the floor, organized by rank. Second, representatives of the regional groups of the United Nations speaking on behalf of their groups and/or for joint statements, organized by rank. Third, permanent missions to the United Nations that have sent written requests in advance and on time to take the floor at a specific time, organized by rank, with priority given to members of the Executive Board, followed by observers, also organized by rank. And fourth and last, advance written requests received after the deadline, followed by requests received from the floor through the electronic system on a first come first served basis. Microphones will start blinking to alert speakers one minute before the end of their allotted time. and speakers will be muted after their time has ended at either the end of three minutes or the end of five minutes. The time limits, as well as the muting of microphones of speakers, will be applied throughout the session. We had kindly asked that requests to take the floor be submitted via the online speaker request form. 59 PM on Friday, 28th of August, 2026 Eastern Daylight Time. All requests received by that deadline were included in the online live list of speakers that is being used by the Executive Board for the session. The online live list was made available on the Executive Board website yesterday, Monday, 31st of August, 2026, and will be updated continuously throughout the session. The list can also be accessed by scanning the QR code posted on the walls of this conference room. In order for this arrangement to be effective, we need your collaboration. We therefore encourage those delegations that have not yet submitted their online requests to do so as soon as possible. Delegations presenting statements at this session are kindly requested to submit electronic versions to my colleague Mr. Nogil Sarat Villar ahead of time and no later than two hours before delivery as possible. Please indicate the title of the agenda item, the date of the meeting and the number of the agenda item in the subject line of the e-mail and in the statement heading. Once provided to the Secretariat, statements will remain embargoed until delivery, after which they will be posted on the Executive Board website. We kindly encourage delegates to keep their oral statements within the time limits. The longer versions of their statements, as shared with the Executive Board Secretariat, will be made available on the Executive Board website. Delegates who wish only to view the session rather than to actively participate are encouraged to follow the proceedings via UN Web TV. We look forward to engaging discussions with you all over the coming days and to a productive and successful second regular session. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much, Mr. Franco, for that very important information.

Would any delegation like to comment on the provisional agenda? If no one wishes to take the floor at this time, I take it that the Executive Board wishes to adopt the annotated agenda, timetable and organisation of work. of work document E/ICEF/2026/25, ref. 2. If there is no objection, it is then so decided. Distinguished delegates, in accordance with Rule 50 and the annex to the Rules of Procedure, I now ask the Secretary of the Board to inform us of observer delegations that have communicated to the Secretariat their wish to participate in the session.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President and distinguished delegates, the Secretariat has so far received credentials from 50 observer delegations, one intergovernmental organization, four non-governmental organizations, and one national committee for UNICEF. The delegations that have not yet submitted their credentials are requested to share them with us as soon as possible. by completing the online credentials accreditation form, as well as informing my colleague, Ms. Tian Ruby Lu, when this has been done so that we can take timely action. The accreditation form is linked in the information note, which has been published on the documents page for the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board website. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the Secretary for his remarks. We have now concluded our discussions on this agenda item. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the UNICEF Executive Board's second regular session, our final formal gathering for this year. On the agenda for this week are 14 items, including five items for negotiation, by the Board and 17 new programme documents being presented for no objection approval. Of the 17, we will consider 16 new country programme documents and one multi-country programme document for a combined total of 28 countries. We will review the global and regional programme document 2026-2029, an integral part of a strategic plan, and a framework that supports the achievement of child rights and helps to drive global, regional and cross-border solutions for children. Also on the table for this session are new items on governance and oversight, which were added to the agenda following requests made by the Board in decisions adopted at the annual session in June. We will break from the plenary meeting on Thursday morning to hold a special focus session on innovation in education, which you may know is an area of keen personal interest for me, as well as for, of course, my country. Innovation is also a key feature of the work of UNICEF to improve the lives of millions of children, especially the most disadvantaged and marginalized. I look forward to the discussions in which we will hear from our panelists and the experience of Estonia will be shared and connected with the strategic direction and efforts made by UNICEF to improve the accessibility and quality of education for children across the globe. Distinguished delegates, we are convening this session at a critical moment. We are coming to the end of the first year of implementation of a new UNICEF strategic plan 26-29 during a period of unprecedented challenges for children. With growing humanitarian needs, public health emergencies, climate and environmental risks and shrinking resources affecting the organization's efforts to uphold the rights of every child. In the coming month, we will join hands with the UNICEF Secretariat to commemorate the organization's 80th anniversary of service to children. Since 1946, UNICEF has helped to drive some of the greatest advances in human progress. But for the first time in a generation, these hard-won gains for children can no longer be taken for granted, unfortunately. Let us unite with UNICEF as it calls upon all of us to reaffirm its mandate and to protect the gains made for children over multiple decades while making an urgent case for renewed action and investment in their future. Distinguished delegates, I look forward to working with you all This week, in a spirit of collaboration, as I have tried to do in the past, I would share a kind reminder that politics has no place in this boardroom, where our paramount concern should remain the well-being of children, particularly those who have been left behind. I look forward to our important discussions over the coming days, and I sincerely thank you in advance for your constructive, and active engagement. Please remember that here we are really focusing on how can we serve the children around the world. I now invite Ms. Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, to make some opening remarks. You have the floor, madam.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, good morning. It's really nice to see you all back. It feels like we were just here five minutes ago, so I'm not sure what happened to August, but welcome to the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board for 2026. Thank you very much to the President and of course to the Bureau for your continued leadership. We meet today at a consequential moment for children, for UNICEF, and for the United Nations. In recent weeks, disasters have devastated communities from Nepal and China to Colombia, Indonesia, and Venezuela. Our thoughts are with the children and families who have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods. UNICEF is on the ground, and we are doing everything we can to help them recover. Globally, humanitarian and development needs for children continue to grow, even as the resources available to meet them shrink. Meanwhile, rapid technological change is transforming childhood itself, bringing extraordinary opportunities, but also risks that the world must address. The focus of this year's General Assembly is particularly relevant, the United Nations that delivers for all. For UNICEF, this means the United Nations that does everything it can to improve the lives of children. Excellencies, as you know well, the UN is in the midst of transformation and UNICEF is fully engaged in that UNAD process. We see real opportunities to make the United Nations more effective, more coherent, and better equipped for the challenges of the world today. UNICEF brings broad experience, our operational footprint, and the tremendous talent of our people to that effort. At the global level, UNICEF, WFP, and UNDOS are co-leading work on integrated supply chains. New approaches piloted in Afghanistan, Gaza, Haiti, Somalia, and Sudan are already demonstrating savings in transport and logistics costs. UNICEF is also co-leading work on the UN Data Commons, which will bring together official data from 28 UN entities to give governments a clearer picture of who's being left behind and where action is needed most. For UNICEF, UN reform is not an abstract exercise. Its success will be judged by whether children are safer, healthier, better educated, and better able to realize their rights. We are fully committed to this effort. Excellencies, in 1946, in the aftermath of the Second World War, millions of children were hungry, displaced, and facing an uncertain future. In response, the international community made a remarkable choice. Countries divided by war agreed that a peaceful, prosperous future depended on investing in children. That choice gave birth to UNICEF. And in December of this year, we will mark UNICEF's 80th anniversary. What began as an emergency fund for children became something more significant, a global commitment to the idea that every child has rights and that societies are stronger when they invest in children. Over eight decades, UNICEF has helped drive a revolution in child survival, working with governments and partners to bring simple, proven interventions within reach for millions of families and saving countless lives in the process. Vaccines have protected generations of children from diseases that once routinely killed or disabled millions. Oral rehydration therapy transformed the treatment of childhood diarrhea. Support for breastfeeding, better nutrition, clean water and sanitation, and stronger primary health care have given millions more children the chance not only to survive their earliest years, but to grow and to thrive. Together, these efforts have contributed to one of the great achievements of our time. Since 1990, the global under five mortality rate has fallen by 60%. Excuse me. Behind that figure are millions of children who not only survived, but are healthy and educated. Diseases that once threatened children around the world have been pushed back dramatically. Polio, for example, has been eradicated in all but a few places, bringing the world closer than ever to ending that horrible disease. UNICEF also helped champion a different understanding of childhood itself. Children not simply as people in need, but as individuals with rights. The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 established the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Since then, UNICEF has worked with governments to translate those rights into laws, policies, and services, from birth registration and education to protection from violence, harmful practices, and the grave violations children face in war. Excuse me. Throughout those 80 years, humanitarian action has remained a critical part of UNICEF's DNA. From the children displaced by war in Europe who inspired UNICEF's creation to children affected by conflict and disasters today, UNICEF has always been there, often in some of the world's most difficult places. None of this progress belongs to UNICEF alone. It belongs to governments that invested in children and in the systems that support them. to health workers, teachers, social workers, to communities and civil society, to our United Nations partners, to donors, businesses, our UNICEF national committees, and millions of individual supporters, and of course to children and young people themselves. Our experience provides an important lesson for all of us that humanitarian action is indispensable, but so too is the sustained and very hard work of development, strengthening health and education systems, expanding access to water and sanitation, improving nutrition and social protection, and helping governments invest in their youngest citizens. For 80 years, UNICEF has accompanied countries on that development journey. Excellencies, children today face challenges and opportunities that the founders of UNICEF could only have imagined. Perhaps nowhere is this clearer than in the areas of digital technology and artificial intelligence. AI has extraordinary potential for children, widening access to knowledge, helping children with disabilities, supporting learning, and bringing information and services to communities historically left behind. But opportunities without safeguards can deepen inequality and cause harm. We have a responsibility to shape those systems now. We cannot repeat the mistakes made with social media, responding to harms only after they have become deeply embedded. Safeguarding children from online sexual abuse is a critical piece of this work. So too is protecting children's data, ensuring that AI in schools, health systems and other services advances children's development and giving children a voice in decisions about technologies that shape their future. UNICEF is helping to move this agenda forward. Earlier this year, we worked with the G7 to establish the first common principles addressing children in the digital environment. And in July, UNICEF brought a child's child rights perspective to the first global dialogue on AI governance in Geneva, advocating for children's rights and safety to be built into AI governance and for children themselves to have a voice in shaping it. Mr. President, I want to recognize your leadership in helping to convene that important dialogue. Beyond AI, the development agenda faces other significant challenges. Today, excuse me, 273 million children and young people are out of school. while hundreds of millions more are in school but not acquiring the foundational skills they need. We must urgently tackle this learning crisis and ensure that technology strengthens rather than substitutes for investment in teachers and education systems. We must also accelerate progress on safe water and sanitation. Today, 2.1 billion people still lack safe drinking water. while 3.4 billion lack adequate sanitation, which puts them at risk of terrible diseases like cholera. The UN Water Conference this December is an important opportunity to accelerate action on these services, which are fundamental to children's health, dignity, and development. In addition, we must confront the scourge of violence against children. More than half of the world's children experience some form of violence every year. in their homes, schools, communities, and increasingly online. The consequences can follow children throughout their lives. At the same time, environmental threats from extreme heat and air pollution to contaminated water and toxic substances are having a growing impact on children's health and development. These challenges vary, but the lesson of the last 80 years applies to all of them. Lasting progress comes from strong partnership and sustained investment in the systems that children depend on. Excellencies, for some children, the threats they face every day are immediate and life-threatening. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, children are confronting the country's worst Ebola outbreak on record. More than 300 children have died, and the impact of the deadly disease goes far beyond the immediate physical consequences. In the outbreak's hotspots, use of essential health services fell by more than 40% between April and June. Routine childhood vaccinations have sharply declined, while maternal health care and other essential services have also been disrupted. UNICEF is working with the government, WHO, Africa CDC, and other partners to contain the outbreak and to keep health facilities safe and functioning, maintaining the services children and families depend on. Our teams are also responding to immense humanitarian needs in the state of Palestine and across the Middle East, in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan, in Myanmar, Nepal, Ukraine, Yemen, and in other crises around the world. UNICEF is providing the emergency health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, and protection support. This work is made possible through the incredible dedication and sacrifice made by UNICEF staff on the ground in these challenging environments. Keeping in mind the lessons of the past 80 years, we must look beyond immediate response to what comes next. We must respond to crises while planting the seeds for future recovery and development. In Syria and Venezuela, UNICEF is supporting children and communities as they recover and rebuild. And in Lebanon and Gaza, recovery and reconstruction will be essential to restoring the basic services and systems children desperately need. If we get these transitions right, they can become opportunities for hope to rebuild not simply what existed before, but stronger, more resilient systems for children. However, in many places, our humanitarian action faces fundamental constraints. We cannot reach children when access is denied. We cannot sustain lifesaving services without adequate resources. And humanitarian action requires respect by all parties for their obligations under international law. Children and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Humanitarian workers must be able to reach children safely. And parties to conflict must uphold their obligations under international law. Excellencies, our ability to deliver in both humanitarian and development settings is being tested by an increasingly difficult funding environment. Core resources from our public sector partners fell by 31% between 2024 and 2025 alone, reaching the lowest level in UNICEF's history. This matters because core resources are the foundation on which much of UNICEF's work is built. Core resources sustain the expertise and country presence that allow us to help governments strengthen systems, manage risks, and deliver results. They give us the flexibility to allocate resources where the potential impact for children is greatest and to leverage additional resources and partnerships. That responsibility also extends to how we govern UNICEF itself. We must continually strengthen the systems that support sound decision-making, compliance, and effective risk management. To that end, we are establishing a new governance team at UNICEF, which will bring together and strengthen key functions supporting internal governance and regulatory oversight. The current trajectory of core resources concerns me deeply, but we do see some positive signs. Denmark recently announced that it will triple its core resource contribution to UNICEF and become a donor to our global humanitarian thematic fund. Japan has increased its core resources by more than half, while Luxembourg and Iceland have also announced increases in 2026. We are enormously grateful for this leadership. I'm also pleased to report that private sector core resources are outperforming expectations. To our national committees whose fundraising and advocacy help drive that extraordinary support, a huge, huge thank you. And thank you as well to all of our partners who give UNICEF the trust and flexibility to direct resources where they can achieve the greatest results for children. We will consider both the structured funding dialogue and our updated financial estimates during this board session. I hope those discussions reaffirm a simple principle, ambition for children must be matched by the quality as well as the quantity of resources because cutting investment in children does not make their needs disappear. It merely shifts the cost into the future, into weaker health and education systems, greater inequality, instability, and lost human potential. Excellencies, 80 years ago, the world stood at a crossroads. leaders emerging from devastating conflict made a choice that the lives and futures of children were worth protecting. We have seen the dividends of that commitment. We stand at another crossroads today. The fundamental question is remarkably similar. What kind of future will we choose? Will we allow decades of progress for children to stall, or will we invest in the systems that make it possible for children to survive and thrive? Will technology deepen inequality and expose children to new harms? Or will it shape around their rights and their safety and potential? UNICEF's 80th anniversary is not simply a moment to look back. It is a responsibility to look forward. The future is not something that simply happens to us. It's built decision by decision, investment by investment, partnership by partnership. Our responsibility is to choose wisely, to choose children, to choose investment in their futures, and to support a United Nations that delivers for every child. Thank you very much.

