(2nd plenary meeting) UNICEF Executive Board, 2026 Annual Session

Thank you. Thank you, colleagues. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. We will continue with the presentation of the general national statements. Before we begin the proceedings, I will once again share a procedural note. Delegations are once again kindly reminded that their statements should remain within the agreed time limits. 3 minutes for individual delegations speaking in their national capacity, and 5 minutes for delegations speaking on behalf of United Nations regional groups or for joint statements of 2 or more member states. Microphones will start blinking to alert speakers 1 minute before the end of the allotted time, And speakers will be muted after their time has ended at either the end of 3 or end of 5 minutes. We will now open the floor for the continuation of the general national statements. And before I give the floor to Australia, as promised, please take your seats. Thank you. So that we can proceed. Thank you. I now give the floor to a distinguished delegate of Australia.

Thank you, President and Executive Director. We commend UNICEF for delivering strong results during an exceptionally challenging period. In 2025, against a backdrop of escalating conflict and climate shocks, UNICEF continued to operate at scale, responding to countless emergencies, strengthening national systems, and achieving results across the majority of its strategic plan targets. These achievements are a credit to the dedication of UNICEF staff and partners, particularly at a time when financial constraints are forcing difficult choices across the multilateral system. President, Executive Director, I will make two key points today. First, Australia remains a strong and consistent supporter of UNICEF, its mandate, and its people. We value the organization's central role in advancing the rights of children, gender equality, and disability equity. In this context, Australia is pleased to be co-leading alongside Canada the upcoming performance assessment of UNICEF— as part of the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network. We look forward to working closely with UNICEF over the coming months to build a clearer and greater shared understanding of the organization's performance. We see this as a constructive, forward-looking process, one that can support UNICEF to strengthen its effectiveness and focus on areas where it delivers uniquely or best in a resource-constrained environment. Secondly, Australia also continues to be an ardent supporter of UNICEF's humanitarian action. Now more than ever, we must work together to ensure that those in vulnerable situations receive safe, dignified, and inclusive assistance with robust protections against sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. And we must not, not lose sight of the humanitarian workers who make this possible. We are deeply concerned by increasing threats to their safety and security, and we condemn in the strongest terms attacks against humanitarian personnel. We encourage all signatories to the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel to take action to implement its commitments, and we call on all member states who have not yet endorsed the declaration to please do so.

Australia—

Australia reiterates its strong support for UNICEF's work in our region, particularly in the Pacific, where compounding vulnerabilities demand sustained, coordinated, and locally informed responses. Thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of Australia. Next speaker is Russian Federation.

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN] Mr.

Chair, Mr. Executive Director, Madam Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, we thank you for presenting your report on the work of the Fund in 2025. There are some sobering conclusions in the report, specifically that ongoing cuts to humanitarian financing could, by 2030, increase to $4.5 million the preventable deaths among children under 5. Furthermore, 6 million children throughout the world will be unable to attend school in the same period. Against that backdrop, what is particularly important is the work of UNICEF in ramping up national capacity in healthcare, as well as in digitalization of schools. It is clear that these efforts will need to be redoubled.

Thank you.

Having said that, allow me to ask for a clarification. Why does the report not cover an urgent issue for many countries, that is the risks for children and teenagers in the digital realm? It would be interesting to hear UNICEF's expert opinion on that front. We note with satisfaction the progress made in broadening coverage of the population to basic services of health, sanitation, and hygiene. Of course, much remains to be done still. We also noticed a disbalance in terms of the climate in these sections. We are convinced that there's a need to work based on SDG number 6. Number 6. Without any undue emphasis on climate adaptation, we agree with the Fund's assessment about the need to shift toward reform of national financial systems for children. In this regard, we're pleased to note that our country, Russia, in its social policy has been consistent in ensuring the interests of families with children enhancing the birth rate through combining direct material assistance and while spreading traditional values among young people. Russia also commends the many years of its partnership with the Fund. And of course, we regret to note that the regional office in Geneva is going to be under reform. However, we are convinced that the regional reset will not have an adverse impact on the efficient implementation of projects to assist children.

I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Russian Federation. Next speaker is Syrian Arab Republic.

Shukran, As-Sayed Rais al-Majlis al-Thani.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman of the Executive Board, Madam Executive Director, ladies and gentlemen. At the outset, I wish you every success. In the work of UNICEF during this annual session. I reiterate the deep gratitude of my country to UNICEF for its unflagging efforts to assist all children everywhere in the world and in Syria. Mr. Chair, the children in Syria are no longer on the front page of the press. We're no longer talking about martyrs, about disappeared people, etc. But instead of this, we're talking about hoth, we're talking about their hope and their dreams and their aspirations. Today, our children who have known years of war are currently— have currently known safety from fear. They are free. They are no longer being targeted. They know hope instead of desperation. Because there can be no sustainable development without safe children with a future. That's why education is the number one priority, because every child that returns to school brings us one step forward to stability and development. Chair, the children in Syria today have an opportunity to live in peace and security, far from missiles and aircraft. But in order to take this opportunity, we need to acknowledge one real peril, that is unexploded remnants of war and mines. This is a— places the lives of children in jeopardy, but also hampers their access to school, to services, and it prevents them from resuming normal life. Because if a child is afraid of going to school and can't do so safely, that means the danger of mines needs to be eliminated. We urge all stakeholders to support us in demining and in awareness raising. Also to broaden assistance programs to victims and to ensure national programs to address children and to protect them from that danger. In closing, protection of children and the protection of their rights is important. We count on the cooperation of UNICEF and all of our international partners because Syria is convinced that children that are provided with safety and going to school, this will lay the ground for prosperity and development. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

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

Mr. Chairman, Madam Executive Director, ladies and gentlemen, members of the Board, we have the honor of participating in this annual session and we thank UNICEF for its efforts to protect children and their rights in accordance with its mandate. We've taken good note of the annual report for 2025 and all of the progress and results mentioned therein. My country reiterates the importance of national ownership in, uh, designing programs and in enhancing resources while improving the efficacy of UNICEF. As for humanitarian access, my country reiterates the importance —of meeting individual needs. This while preserving the sovereignty of states, because you can't mix humanitarian work and other development work. There needs to be national capacity in order to ensure basic services. We commend the progress made in terms of the plan of action. We need to keep girls away from any type of violence, and we need to ensure they can be educated. And we need to ensure that there is access to disaggregated data. Country programs are very important, in particular in healthcare, protection of children. Thus, we support the efforts undertaken to ensure vaccination and education, as well as the programs to protect children and ensure they have access to water and sanitation. In my country. We also commend the capacity building underway in terms of planning and collection of data. This allows us at the national level to bolster our goals for children and families. We need to continue our work on this path in order to meet the needs of all children in Libya. As for the protection of children from harassment and violence—

Thank you.

Here we also have a zero tolerance policy. We have a surveillance and a body and monitoring body in this regard. We welcome the work of UNICEF to strengthen culture through transparency and through accountability. In closing, we reiterate our commitment to work with UNICEF to protect children, to ensure a better safer future for children in my country and everywhere in the world. Thank you.