I thank Executive Director Russell for her thought-provoking remarks. Thank you very much. Distinguished delegates, I now open the floor for the general national statements. Delegations are kindly reminded that their statements should remain within the agreed time limits three minutes for individual delegations speaking in their national capacity and five minutes for delegations speaking on behalf of United Nations regional groups or for joint statements of two or more Member States. Microphones will start blinking to alert speakers one minute before the end of their allotted time and speakers will be muted after their time has ended. at either the end of the three minutes or the end of the five minutes. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Iceland.

Thank you for giving me the floor. Madam Executive Director, I would like to begin by congratulating UNICEF on its upcoming 80th anniversary. During this time, the organization has achieved remarkable results for the world's children, their health, well-being, and future opportunities. At the same time, UNICEF has been present on the ground in some of the most demanding crises around the globe. We extend our heartfelt thanks to UNICEF staff that has consistently delivered for children for the past 80 years. At this important milestone, the organization is faced with some pressing challenges in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, coupled with a shrinking and more restrictive funding base. The decline in public sector regular resources is deeply concerning and risks seriously reducing UNICEF's operability and ability to respond where it is most needed. Therefore, Iceland remains committed to maintaining the level of its core and thematic contributions. Noting the increased importance of private sector contributions, we encourage UNICEF to continue its efforts in diversifying the funding base and exploring innovative financing options. Iceland also acknowledges the critical role of UNICEF's national committees. We are thankful for the efforts of the National Committee in Iceland as well as the remarkable and continued commitment of the Icelandic people to support UNICEF's work. Madam Executive Director, it is vital that UNICEF seizes the opportunities brought by the UN aid reform agenda so the organization can continue to deliver effectively on its mandate. Iceland appreciates the steps already taken and the regular updates provided. These steps are critical when operating in an increasingly complex context. Recent example of this complexity is the exponential growth of AI, and we welcome the leadership that UNICEF has shown in ensuring children's rights in the digital world. Iceland also welcomes UNICEF's active engagement with the humanitarian reset and the focus on localization, both as it relates to strengthening the role of national governments and in building capacity of local civil society. With its dual mandate, UNICEF plays an important role in building local resilience and supporting communities' ability to both respond to crisis and to develop sustainable solutions. I thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of Iceland. Next speaker on my list is Dominican Republic. You have the floor.

Mr. Chairman, Madam Executive Director, delegates, we're grateful for the intervention of the Executive Director and congratulate UNICEF on its anniversary, 80th anniversary. Eight decades of progress in helping children demonstrates what can be done when everyone supports the rights of children. We welcome the firm commitment of UNICEF with the UNAD initiative and with the reforms that will make the system more agile, coherent, and effective. as long as this system strengthens the capacity to deliver results for children. Given this in mind, we value the focus on the future in the initiative and the priority on regular resources devoted to country programs and minimizing the effect on offices on the ground. However, we are concerned about the reduction in services and we would like to know how UNICEF will ensure the critical services are maintained. We commend the growing leadership of UNICEF in the rights of children, including its other efforts and its participation in the first global dialogue on governance of artificial intelligence. We believe that the needs of children continue to exceed the available resources. We are concerned that regular resources of governments have fallen to historic minimum. much below the funding compact and we urge Member States to consider significant increases in their basic contributions, reaffirm our support of UNICEF's commitment to independent oversight and transparency and we express our support for Executive Director. Thank you.

Thank you distinguished representative of Dominican Republic. Next speaker on my list is Lao People's Democratic Republic, please.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, at the outset, my delegation would like to express its appreciation to the President of the Executive Board and the Executive Director of UNICEF for their leadership and commitment to advancing the rights and well-being of children worldwide. We commend UNICEF for its continued efforts to support Member States in addressing the increasingly complex challenges affecting children, including poverty, malnutrition, climate change and natural disasters, health emergencies and humanitarian crises. The Lao PDR firmly believes that children and young people are the foundation of sustainable development. Investing in their health, nutrition, education, protection and empowerment is not only a moral responsibility, but also essential to building inclusive, resilient and sustainable societies. We therefore welcome UNICEF's continued emphasis on strengthening national systems and ensuring equitable access to essential services, particularly for children and families in vulnerable and remote communities. For many years, UNICEF has been a longstanding and valued development partner of the Lao PDR. We highly appreciate UNICEF's support in maternal and child health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as social and child protection. These contributions have helped strengthen national capacities and improve the life of children and families across our country. In this regard, my delegation welcomes and fully support the new UNICEF country program for the Lao PDR for 2027-2031 to be considered tomorrow by the executive board. The CPD was developed through close consultation between the government, UNICEF, UN country team and other stakeholders. We are also pleased that the program is closely aligned with our national socioeconomic development plan and priorities of other plans relating to children, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2027-2031. We look forward to its adoption and effective implementation to further strengthening our partnership to advance child development. We also recognize the importance of adequate, predictable, flexible and sustainable financing for UNICEF. We encourage continued international support and contribution to the fund so that UNICEF can effectively fulfill its mandate and respond to the needs of children, particularly those facing greatest vulnerabilities. In conclusion, the Lao PDR reaffirms its strong support for UNICEF. We stand ready to further strengthen our partnership with UNICEF and other development partners to ensure that no child...

I thank the distinguished representative of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Next speaker is Oman.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Your Excellencies, representatives of member states, the Sultanate of Oman extends its sincere thanks and appreciation to His Excellency Ambassador Ryan Tamser, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Estonia, for his stewardship of this session and for presiding over the UNICEF Executive Board for 2026, and for the wisdom, transparency, and consensus-building spirit that have characterized his presidency. We also express our appreciation to the Executive Director of UNICEF, and all the staff for their continued effort to protect children's rights and promote their well-being around the world particularly in light of the growing humanitarian and development challenges affecting the lives of millions of children this session holds special significance for the Sultanate of Oman as it marks the final session in which Oman participates as a member of the UNICEF executive board and as a vice president of the board representing the Asia Pacific group for 2026 on this occasion The Sultanate of Oman expresses its deep appreciation to the Member States for their trust placed in it, and we affirm our pride in the opportunity this membership has provided to contribute to the work of the Board and to strengthen consensus and constructive dialogue. This is in support of UNICEF's mission to protect children's rights and promote their well-being throughout the world. Mr. President, the Sultanate of Oman values its longstanding partnership with UNICEF, which has entered a new phase with implementation of the country program for the period 2026-2030 aimed at supporting national priorities in the empowerment of children and youth. The Sultanate of Oman also commends the fruitful cooperation achieved with UNICEF in the area of humanitarian relief through the port of Salalah in the Sultanate of Oman. We look forward to building on this success by strengthening future partnerships in the areas of humanitarian transport and supply, facilitating logistical operations, and developing innovative solutions that support rapid response in cases of crises. We also affirm our support to continue dialogue with UNICEF to explore new areas of cooperation, including the development of national capacity in the pharmaceutical and health products industries in a manner that serves humanitarian and developmental needs at the regional and international levels. In closing, the Sultanate of Oman renews its commitment to continuing to cooperate with UNICEF and all international partners in support of the organization's effort to build a more just, sustainable and equitable future for every child. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Oman. I now give the floor to Eritrea.

I thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, distinguished delegates. It's my honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African member states of the executive board of UNICEF, namely Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania, and my own country, Eritrea. Mr. President, thank you for your opening remarks, and I wish to extend our sincere appreciation to the executive director, Ms. Catherine Russell, for her comprehensive statement and leadership of the organization. From the onset, we wish to express our strong support to the mandate and work of UNICEF to ensure that every child reaches its full potential, guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international regional legal instruments. UNICEF's work remains a beacon of humanity, and we wish to applaud its staff and partners who continue to support programs with the goal of protecting children in the most challenging circumstances. Delivering life-saving assistance, safeguarding rights, and creating opportunities for every child reflects the very best of our shared global values. And in this regard, UNICEF's leadership is indispensable and our support must be unwavering. Mr. President, we attach importance to UNICEF's strategy for Africa with sharp focus on children in the region to address the unique challenges the continent faces and to reach the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach children to ensure that no child is left behind. need for urgent and sustained investment in the health development education and overall well-being of the children in the continent will be crucial towards boosting for a prosperous stable and Equitable future for every child we value the prioritization of life saving and high impact support for children in situations where overlapping crisis such as conflict climate shocks food insecurity and fragile systems continue to threaten the survival and long term well-being of children. Response must go beyond short term humanitarian action by supporting UNICEF's role in strengthening resilient national systems. As we approach the final years of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, we stress that the United Nations development system must intensify its support to programme countries to accelerate progress in line with their national priorities. In this session of the Executive Board, we will be addressing many important issues, including adoption of several CPDs. We believe that CPDs remain the most important tools through which national priorities of programme countries are reflected, alignments with the strategic vision of UNICEF are made, along with regional and global commitments for children. To ensure the full implementation of the CPDs, we would like to reiterate our longstanding call for a significant increase in core contributions. And in this connection, we would like to acknowledge the good work UNICEF does in its efforts to emphasize the importance of increasing core resources to reverse the current trajectory by providing adequate, predictable, multi-year and flexible funding, which is indispensable to achieving the objectives of these programs. There's a need for a renewed global commitment and investment not to risk reversals of the gains made for children rights over the past two decades. Achieving impact at scale as articulated in the strategic plan of UNICEF for 2026, 2029 will test our collective resolve and commitment towards children's rights across the regions. I wish us all a successful and fruitful second regular session. I thank you.

Thank the distinguished representative of Eritrea. Next speaker is Georgia.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, dear colleagues. We reaffirm our strong support for the UNICEF's efforts to navigate an increasingly complex global environment and recognize the tireless work of its personnel and partners to safeguard the wellbeing of children. often at great personal risk and in exceptionally difficult conditions. We welcome the country programme documents presented for approval and appreciate their alignment with the national priorities and the broader UN development framework. The focus of the CPDs on nutrition is particularly important. Adequate nutrition is fundamental to children's survival and development. We're confident that investments in nutrition translate into lasting improvement in the lives of children and their families. In Georgia, UNICEF has supported efforts of the government of Georgia to ensure that children, especially the most vulnerable and those living in remote and hard to reach rural areas, enjoy high quality, well financed and comprehensive health and nutrition services. Madam Executive Director, we take note of the important emphasis placed on localization under the Humanitarian Reset and welcome efforts to strengthen locally led humanitarian action. In particular, we recognize the essential role of local and national authorities as the first line of response. UNICEF should continue investing in the capacity, leadership and meaningful participation of local and national civil society organizations. We also welcome UNICEF's role in enabling locally driven solutions and empowering that local actors to lead responses that are effective, sustainable and responsive to their specific needs. We thank you for the update on the UNAT initiative. We appreciate the UNICEF significant efforts invested in this complex process, including its active involvement in the relevant work packages. We welcome UNICEF's outcome-oriented engagement in the UNAID process, particularly its focus on operational realities. Any reforms should ultimately serve to enhance UNICEF's capacity to deliver rather than create additional layers of process and administrative burden. In closing, let me reiterate Georgia's strong support for UNICEF and its vital role in advancing the rights and well-being of every child. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Georgia. I now give the floor to Germany.

Mr. President, thank you very much for your leadership in steering this board. And Madam Executive Director, thank you very much for your remarks laying out all the achievements of UNICEF and current challenges, and congratulations on the anniversary. I would like to start by thanking you personally and all of UNICEF staff for the strong engagement in responding to acute crises around the world. Your commitment and professionalism often under extremely challenging circumstances deserve and have our full appreciation. Germany remains fully committed to a multilateral system based on international law and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UNICEF's work is an integral part of this multilateral architecture guided by the UN Charter and international human rights. And in this spirit, Germany places particular emphasis on gender equality, diversity, inclusion, and climate action as cross-cutting priorities in UNICEF's programs. We recognize UNICEF's proactive role in advancing current reform processes, and we welcome efforts to strengthen efficiency, effectiveness, and organizational sustainability while safeguarding UNICEF's mandate. We expect efficiency gains to be reinvested into program delivery. Continued investment in the resident coordinator system, UN country team reconfiguration and the expertise on demand mechanism remains important to enable more coherent and effective delivery across the UN development system as a whole. At the same time, we believe that the scale of change is underway, requires a high degree of transparency and accountability. This includes transparent communication on reform progress and its implications for staff and organizational structures. An open and constructive dialogue we feel is essential to maintain trust and reflect perspectives and expertise of all stakeholders. Turning specifically to the Future Focus Initiative, we welcome the progress reported to date and acknowledge the efforts undertaken to identify efficiencies and generate savings. We look forward to a balanced after action review that goes beyond achievements and projected savings. The review, in our view, should address key risks, trade-offs, potential unintended consequences, as well as measures taken to mitigate them. More broadly, we encourage UNICEF to provide greater visibility on the challenges encountered during reform implementation and on how these are being addressed so that the Executive Board can effectively assess risks and provide guidance. Madam Executive Director, if I may, against this background, I would like to ask two questions and be interested to hear about the following. What key risks UNICEF has identified for implementing the FFI? and what measures are in place to monitor and address them first, and secondly, how UNICEF ensures that efficiency gains translate into?