Thank you, Representative of Libya. Next speaker is Morocco.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, my delegation would like to begin by thanking you, Mr. President, and your Bureau for steering our work and to express our appreciation to the Executive Director for insightful and comprehensive remarks introducing UNICEF's 2025 report. We have taken careful note of this report, which highlights the unprecedented challenges facing children worldwide. Rising humanitarian needs, increasing violations against children, and declining development assistance continue to put millions of children's lives, education, and well-being at risk. Despite this difficult context, we commend UNICEF's continued efforts to deliver life-saving support support, respond to humanitarian crisis, and expand access to essential services for children, and we welcome the organization's ongoing reforms aimed at enhancing efficiency and alignment with the UNHCR initiative. From our national perspective, Morocco remains firmly committed to the protection and promotion of children's rights under the constant guidance of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and the longstanding engagement of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meriem in this field. In this spirit, on the occasion of this year's World Day Against Children Labor, the National Observatory for Children's Rights launched a national awareness campaign, Stop au Travail des Enfants, to mobilize all citizens around the protection of children and their fundamental rights, first and foremost, their right to education, protection, and development, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are encouraged that these collective efforts have yielded significant results, with child labor declining by 8.2% compared to 2023. Morocco also reaffirmed its international commitment by hosting in Marrakesh the 6th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labor, which adopted the Marrakesh Global Framework for Action Against Child Labor. While the conference acknowledged that SDG Target 8.7 was not met by 2025, It also noted encouraging progress with the reduction of more than 20 million children in child labor since 2020. Aligned with national efforts to reduce social disparities, build family resilience, and prevent risks affecting children, Morocco recently launched a program that provides a comprehensive support framework for children and youth, notably through tailored social and psychological assistance. In conclusion, Morocco remains committed to working closely with UNICEF and all partners to protect children's rights and ensure that no child is left behind. I thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Morocco. Next speaker is Finland.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, I would like to express my deep appreciation to you, Executive Director Russell, for your leadership, as well as the UNICEF staff for their continued hard work under challenging circumstances. We would also like to thank you for presenting UNICEF Annual Report 2025. Finland highly values our longstanding partnership with UNICEF. We are proud to support UNICEF human rights-based work, especially its dedication to leaving no child behind and its leadership in disability inclusion, a priority that Finland strongly shares. Globally, nearly 240 million children live with disabilities, and many are among the most marginalized and vulnerable people. In crisis-affected contexts, children with disabilities face a double burden. When conflict disrupts education systems, they are often the first to be excluded and the last to be reached. Finland welcomes the strong integration of disability inclusion in the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2026-2029, including dedicated indicators and targets that reinforce accountability for reaching children and young people with disabilities. In 2025, UNICEF-supported disability-inclusive programs reached an impressive 6.5 million children with disabilities across 139 countries. Many of those children live in fragile and humanitarian contexts. We commend UNICEF for this impressive work, and we encourage you to build on it. Including on country programming. Disability-inclusive programme documents are essential for systematically scaling up inclusion of children with disability across sectors and at the country level. Finland welcomes the establishment of UNICEF Thematic Fund for Disability as an important step toward strengthening predictable financing for disability inclusion. Achieving the ambitions of the strategic plan On this front will require sustained investment, including both dedicated funding and the systematic integration of disability consideration across sectoral budgets to ensure scale, sustainability, and inclusive coverage. Finally, Finland encouraged UNICEF to prioritize the sustainability and scalability of its innovation efforts, strengthening its role as, as a catalyst for new solutions and investments for children. The Helsinki-based innovation hubs are at the forefront of this work. I thank you.

Excuse me. I thank the distinguished representative of Finland. Next speaker is New Zealand.

Thank you, President. Executive Director, New Zealand thanks you for your briefing this morning and welcomes your annual report. We commend UNICEF's continued leadership in advancing the rights and wellbeing of children, particularly in an increasingly complex and challenging global environment. As the report makes clear, children are facing unprecedented and compounding pressures. In this context, UNICEF's mandate and its ability to deliver at scale remains more important than ever. New Zealand places particular importance on UNICEF's engagement in our Pacific region. Children in the Pacific face disproportionate risks from climate change, geographic isolation, and systemic vulnerabilities. We welcome UNICEF's continued work to support climate resilience, child protection, children's health and development, disability inclusion, and locally led approaches across Pacific Island countries. Turning to the broader system context, New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary-General's UN80 Reform Initiative. Thank you. Initiative as an opportunity to take forward meaningful reform. As we have emphasized alongside other member states, the UN development system must be more focused, more efficient, and better coordinated, particularly at the country level. For UNICEF, engagement in this process will be critical to ensuring that reforms strengthen delivery for children and contribute to a more coherent system overall. As we consider the reform agenda ahead, New Zealand recognizes that a range of options are being advanced to strengthen system-wide effectiveness. It will be important that these are assessed holistically and not in isolation, and within the broader context of UN 80 reforms. We also underline the important role of this board in providing strategic guidance on these questions. As member states, we have a collective and immediate responsibility not only to consider the options presented, but to drive timely decisions on the way forward. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Given the urgency of the challenges we face, we must move beyond extended deliberation towards decisive conclusions and clear direction so that reforms can be implemented effectively and without delay. Executive Director, New Zealand remains concerned about the challenging funding environment facing UNICEF. Core, predictable, and flexible funding is essential to enable UNICEF to respond rapidly, sustain critical services, and reach those most in need. We encourage all partners to provide flexible support and to ensure resources are directed towards areas of greatest impact. In closing, New Zealand reaffirms its strong support for UNICEF and its vital role in advancing the rights and well-being of every child. We look forward to working with UNICEF and fellow board members to ensure the organization remains effective, focused, and able to deliver an— In In English. an increasingly complex environment.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of New Zealand. Next speaker is Brazil.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, distinguished board members, and observers. Brazil and UNICEF share a longstanding and close partnership, and we remain committed to working closely. Regarding the 2025 Annual Report, Brazil considers the document to be a positive and comprehensive assessment of the initiatives undertaken and financed by UNICEF. While acknowledging the report's comprehensive overview, Brazil notes that it does not include references to partnerships undertaken with Latin American countries. It would have been valuable to reflect developments such as the publication last May of the UNICEF National Evaluation Capacity Development Strategy Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, which establishes a regional framework for strengthening national evaluation systems. Despite the absence of specific references to the Fund's work in Latin America, Brazil welcomes the report's recognition of the country as an example of successful outcomes achieved through UNICEF-supported programs aimed at fostering youth and adolescent engagement. Thank you. In our view, future editions of the report could also be further enriched by highlighting the contribution of South-South and trilateral cooperation initiatives. The exchange of technical knowledge and successful priorities and practices among developing countries constitutes an important avenue for advancing the objectives of UNICEF's strategic plan, and it also merits recognition as part of the Fund's efforts to promote sustainable and locally driven development outcomes. Brazil welcomes the report's focus on health, education, nutrition, child protection, and the particular emphasis on strengthening national public systems. These priorities are closely aligned with Brazil's constitutional and legal framework, such as the Child and Adolescent Statute and Brazil's Unified Health system. In 2025, we celebrated 75 years of UNICEF's presence in Brazil, advancing initiatives across multiple areas to promote and protect the rights of children and adolescents. I take this opportunity to reiterate Brazil's willingness to further strengthen and deepen its cooperation with UNICEF in the years ahead. I thank you.

Thank you.

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

Mr. President, my delegation thanks Executive Director Russell for her comprehensive statement and commends UNICEF for its work in a highly challenging global environment. In this critical context, Algeria wishes to emphasize the following key points. First, we fully share the view that protecting children's rights requires sustained investment to safeguard children's well-being and future opportunities, despite the financial challenges facing the UN system, including UNICEF. Second, Algeria highly values its longstanding partnership with UNICEF. Reinforced by the recent visit of UNICEF Regional Director for MENA to Algiers in April 2023. Third, Algeria remains committed to strengthening its child protection framework, guided by the best interests of the child, and continues to work closely with UNICEF to address emerging challenges. Thank you. Fourth, Algeria underscores the critical importance of predictable and flexible funding at a time when multilateral action is facing unprecedented pressure. In this regard, Algeria stresses the importance of ensuring that UNICEF's activities are implemented in line with, with Member States' commitments under the Pact for the future, and consistent with ongoing efforts under the UNAT Initiative to reposition the UN Development System and reconfigure United Nations Country Teams. In conclusion, Mr. President, we reaffirm our commitment to working closely with UNICEF to ensure the fulfillment of children's rights. Thank you. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Algeria. Before we move on, I would like to give the floor to Edie Russell to respond to national statements that we've just heard. The floor is yours.