I thank the distinguished representative of Germany. I now give a floor to Liechtenstein.

Thank you so much for the floor, Mr. President, and let me thank.

The both of you, Mr. President and Edie Russell for your opening remarks.

Mr. President, as Liechtenstein's term.

On the UNICEF board comes to an end, allow me to say what an honor it has been. We especially valued seeing UNICEF's work in action during the field visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Looking ahead to this session, we welcome the country program documents.

These are essential instruments for translating our ambition into practical results for children. We also welcome the global and regional programme document as a framework for UNICEF's normative work. We trust the programmatic activities it lists will complement and align with existing efforts, including the cooperation frameworks, to ensure country-level coherence. Mr. President, as the Future Focus Initiative.

Draws to a close, we understand it required difficult choices for the organization, its personnel, and their families.

At the same time, the initiative made important steps toward a more sustainable and field-oriented organization.

We are pleased by the strong reception of the four centers of excellence and progress on digital tools.

Relocation and consolidation.

We equally appreciate UNICEF's constructive engagement in the Secretary-General's UN80 initiative. and reiterate the importance of UN country team configurations linked to expertise on demand and the regional reset.

Configuration should derive from cooperation frameworks and be guided by empowered resident coordinators bringing together the right expertise and capacity for each context at the right levels.

Mr. President, over the past five years, Liechtenstein has.

Contributed over USD 25 per capita towards UNICEF's emergency and reconstruction assistance. Yet government contributions alone are not sufficient.

Support from individuals and private sector remains essential. Thankfully, private sector resources rose again and now provide over half of UNICEF's regular resources.

This is a notable achievement.

The National Committee's ability to mobilize support is a real asset and one we look forward to seeing grow further.

I thank you so much. I thank the distinguished representative of Liechtenstein. I now give the floor to El Salvador.

Gracias.

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you to the Executive Director. I want to start my intervention by commending the work of UNICEF and highlighting the importance of its mandate in each one of the countries in which it is present. For El Salvador, the contribution of UNICEF is strategic and essential to ensure that children and teenagers in our country obtain the necessary attention for each of their needs and to meet the goal of ensuring a better future. As part of the preparation of our country program document for 2027-2031, my country is grateful for the close cooperation with the office of UNICEF in El Salvador. We are sure that based on our national priorities, we will continue working effectively for El Salvadoran children in key areas such as education, health care, and protection. We also would like to exercise the hope that there'll be continuity for strengthening actions that are currently underway, in particular those related to early childhood and maternal health. These are strategic areas where El Salvador has made significant advances on the basis of efforts of the office of the first lady of El Salvador. Madam executive director, the strategic role of UNICEF international plan is an essential part of a whole chain of efforts. And this, in fact, executive board gives concrete form to the decisions of UNICEF and the strategic plan is an extremely important document and it will lead to regional and international efforts. With this in mind, we would like to hope that actions that UNICEF will incorporate as part of UNAD initiative will be geared towards strengthening its mandate as well as maximizing opportunities that make it possible to intervene on the ground increasingly more effectively and expanding the scope Lastly, as part of the conclusion of our period as a member of the Executive Board, El Salvador reaffirms its commitment to continue actively cooperating with UNICEF, both in this headquarters and on the ground. And we'd like to express our profound gratitude to the Bureau, to each one of the members of the various regional groups, and in particular to the Secretary of this of this Executive Board, Mr. Andres Franco, for his support and close cooperation over the past few years when El Salvador has been a member of this Executive Board. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of El Salvador. Next speaker is Japan.

Thank you, Mr. President. In a time of growing needs and shrinking resources, UNICEF's ability to innovate will define capacity to deliver for children. Japan pays tribute to Madam Executive Director for her committed leadership in navigating this challenging landscape and advancing reform efforts. Japan underscores that the success of UNAT initiative should be measured by whether It strengthens UNICEF's capacity to deliver results on the ground and greater impact for children, particularly those in the most vulnerable situations. We welcome that a project involving UNICEF received the 2026 Human Security Award at the ceremony held in June with the executive director in attendance. This recognition highlights the value of translating human security into concrete action for children. Interconnected crises can easily accumulate, leaving children increasingly exposed to compounding risks. We therefore need an approach that strengthens resilience and agency of individuals and communities. Mr. President, Japan remains committed, leaving no one behind, We have put this commitment into practice with UNICEF. In just these last few weeks, we have started a project strengthening immunization system in Venezuela by providing essential vaccines to pregnant women, mothers and infants. We have also provided emergency assistance for the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The private sector can play an important role. It can bring capabilities that complement UNICEF's own strengths. Japanese companies, for instance, have collaborated with UNICEF's work by bringing their valuable expertise, particularly in WASH. From innovative products and technologies to technical expertise, such partnerships can help translate ideas into into practical solutions and take them to scale. Japan encourages UNICEF to further harness these capabilities to maximize impact for children. Let me conclude by paying tribute to UNICEF staff working on the front lines, often under exceptionally difficult circumstances to protect and support children. Japan remains committed to supporting UNICEF. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Japan. I now give the floor to United Kingdom.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Madam Executive Director. The United Kingdom thanks UNICEF's leadership and UNICEF staff for their deep commitment to delivering for children at this moment of profound change and great challenge. You have our strong support on our shared priorities of better outcomes for vulnerable children, a more effective and accountable UNICEF and a more coherent UN-wide system that works for children. To deliver this, we look to UNICEF to play its full role in tangible delivery of UNAT, the humanitarian reset and reforms in key areas of local leadership and resilience, protection, data and radical transparency on costs and results. We thank the Executive Director for providing updates on UNICEF's contribution to the UNAT initiative. The UK supports ambitious reform and a focus on implementation with decisions made closer to countries and communities, duplication reduced and resources flowing efficiently to the actors best placed to deliver. We'd like to hear more evidence and for that to be shared more widely on how reform is changing the way the system operates. including through stronger resident coordinator leadership, reduced fragmentation and clear focus on UNICEF's comparative advantage. CPDs should be derived from and fully aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and national priorities. We encourage UNICEF to maintain momentum from the Future Focus initiative behind practical reforms and to deliver measurable gains in effectiveness and efficiency. In particular, we think the common supply chain initiative now needs to move beyond pilots and demonstrate implementation at scale to reduce duplication and making use of scarce resources. UNICEF has a valuable role to play in pursuing greater efficiency and coordination while reducing duplication, including through the UN country team reconfiguration and driving efficiencies through system-wide shared services and common enablers, notably technology, AI and data. At a time of rising needs and constrained resources, the priority must be to focus collective efforts where UNICEF can have the greatest impact. We need a UNICEF and a wider humanitarian system that is more focused, more efficient, more transparent, with resources directed to the people and organisations best placed to deliver. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom. Before we move forward, I would like to give a floor to Edie Russell to respond to some of the comments and I believe there were also some questions.

I'll do my best. I'll do my best. And as I always say to all of you, I really so much appreciate this part of the board because I get to hear directly from you about what's on your mind. I will do my best to respond to some of them. Obviously, some of these issues, most of these issues will be discussed in the next few days. Anything that I don't answer, you know, obviously come back and we will continue the conversation. But I just want to thank you all really for your close attention to what's going on and for your very helpful comments about the issues that you're interested in. So I'm going to go through them fairly quickly. And there was a lot of common conversations or comments today. So in a way that makes it slightly easier. To Iceland, I just want to say a couple of things. One, you mentioned the NatComs. And I do want to stress this because for us, you know, the private sector NatComs, the key about that, obviously, we are so grateful to them for the resources they provide to us. It does help us with our diversified income, but also they really represent the support of these countries for UNICEF and for what's happening at UNICEF. And I think we can't underestimate that. I do appreciate, obviously, the role of governments in funding us. They have a primary role. This is a member state organization. The private sector can't be expected to do all of that financing. That will never work. But the private sector does provide essential resources and also the support of the public for the political bodies in your countries that are trying to galvanize support for us. So just very much appreciate that. To the Dominican Republic, I appreciate your comments, many comments about the importance of reform. I would say that, you know, a couple things about that. First, we are committed to maintaining the critical services that we provide in countries despite challenges to our resources. That is not easy to do. As you can imagine, every day we are making really tough decisions about where we can provide services, where we don't have the resources to do it. I think that the way we look at our job is a couple things. One, obviously to build the capacity of governments, countries so they can do most of this work themselves. That's ultimately the goal of what we're doing. Also to work in partnership with others so that we can try to find commonalities, shared goals and try to work together, try to get everyone who's working in any country to be thinking about children and the importance of children. So to all of you who raised points about that, it is important for us. UNICEF can never solve all these problems alone. Governments need to their part and then other partners need to come along and understand what the challenges are for children and what we're trying to get done. To the colleague from Lao PDR, I think agree with you completely that development depends on investment in children. But again, this is sort of to this earlier point, we really need to strengthen the national capacity. That is ultimately the only way we can make huge progress in these countries. To Oman, you know, we're sorry to see you go from the bureau. Thank you so much for everything. You've been a fantastic partner here. And I would also like to mention just the comments you made on transportation and supply. That is a place where UNICEF has, you know, a huge role to play. We are taking it seriously. We are doing as much as we can on, you know, trying to make sure that supply chains are effective and that we can find whatever sort of cost savings possible that we can support the system. You know, all of you know this, we're working closely with WFP on this. I think the UK raises as well. We will do a session on UNAD reform and that will be a key part of this to discuss that further. So I look forward to that. Zakali from Eritrea, first of all, I appreciate you calling UNICEF a beacon of humanity. I'm going to steal that as well. I always get something really good from all of you on these meetings. But also highlighting the Africa strategy. I mean, obviously, you know, Africa is an enormous continent. There are many, many children there face a lot of different challenges. There's a lot of opportunity there. You know, last year we did the Africa strategy. It's a huge priority for UNICEF, and I continue to focus on that. All of us are very concerned about trying to make progress there. If we make progress there, it'll be enormously impactful overall. And I think, you know, I have confidence that we're making some real strides in parts of Africa and look forward to continuing those conversations. To the colleague from Georgia. I couldn't agree more that it's a complex global environment. I mean, we wake up every day and, you know, we're looking at new challenges, new difficulties, you know, trying to do our best in a very complex world, as I'm sure all of you are as well. You did mention nutrition, and I wanted to highlight that just for a minute, just because nutrition is sometimes I feel like doesn't get the attention that it needs, honestly. You know, if children are not nourished really from the time they are in their mother's wombs, it is really complicated for children to try to catch up. We have right now about 150 million children in the world who are stunted. Once children are stunted, they don't catch up, okay? So it is a lifetime sentence of less sort of physical and mental capacity depending on how severe the stunting is. And that is something that none of us should be willing to tolerate. And I think we all need to keep our eye on the importance of nutrition and getting it right from the beginning. The colleague from Germany, he raised a lot of points here. I'm not going to pretend that I can answer all of them, but just a couple of things. One, I do think, you know, transparency for us is a really important principle. We try our best to provide as much information in a timely way as possible. If you're ever not getting what you need, I'm not going to tell you this because you do it anyway, but please don't hesitate to raise your hand and say we need more, we need better, we need it faster. We're trying very hard to be as sort of self-reflective on FFI, our Future Focus Initiative, and share the information abroad. I mean, we were in a situation where we had to act quickly. We, I think, you know, there are some things we probably would do differently. We're taking a very robust look at that and doing an after action report. you know, we're not trying to hide anything about that. We'll be very frank about any mistakes that we made or things that we would do differently. But I would say, you know, we tried throughout to always keep in mind the most important thing, which is how do we do our best to serve children? And that's what animates everything we do. And I think whether transparency, accountability, we are always looking at that, the risks. As I mentioned, we will do a session on on UNADID and we can probably pull some of that into that. But I think, you know, mitigating measures are really critical to us. We are doing our best to try to understand what the risks are for everything we take. And as someone said, you know, there always will be unintended consequences, but we're always trying to do our best to anticipate that. I mentioned earlier in my remarks that we have set up or in the process of setting up this governance team in UNICEF now, which I think will pull together a lot of these and I think will help us going forward. To Liechtenstein, first of all, the cooperation frameworks, you know, all of our CPDs are consistent with the cooperation frameworks. That is a requirement, it's something we take seriously, and also we think it's important because it's how I think the work can be more effective and efficient on the ground. You also mentioned the national committees, again, very much appreciate that, you know, they are fantastic, I know. and agencies envy us, the national committees, and they're not wrong about that. The national committees are fantastic for the reasons that I said earlier. El Salvador, I wanted to stress one thing you mentioned, which is the, you mentioned many things, but the early childhood development. I think, you know, It's hard because we have so many things that we're trying to do at any given time, but there's no question that ECD is one of the best investments you can make for children. We are committed to that. It's not always easy, but it is absolutely important. And I think the work you all have done in that is helping to lead some of the discussions, and we very much appreciate that. To the colleague from Japan, again, many important things that you said there, and I think that, you know, human security, Japan has led on that. We believe very much that we should leave no person behind, and I think your commitment to that and your leadership on that is absolutely incredible. I want to thank you for the support on immunization work in Venezuela, also Ebola, which I didn't -- haven't talked about too much, but obviously huge, huge problem in the DRC, and we are working hard to do our best to be a constructive member of the response there, but it is certainly something that is very worrisome. I imagine Ted will talk about that when we do the humanitarian briefing. Also, I just one point you mentioned, you mentioned wash and I did want to say something about that, which is, know, I talked in my remarks about the numbers of children or people, not even just children who don't have access to safe water and to clean water and I think and sanitation, I think, you know, My understanding is that there's no region in the world that is completely on track for universal water and sanitation by the end of this decade. That's something that should worry everybody, right? Because if you don't have clean water and you don't have sanitation, you're much more likely to be subject to disease. And it's one of those things, you know, I often say this to you, but some things in life we can't prevent. Some things we can. To me, water and sanitation is one of those things. If we can get the investments right, we can make a huge difference because we can prevent a lot of terrible things happening. And then to the colleague from the UK, I responded in part, but I do think that the test for us, and I said this in my remarks, but I mean this sincerely, on all reform, whether it's internal reform to UNICEF or UNAD reform, the question is, is what we're doing making it more likely and better in terms of our response for children around the world. It's a simple test in a way, but it's something that we keep asking ourselves. We're obviously not engaged in reform for the sake of reform. We are really trying to say every day, how can we do better? How can we use the sort of tools at our disposal to try to make life better for as many children as possible? So thank you so much for that.

I thank, uh, for her valuable, uh, comments. Uh, let us proceed. Uh, I now give a floor to China.

President. I thank Executive Director Russell for her opening statement. A recent severe mudslide that took place along the China-Nepal border resulted in significant casualties and missing persons. We express our deep condolences to the victims. China and Nepal are right now conducting joint search and rescue operations, and we thank the international community and UNICEF for their condolences and support. China warmly congratulates UNICEF on its 80th anniversary and thanks UNICEF for its significant contributions made to the child survival, development and protection worldwide. I have four points to make. First, implementing country programs. We must adhere to the principle of program country ownership and leadership, closely aligned with their development plans and actual conditions, focus on the most pressing needs of local children, and scientifically formulate and effectively implement country programs. China gives positive assessment to the country programs currently advanced by UNICEF and China, and looks forward to seeing more fruitful results. Second, strengthening resource guarantees. Adequate, stable and predictable funding is the lifeline of the organization. UNICEF public sector core resources declined significantly. The organization should urge developed countries to earnestly fulfill their commitments on financing for development. Third, steadily advancing reforms. China recognizes the achievement made by UNICEF through its in-depth participation in the UN aid reform and believes that UNICEF will continue to lead more long-term beneficial and pragmatic reforms in development and humanitarian affairs. China closely monitors the impact of UNICEF institutional reforms on staff stability and representation and advocates for cultivating more young talent for the organization's long-term development. Fourth, deepening South-South cooperation. This year marks the fifth anniversary of China's Global Development Initiative, which has mobilized more than $23 billion in funding and implemented over 1,800 cooperation projects. UNICEF is a key partner for China to implement the initiative and advance South-South cooperation. China is willing to work with UNICEF in green energy, AI, inclusive technology, and disaster prevention and mitigation and other areas to better help child development in the global south. Thank you, President.

I thank the distinguished representative of China. I now give a floor to Sweden.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, and the full UNICEF team. We commend UNICEF for delivering results at scale, expanding access to essential services, strengthening protection systems, advancing key outcomes in health, education and child survival, and standing up for the rights and wellbeing of every child. Adapting to a new financial reality requires difficult decisions. We appreciate UNICEF's efforts to enhance savings and efficiency through the Future Focus initiative. The expected decline in income along with core and other types of flexible funding is of serious concern. Flexible funding is crucial to UNICEF's ability to deliver on its mandate and to meet the targets of the strategic plan. It allows UNICEF to respond rapidly to emergencies and to direct resources to the most vulnerable and underfunded contexts. We share, we have a shared responsibility along, alongside UNICEF in reversing this decline. UNICEF's continued efforts to broaden the donor base, mobilize greater domestic funding for country programs and develop new and innovative financing are essential. We would also stress further incentivizing flexible funding. The overarching goal should be to ensure that it consistently appears more attractive to donors than tightly earmarked alternatives. Increased visibility, traceability, demonstration of impact, analytic results reporting, and strategic dialogues are key to the business model for flexible funding. In reviewing incentives for flexible funding, it may also be necessary to review the cost recovery rates that apply to earmarked funding. It is imperative that full cost recovery for management and oversight functions is achieved from tightly earmarked funding, and we encourage close monitoring of this. Sweden welcomes UNICEF engagement in the UNAD process. We have continuously made it the case that enhanced UN delivery at country level must remain at the core of all reform efforts. Full implementation of the reforms already agreed on is imperative. UN country team reconfiguration, the regional reset, expertise on demand, common back offices and global shared service centers will be essential alongside other reforms to strengthen impact, coherence and accountability. accountability of the UN development system. We urge UNICEF to continue engaging fully and constructively in taking these UN reforms forward. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Sweden. I next give a floor to Slovenia.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, Children today face a convergence of challenges, including armed conflict, displacement, poverty, disrupted education, and limited access to health and essential services. In the face of these challenges, UNICEF's mission remains unwavering to protect and support every child. And for children in emergencies, UNICEF is a lifeline. From access to safe drinking water, vaccination, education in emergencies, reunification of families, to community-based integration programs. and providing supporting services for child survivors, including victims of explosive weapons. This long list of interventions includes UNICEF's nutrition programs in over 130 countries. While global hunger is declining for a third consecutive year, regional disparities remain stark and the progress in child nutrition is stalling. UNICEF's nutrition programs are often crucial for health and development of children across the globe. Excellencies, we live at a time when international humanitarian law is facing unprecedented challenges and widespread persistent violations. Those paying the price are too often children. Children's rights that are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child are violated every day. In these circumstances, it is the best of UNICEF employees that represents our common promise of protecting and providing for every child. However, growing operational constraints, financial pressures, and political complexities create significant challenges for their work. Slovenia reaffirms its commitment to UNICEF's mission and its support to its leadership and staff in their global advocacy and work on the ground. We recognize the central role of country program documents to address country-specific needs and promote local ownership. In the context of the UNAT initiative, it is essential to create the proper conditions for UNICEF to carry out its work efficiently and fit for purpose. We underline the need for continuous focus on measurable results, efficiency and transparency in use of financial resources and the implementation of reform processes along with strengthened coordination with our UN entities. For every child, our actions today matter. It matters how we strengthen partnerships with local organizations and frontline responders knowing their communities. It matters that we navigate financial constraints collectively and to invest proactively and action. The impact of our investments translates into daily lives of children, our future. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the distinguished representative of Slovenia. I now give a floor to Republic of Korea.

Thank you, Mr. President. My delegation thank Madam Executive Director for the comprehensive statement on UNICEF achievement. The international development landscape faces compounding challenges. Nevertheless, we must not save our effort to stay and deliver for children in the most vulnerable situations. And UNICEF should take the lead by leveraging and strengthening singular mandate and expertise on children. The Republic of Korea, having received UNICEF support for over three decades in the past, had witnessed firsthand how humanitarian action and development outcomes can change a country's trajectory. Based on this experience, we continue to strengthen our partnership with UNICEF and let me stress three points. First, the link between humanitarian and development activities needs strengthening. UNICEF with its unique double mandate is properly fitted to take an enhanced and integrated approach where humanitarian action lays the groundwork for recovery, resilience and longer term development. Ensuring that action in crisis and fragile settings does not stop at emergency relief would prevent people from falling back into the same crisis again. Throughout this work, particular attention to girls and female adolescent remains important. Second, the result and impact of UNICEF activities need to be further strengthened. Only when UNICEF works generate greater change on the ground can member states build the confidence to deepen their partnership. To this end, it is essential for UNICEF to fully respect country ownership, align with the priorities of program countries, and harmonize its activities with those of other UN funds and programs. As there is a rising domestic request for visibility and accountability related to member state contributions, track record of quality project with enhanced result and impact will provide the foundation for continued partnership. While recognizing the importance of co-funding, other contributions that serve and promote UNICEF mandate and activity should be respected. Third, partnership need greater diversification. Among UN agencies, UNICEF enjoys the highest recognition and public support in many countries. Building on this, it is essential for UNICEF to further engage with private sector partners and IFIs, creating opportunities for financing solutions and innovation. The Republic of Korea expresses appreciation to UNICEF dedication to deliver for children over the past eight decades, and you will remain a reliable partner for the next 80 years. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Republic of Korea. I now give a floor to Turkey.

President, Madam Executive Director, on behalf of Turkey, I would like to thank the Executive Director and her team for all their efforts and their commitment to children. Turkey reaffirms its support for UNICEF's mandate and its work for children worldwide. We appreciate UNICEF's transparent engagement with the Executive Board on programme delivery, organisational reform and the challenges facing the organisation. We remain deeply concerned about the challenges confronting children today, including humanitarian crisis, armed conflict and climate change. We recognize that UNICEF, like the wider multilateral system, is operating in an increasingly constrained financing environment. In this context, UNICEF's financial sustainability is a shared responsibility of the organization and its member states. As member states, we must ensure that UNICEF has necessary resources to fulfill its mandate. Particularly in an environment of declining humanitarian funding, UNICEF should continue to demonstrate the effective and efficient use of available resources. We encourage UNICEF to ensure that structural reforms and efficiency measures translate into stronger country level results rather than simply lower administrative expenditure. In this context, transparent workforce planning should safeguard business continuity, institutional knowledge, and staff morale while preserving UNICEF's capacity to deliver programs effectively. Mr. President, the protection and promotion of children's rights remain among Turkey's key priorities. Preventing all forms of violence, exploitation, and abuse against children is central to our national approach. At the national level, children's rights are protected under the Children Protection Law of 2005. The Child's Rights Strategy Document and Action Plan for 2023-2028 aims to strengthen protective and preventive services and promote a more inclusive environment for children. At the international level, Turkey is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its three optional protocols. We also support the work of the General Assembly's Third Committee and the Human Rights Council on the rights of children. Furthermore, Turkey co-sponsored the resolution at the UN to dedicate an international day, 11th of October, to girl child to recognize girls' rights and unique challenges they face. This year, we are organizing an event to commemorate the state at the UN on October 9th. In closing, we look forward to continue constructive engagement with UNICEF and member states in our collective efforts. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Turkey. I now give the floor to Norway.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director. Norway welcomes UNICEF's continued commitment to delivering for children in an increasingly challenging environment. We share the concern over the sharp decline in commitment to development and humanitarian action and the devastating consequences we see for children. At a time of growing conflict, crisis and displacement, Norway underscores the critical importance of education in emergencies. Education is a fundamental right and a life-saving intervention that protects boys and girls from violence and exploitation. It also lays the foundation for recovery, resilience, and long-term development. We encourage and support UNICEF's strong leadership on education, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Norway supports the humanitarian reset and the UNAD initiative. We must build a more agile, coherent, and effective United Nations. Reforms should strengthen the UN's impact for people on the ground, especially in vulnerable contexts. We welcome UNICEF's efforts to ensure that children's rights and well-being remain integral to the discussions. Predictable and flexible resources are essential for UNICEF to deliver across the humanitarian development peace nexus and reach the most vulnerable children. The ambitions of the funding compact and the QCPR remain important for a stronger and more effective UN development system. Strong independent oversight functions are essential for transparency, accountability and trust. Norway underlines the importance of safeguarding the independence and capacity of evaluation, audit, investigation and ethics functions. so that risks are managed effectively and lessons learned strengthen results for children. Norway remains committed to protecting children's rights and investing in their future. And we also congratulate very much with the anniversary this year. Thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of Norway. I now give a floor to Nigeria.

Thank you. Mr. President, the Executive Director, distinguished members of the Executive Board, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria aligns with the statement delivered by Eritrea on behalf of the African Group, and we wish to make these comments in our national capacity. Nigeria wishes to express its appreciation to the executive director and the entire UNICEF team for their sustained partnership with member states and for their efforts towards translating global commitments into meaningful results for children and families living in situations of vulnerability and crisis. As UNICEF approaches its 80th anniversary, we celebrate eight decades of commitment to children. and reflect on its continued role in improving lives worldwide. Nigeria congratulates UNICEF on this milestone and commends its staff and partners for their dedication. It is pertinent to highlight that across Africa and underdeveloping countries, children continue to bear a disproportionate share of the consequences of conflict, displacement, poverty, food insecurity, climate related shocks. and weak access to basic services. In many parts, humanitarian crises are becoming increasingly prolonged, while the resources available to respond to them are becoming increasingly constrained. Nigeria is not immune to these challenges. In parts of our country, children and their families continue to experience the effects of insecurity, displacement, flooding, food insecurity, and disruption to essential services. For these children, Humanitarian assistance is not an abstract international commitment. It is about whether a child can receive a meal, attend school, access healthcare, find safe water, or be protected from violence and exploitation. We appreciate UNICEF's longstanding partnership in supporting Nigeria's national priorities, including in primary healthcare, immunization, nutrition, education, among others. Mr. President, Another pertinent issue that deserves our collective attention is the rapidly changing digital environment in which children are growing up. We welcome the attention given to addressing the risks confronting children in the digital space. While we recognize the significant opportunities the digital environment offers children, we also acknowledge the growing risks they face, including exploitation and abuse. exposure to harmful content and violations of privacy and personal data. Distinguished delegates, as UNICEF enters its ninth decade, challenges facing children are becoming more complex, but are fundamental.

I thank the distinguished representative of Nigeria. I now give the floor to Guatemala.