Okay, great. Thank you so much. Welcome back after lunch. Just a few comments because, as I said, I don't want to repeat myself too much, but I would I would say a few things. One, to Australia, first of all, thank you for your supportive comments, very much appreciate that, and for the support of the humanitarian action. You note a couple of things. One, PSEA, which I, as I said earlier, 100% agree with you. Also, the issue about humanitarian workers is important because it has been a really treacherous year for humanitarian workers. I would say one of the hardest years probably ever,, and I really want to thank you for supporting the declaration. It is important for people to stand up and say that it's not okay for humanitarian workers to be in such jeopardy when they're trying to help people, and I very much appreciate the support there. To the Russian Federation, I think, first of all, I agree with you on the importance of national capacity in healthcare and digitization in schools. It's a real priority for us. I think the way we see this is there are real benefits to children from the digital world, from AI and more generally in the digital space, and real dangers. And we have to really protect them against the dangers. And I think we have to do that in a coordinated way. And I very much appreciate your comments and suggestions on that front. On the— On the— To the point about the regional reset, I think our view is that all changes, you know, and I've said this before, but any change, any structural change, any suggestions really need, from our perspective, to keep the best interests of children at the heart of it, and I think that's how we're approaching all of this. To Syria, first of all, I do appreciate the comments. You know, I mentioned Syria earlier in my remarks,, and I think we feel that it is, you know, there's a real window of opportunity there. Last year UNICEF did a lot of important work providing drinking water for millions of people, accessing and providing primary healthcare and access to primary healthcare through UNICEF-supported facilities, and also making sure that children were vaccinated in a big— we did a big catch-up campaign there, and it was very important. I take— to heart your point about education and this really important issue of unexploded ordnances. I mean, we see that everywhere or in every sort of context where there's been conflict, that these unexploded ordnances are so dangerous for children. Often they're in places where children are playing. We've got to deal with them and very much appreciate your comments and leadership on that point. To Libya, first of all, agree I couldn't agree more that national ownership is key. Thank you for pointing out the importance of girls' education. I said it earlier, but from our perspective, for adolescent girls, that is a time where they are often very vulnerable, and keeping them in school doesn't solve all the problems, but in my view, it is one of the most important things we can do, and we're very focused on that at UNICEF, and I think there's a— did we do a gender Yes, so I think Lauren will probably speak in the next day or so about the work we're doing, and hopefully you'll hear some more about that. But that effort is central to what we're doing and very important. Also, you mentioned the point about data, and, you know, I couldn't agree more. I mean, from our perspective, if you don't know what's happening, if you don't have the data, it's hard to really, you know, come up with solutions and proposals. And we co-lead the data work package with UNDESA UNAID, and I think see that as an absolute critical endeavor for the UN overall to have sort of common data packages and data reform, data commons. It's not that easy to do, but there is a real commitment to doing that, and UNICEF, because we have so much data, you know, I think we're playing a central role there. To Morocco, I just want to thank you very much. I hadn't mentioned the issue of child labor. That is a critical issue— sorry— in our child protection efforts, and very much appreciate you highlighting that, and couldn't agree more that that is a critical issue. Let's see here. To Finland, thank you again. You know, this issue of disabilities, I said it earlier, but it really is such an important issue for us to keep in mind. Honestly, I just, I can't thank you enough for that, and it's true that there is a double burden that children face, that they're in conflicts and then have disabilities on top of it. It is really challenging, you know, in these fragile contexts. So thank you for that. And I also want to, you know, just give you a nice thank you for the Helsinki Innovation Labs. They're really important to us. We find them to be, you know, places where great thinking is taking place and more important than that, great ideas are coming out of which it. I think is fantastic, and then we share those across the whole UNICEF ecosystem. So, huge thank you to that— for you to that— to you for that. To New Zealand, you know, the Pacific region is really an important priority for us. I was there, I think, 2 years ago, and I saw the challenges, so both things that you mentioned, one on climate resilience and the ability to deal with very challenging issues around cyclones and other things, but also this issue of remoteness is not a small thing there. The region is so spread out, it probably seems such an obvious thing for somebody who knows the region, but as a newcomer to it, it was really striking about how challenging it is just to get around to some of these more remote places. So appreciate New Zealand's leadership there and very grateful— for the— just more generally for the work you're doing in the region and happy that we're a part of that. You also said something about— I wanted to just highlight this about, you know, in the context of looking at UNAID holistically, I mean, one of the things I say to my team all the time is we really never want to be in a situation where we're establishing parallel systems. That's not our goal. And I think that's something that we are very mindful of. Our job is to invest in making national and local systems stronger. That's what we're trying to do, and I think that region is a prime example of that. To the colleague from Brazil, you know, Latin America and the Caribbean is obviously a really important area for us. We have a fantastic team there led by a regional director who is really just doing a really excellent job. There are you know, a different set of challenges in that region from some of our others. And I think this question of youth and adolescent engagement is really important. And I take note of your suggestions for a report on that. We'll take that back and think about that for sure. But it's also nice— 75 years is a long time for us to be partners in the work that's going on in Brazil. And just grateful to you for your commitment and happy that we can be a part of that journey. Obrigada. And then I think finally to Algeria, just, you know, thank you for noting the importance of investing in children. I think that the child protection frameworks and these sort of emerging challenges that children are facing, whether it's digital or otherwise, are really things that we're trying to keep our eye on. And thank you very much for the work that you're doing with UNICEF. We appreciate it and look forward to continuing. Thank you. Continuing it.

I thank Edie Russell for her valuable comments. Next speaker on my list is Liechtenstein.

Thank you so much for the floor, Mr. President, and thank you also, Edie Russell, for your active participation. That's much appreciated. And let me also thank the Secretary of the Executive Board and his team for organizing this annual session. Also very much appreciated. We also wish to commend UNICEF and its country teams in Sri Lanka and the Maldives for the perfectly organized field visit in which Liechtenstein proudly participated. So as UNICEF turns 80, we commend 8 decades of leadership to the promotion and protection of children's rights worldwide. Thank you. Remarkable progress has been achieved since the year 2000. Under-5 mortality has been cut in half. Stunting has been reduced by 57 million cases. And immunization now saves an estimated 4.2 million lives every year.

Yet this anniversary comes at the moment of deep concern for all children.

Many of these hard-won gains are under increasing pressure and in some areas risk being reversed. The annual report even states that the year 2025 was catastrophic for children. It underscores that children continue to bear the brunt of armed conflict, climate shock, and deepening inequalities. At the same time, reductions in official development assistance are constraining life-saving programs when needs are growing. Funding cuts could result in millions of preventable child deaths and leave millions more without access to education. We welcome UNICEF's efforts to adapt to a challenging environment through internal reforms, including the Future Focus Initiative, as well as his leadership and engagement in the UN80 Initiative. UNICEF's strong financial position gives it both the opportunity and the responsibility to lead by example, share its expertise, and deepen cooperation across the UN system to strengthen development and humanitarian action. UNICEF's role in keeping children at the center is more important than ever. This is clearly demonstrated in its annual report, which shows that progress remains possible and that multilateral action continues to make a tangible difference. Mr. President, let me assure you that Liechtenstein remains committed to supporting UNICEF and promoting a rights-based and sufficiently resourced multilateral response for children. I thank you so much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Liechtenstein. Next speaker is Ireland.

Thank you, President, and Executive Director, thank you for your statement and for your annual report. Ireland reaffirms its strong support for UNICEF and its unique mandate for children. Your report shows that across almost every area of work, UNICEF's needs are— needs are rising while resources are becoming more constrained. Conflicts, climate shocks, displacement, inequality, and growing pressure on development financing are placing hard-won gains for children at risk. Against that backdrop, Ireland welcomes the strong performance achieved under the Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and UNICEF's continued focus on reaching those furthest behind. President, Ireland appreciates UNICEF's active engagement in UN80 and the humanitarian reset. We support reforms that improve effectiveness, reduce fragmentation, and strengthen delivery at country level. For Ireland, the key test will be whether reforms strengthen UNICEF's ability to deliver at country level. The Executive Board's role in oversight and accountability are essential in this regard. We strongly encourage UNICEF to provide Member States with the data and information we need to assess the impact of reforms on delivery. We also welcome UNICEF's emphasis on country programme documents and cooperation frameworks as accountability instruments. We encourage continued transparency on how reform efforts will affect country presence, partnerships, and programme delivery. A strengthened Resident Coordinator system will be essential. President, we are concerned by the continuing pressure on core and flexible funding when UNICEF is being asked to do more. Ireland's sustained core contributions reflect our conviction that predictable and flexible funding remains essential to UNICEF's effectiveness. They allow UNICEF to respond where needs are greatest, support innovation and reform, maintain presence in underfunded contexts, and invest in the systems that underpin long-term results for children. As we discuss efficiency and reform, we need to advance a sustainable, high-quality, and predictable mix of funding that includes both public and private sectors. One complements the other, and both are essential. President, Ireland welcomes UNICEF's continued emphasis on gender equality, and the rights and empowerment of girls throughout the new Strategic Plan and Gender Equality Action Plan. With gender equality under increasing pressure globally, it is essential that UNICEF maintains a strong focus on adolescent girls, harmful practices, gender-responsive services, and the removal of barriers that prevent girls from realizing their full potential. We look forward to seeing these commitments translated into measurable results across the Strategic Plan period. Ireland remains gravely concerned by the situation facing children in Gaza, Sudan, and other humanitarian crises. International humanitarian law must be respected. I leave it there, Madam Secretary-General.

I thank the distinguished representative of Ireland. Next speaker is Mexico.

Muchas gracias. Thank you very much, President. Good afternoon, distinguished colleagues, and Executive Director Madame Catherine Russell. Mexico considers this annual report to be especially pertinent. It allows us to identify opportunities, areas where we can help strengthen the work of UNICEF, and it also enables an understanding of the obstacles faced in meeting UNICEF's objectives. The report depicts a concerning outlook for children globally, marked by the convergence —of armed conflicts, climate crises, persistent inequalities, and financial constraints that are threatening a reversal of decades of gains in children's rights and well-being. The document points out that 2025 was a particularly critical year where the deteriorating international context and weakening multilateralism has restricted the capacity for res— response to growing humanitarian need. UNICEF has alerted us that this decrease in resources in 2025 jeopardizes essential health, education, and child protection programs, and this has potentially grave consequences by 2030, including millions of preventable child deaths. The report underscores that nearly two-thirds of the world's children currently live in poverty. And that conflict and emergencies continue to disproportionately impact children. Member States cannot allow this situation to persist. We must take action and we must do so quickly. We cannot stand by as witnesses of this enormous suffering of children around the world, and this is why we welcome the fact the Annual Report sends a clear message in the face of shrinking resources, it is absolutely essential that we strengthen international cooperation and protect investment that is aimed at children so that we can avoid a reversal of progress in terms of children's rights. In this complex environment, Madam Director, you have Mexico's full support. And in this complex environment, we would like to ask you, What do you think the two priorities should be for member states as a commitment so that we can strengthen the work of UNICEF in the short term? I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Mexico. Next speaker is Laos People's Democratic Republic.

Mr. President, Madame Executive Director, Excellencies, at the outset, my delegation would like to The Philippines expresses its appreciation to Madame Executive Director and UNICEF for their leadership and unwavering commitment to advancing the rights and well-being of children around the world. We commend UNICEF for its continued support to member states in addressing the increasingly complex challenges facing children, including poverty, food insecurity, climate change, health emergencies, and also during the conflict. The Lao PDR recognizes that children and young people are the foundation of sustainable development. Investing in their health, education, protection, and empowerment is not only a moral imperative, but also essential for building resilient societies and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, we welcome UNICEF's continued focus on strengthening national systems and promoting equitable access to essential services, particularly for those most vulnerable children. For the Lao PDR, UNICEF has been our longstanding trusted and valued partner. We highly appreciate UNICEF's support in improving maternal and health— and child health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, and social and child protection. Thank you. UNICEF's contribution has supported the strengthening of national capacity and improving the life of children and families across the country, including those living in remote and also hard-to-reach areas. My delegation also welcomes the incoming UNICEF Country Programme Document for Lao PDR for 2027-2031, which has been developed through close consultations between the government of Lao PDR, UNICEF, the UN country team, and other stakeholders. The new country program is well aligned with the national development priorities of the Lao PDR, and also the forthcoming UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2027-2031. We strongly believe that its implementation will further advance children's rights and also contribute to inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development. Mr. President, at a time when humanitarian and development needs continue to grow, we recognize the declining funding resources affecting the work of UNICEF and the wider UN development system. We therefore encourage all for continued contributions and support for predictable and flexible resources to enable UNICEF to effectively deliver on its mandate. In closing, the Lao PDR reaffirms its continued support for UNICEF and looks forward to further strengthening our partnership to ensure that every child can survive, thrive, and realize their full potential.

I thank the distinguished representative of Laos People's Democratic Republic. I now give the floor to United Kingdom.

Thank you, Mr. President. The UK thanks the Executive Director for the Strategic Plan final report and commends UNICEF's continued delivery for children in an increasingly complex global environment. We also thank the Executive Director for her leading role at the UK-hosted Global Conference on Development held in London in May. Three points.

Firstly, the UK welcomes UNICEF's engagement on UNAT, the Humanitarian Reset, and on the Future Focus Initiative.

These ambitions need to be turned into tangible change that improves the lives of children. We want to see clear, time-bound delivery and accountability on reforms, including empowered resident coordinators, integrated supply chains, and data coherence and interoperability. We want to see the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework as the primary instrument for planning and implementing all UN development activities within the UNICEF country program documents fully derived from the cooperation frameworks. Secondly, UN partners, including UNICEF, play an essential normative, technical, and emergency response role, but the new development and humanitarian system should be built on comparative advantage, not competition. Thank you.. We need a shift whereby 'as local as possible, as international as necessary' is embedded in UNICEF's approach. Power must be shifted to countries, communities, and local actors' lead, with development actors supporting, not substituting for local systems and leadership, and decision-making and resources are closer to those best placed to deliver. We call for much more transparency transparency on prioritization decisions and costs to drive efficiency and effectiveness. Thirdly, we need to remove barriers for women and girls and promote inclusion and equalities.

Ensuring the centrality of protection in all that we do is fundamental. We must focus on and eliminate sexual and gender-based violence.

This is a fundamental human right, priority essential to gender equality, peace, and sustainable development. We expect UNICEF to uphold strong safeguarding standards, and we are concerned about UNICEF's reduced capacity to prevent and address sexual exploitation and abuse, which must be resourced accordingly. In closing, the United Kingdom remains a committed partner to UNICEF, and we look forward to working together to deliver tangible impact for children worldwide. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom. Next speaker is Lesotho.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, distinguished members of the Executive Board, Excellencies and colleagues. Lesotho aligns itself with the statement delivered by Eritrea on behalf of the African Group and makes these additional remarks in our national capacity. The Kingdom of Lesotho appreciates and welcomes the fourth and final annual report of the UNICEF Executive Director on the implementation of the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022-2025, together with the accompanying reports on the Integrated Results and Resources Framework, the implementation of the Quadrennial Comprehensive policy review and the independent oversight functions, and the data companion and scorecard. Lesotho commends the Executive Director and the staff of UNICEF for the comprehensive and transparent manner in which this final report of the current strategic plan has been presented. The documentation before us provides a sobering yet essential account of the state of the world's children and of UNICEF's response during one of the most challenging periods in recent history. The year 2025 was catastrophic for children. Armed conflict, climate shocks, and deepening inequalities converged on— converged to reverse decades of progress. Grave violations against children in armed conflict reached record levels. While economic instability and a retreat from multilateralism weakened the very systems designed to protect the most vulnerable. Particularly alarming are the significant reductions in official development assistance, estimated at about over 34% in real terms, at a time when humanitarian and development needs are rapidly increasing. For countries such as Lesotho, these global trends are not abstract. Climate vulnerability, fiscal pressures, and poverty continue to undermine national efforts to safeguard children's rights and well-being. We are deeply concerned that funding shortfalls could result in millions of preventable child deaths and push millions of children out of school, eroding hard-won gains in survival, nutrition, and education. Against this backdrop, Lesotho acknowledges and strongly recommends Commends UNICEF's life-saving work at scale. The organization's response to over 400 humanitarian emergencies across 101 countries, the delivery of 1.6 billion polio vaccine doses, expanded cash assistance, and strengthened access to climate-resilient water and sanitation services demonstrate UNICEF's continued relevance and effectiveness. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Lesotho. Next speaker is Mali.

Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I would like to say how happy I am to see you chairing our meeting. Madame la Directrice générale de l'UNICEF, la délégation du Mali—

The delegation of Mali aligns with the statement delivered by Eritrea on behalf of the African Group. In our national capacity, I wish first of all to hail the annual report of UNICEF and thank— I thank the Executive Director for her presentation. We hail the work of UNICEF in the promotion and protection of children, and we pay special tribute to the staff of the institution for the remarkable work and the extremely appreciated results on the ground. As part of the UN80 Initiative and its reforms, we hope that this will not further erode the mandate of these agencies of the United Nations. Yes, we need to work on bureaucracy, but we need an effective agency on the ground to address the legitimate demands and needs of the people. We are delighted with the excellent cooperation that we have with UNICEF, especially the choice made by UNICEF to continue and stay in the country to continue promoting protecting the children of Mali despite the very complex international regional environment. As you know, children continue to be the number one victims of terrorism and extremist violence in the Sahel. The cooperation program between Mali and UNICEF through 20— through 2031 has been developed jointly between the government of Mali and UNICEF following a co-creation process and a national consultation. It is thus in perfect coherence with the national development strategic priorities developed by the government of Mali. And we thank UNICEF for this strategic partnership, and I encourage the Executive Board to approve this cooperation document and to support in a sustained fashion its implementation through the mobilization of the technical and financial resources that are necessary. For its part, despite the difficulties that we face, the government of Mali continues to be mobilized and is committed to mobilizing national resources in order to contribute to the efficient implementation of the relevant cooperation programs with agencies of the United Nations, and in particular UNICEF. We wish Mr. Mohamed Fayassi, the UNICEF representative in the country who is taking up his functions in the days to come, best of luck.

I thank you. Distinguished Representative of Mali. Next speaker is European Union.

Thank you. Speaking on behalf of the European Union as a donor, I would like to reiterate our strong support for UNICEF and thank you, Madame Executive Director, your staff, and your partners for their dedication in these exceptionally challenging times. With an unprecedented number of children requiring humanitarian assistance in 2025, we welcome UNICEF's continued leadership in delivering services in over 100 countries and its strong advocacy for children's rights. We welcome your engagement in UN80 and the Humanitarian Reset, and I will come back to that at a later stage in the agenda. We welcome your continued work to promote gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women. Under the Gender Action Plan, we welcome the progress in access to quality services for girls and women, but we also note the relatively low achievements in outcome change. We encourage UNICEF to redouble your efforts to further advance gender equality, including by continuing to combat maternal malnutrition and strengthening support for equitable access to education. Violence against women and girls remains widespread, too widespread. We commend UNICEF for exceeding its 2025 target in humanitarian situations for reaching girls, boys, and women with risk mitigation, prevention, and response measures addressing gender-based violence. We encourage you to further deepen your actions, including the valuable work you're doing with UNFPA on ending female genital mutilation. We want to recall that the EU remains strongly committed to preventing, fighting, and responding to gender-based violence in all of its forms, and to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. We're deeply concerned by the impact that current funding pressures are having on efforts to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse. While we recognize the progress achieved, protection from SEAH is a core institutional responsibility and an accountability requirement. It's not optional, and it should not be deprioritized when resources are constrained, especially as risks are rising and children remain particularly vulnerable. We would be very grateful if UNICEF could outline concrete steps it is taking to protect dedicated PSEA capacity and sustain prevention and interagency initiatives. Thank you. We also call for UNICEF to safeguard the centrality of protection in all of its interventions, as there is no life-saving without protection, and this is also critical to reduce the need for humanitarian assistance. We look forward to the implementation of the new strategic plan and encourage UNICEF to maintain its ambitious objectives for the well-being of all children. In closing, the EU has been a major donor to UNICEF across its humanitarian and development

I thank the distinguished representative of European Union.

I now give the floor to Standing Group of National Committees.

Thank you. Mr. President, Executive Director Catherine Russell, distinguished delegates. As the newly elected chair of the Standing Group of National Committees, I am honored to speak on behalf of 32 national committees for UNICEF, including my own, UNICEF Sweden. We meet at a time of extraordinary pressure on children's rights, global financial uncertainty, and shrinking development budgets. Yet UNICEF has demonstrated remarkable resilience and a strong capacity to adapt. The strength of our model is diversity. Thank you. Governments and member states, national committees, and other partners each make complementary contributions that enhances UNICEF's ability to respond to the changing needs. Diversification is not only a growth strategy, it is a strategy of resilience. The annual report highlights the critical role that national committees play, both as a resource and an advocacy partner. At a time of pressure on public sector funding, private sector revenue grows strongly in 2025, reaching $2.2 billion. Together, national committees generated $1.8 billion of this total, more than 83% of all private sector revenue. In addition, 13 of UNICEF's 20 largest partners when it comes to regular resources are national committees, representing 55% of UNICEF's global regular resources. This is, as we know, essential, essential since regular resources allows UNICEF to quickly and effectively reach the most vulnerable children, but also to build long-term results for every child. Our fundraising results also reflect the trust that millions of individuals of all ages, companies, and philanthropies place in UNICEF. However, National Committees are far more than fundraising entities. Through advocacy, public engagement, and child participation, participation, we help advance UNICEF mandate in our countries and globally. Child participation is in fact core to our business. By creating meaningful opportunity for children and young people to engage, we put in practice some of the key fundamental principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Looking ahead, the need for UNICEF and its diversified model will only to grow. National committees are proud to be part of UNICEF and its diversified ecosystem. Thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of the Standing Group of National Committees. I now give the floor to Plan International.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, members of the Executive Board, and distinguished delegates. Plan International welcomes the opportunity to address this board at a time when children's rights are facing heightened challenges. Today, armed conflict, forced displacement, and humanitarian crisis are depriving millions of children of their rights to education, protection, and of a safe future. In many contexts, children are paying the price for decisions and conflicts that they did not create. Girls face particularly severe risks. When families lose their livelihoods, when schools close, and when community protection systems break down, child marriage often increases. What is frequently perceived as a coping mechanism is in reality a violation of human rights that affects girls' health, limits their opportunities, and perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality.

Thank you.

Despite the progress achieved over recent decades, gains in ended child marriage remain fragile. Protracted crisis threaten to reverse years of hard-won progress and place millions more girls at risk. For this reason, Plan International urges UNICEF and member states to ensure that child protection and the prevention of child marriage remain central priorities within humanitarian response and recovery efforts. This requires sustained investment in quality education and safe access to school for girls, child protection services and psychosocial support, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services to reduce unintended adolescent pregnancies, programs that streng— strengthen families' economic resilience, targeted actions to prevent gender-based violence and meaningful engagement of adolescents and young people in designing and implementing solutions. In a world increasingly affected by conflict and constrained resources, protecting girls from child marriage and other forms of violence cannot be a secondary priority. It must be at the heart of our efforts to safeguard children's rights and build more peaceful, resilient, and inclusive society. Plan International remains committed to working alongside UNICEF, member states, and civil society partners to engage that every— to ensure that every girl can live free from violence, stay in school, and fulfill her potential. When a crisis forces a girl out of school and into marriage, the world loses far more than one child's opportunity. It loses a future leader, a defender of rights, and a powerful force for development and peace. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of Plan International. I invite now Edie Russell to respond to statements what we've heard. Thank you.