Mr. Chairman, Madam Executive Director, Guatemala is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this second regular session of the Executive Board of UNICEF and would like to express our gratitude to the Chair, to members of the Bureau and the Executive Director for their leadership and commitment to promotion and protection of the rights of children. Guatemala Express reaffirms its support for the mandate of UNICEF and acknowledges its fundamental role to promote the full exercise of the rights of all girls and boys independently of their circumstances. The current situation requires Stepping up efforts in favor of children, advances towards the fulfillment of the SDGs continue to be inadequate, while millions of children confront poverty, malnutrition, disruptions in their education, violence, displacement, and the increasingly severe effects of the humanitarian and climate change crises. In the face of this reality, it is fundamental to maintain children at the heart of our policies and investment decisions. Guatemala considers it fundamental to strengthen comprehensive interventions in the spheres of nutrition, health care, education, and social protection, with a particular focus on communities and groups that confront the greatest inequalities. Also, it is necessary to strengthen the resilience of our national systems and their response capacity in the face of emergencies. while promoting an effective coordination between humanitarian action, development and peacebuilding. We also acknowledge the importance that UNICEF retains an effective, timely and sustainable response capacity in the face of an international environment that is increasingly complex. For this it is essential to have an organization that is sound and efficient, capable of preserving its presence and operational capacity wherever the needs are the greatest, With this in mind, my delegation will continue supporting efforts geared towards expanding partnerships, mobilizing resources and promoting international cooperation oriented towards concrete and sustainable results for the benefit of children. Lastly, Guatemala will participate constructively in the deliberations of this Executive Board and will contribute to the search for consensus that will make it possible to advance in the effective implementation of the mandate of UNICEF. Our shared goal should be ensuring that all children grow up in conditions of dignity, security, and to have opportunities. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Guatemala. I now give the floor to Ukraine.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, we are grateful to UNICEF for its tireless work for Ukrainian children amid Russia's continuing war of aggression. This work is more important than ever. Russia has dramatically intensified its attacks this year, driving civilian casualties to their highest level since the early stages of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Children are bearing the brunt of this escalation. In July alone, 17 children were killed and 166 children were injured. This is the highest monthly number of child casualties since April 2022. On August 21, a Russian drone attack on a crowded shopping center in Kriviy Rih in central Ukraine injured at least 23 children. That very same day, hundreds of kilometers away, Three more were killed in the Makayev region. Today, as Ukrainian children begin a new school year, thousands have once again had to start their day in shelters. Russia attacked Kiev today, this very day, with ballistic missiles overnight and launched another drone attack in the morning just as children were preparing to go to school. This is their daily reality. Homes, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, water and energy systems continue to be damaged and destroyed by Russia. There is increasingly no truly safe place for a Ukrainian child to live in Ukraine. We appreciate that UNICEF is already preparing for the coming winter. The last winter was the most difficult for Ukrainian children. The next may be even harder. And for a child, losing electricity means a freezing home, no running water, a closed school, and interrupted medical care. As we know, UNICEF requires 160 million US dollar for this winter response, and we urge all partners and all donors to provide this support now. Yet today, this humanitarian response itself is being attacked. Russia continues to refuse to implement General Assembly resolution on the return of Ukrainian children. We call on the UN and all the member states to use every available tool to compel Russia to disclose the whereabouts of stolen Ukrainian children, enable their independent verification, and facilitate their return to their families. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Ukraine. I now give the floor to Panama.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Distinguished members of the Executive Board, representatives of UNICEF, colleagues, my delegation would like to congratulate the Chair for the conduct of the second regular session of the Executive Board and would like to express her gratitude to Executive Director, to her team and all the staff of UNICEF for their leadership and unshakable commitment to the protection and promotion of the rights of children. In a context characterized by conflicts, humanitarian crises, climate change and increasing financial restrictions, the work of UNICEF is today more necessary than ever and is one of the most important and valuable areas of the multilateral system. This year, as UNICEF commemorates its 80th anniversary, we recall eight decades of results that have transformed the lives of millions of children. Today, 64 million children of primary school age remain outside of the educational system. Well, two of every three children below the age of five live in conditions of severe food insecurity. These figures represent much more than simple statistics. They are an urgent appeal to redouble our collective efforts. In the digital era, we must ensure that all children can benefit from technology in a secure, inclusive, and equitable way. protecting their well-being and their rights. Mr. Chairman, Panama reaffirms that investing in children is the best investment to build societies that are more peaceful, resilient, and prosperous. As a country that is committed to international solidarity, our country is aware that the humanitarian crises and human mobility represent a huge challenge for the comprehensive development of girls and boys. This is why we support efforts of UNICEF to ensure a timely and holistic response that ensures the protection of children, their access to education, health care, nutrition and psychosocial support. Based on this support, it is fundamental that decisions on financing must go beyond mere administrative and operational considerations. They should incorporate and reflect the reality on the ground as well as the needs, capacities and particularities of each country. Mr. Chairman, our country is profoundly grateful for the trust shown by Member States by electing us to join the Executive Board of UNICEF starting in 2027. We will take on this mandate with humility, responsibility and the firm commitment to work with all of you to strengthen dialogue, build consensus and contribute to governance that increasingly is more effective, transparent, innovative. Thank you.

I now give the floor to Bulgaria.

Thank you, Mr. President. Allow me to thank you, the Bureau and all members of the Executive Board for your leadership. Bulgaria remains committed to engaging constructively throughout this session. We thank Executive Director, Catherine Russell, for her briefing and for UNICEF's steadfast leadership at a time when conflict, climate change and humanitarian crisis continue to place unprecedented pressure on children and their families. As UNICEF marks its 80th anniversary, we recognize eight decades of progress for children. made possible through sustained investment, international cooperation and commitment to children's rights. Bulgaria welcomes UNICEF vision for United Nations that deliver for children and families. We support UNICEF's engagement in the UNAT initiative and note that these reforms should ultimately strengthen the UN's ability to deliver results for children, particularly the most vulnerable. We commend UNICEF's leadership in responding to humanitarian crisis and its determination to stay and deliver under increasingly difficult circumstances. We are concerned by the continued decline in flexible and core funding, which is essential to UNICEF's ability to respond where needs are greatest. Predictable, flexible funding is critical and Bulgaria continues to prioritize contributions to UNICEF's regular resources, increasing its core contribution again in 2025. Bulgaria welcomes UNICEF's growing leadership on children's rights in the digital environment and its efforts to include children in discussions on emerging technologies and AI governance. Children's rights, safety and participation must remain central to these processes. As we enter the final year of 23-27 country programme, Bulgaria welcomes the progress achieved through partnership with UNICEF in inclusive education, child protection, youth empowerment and reducing child poverty. We look forward to building on these achievements as we prepare for the next country programme. And as UNICEF enters its ninth decade, Bulgaria will remain a committed partner of UNICEF and advocate for a multilateral system that delivers for every child. I thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Bulgaria. Before we proceed, I kindly ask Edie Russell to respond to some of the remarks and comments heard so far. Please, you have the floor.

Great, thank you so much. And again, thank you so much, all of you, for the really thoughtful comments. Very much appreciate them, and will do my best here to respond. To the colleague from China, just two things. One, you know, I am... And I know we expressed this publicly, but very sorry about the challenges that China and Nepal are facing in the mudslides. I know how horrific that is and very much want to extend our condolences and concern for the people who are affected by that. And I understand the joint search and rescue is underway, but I know how difficult those situations are. So first, let me say that. Second, I do want to Thank you for the comments about the CPDs. You know, from our perspective, the country program documents are so important because they do reflect the priorities of the country, and we negotiate those carefully. We agree to exactly what we are trying to achieve and what the measurements will be, and so I appreciate the support for that. So the colleague from Sweden. a couple of things. Appreciate the comments on the importance of core resources. Many of you have expressed that. Just to say, I just want to be clear about this. About 80 percent of our core resources go directly to programs. And the key, and Kitty will say this, I'm sure, because she says it all the time, and she's so right, that core is an important part of the overall ecosystem, the funding ecosystem, that includes pooled resources, it includes money that is allocated for certain purposes, but core is a critical part of that overall composition. And I think, you know, the recognition for that is absolutely so important and very, I think, central to our ability. If we don't have the core resources, it so reduces our ability to do what we need to do in the world. And so just a huge thank you to you for that. I would say on the, you raised the point also on visibility. And I think again, Kitty may come back to this when she does her presentation, but we very much wanna recognize and demonstrate the results that we see for the contributions that your governments are making. And visibility is an important part of what we're working on. Many of you know Mandeep who runs our I don't know, we keep changing the names of our divisions, but I call it PPD, but I think it has a new name now, PP, I don't know what the heck it is, but anyway, the point is she works with the governments, and I think we're really focused on visibility and trying to make sure that your governments get the visibility they need for the contributions they make, and very much appreciate that. To the colleague from Slovenia, thank you for mentioning this point about the complexity of emergencies. I think, you know, Others have said it as well, but I do think trying to operate in those environments, as you can imagine, is not just difficult, right? It is difficult, but it is also dangerous for our teams. And I think you also mentioned the importance of UNICEF staff, as have others. It starts to become a cliche, but the truth is we could never do any of the work we do without our staff. Staff at UNICEF is incredibly committed. It's one of the reasons why the work we did last year, what we call FFI, but sort of cutting our staff and moving people to different duty stations and all the rest of it was so painful because people come to UNICEF because they want to help children. That's very much a part of their DNA. And I think, you know, they take extraordinary risks. They put their their own needs and the needs of their family sometimes behind those of the children they're trying to serve. And I really appreciate the fact that you all recognize that and understand how difficult that is. Again, how hard it was for us to let any of those people go from UNICEF, it was really painful. And I just very much appreciate the board's acknowledgement of that. To the colleague from Korea, I think I always love the Korea story. So thank you for mentioning that at the beginning, because I think when you look at Korea and see how far the country has come and how grateful the people of Korea are for the help that they received and how much they in turn want to help others, I find that story to be really Just very encouraging and we're always grateful to hear it, but very much appreciate your comments about that. Also, thank you for mentioning the IFIs. You know, I haven't mentioned them yet. Again, Kitty probably will come back to that at some point, but IFIs, the regional development banks, the World Bank, absolutely critical partners to UNICEF. We are, we work a lot with them and continue to look for opportunities to try to, not just do projects or work together, but also to make sure that our missions are aligned. And to the colleague from Turkey, again, very important comments. One, you mentioned child protection. I did want to come back on that for one point, which is to say that, you know, we estimate that one in six adolescent girls around the world faces some form of partner violence. And protecting children, protecting adolescents in those spaces is absolutely critical because those are terrible things that happen to young people. Trying to make sure the protection services are in shape to the extent that we can, that there are social workers and others who can try to be helpful in this space, trying to develop those systems in countries is really critical for our work. And I very much appreciate that comment. To the colleague from Norway, you made many important points, but one thing I wanted to highlight, which is you mentioned education in emergencies. And UNICEF, when you look at the constellation of challenges children are facing in emergencies, basic survival, you know, food, shelter, some kind of health care, sometimes education gets short shrift in that. And our view and our position is that education is life saving. We've got to make sure that children in these emergencies are able to access education. We see many of these emergencies extend for long periods of time, and to imagine children out of school for all that time is really painful. So thank you so much for mentioning that. To the colleague from Nigeria, first of all, I had a fantastic visit to Nigeria, so huge thank you for that. I really, I got to see a lot of what you're describing and really very much appreciated that. I do think that the the point you made about the digital environment, we keep coming back to that because, first of all, it's very much on everyone's mind, I think, because of all the conversation about AI, but really thinking about, yes, there are tremendous opportunities for children in this space, and we are engaged in a lot of these conversations about how we can use AI to help support and train teachers, how we can use AI, Omar does a lot of this work, how can we use AI to support healthcare workers. And we see that, and we see enormous potential for that, but we also are very mindful of the dangers for children in that environment. And, you know, sometimes these children are sitting, they're just right at these screens, and controlling what they see there and what sort of impact they have on them is really critical. And I think we've really got to keep a very balanced approach to that issue. To the colleague from Guatemala, again made some very important points. One point I want to come back on climate. You know, we did a report maybe two years ago now estimating that a billion children live in, I think, 33 different countries that are at very extremely high risk of different climate challenges. It could be high heat. air pollution, cyclones, flooding, all of the rest of it. And, you know, we're really thinking about how we can help these children live in communities that are more resilient and able to respond or prevent some of these challenges because children are incredibly vulnerable to them. To the colleague from Ukraine, did want to mention sort of a broader point. Thank you for your comments. And I did see the schools that you referred to underground when I visited. But, you know, we estimate that one in six children in the world lives in a conflict zone or is fleeing from a conflict zone. And imagine how disruptive that is. Children even to a greater extent than adults are very reliant on government services. So education, health care, all of that is disrupted when you have a conflict and when you have children on the move. And we're also seeing, and I think I said this to you all the last board meeting, we're seeing a lot of grave violations against children in conflicts. And I think last year, I'm not sure exactly this year, last year, the most recent report we did was that it's the highest number of grave violations ever reported against children. It's killing, maiming, abducting, sexual violence. I mean, imagine that, right? These are children, for heaven's sake. And this is what we're seeing all around the world. So I think, you know, there's a lot of room here for outrage and for concern about what's happening to children in these settings. I could do one thing, if I had a magic wand, I would stop conflict because I think it is the worst thing for children. And I think, you know, I don't know how to do that. I look to all of you, the political leaders, to try to figure that out. That's not my job. But I mean, it is the impact on children are profound. To the colleague from Panama, I think You mentioned some interesting points about education and food insecurity. And, you know, it got me thinking a little bit, you know, I mean, all of us know children, right? You know, some child probably loves some child in your life. And just imagine that child hungry, not going to school, risk of all sorts of violence. I mean, this is what's happening to children around the world. And sometimes You know, we have so many conversations about it that the numbers and you can forget that these are individual children who are facing just horrible things in the world. And I think that should give all of us a little pause and try to think about how do we protect the most vulnerable. As I said, I would like to stop all conflict. I don't think I have that ability, but we do have to do our best to protect children and make sure the most vulnerable are not suffering the way we know they are. And then finally, to the colleague from Bulgaria, I like you mentioned this, you know, we say this a lot at UNICEF that we stay and deliver. And sometimes that gives me fits because there are places where I would like to try to get people out, UNICEF staff, and they are just, they're stubborn in that way. You know, they want to stay, they want to help, they want to deliver for children, and they are willing to do that at just incredible cost. And they are just the most committed people ever, so huge thank you for acknowledging that.

I thank Idia Russell for responding to some of the comments and remarks that we've heard before. So let us proceed now. I now give the floor to Montenegro.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director. Thank you for your remarks and for the updates presented today. We also take this opportunity to congratulate UNICEF on its 80th anniversary and to recognize eight decades of dedicated work for children around the world. As we said during the first regular session, UNICEF mandate remains more important than ever. The 2025 annual report shows that even under extraordinary pressure, UNICEF continues to provide concrete results for children. We appreciate UNICEF's ability to remain present and deliver in some of the most difficult environments. In 2025 alone, UNICEF responded to more than 400 humanitarian emergencies in over 100 countries. For Montenegro, it is particularly encouraging to see the continued attention to inclusion with disability inclusive programming reaching millions of children worldwide. We also welcome UNICEF's efforts to strengthen local humanitarian action. National and local authorities are often the first to respond in time of crisis, and cooperation with civil society plays an equally important role. Our partnership with UNICEF in Montenegro shows its support and expertise can strengthen national institutions and help achieve lasting results for children. Mr. President, this work cannot be sustained without adequate resources. The financing picture presented at this session is deeply concerning. Regular public sector resources declined sharply in the past year, while humanitarian financing remained far below actual needs. We therefore share the Executive Director's concern about the continued decline in flexible funding. Adequate, predictable, and adaptable resources are essential for UNICEF to respond where needs are the greatest and to reach children wherever they are. As UNICEF adapts to a more difficult financial environment, efficiency and reform will be necessary. We welcome UNICEF's active engagement in the UNAD initiative. This process should make UNICEF stronger and more effective while preserving the expertise and presence that allow it to deliver for children around the world. Montenegro remains a committed partner of UNICEF at all levels. As we approach the 81st session of the General Assembly, we look forward to continuing our close cooperation and to keeping the rights, needs and voices of children firmly on the international agenda. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative. of Montenegro. I now give the floor to Australia.

Thank you, President. And of course, I thank the Executive Director and your team for today's engagement. It's much appreciated. As you know, Australia values UNICEF's vital role in supporting children across both humanitarian and development settings. We thank UNICEF for its rapid response to multiple humanitarian crises, for helping restore essential services, and providing critical support to children and families affected by conflict, disasters, and other emergencies. The work is only possible because of the dedication and courage of humanitarian personnel who operate in some of the world's most challenging and dangerous environments to support children and families in need. And Australia urges all states to take action on the commitments under the Australian-led declaration for the protection of humanitarian personnel. And we encourage those states who have not yet endorsed the declaration to consider doing so. President, today Australia wishes to focus on three broad areas. First, Australia recognizes UNICEF for its leadership on integrated supply chains and welcomes the early cost savings achieved to date. We encourage UNICEF and partner agencies to build on this momentum and strengthen coordination across all UNAD work packages. Before integrated supply chains under the new humanitarian compact expand into broader operations, Australia expects consideration of costs, timeliness, duplication and sustainability as part of a value for money approach to evaluation of the pilots. Second, Australia welcomes the progress made on the Future Focus initiative. As UNICEF expands its network of multi-country offices, could the Executive Director outline what additional ongoing support will be provided to MCOs to ensure they can effectively deliver across increasingly complex operating environments? Third, Australia commends UNICEF's efforts to navigate a challenging funding environment while sustaining critical support for children. We recognize that flexible funding is often critical to supporting less visible but essential work at the country level, including system strengthening and preparedness. We see merit in proposals that would increase minimum allocations of core resources to country programs. And could UNICEF outline how, if this were to be approved, multi-country offices or MCOs would be treated? Thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of Australia. I now give the floor to France.

Mr. President, Mr President, Executive Director, first of all allow me to pay tribute to UNICEF and its teams, whose work on the ground is decisive and has been for the last 80 years. This is unfailing commitment in an increasingly difficult context and it makes possible a better future for millions of children around the world, as you have just said. Executive Director, this continues to be true in the tragic days following the landslide in Nepal. Since it was created in 1946, France and the French people have stood alongside UNICEF to protect future generations. I would like to underscore three points in particular. First of all, France supports UNICEF in crisis contexts. We support the agency's emergency humanitarian interventions in crisis exposed countries to combat grave violations committed against children, be it, for example, in Lebanon, in Haiti, in the Great Lakes region or in Ukraine. France will reaffirm its commitment to the protection of children in armed conflicts in 2027 at the 20th anniversary of the Paris Principles and Commitments. France is also mobilized to combat food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. In the coming weeks, France will officially join the Child Nutrition Fund of UNICEF by making a financial contribution to combating malnutrition among young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women whose life is threatened by malnutrition in Sudan. Next, France and UNICEF are working together to protect our children from new challenges. The protection of children online is a priority. As you said, Executive Director, the countries of the G7 have, at the Evian Summit in June, reached an agreement on a common set of principles aimed at promoting a safer digital environment for minors in the face of the emergence of new technologies, including artificial intelligence. Since then, France has, together with Spain and Kenya, launched the Coalition for the Rights and Protection of Children in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, which now brings together 22 countries with the support of UNICEF. This support is important and we thank you for it. Madam Executive Director, Needs are rising and resources are falling, and France counts on UNICEF to continue its transformation and reform efforts. The compass that we have is simple: effectiveness, legitimacy, and UN impact on the ground. And in that regard, we commend UNICEF's engagement in the work related to supply chain integration, and we call, together with our partners in the G7, for that work to be deepened. What's more, we would like to commend UNICEF for very satisfying financial results linked to the successful diversification of its funding sources, in particular thanks to the effective mobilization of resources from the private sector and the development of innovative financing. To conclude, Madam Executive Director, in a context of tensions,

I thank the distinguished representative of France. I now give the floor to United States.

Thank you, Executive Director, and thank you, Mr. President. Children worldwide continue to bear the heaviest and most devastating impacts of ongoing conflict, systemic instability, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. They suffer life altering disruptions to their safety, health and education. UNICEF plays an indispensable role in child survival. Keeping public trust requires an agency that is lean, agile and laser focused on that role. The United States stands firm. International assistance must deliver measurable life saving impact. UNICEF ongoing collaboration with us on global health security, particularly in response to infectious disease threats, is an excellent example of the results that are possible when UNICEF focuses on its core mandate. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, our joint work on Ebola strengthens rapid surveillance detection and health system resilience in high-risk regions. We value UNICEF's focus on protecting communities through risk communication, infection prevention, essential service continuity, and support for frontline

health workers.

This targeted partnership demonstrates how prioritizing baseline child survivor saves lives during acute public health emergencies. The United States thank UNICEF staff who stay and deliver under the most difficult circumstances. We welcome UNICEF's work on UN 80 and we were pleased to see the tangible results from the joint negotiations with maritime carriers by UNICEF and WFP that waived emergency surcharges and saved $2 million systemwide. The United States expects rigorous stewardship of American taxpayer dollars. UNICEF must lead by example internally. UNICEF must stick to its fundamental mandate and eliminate unproductive diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, harmful gender ideologies, and soft global governance political agendas like SDG, that draw resources away from frontline child survival. The United States reaffirms that there is no international right to an abortion and UNICEF programming should not provide abortions for minors. Personnel decisions must be strictly merit-based, focused on qualifications rather than on demographic targets. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United States. I now give the floor to the Republic of Moldova.

Mr. President, Executive Director, distinguished delegates, the Republic of Moldova highly values its longstanding partnership with UNICEF and appreciates the organization's continued support in advancing the rights, protection, and wellbeing of children in our country and globally. We are grateful to UNICEF for valuable assistance in responding to the refugee crisis. support in child protection, primary health care, access to education, as well as the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence. We also highly appreciate UNICEF partnership in strengthening Republic of Moldova child protection system. Through close cooperation with the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, UNICEF has played an important role in supporting the implementation of a social assistance reform restart. This cooperation has contributed to expanding access to social assistance programs and services for children and families while strengthening the capacity of the social workforce. As millions of children worldwide step into a new academic year, we also welcome to very recent cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research of the development of course on artificial intelligence for lower and upper secondary education, promoting the safe, responsible and use of AI by students. This initiative reflects the dynamic nature of our partnership and its ability to address emerging challenges affecting children's development and future opportunities. Equally important is ensuring a safe digital environment for children, including through strengthening cooperation with the Council of Europe and UNICEF on preventing and combating sexual exploitation and abuse of children online, in line with the Lanzarote Convention. Looking ahead, the Republic of Moldova counts on UNICEF's continued support in strengthening child protection and social services, advancing institutionalization and foster care reforms, ensuring quality and inclusive education through digital transformation and online safety for children, expanding mental health and psycho-social support and supporting the implementation of the European Child Guarantee in line with the UN and international standards on children's rights. Excellencies, the cooperation between the Government of Moldova and UNICEF represents an example of effective partnership delivering tangible results for children. Moldova's experience in areas such as temporary protection mechanism, social assistance reform, digital education, child protection, and deindustrialization could serve as a valuable reference for our countries facing similar challenges. We also express our sincere appreciation for UNICEF, for its professionalism and dedication, and reaffirm the government's commitment to continue cooperation.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Republic of Moldova. Next speaker is Belgium.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Belgium commands the dedication of all UNICEF staff and their unwavering commitment to children worldwide over the past 80 years. We reaffirm our continued support for the organization and its mandate. Despite an increasingly complex operating environment, UNICEF has continued to adapt and deliver for children worldwide. While available funding has come under increasing pressure, the needs of children affected by conflict,

humanitarian crisis, climate change and the rapidly evolving technological landscape have continued to grow.

We commend UNICEF's leadership and staff for maintaining a clear focus on results and for taking difficult but necessary decisions to safeguard the organization's mission and impact. Against this backdrop, UNICEF has not only implemented cost-saving measures, but also advanced several reform initiatives, including the Future Focus Initiative, the Integrated Approach Supply Chain and the wider

UNAT Initiative, and the Humanitarian Reset.

Belgium welcomes these efforts to strengthen organizational effectiveness, improve

efficiency, and ensure that UNICEF and the wider UN development system remain fit for

purpose amid rising expectations and growing challenges.

We underscore the importance of ensuring regular, transparent, and meaningful consultation with the executive board throughout these reform processes.

In this regard, we welcome your reflections on how to sustain the momentum and ambition of these reforms and ensure lasting impact.

Madam Executive Director, dear colleagues, we look forward to a productive board

session that upholds the tradition of consensus and demonstrates the continued value of multilateralism. Belgium is honored to have the opportunity to serve as a member of the Executive Board in 2027.

In this capacity, we look forward to working with Member States and UNICEF management to further strengthen the

role of the Executive Board in providing strategic guidance, oversight and support while ensuring that UNICEF remains strong, effective and an accountable organisation capable of meeting the challenges ahead.

I thank you. I thank the distinguished representative of Belgium. I now give the floor to Greece.

Thank you, Mr. President. And I would like to thank the Executive Director for her remarks and reaffirm Greece's longstanding partnership with UNICEF in protecting and advancing children's rights globally. We meet at a particularly challenging moment, Conflicts, displacement, climate-related emergencies and widening inequalities are placing children under increasing pressure, while the United Nations is adapting to significant financial and institutional constraints. In this context, Greece welcomes UNICEF's constructive engagement with the UNAD initiative towards a more effective, coherent and efficient United Nations system. At the same time, reform should ultimately strengthen our collective capacity to deliver for children. For UNICEF, this means safeguarding its child rights mandate, operational capacity, and ability to reach the most vulnerable, particularly in conflict-affected and fragile settings. Mr. President, at the national level, Greece continues to strengthen a comprehensive rights-based approach to child protection. Our national strategy 2025-2030 for the prevention of violence against children and child friendly justice promotes prevention, school-based interventions and family support, including through cooperation with UNICEF. Inclusion remains equally important. Through the All Children in Education program implemented jointly with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, more than 25,000 refugee and migrant children have benefited from efforts to facilitate inclusive access to education. Greece also attaches particular importance to protecting children in the digital environment, while enabling them to benefit from the opportunities offered by new technologies. In April 2026, the Greek government announced a legislative initiative to prohibit access to social media platforms for children under the age of 15. Internationally, as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council, Greece remains strongly committed to the children and armed conflict agenda. We highly value UNICEF's indispensable contribution to protecting children affected by armed conflict, including through monitoring and reporting on grave violations. At a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs and constrained resources, international humanitarian law must be respected and children must remain at the center of our collective response. Mr. President, in conclusion, Greece will continue to stand with UNICEF. As UNAD moves from discussion to implementation, our benchmark should be.

I thank the distinguished representative of Greece. I now give a floor to Poland.

Mr. President, let me express our sincere appreciation to the executive director, Catherine Russell, for her comprehensive opening statement. The scope and impact of UNICEF's efforts over the last 80 years are truly commendable. I would like to convey Poland's continued appreciation for UNICEF's hard work, advocacy, and strong engagement to address the needs of children worldwide and focus the international community's attention on the rights. As an incoming member of the executive board for the term 27-29, Poland stands ready to contribute to shaping UNICEF's agenda and to reinforce its leading voice for children's rights and wellbeing across the UN system. We are proud to say that Poland's strong dedication to promote and protect the rights of the child were visible from the very start. Poland has played a foundational and driving role in the history of UNICEF, evolving from the birthplace of one of its founding fathers and the first chairman to the lead drafter of the legal framework that guides UNICEF's global work. Now, given our neighborhood, it comes with no surprise that Poland attaches great importance to the fate of Ukrainian children. be it refugees unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred by Russia. We continue to substantially support the work of UNICEF's Refugee Response Office located in Poland. And we invite UNICEF to continue ensuring assistance for children and families displaced by Russian war in Ukraine, including access to healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support. The fate of children in the Gaza Strip is also a source of our grave concern, and we commend UNICEF's determination to remain active and deliver much-needed aid in all the most difficult environments. Protecting children from all forms of violence and exploitation, including their suffering in the aftermath of crises, remains a priority, and we encourage UNICEF to further strengthen prevention, survivor and child-centred responses, and support to accountability efforts. We also welcome UNICEF's leadership on children's rights in the digital age, including its contribution to the first common G7 principles on children and the digital environment and its engagement in the global dialogue and AI governments. A child rights based approach to digital technologies, artificial intelligence, encompassing protection from online sexual exploitation and abuse, age appropriate design and meaningful participation of children in decisions shaping their future in our belief must also remain a priority. To conclude, I wish to reaffirm Poland's commitment to advancing the rights of every child and supporting UNICEF's vital work. I strongly believe in our partnership and cooperation and very much look forward to our membership on the Executive Board. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Poland. I now give the floor to Denmark.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, colleagues, as UNICEF marks its 80th anniversary, We are reminded that progress is possible when we invest in children and protect their rights. As a member of the Security Council, Denmark strongly values UNICEF's work in crisis response and early recovery in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Haiti, Yemen, and other crises where children continue to pay the highest price. We commend UNICEF's determination to stay and deliver, to protect children, to sustain essential services and to strengthen national and local systems in fragile settings. Denmark remains firmly committed to the UN and to effective multilateralism. Our support reflects trust in UNICEF's mandate, results, and ability to deliver for every child. We're proud to be among UNICEF's largest core donors, and thank you for acknowledging this in your remarks, Madam Executive Director. providing predictable support at a time when regular resources are under severe pressure. Denmark welcomes the special focus session on innovation education on Thursday. Digital learning, innovation and new technologies can help address the global learning crisis, but they must be deployed equitably, responsibly and in line with children's rights. We appreciate UNICEF's growing leadership on children's rights in the digital age, including online safety and AI governance. Children must have a meaningful voice in decisions that shape their future. Madam Executive Director, Denmark welcome UNICEF's strong commitment to UNAD and broader reform hand in hand with its own internal reform efforts. We encourage UNICEF and all UN agencies to engage fully and at all levels. UNAD must help deliver a stronger one UN approach at country level. This includes empowering resident coordinators to hold real influence over country team configuration. It also means ensuring clear alignment and sequencing of CPDs with cooperation frameworks. We welcome UNICEF's commitment to locally led responses and encourage further efforts in this area. As reform implementation moves forward, we encourage continued transparency on implications, risk management, staff well-being, young talent recruitment, and operational capacity. We welcome the independent FFI after-action review and look forward to seeing lessons learned. You can count on Denmark's continued close partnership with UNICEF to protect children's rights, strengthen delivery on the ground, and ensure that every child has the opportunity to survive, learn, and thrive. I thank you and I hope that you could hear my remarks in spite of the microphone. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Denmark. I can assure you that we heard you loud and clear. Next speaker is Finland.