Great. Thank you so much, Mr. President. Well, first of all, again, thank you all for the really important comments. I will single out a couple of these points that you made just to respond, but I think I said this at the outset, anything that I don't respond to, we will definitely follow up with to you, just don't hesitate to let us know. I'm sure you won't, nobody ever does, but just to say, you know, I can't answer every single point that you mentioned, but I do really appreciate it and the team is taking careful note of everything that you say. So, to the colleague from Liechtenstein, I want to say, first of all, thank you for noting the progress, we appreciate that. It is, you know, a very challenging time, no question about that, and I do appreciate the idea of UNICEF leading by example in the reform effort. We are trying to do that. We take it seriously. I think that the way we see it is our role in the system is incredibly important and we are committed to effective UN reform. I also appreciate the point you made about how our role is important in the multilateral system, and I think we are, I think, a good example of the multilateral system at its best. Countries coming together to support each other and to set norms and guidelines and to work together. And I really think that it's a good example, and I appreciate the support that we get from the board. To the colleague from Ireland, thank you always for your incredible support. I think that the— your commitment to CORE is much appreciated. We do need predictable high-quality support for what we do. I also want to thank you for mentioning the International Humanitarian Law. I think it is critical. We didn't really talk too much about it today, but it is absolutely an important norm for the world to say that this is what we care about, this is what we believe in. Also, I wanted to note your point about the CPDs. I mean, one of the things that we consider most important about the CPDs CPDs is it is a way for certainly the countries where we're working, but also for the board and others to hold us accountable for our work, and we take that seriously. To the colleague from Mexico, I would say a couple things. One, again, this point that, you know, you were making a good point about multilateralism, and I do want to stress I think that UNICEF is an important example of multilateralism at its best. And it's not to say there aren't challenges, there are. But it is, you know, it is easier to solve problems if we come together to do them, and I think the multilateral system makes that possible. So I appreciate the support for that. To Lao PDR, I do think, and I'm glad you noted the important work that we do together, I think especially in the remote areas, it's not always easy to get to them, but it is critical. Those populations can definitely feel left behind. And we see that certainly with children. Again, your comment about the importance of the CPD and the accountability that it brings and your support for CORE. So, thank you. And on all your points, very much appreciate it. To the colleague from the UK, I did enjoy the UK conference. I was there briefly, unfortunately, but it was, I thought, quite a good conference. And I do take your point, and we take this seriously that the idea of reform has to result in tangible results for children. It can't— you know, nobody— and nobody is advocating for this, but nobody wants reform for the sake of reform. It has to go somewhere. It has to make us better and more effective, and I think we take that seriously. Also, thank you for your points on women and girls and on safeguarding PSEA. I would say just on PSEA, a few of you have raised that. That is an area, as I mentioned earlier today, is a top priority for us. We're fully committed to sustaining and strengthening the focus on PSEA, and we consider it a core non-negotiable responsibility. Having said that, it is, as all things, under financial strain, and we are doing everything we possibly can to protect that space because we realize how important it is, but do very much appreciate that sort of commitment of all of you to it as well and hope that we can continue to work together on it. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I think this strategic plan, I was happy to hear what you said. It was intended and Omar ran this process to really be a transparent process. The focus for us is on scale and impact. And we did our best and I think it is being well received and we appreciate that and appreciate the support for it. I also am grateful for your remarks on grave violations. As I said earlier today, just record numbers of violations last year. I pray that that is not a trend, and I think we all have to push back against it. And also to say that none of what we're doing, especially when we're talking about reform, is an abstract concept, right? These are all very real issues, real decisions that have an impact on children's lives all around the world. So thank you for sort of acknowledging that. To the colleague from Mali, thank you as always for your nice remarks and supportive remarks about the staff. I do agree that the work is remarkable and very much appreciate that you recognize that. I think that we are working in a very complex environment in Mali. And are committed to the work there. And I think your point about the process being co-created and our work being co-created there is really important, and that's how we see it as being most successful, because the country is then invested, we're invested, we understand what we're trying to do together. So thank you very much for that. To the EU, I appreciate certainly the work on gender. I mean, I said it earlier, absolutely absolute priority. Women and girls cannot be left behind. But I thought that the point you made about maternity support and maternal support is really important, and I think we don't want to ever lose sight of that. If babies get off to a good start, if their mothers are well-nourished when they're pregnant with the baby, that makes a huge difference. It much cuts down on stunting and all the rest of it. So we're very committed to that. Thank you also for your commitment to education. As I said earlier, it's a place where the world needs to do better, all of us, UNICEF included, and we've got to figure out how to do it because too many children are being left behind. Also, thank you for mentioning FGM. I hadn't mentioned that today. That is a— just a terrible practice. We are working hard to try to be finished with once and for all, but unfortunately we still have a long way to go. And again, you know, thank you for the point on PSEA. And I just would say we are committed to it. I think we all have to— we have to— we all have to support the work as well. And I know the EU does, so thank you for that. I appreciate it. To the national committees, just huge thank you. As I said earlier, you know, we couldn't do what we do without you. We're so grateful for your leadership. Your leadership in the countries where you're working, and just very, very happy to have you here, Pernilla, as part of the team. And then to Plan International, I would just say, you know, I think I really appreciate the incredible work you all do on the ground. I've seen it myself. I especially appreciate the work you do on child marriage. Again, it's a practice we just need to put in the rearview mirror as quickly as we possibly can because it really does limit the ability of girls to have a good and sort of productive life. You know, if they are taken out of school early, start having children early and often, it's just— it's not a great path. And it would be much better if we could keep these girls in school as long as possible. I think that's it. And so I would just say maybe a huge thank you to all of you. I think this discussion from my perspective, is a really good reminder of why we depend on all of you. And our executive board is really critical for oversight and also for strategic decision and also for asking tough questions. So, huge thank you to everybody for that.

I thank Edie Russell for her response and valuable remarks. Is there any other delegation wishing to take the floor? I see United States. Please.

The United States is taking the floor to respond to the comments from the Cuban delegation and regrets the need to distract this forum from its intended purpose and discussion. The Cuban regime produces roughly 40% of its its own fuel and has the capacity to generate more than it does. Much of their energy infrastructure is inoperable, not because of the United States, but because of the regime's decision not to prioritize investment and upkeep. A state that doesn't prioritize their own grid cannot assign consequences to another country's trade policies. If it properly prioritizes its grid, hospitals, and efforts to distribute humanitarian assistance, especially to children, instead of sending electricity to regime elites, they would have plenty of capacity to prevent avoidable child deaths. The United States authorizes the export of U.S. fuel to the Cuban private sector, but not the regime, which would use the fuel for its own ends and enrichment. The U.S. embargo and related sanctions are legal. Thank you. All countries have the right to decide who they want to trade with. It is our sovereign decision not to trade with Cuba. As such, no government can claim sovereignty over its economy and disclaim responsibility for its outcomes. The welfare of Cuban children is first and foremost the responsibility of the government that governs them. The U.S. embargo has important, longstanding exceptions for exports critical consumer goods, and the United States is an exporter of food, medicine, and medical devices to Cuba. Secretary Rubio has offered an additional $100 million package of humanitarian assistance— food, hygiene, and water treatment supplies— to be distributed directly to the Cuban people through the Catholic Church and other reliable institutions, not the corrupt communist regime. The United States The United States is proud of the life-saving assistance it continues to provide every day to children around the world.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United States for the statement. I see that Cuba wants to take the floor. You have the floor, please.

Señor Presidente.

Mr. President, we are speaking in exercise of the right of reply following the intervention of the United States about our country. To begin with, the United States are in no position to criticize us on a point that is so important as the protection of children. Secondly, restrictions have been placed that prohibit us from carrying out transactions in U.S. dollars, and this falls on third-party countries. And this has prevented us from trading with our partners. The delegation of the United States has continued to lie Providing numbers about the export of humanitarian aid to Cuba. No cynical steps will ever compensate for the impact that the blockade is having. The damage is more than the $600 million. This apparent generosity gives rise to questions when Cuba has been subjected to longstanding pressure. Where is all of this aid going to? As our Minister Padre recently said, it would take more than 6 months to ensure the first delivery of aid of $3 million from the U.S. And it would take 4 months to make it to $6 million. So the answer is simple. The financing is not going to the Cuban people because the United States never actually wanted to give them this money. If you're interested in the future of the Cuban people, the most humane solution would be to lift the illegal blockade against Cuba. The United States are the country that has imposed unilateral coercive measures, and this has caused the death of tens of thousands of children. By what right can a country talk about protecting children when So many people have been killed. And the US representative needs— it would be better for them to remain silent instead of speaking on these issues. The genocidal arrogance of the United States should be rejected. This policy is destroying the dreams of the children of Gaza and of elsewhere in the world. The representative of the United States has forgotten or has omitted the fact that his country is the only one in the world that has yet to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Why is that? Possibly so they can continue to maintain a free hand and sovereignty to be the only country to punish children in perpetuity with, to, to to sentence him to life in prison without any hope of appeal. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] And this is happening while I'm speaking. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] This shows the arrogance of the United States and its lack of regard to the rights of children. But it's no secret that the penitentiary system in the United States is a business. Children are part of this labor, low-cost labor that is being used. It's very shameful that in the 21st century, the American penitentiary system is treating children like adults, condemning them to life in prison or to the death penalty. The US is the only place where migrations are held in detention centers apart from their families. And in the United States, tens of thousands of lives are claimed due to firearms, including many young people and children that are killed even in their schools. What exactly is it that we're talking about here? How can they criticize our country? You want to continue to apply unilateral coercive measures and inflict a sad fate on our children. We say no, thank you. We don't want that for Cuba. We'll fight for the right of our children to dream despite the attempts of the United States that only want to deprive them of their childhood. Thank you.