Mr President, Madam Executive Director, let me begin by thanking Executive Director Russell for her leadership and UNICEF staff around the world for their unwavering commitment to children under increasingly difficult circumstances. Finland highly values its partnership with UNICEF and remains a strong supporter of its human rights-based mandate. At a time of growing humanitarian needs, funding constraints and pressure on multilateral cooperation, UNICEF's role in protecting and advancing the rights of every child is more important than ever. Finland appreciates UNICEF's constructive engagement in the UNAD process As reforms move forward, it is essential that the renewed system is also measured by its ability to serve children, especially those living in the most fragile and complex settings. We welcome UNICEF's continued efforts to advance disability inclusion and gender equality across its programs and operations, including humanitarian action. In emergencies, girls and children with disabilities often face heightened risks of exclusion, violence and disrupted education, making targeted action essential. Innovation remains one of UNICEF key strengths. Finland is proud of its partnership with UNICEF through the Helsinki-based Innovative Finance Hub and Global Learning Innovation Hub. As traditional development financing comes under increasing pressure, innovation is needed not only in technologies and approaches, but also in forging new partnerships and mobilizing financing for children. We encourage UNICEF to continue demonstrating the impact of innovation for children at country level. Continued reporting to the executive board on lessons learned, results achieved and opportunities to scale successful solutions would be welcome. Finally, strong governance, effective oversight and sound risk management remain essential for trust, accountability and organizational effectiveness. Finland welcomes progress in implementing joint inspection unit recommendations and encourages UNICEF to further strengthen its oversight mechanism. Mr. President, Finland remains a committed partner of UNICEF and looks forward to continuing our joint efforts for the rights and well-being of every child. I thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Finland. I now give the floor to Mexico.

Thank you, Mr. President. We are pleased to extend our greetings to the Executive Director, Catherine Russell. Mexico thanks UNICEF for its support and its decisive impact in promoting public policies and in strengthening national capacities for children. The collaboration between my country and UNICEF has been and continues to be a pillar for making progress on building safe environments that are conducive to the full development of children and adolescents. We would like to put on record our support for the implementation of the Mexico Country Programme 2026-2031, which is in line with the national development plan and which is a key tool for strengthening our territorial response capacity for children. In this regard, Mexico values the cooperation it has with UNICEF, both directly and through the office of the resident coordinator of the UN system. Allow me to acknowledge three specific actions. support for the implementation of the national plan to combat acute malnutrition called Feeding Healthy Futures to prevent detect and promptly address child malnutrition in priority areas of the country two in healthcare we would stress progress in the universal vaccination program and cooperation on environmental health to prevent the exposure of children to lead and to address effects of phenomena such as heat waves three the inclusion of Mexico in the Giga initiative to connect all the schools in the world to the Internet by 2030. It is also relevant to note the joint work with the Ministry of Public Education as part of Safe to Learn, as well as initiatives to promote the participation of girls in science, technology, engineering and maths. Mexico particularly values UNICEF's accompaniment in helping us address new and complex forms of vulnerability, including children in a context of mobility, the dangers of digital violence and recruitment by criminal groups. Regarding the UNAT initiative, Mexico believes it is essential that efficiency measures do not reduce the operational presence or the technical capacities of the fund. We would stress that successful reform requires predictable, flexible and sustainable funding in line with the commitments in the funding compact for support for the SDGs, so that institutional improvements can lead to tangible results for children. Mexico supports UNICEF's participation in UNAT with the hope that any proposal is backed up by evidence and traceability, namely what is changing, how much it costs, what is being saved, what are the risks, and how does it improve the delivery of services for children and teenagers around the world. Thank you very much.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Mexico. I now give the floor to Edie Russell to respond to some of the comments and questions.

Okay, I'm going to try to move quickly because I understand we're under a little time pressure. But I do want to try to at least acknowledge some of these points. To the colleague from Montenegro, I did want to make one point about, you talked about localization and some others have as well. And I just wanted to make the point that localization is a huge priority for us. We are constantly, and I said this earlier, trying to build a capacity of local actors, whether it's governments or others. And about 44% of our funding goes to local and national entities. So just to say that we are very focused on that because ultimately we think that's how things change. It's not that UNICEF continues to do all this work itself. To the colleague from Australia, I did want to just say that you know, I did visit the Pacific. I wanted to highlight the importance of the work we do in multi-country offices. We are, as we discussed, you know, we've established these centers of excellence. Two of them, Bangkok and Panama, will bring technical support closer to some of the multi-country offices in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. So obviously, we will continue to keep you updated as that goes, but it is a top priority for us. To the colleague from France, you said many important things, but I did want to just for a moment focus on Haiti because it hasn't really been mentioned too much so far. And I would just say that, you know, the needs there are enormous. We see many children who are in acute food security, insecurity. The gangs are obviously very challenging there. So I would ask all of you to please keep your eye on Haiti and what's going on there and make sure that it doesn't sort of fall off the radar screen. To the colleague from the United States, thank you for acknowledging the indispensable role we play in child survival. I did want to also focus for a moment on what you said about Ebola. First, I wanted to thank you for the support on Ebola, the Ebola response. And the point you made also about frontline workers, because we strongly believe that building up the capacity of community health workers and others is absolutely critical if we're going to have any hope of dealing with problems like Ebola. And trying to make sure that the frontline workers are supported and part of a broader system is really essential to that. To the colleague from the Republic of Moldova, Again, you mentioned AI, you know, several of you have mentioned that. I think it's absolutely critical, as I said, and I think, you know, we will do a session on that and we can go into it in further detail. You also mentioned the deinstitutionalization of children, which I hadn't mentioned earlier, but is a priority for us and we are doing a lot of work to support governments on that front. To the colleague from Belgium, many good comments. I think that the what I really appreciated was the point about the value of multilateralism, because sometimes that gets lost in this discussion. And I think from our perspective, you know, the challenges are so enormous, we are just better able to deal with them when we deal with them as a group. And I think the multilateral system is absolutely critical to that. So thank you for that. To the colleague from Greece, again, many important points. You did mention the Convention on the Rights of the Child. I just wanted to note that that is the most widely ratified human rights treaty and I think that that says a lot that the world did come together and say that children should be protected and regarded as individual rights holders and very much appreciate that. The colleague from Poland, again, I love the historical references and knowing Poland's important role from the beginning and we do what is the name of our, which room is it that we're, it's a pull of the. Ludwig? Yeah, Ludwig. Ludwig, yeah, one of our conference rooms is named after our Polish, one of our Polish founders, so appreciate that. And very much welcome you to the board, excited to have you there. The colleague from Denmark, very much appreciate the comments about how you trust in our mandate. It means a lot to us. Thank you so much for the core, I said it at the outset, but it does mean so much to us, it's a representation, very tangible representation that you do trust us, and that means lot to us. Again, you mentioned localization and digital learning and education, both absolutely critical. The colleague from Finland, as you said, and I said this earlier, our test about any UNAD reform is does it help us better serve children? And that we have got to all keep that in mind. And also thank you for the comments about innovation and the Helsinki hubs. I think, you know, we see innovation as absolutely central to everything we do at UNICEF, in part because we're always trying to stretch stretch every dollar as far as we possibly can and innovating and coming with new ways to do things that more cost efficient is critical to that. I think we've talked about at some point trying to do a session on innovation at the board and that those conversations will continue but very much appreciate those comments. And finally to Mexico, two really important points that nobody else had raised really which is on universal vaccines and on lead, both of which absolutely critical and you know we see lead is something that not well known or getting as much attention as we would like, but the impacts on children are really quite profound, and we're trying to do our best to respond to that. And thank you also for the comments about Giga, because obviously we talked about getting children, you know, on the internet, in the digital economy, all the rest of it, but if they're not connected to the internet, that doesn't happen. So thanks for that.

I thank you, dear Russell, for her valuable insights and responding to some of, and quick, yes, indeed. The next speaker is Russian Federation.

Mr. Chairman, Madam Executive Director, support the efforts of UNICEF in implementing the SDGs in the part that has to do with combating childhood and infant mortality, malnutrition, eliminating outbreaks of viral diseases, expanding access to quality education, as well as expanding improvement of sanitary conditions and hygiene, including in humanitarian crises. We're convinced that to a large extent the implementation of the 2030 agenda depends on the successful implementation of UNICEF of its mandate. We highly value the efforts of UNICEF in attracting new donors and finding flexible financing solutions. We are in favour of focusing the activities of the Fund on meeting the basic needs of children and ensuring their balanced development. mandate of UNICEF should not be diluted through, uh, areas that are non-priority. In this connection, we noted, uh, the three reports, uh, published by UNICEF, uh, over, June and July devoted to climate and environment. We cannot support this kind of focus. We'd like to underscore that excessive shift towards environment and climate leads to dispersal of resources, duplication of work, and undermines the effectiveness of the work of the fund, especially in light of the very acute liquidity crisis which the UN is confronting. At the same time, we value the unique experience of the of UNICEF in protecting child, maternal health, school education, nutrition and vaccination. We are actively cooperating with UNICEF. We have launched a number of initiatives in Belarus on social integration of children with disabilities, in Zimbabwe in combating cholera and acute digestive infections, in Cuba using renewable energy to ensure basic services and in Tajikistan enhancing medical support for mothers and infants. These projects demonstrate what UNICEF should focus its activity on. We are committed to continuing to work closely with UNICEF for the benefit of children of the whole world. Mr. Chairman, I would like to take advantage and use the right of response in connection with the statements by Ukraine and Poland. Could you please allow me for a right of response? I would like to just recall that the goals of the executive board is leadership and oversight of the work of UNICEF. The statements by Ukraine and Poland not only go outside the mandate of this body, But they pursue only one goal, to politicize the work of the Executive Board, to undermine the neutral and impartial role of UNICEF and to spread false propaganda. The non-consensus resolution put forward by Ukraine adopted by a minority of Member States is based on disinformation, does not provide any direct instructions to UNICEF or recommendations to the Executive Board. Mr. Chairman, we regret that representatives of Kiev once again tried to use the forum of UNICEF to promote their campaign of disinformation about the supposed thousands of Ukrainian kids that were abducted by Russia. It's well known this is a lie. Russia. In spite of the bad faith attempts of the Kiev regime, continues to do everything possible to make sure that this conflict does not affect children. We're working on seeking to reunite children with their families, not only in Ukraine, but in Russia and in third countries. Including with the support of mediators, we hope that the responsible members in today's meeting understand the need to avoid politicizing the issues of protecting children. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Russian Federation. I now give a floor to Kyrgyzstan.

Mr. President, distinguished members of the executive board,

We thank the Executive Director, Russell, for presenting UNICEF's priorities and vision.

Kyrgyzstan shares the approach outlined today on the need

for sustained investment in children and for strengthening system that deliver tangible results for children and families. For my country, this is a matter of strategic importance.

Children under the age of 18 account more than 30% of our country's population. One of our priorities is to shift

from predominantly reactive approach towards early identification of risk and prevention of family vulnerability. Particular attention is given to ensuring that whenever possible children remain within their families. An important step in this direction was introduction in 2025 of social workers responsible for supporting children and families in the difficult life circumstances.

Today, hundreds of social worker positions have been established across the older region of the country.

Since April of this year, their salaries

have been increased more than threefold, strengthening the capacity and motivation of a professional working directly with children and families.

Kyrgyzstan also places the particular emphasis on the early childhood. Since July 1st, the universal state benefit called has been introduced for children from birth to the

three years old, regardless of the socioeconomic status of the families. In the first month alone, the benefit was granted to more than about 200,000 children.

We also share the UNICEF's focus on the wellbeing of children in the rapidly evolving digital environment.

Among the issues of concerns for Kyrgyzstan are the negative impact of the international information content on children

alongside the risk of violence and abuse and the need to strengthen the support for children of migrant workers.

Kyrgyzstan highly values its cooperation with UNICEF. We stand ready to continue

our joint work to strengthen the national child protection system, further develop a preventive model of social work,

and support the children and their families.

Thank you. I thank the distinguished representative of Kyrgyzstan. I now give a floor to representative of Syrian Arab Republic.