Is there any other delegation wishing to take the floor? If not, we shall conclude the presentation of a general national statement. Statements, and we shall consider Agenda Item 3, the Annual Report for 2025 of Executive Director of UNICEF, later in the session under Item 19, the adoption of draft decisions. Distinguished delegates, we will now turn to consideration of Agenda Item 4 of agenda, the Annual Report on UNICEF Humanitarian Action, contained in document E/2022/1. ICF/2026/13. Mr. Ted Chaban, Deputy Executive Director, Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, will share an introduction, followed by Ms. Lucía Elmi, Director, Office of Emergency Programs, who will present the report. Mr. Chaban, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, distinguished delegates. Thank you, Andreas. One year ago, I noted that 2025 would be a year of reform and change, a call to better address rising humanitarian needs while becoming more efficient and impactful for children in crises. Taking stock now, a year later, the lives of millions of children continue to be shaped by emergencies not of their own making. In 2025, more than 1 in 5 children globally were living in conflict zones, facing outbreaks of diseases such as cholera or Ebola, their schools damaged or destroyed, forced to flee. Many children recruited, used, abused, abducted, or maimed by armed actors. Nearly half of the world's children, or 1.1 billion children, are now exposed to at least 3 overlapping climate hazards. These crises are compounded by challenges to humanitarian access, attacks on humanitarian workers, and the widespread disregard for international law. On humanitarian reform, UNICEF continues to actively engage and co-lead some of the reform streams, working with Interagency Standing Committee and UN partners to ensure that reform efforts, including the Humanitarian Reset and the UN80 New Humanitarian Compact, place children and the systems that to protect them at the center of humanitarian action. And UNICEF has continued to stay and deliver with resolve and courage, prioritizing our response on life-saving interventions, including child protection and education in emergencies. A special tribute, as many of you have mentioned, goes to our colleagues in the field who are risking their lives every day, enabling results such as including the early detection and treatment of close to 99 million children against measles— sorry, including the early detection and treatment of close to 99 million children against wasting, and reaching more than 36 million people with safe drinking water. Thank you.

I thank Mr. Chaman for his introductory remarks and now give the floor to Miss Elmi for her presentation of the report. Madam, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Didi Chalban. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues. Today I will focus on UNICEF humanitarian response in 2025, how the organization navigated the challenges facing children and the constraints of the humanitarian system. I will also highlight some of the contributions to our contribution to the ongoing reform process and the priorities moving ahead. Children in 2025— conflict, disaster, public health emergency, and climate shock continue to affect millions of children and their families. The burden fell disproportionately on the poorest and more marginalized, including girls, displaced population, and children with disabilities. We saw a continued disregard for international humanitarian law, attacks on humanitarian workers, increased pressure on multilateralism, and major funding cuts. Grave violations against children continue to surge, following a 25% increase in the previous year, already the highest on record, and the Secretary-General will issue his report next week for the children in armed conflict. In many contexts, humanitarian access was denied or constrained. Despite the increasing needs, the overall assistance 2025 decreased. Funding for food, nutrition, and emergency agriculture fell back to levels last seen nearly a decade ago, while acute hunger has doubled, with 2,095 million people, half of them children, facing crisis levels of food insecurity at the beginning of the year. In education, 6 million more children, 30% in humanitarian settings, risk being left out of school by the end of the. For example, in Cox's Bazar, funding cuts have already left 190,000 Rohingya children without access to education, and facilities had to close. As per the 2025 Humanitarian Action Appeal for Children, the report you have received, nearly 230 million children, over— and over half of them are girls, required humanitarian assistance last year. UNICEF responded to 414 in crisis across more than 100 countries, making difficult choices to prioritize the most vulnerable. However, we received only 31% of the required funding, a similar funding share from 2024, but with over $55 million less in absolute terms. We remain deeply grateful to the partners providing flexible and quality funding, especially the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, including the government of the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden, as well numerous partners from the private sector, and of course our national committees. Despite the challenges, together with partners, UNICEF continued to strive for results in 2025. You will see some of the key results on this slide. Close to 100 million children under 5 were reached with services for early detection and treatment of wasting in the form of malnutrition, and more than 9 million children and adolescents provided with access to education. However, some of the results were constrained by limited funding, access restrictions, and insecurity. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, only 36,000 children were reached with access to emergency education out of a target of nearly 500,000 due to funding constraints. Or in Sudan, where the situation Where the sanitation efforts only slightly reached slightly more than half of the target of 500,000 people due to limited funding, increasing costs for emergency latrine construction, and movement restrictions, leaving millions of children vulnerable to diseases and malnutrition. Those gaps are not abstract. They translate directly into preventable suffering, missed opportunity, and lost futures. Let me also give you an update on the conclusion of the Humanitarian Review, that you have been a partner since, since the beginning. By mid of 2024, 43 out of the 70 recommendations have been implemented fully or well advanced. Full implementation of the remaining areas of work—last year they were streamlined into further 21 recommendations—has have been integrated into the Future Focus Initiative and the system-wide reforms, including the workstream on a quarter technical field support and cluster-related milestones. Let me turn now to the ongoing effort for the reform, including the Humanitarian Reset and the New Humanitarian Compact. Drawing on our unique operational presence and technical expertise, we continue to actively be committed and support implementation of the reforms., including the cluster simplification, localization, data collaboration, and integrated supply chain. UNICEF and Save the Children co-led effort to simplify coordination system, co-leading the cluster reform to reduce cost, increase efficiency, and strengthen leadership and accountability, and increase participation of local actors. UNICEF also advanced a stronger localization approach in 2025, emphasizing the support to national government and system as primary duty bearers and first respondent. The Integrated Supply Chain Initiative, co-led by UNICEF together with UNDOS, IOM, OCHA, UNHCR, and WFP, seeks to leverage existing strengths to deliver shared, high-performing supply chain services via 3 pillars: coordinated procurement, optimized global logistics, and harmonized in-country logistics. Thank you. Last year we leveraged our own humanitarian diplomacy together with other UN agencies, facilitated access to protect children and supported negotiations in complex crises, including the immunization program in the State of Palestine and facilitated access in Sudan. Looking ahead in terms of priority, we have— we will continue to pursue a more ambitious and innovative commitment to the localization agenda. Humanitarian action must increasingly build and rely on national service delivery systems for preparedness and response, supported by domestic financing and shock responses, social protection. Preparedness and anticipatory action continue to remain the— the cornerstone of UNICEF approach. This year, we roll out also a new anticipatory action strategy. As humanitarian norms erode, protecting children must remain at the— core of our intervention. Child protection, education, and mental health are not optional. Those are life-saving and life-sustaining interventions. Finally, the UNICEF Renewal Center of Excellence will continue to ensure a more coherent, integrated, and effective technical assistance for program delivery, even in a constrained environment. Crucially, enhancing the quality of humanitarian programming also means ensuring that it is shaped by the community and the people affected by emergency. Flexible funding remains critical for delivering timely multi-sectoral responses at scale. Thank you.

I thank Ms. Elmi for her remarks and open the floor for discussion. I first give the floor to Norway.

Thank you very much, President, and good afternoon, colleagues. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and my own country, Norway. We thank UNICEF for its update and commend the organization for its continued leadership in delivering for children in some of the most complex and protracted crises. At a time of growing needs, where 1 in 5 children lives in or has fled from conflict.

Alongside shrinking humanitarian space and constrained resources, UNICEF's role remains indispensable.

The Nordic countries welcome UNICEF's proactive engagement in prioritization and efficiency efforts under the Secretary General's UN80 reform and the OCHA-led humanitarian reset. Thank you. This is particularly important at country level, where reconfigured UN country teams, empowered RC, HC, and simplified coordination depend on full cooperation across UN entities. UNICEF's commitment to localization is essential and reflects a welcome shift towards responses that are locally led, planned and prioritized by communities themselves. Support should strengthen local resilience and systems rather than sustain parallel humanitarian structures. We support efforts to advance a more efficient, leaner, and coherent humanitarian system, including the Joint Supply Chain Initiative, and welcome the emphasis on integrated— Thank you. Responses. At the same time, consistent with UNICEF's policy on the centrality of protection, we emphasize the need to maintain sufficient and qualified expertise to ensure effective child protection. We would like to raise four more points. First, we are concerned that the share of humanitarian funding channeled— to local organizations has declined. Also for women-led organizations and organizations of and for persons with disabilities. Stronger local partnerships are essential for effectiveness and accountability, while gender equality and inclusion remain core Nordic priorities. We encourage UNICEF to step up efforts to support these local partners. UNICEF clarify the reasons for the decline and outline measures to reverse it? Second, we note with concern the reduction in cash-based assistance.