Your Excellency, President of the Executive Board, Madam Executive Director, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, I would like to wish the Executive Board all the success In this second regular session, we renew our appreciation to UNICEF for its effort to support children in Syria and around the world. Mr. President, I address you at a time when Syria is moving forward on the path to recovery, in a success story that deserves to be built upon and invested in. Perhaps the education sector represents one of the clearest manifestations of this success story. Three months ago, I emphasized that every child returning to his or her school desk represents an additional step towards stability development. Today, as we stand on the threshold of a new academic year, these words are becoming a tangible reality. In 2026, rehabilitation and maintenance work were completed in more than 1,600 school buildings. The new academic year will also witness the implementation of unified curricula in all Syrian governorates, will facilitate the enrollment of returning children and their integration into the education process. The return to school must also be safe, Mr. President. Therefore, national efforts to remove mines and explosive remnants of war are continuing. We stress the need to intensify survey and clearance operations in and around schools and along access routes, and to strengthen awareness of the risks posed by explosive ordnance. Recovery does not mean merely opening the school doors. It means that a child can walk through that door healthy and safe, able to learn and play in safety. In this regard, we call for redoubling efforts, strengthening cooperation and mobilizing direct support for national government institutions to enhance their capacity to deliver and sustain services. It is also important to align such cooperation with the national recovery priorities announced for 2026. Cooperation with the Ministry of Education and other relevant government entities the guarantee of ensuring the complementarity of efforts, avoiding duplication and achieving the greatest possible impact. We look forward to strengthening the presence of UNICEF and its programmes in Syria within a more sustainable partnership that supports national recovery. In conclusion, every child who walks through the door of his or her school carries more than a schoolbag. They carry the hope for a new future for Syria, a future in which education is a pathway, health is a source of support, security is a right, and childhood marks the beginning of the story of a new Syria after having turned a page on war and suffering. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Syrian Arab Republic. Next speaker is New Zealand.

Thank you, Executive Director. New Zealand thanks you for your briefing this morning. We commend UNICEF's continued leadership in advancing the rights and well-being of children in an increasingly complex and challenging global environment. UNICEF's mandate and its ability to deliver at scale remains more important than ever. At the outset, New Zealand would like to acknowledge and thank UNICEF staff around the world for their extraordinary efforts in responding to recent humanitarian crises. Their commitment deserves our recognition and appreciation. New Zealand places particular importance on UNICEF's engagement in our Pacific region, and we thanked you for your visit there several years ago. Children in the Pacific face disproportionate risks from climate change, geographic isolation, and capacity constraints. We welcome UNICEF's continued work to support climate resilience, child protection, health, disability inclusion, and locally-led approaches across Pacific Island countries. Turning to the broader system context, New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary-General's UNAT initiative. We need a UN development system that is more focused, efficient, and coordinated. For UNICEF, reforms should strengthen the organization's ability to deliver for children, particularly at country level and in humanitarian settings. UNICEF's operational capabilities, technical expertise, global reach, and supply and logistics functions are core strengths that should be preserved and reinforced through reform efforts. We also support reforms that reduce fragmentation across the UN development system, strengthen the resident coordinator system, improve accountability for collective results, and make greater use of comparative advantages across agencies. However, efficiencies should not come at the expense of delivery capacity. Retaining in-country and regional expertise will remain essential to achieving results for children, particularly in vulnerable and remote contexts. Executive Director, New Zealand remains concerned about the challenging funding environment facing UNICEF. As you have said this morning, core funding is essential to enable UNICEF to respond rapidly to crises, sustain critical services, and invest in long-term development outcomes. We encourage all partners to continue supporting UNICEF through quality funding. We look forward to working together to ensuring UNICEF remains effective, focused, and equipped to deliver for children in an increasingly complex world. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of New Zealand, and now I'll give the floor to Cuba.

Thank you, Chairman and Executive Board. Cuba is grateful for the possibility of participating in this second regular session of this Executive Board. presentations made and we reiterate our support for the commendable work of UNICEF. The relationship between Cuba and UNICEF is sound, it's constructive and long standing based on a continuous dialogue and cooperation that supports the main priority for children and teenagers in the country in such areas as education, health care, nutrition, social protection and climate resilience. UNICEF is also a strategic partner of Cuba in emergency situations. Its support of its Havana office during the pandemic and the more recent hurricanes and the earthquake in the east of the country together with prepositioning of supplies and support in the early reaction mechanism has made it possible to respond quickly to the impact on children. We We reiterate the priority that Cuba attaches to the protection and well-being of children and teenagers, and the support of UNICEF has been fundamental, in particular for confronting the accumulated effects of the blockade imposed by the United States. This criminal policy has intensified over the past few years to unprecedented levels. This year in 2026, the US government has issued two executive orders to impose an energy siege and to suffocate the economy, which complicates access to medicine, medical technology and all kinds of inputs for the support of children, teenagers and pregnant women. The impact are devastating and speak for themselves. Child mortality in Cuba has increased some 148% between 2018 and 2025, going from 4.8 to 9.9%. The index of survival of children with cancer has dropped from 85% to 65% since the of the energy siege and over 12,000 children are on a waiting list for surgical operations due to lack of energy supplies in hospitals. The efforts of UNICEF to mitigate the impact of this collective punishment are are frustrated on a daily basis. Recently, given the impossibility of shipping supplies by sea due to refusal by ship owners, UNICEF used air transport to deliver 14 tons of medicine, which implied additional costs. In spite of this complex situation, we reiterate the determination of our government to strengthen our valuable cooperation with UNICEF through our new Country Program 2026-2030 and reiterate our permanent readiness to contribute to the well-being of children and teenagers of the global south.

Thank you.

Mr.

President, my delegation thanks Executive Director Catherine Russell for her insightful presentation and commends the Executive Board for its work. Mr. President, since the annual the annual session of the executive board, Algeria has continued to advance national initiatives to strengthen the protection, well-being, and overall development of children. One of our most significant achievements since then is the launch in July 2026 of the National Plan of Action for Children 2026-2030. This five-year roadmap provides a comprehensive framework to safeguard and promote children's rights. It prioritized cross-governmental coordination, adopt a participatory approach involving key stakeholders, establishes sustainable protection mechanism, and places the enhancement of essential public services at the heart of national action. Building on this overarching framework, Algeria has also prioritized several targeted initiatives. First, protection in the digital sphere. To address growing online risk, Algeria is establishing a specialized unit dedicated to child protection in the digital environment. This initiative aims to reinforce prevention and response mechanisms against cyber violence, online exploitation, and emerging digital threats. Second, inclusive care for children with special needs. Algeria remains dedicated to enhancing targeted support for children with special needs, ensuring every child can access tailored assistance and participate in society without discrimination. Third, the right to play culture and participation. Recognizing that well-being extends beyond basic protection, Algeria places high value on recreation, cultural engagement, and participation. Through our national summer programs, children from across the country and the Algerian diaspora have engaged in enriching activities that strengthen their personal development. Mr. President, In close partnership with UNICEF, Algeria remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing the effective protection of children's rights. We recognize that sustainable progress demands robust policies, effective execution, long-term investment, and strong international cooperation. Algeria greatly values its longstanding partnership with UNICEF and remains committed to further strengthening this cooperation with a view to translating our national commitments into tangible and lasting outcomes on the ground. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Algeria. Next speaker is India.

We thank you, Mr. President, the UNICEF Secretariat and Executive Director, Ms. Catherine Russell, for your leadership and opening statements this morning. This session comes at a consequential moment for children and for the multilateral system. Children across the world continue to face the combined and often compounding impact of armed conflicts, displacement, humanitarian emergencies, climate change, food and nutrition insecurity, disease outbreaks, economic vulnerabilities, and rapid technological change. India values its longstanding partnership with UNICEF built over more than seven decades in support of the health, safety, and well-being of children from providing assistance to the dairy sector and strengthening access to safe drinking water to supporting efforts in newborn and child health, education, sanitation, and hygiene. UNICEF has been a trusted partner in India's development journey. Our cooperation has included initiatives such as India Newborn Action Plan, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and the Swachh Bharat Mission. The challenges facing children today demand renewed international cooperation and a steadfast commitment to ensuring that every child can survive, learn, develop, and realize their full potential. India supports efforts to make the UN development and humanitarian system more efficient, coherent and responsive with reforms focused on tangible and measurable results on the ground. In this regard, we support UNICEF's engagement in the UNAD initiative. For UNICEF, this should translate into more stronger and more effective support to program countries, particularly the most vulnerable and hardest to reach. India attaches the highest importance to national ownership and national determined priorities. UNICEF support is most effective when it strengthens national systems, institutions and capacities and complements the efforts of national governments. We therefore encourage UNICEF to align its program closely with national development priorities and the sustainable development goals while ensuring that country level interventions remain context specific, demand driven and result oriented. India also recognizes the growing role of digital technologies and artificial intelligence in shaping lives of children. These technologies offer significant opportunities in education, health, inclusion, and access to information, while also presenting emerging risks relating to privacy, online safety, exploitation, misinformation, and unequal access. Predictable, sustainable, and flexible financing remains essential for UNICEF to deliver effectively on its mandate. India encourages member states and partners to strengthen sustainable financing for UNICEF while ensuring transparency, accountability, and value for money. India reaffirms its strong support for UNICEF and its mandate to advance the rights and well-being of every child, and we look forward to working collectively to translate our shared commitments into meaningful, measurable, and lasting results for children. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the distinguished representative of India. I now give the floor to European Union.

Thank you, President, Madam Executive Director. I'm speaking for the EU as a donor to UNICEF. We commend the work of UNICEF and the commitment of your staff and partners in the field in the midst of a challenging funding environment and the implementation of reforms that are transforming the humanitarian landscape. Despite funding cuts, it is crucial that UNICEF can continue protecting children, including those on the move, and ensuring that their rights are upheld. We welcome in particular UNICEF's commitment to the UNAD initiative, and we thank you for the update submitted to the Board. We agree that reforms undertaken should strengthen the UN system's capacity to reach all of the vulnerable children. Reform should ultimately be measured by whether it improves results for children, especially in fragile and underserved settings. We welcome UNICEF's participation in the new humanitarian compact, where there is real potential to improve delivery and coordination. We agree also on the importance of safeguarding country-level presence, specialised expertise and child-focused accountability as reforms advance. This is also in line with the new EU joint communication on humanitarian action. We look forward to the implementation of UNICEF and WFP's new unified approach to the treatment of acute malnutrition and commend UNICEF's participation in the data quint. And I have a question. As these systems become more connected, how is UNICEF addressing safeguards, including data protection, privacy, and exclusion risks? The EU highly values its partnership with UNICEF on quality education, skills and opportunities for young people, including support for their transition to employment and active citizenship. We also strongly encourage UNICEF to continue strengthening its support to equitable access to education, including in emergency settings. Despite funding cuts, we hope UNICEF's internal reforms will enable it to fulfil its mandate and remain a driving force in child protection and gender equality, particularly for children affected by armed conflict and displacement. This must include the meaningful participation of children and youth, girls and women, persons with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ persons. The EU has been and will remain a major donor and principal partner to UNICEF across its humanitarian and development mandate. This includes our valued cooperation in New York through the EU-UNICEF discussion series on children in crisis. which since 2023 has spotlighted the situation of children in more than 16 underfunded emergencies. And we look forward to continuing this partnership for children worldwide. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the European Union. Colleagues, we will go a few minutes over time, and I thank colleagues providing interpretation for doing this also with us. Edie Russell, you have a floor to respond.

I will be very quick, so forgive me if I miss anything, but don't hesitate to follow up. To the Russian Federation, and actually you just mentioned it and someone else did as well, though I can't remember for the life of me who it was, but I did want to focus for a second on this issue about disabilities. UNICEF does a tremendous amount of work in this space. Children with disabilities are the least likely children to be in school, to be reached by services, to be included in data. It's a huge, huge problem. And I think from our perspective, you know, we try, and I think through our programming, we're reaching millions of children, either with our programming or with assistive technology. It's an absolute priority for us, and I just really appreciate everyone who brought it up. To the colleague from Kurdistan, you know, I appreciated hearing about the child protection system that you have in Kurdistan. Obviously, we are, I mentioned this earlier, very committed to the importance and the value of social workers and also to ECD, so grateful for that. To the Syrian Arab Republic, I would say it is a time of optimism and hope, and I think I really appreciated the comments you made about education and the importance of education as really the hope for the future of the country, and I couldn't agree more and very much want to be a partner with you in that. To the colleague from New Zealand, thank you so much for the comments about the staff. Also the comments about the Pacific, as I mentioned earlier, I was there. I did have a much greater appreciation for the just enormous challenge of reaching, you know, places that are so far away. climate resilience issue is really very feels very present there. I think we're doing some important work there, but there's obviously more that needs to be done. To the colleague from Cuba, thank you for the comments about the support in emergencies. It is a huge part of what we do and Ted Chavin will brief on that in greater detail later this week. To the colleague from Algeria. also thank you again about the, you know, mentioning child protection. I also was very happy to hear about the right to play. It was one of the better events I thought over in the General Assembly. long earlier this year. And I think reminding people that children are children and children, even in the worst situations, are children and they want to play is really important. So, colleague from India, thank you. Many, many important points. I think what I took away most of all is that UNICEF and India have been good partners trying to build national systems and have made some real progress on sanitation and water. And I think continuing to strengthen national systems there and everywhere else is an absolute top priority for us. you two important points you mentioned, although you did mention many. One is the challenges around children on the move makes things much more complicated trying to address the issues that are presented, but we are committed to that. You also raise an important point about data protection. I couldn't agree with you more that these humanitarian data systems are becoming more interconnected. Safeguards have to evolve along with that. And I think, you know, protecting personal data, preserving privacy are absolute priorities for us, we very much will keep you abreast of what we're doing and look forward to hearing your views about it as we go forward. Thank you.

I thank you, Dee Russell, for her remarks. As no additional delegations have signaled their wish to comment, we now conclude the presentation of the general national statements. Before we adjourn for lunch, for those who have the luxury to have lunch, I believe that the Secretary of the Executive Board, Mr. Andres Franco, would like to make an announcement. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just to remind delegations that we will have the informal consultations on the draft decisions immediately following in this room, starting at 1:15 until 2:45. And then this afternoon, we will also have the formal consultations in this conference room, starting at 5:00 until 6:00 p.m. we will be in touch with the coordinator with Grete if there's a need to move to the UNICEF house after six then we will go there to the Maurice Pate which is in the 13th floor but we will provide a information on that always a good reminder that the informal consultations on draft decisions are intended only for executive board member states and member states observers and and this of course includes the facilitators of the draft decisions And the only other colleagues that are in the room are the UNICEF focal points and relevant experts who will be available during the meeting for any questions, as well as the staff from my office. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the Secretary for his announcement. I thank for interpretation again. Bon appetit. See you at three o'clock.