Cash transfers are key—

are a key pillar of humanitarian reset. They are cost-effective, promote dignity and choice, and support local economies while also improving access to services such as education and child protection. It is therefore worrying that households reached with UNICEF-supported cash assistance have declined sharply from 3.6 million in 2024 to 900,000 in 2025. We would appreciate clarification on the factors behind this reduction. Thirdly, we encourage a strong emphasis on education in emergencies. While we recognize— welcome recognition of education as life-saving, reduced support risks long-term consequences for children's well-being and protection. Rising attacks on schools increase the urgency. Thank you. How will UNICEF ensure education is systematically prioritized in humanitarian appeals, and how can member states best support this? Finally, we welcome efforts to strengthen efficiency, coordination, and humanitarian diplomacy, including through the supply chain initiative. How do these efforts improve access, protection, protection outcomes and respect for international humanitarian law. In closing, the Nordics reiterate our strong support for UNICEF's humanitarian mandate and our commitment to ensuring that children affected by crisis receive timely, principled, and effective assistance. And I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Norway. Next speaker is Belgium.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, colleagues. I deliver this statement on behalf of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and my own country, We thank you for the annual report on UNICEF's humanitarian action and pay tribute to the staff who continue to serve as a backbone of the humanitarian system, often at great personal risk. We are eternally grateful for their unwavering commitment to children. We would like to make the following observations. First, UNICEF's humanitarian response in 2025 was delivered under a persistent funding gap, forcing prioritization of life-saving interventions and reduced coverage globally. The trend of declining quantity and quality of funding fundamentally questions the current humanitarian financing model. Our question: beyond efficiency gains, what structural changes are required to sustain humanitarian delivery given persistent funding gaps?— and growing needs. Second, humanitarian access remains a critical and worsening constraint, with severe restrictions and a record number of attacks on aid workers. Denial of access and disregard for international humanitarian law are directly limiting the ability to deliver assistance at scale and protect children effectively. We encourage UNICEF's leadership in collaborative and joint humanitarian diplomacy? What alternative approaches can UNICEF employ in contexts where access is systematically constrained? Third, the humanitarian reset and new humanitarian compact led UNICEF to prioritize with strengthened focus— focus that led to trade-offs in sectors such as education and protection. How can UNICEF ensure that prioritization preserves equity and does not neglect longer-term needs, particularly in protracted crises? Fourth, the report highlights supply chain disruptions, logistical constraints, and dependencies that directly affected service delivery. These vulnerabilities were particularly evident in nutrition programs and emergency response timelines,— where shortages and delays reduced coverage. How can the integration of humanitarian supply chains build resilience and efficacy to benefit affected populations? Fifth, we welcome UNICEF's commitment towards more locally anchored and sustainable responses. Localization goes beyond transferring resources. It is about sharing decision-making, risk management, accountability, and leadership with local and national actors, and aligning coordination mechanisms more closely with local and national systems. We acknowledge that scaling up and deepening meaningful localization can be challenging and context-dependent. What specific safeguards and mechanisms are envisaged to ensure effective risk management while guaranteeing that localization leads to fair risk sharing rather than shifting operational and compliance burdens onto local actors. Sixth, we call on UNICEF to remain committed to the centrality of protection in its humanitarian action, especially amid the erosion of norms protecting civilians, including children. In view of the surge in grave violations against children in armed conflict, UNICEF must uphold its protection mandate under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure adequate resources for monitoring and reporting on grave violations against children. Finally, and most importantly, none of this can continue without unqualified respect, advocacy, and accountability for international humanitarian law. We call on all member states to champion full respect for international humanitarian law. We must translate the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel into practice. Every civilian death and every humanitarian worker killed is a stark reminder that compliance remains far from assured. Upholding international humanitarian law requires not only advocacy, vacancy, sorry, but accountability for all parties to conflict. Even war has rules. I thank you.

I thank our distinguished representative of Belgium. Next speaker is Ukraine.

Mr. President, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of a cross-regional group of almost 50 delegations. We thank UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell and UNICEF team for their their continued leadership and dedication in responding to one of the gravest crises affecting children in the world today. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine continues to have devastating and multidimensional consequences for millions of children. Thousands have been killed or injured. Millions have experienced displacement, disruption of education, psychological trauma, family separation, and the loss of normal childhood. For For children living in frontline and temporarily occupied areas, the war remains a daily reality marked by fear and insecurity. In the face of these immense challenges, UNICEF has risen to the occasion and demonstrated the very best of what the organization represents. Since 2022, UNICEF has mobilized more than $1.9 billion in support of Ukrainian children and families, providing life-saving lifesaving assistance across the broad spectrum of needs, from healthcare, nutrition, water and sanitation, to education, child protection, mental health support, cash assistance, winterization, and emergency response. UNICEF has supported millions of children and families through innovative approaches tailored to the realities of a large-scale, high-intensity conflict. Particularly noteworthy has has been UNICEF's contribution to ensuring continuity of education under wartime conditions through initiatives such as underground schools, which allow children to continue learning despite constant missile and drone attacks. UNICEF's experience in Ukraine carries lessons of global relevance, which should be carefully studied and, where appropriate, replicated in other conflict and emergency settings. Thank you. We welcome the strong support mobilized for UNICEF's response in Ukraine. At the same time, we are mindful of the significant financial pressures facing the Fund. We hope that ongoing reform and restructuring efforts across the UN system will not negatively affect UNICEF's engagement in Ukraine. Ukraine has demonstrated UNICEF's unique value and operational capacity security, and continued investment in this work is both necessary and globally relevant. Mr. President, we remain deeply concerned by the situation of Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported by the Russian Federation. More than 20,000 children have been identified by Ukraine as affected by these practices. Around 1.6 million still remain in the temporarily occupied territories, facing facing the risk of indoctrination, militarization, family separation, forced changes to their personal status, citizenship, or identity, and other violations of their rights. More than 2,000 Ukrainian children have already been brought back, and we commend UNICEF for its important role in supporting their rehabilitation and reintegration. UNICEF's unique expertise and operational capacities position it to to support every stage of the return process, from verification to— and tracing to rehabilitation and long-term recovery. In this regard, we recall General Assembly Resolution ES 11/9, Return of Ukrainian Children, of December 3rd, 2025, and reaffirm our commitment to supporting its full implementation. We reiterate the resolution's demand that the Russian Ukrainian Federation ensure the immediate, safe, and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported. We also call on the Secretary-General and all relevant entities of the United Nations system to fully assume the responsibilities envisaged by the resolution and remain actively engaged in efforts aimed at locating, identifying, returning, rehabilitating, and reintegrating affected Ukrainian children. Every child returned is a family reunited, a life restored, and a reaffirmation of a fundamental principle: that children must never be used as instruments of war. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Ukraine. Next speaker is Svatini.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African member states serving on the UNICEF Executive Board, namely Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Lesotho, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, the United Republic of Tanzania, and my own country, the Kingdom of Eswatini. The African Group expresses its appreciation to UNICEF for its continued efforts to protect and support children and families affected by humanitarian crisis. We commend the dedication of UNICEF, the staff, of the staff and partners working in some of the most challenging environments to deliver life-saving assistance. Across Africa, humanitarian needs continue to increase due to conflicts, climate-related shocks, food insecurity, displacement and public health emergencies. At the center of these challenges are children, whose access to education, health, nutrition, protection, and safe childhood remains at risk. The African Group emphasizes that humanitarian action must go beyond immediate response by strengthening resilience, supporting national systems, and contributing to sustainable solutions. We encourage UNICEF to continue working closely with national governments, regional organizations, nations and local communities to ensure that interventions remain aligned with national priorities. We welcome UNICEF's integrated approach in areas such as health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection. However, as needs continue to grow, predictable, flexible, and timely financing remains critical to ensuring that vulnerable children and communities receive support when they need it the most. Thank you. Mr. President, every crisis has a human face. Behind every statistic is a child whose future is at risk, a family seeking hope, and a community striving to rebuild. Our collective responsibility is to ensure that no child's future is determined by the crisis into which they are born. The African Group therefore calls for renewed solidarity, stronger partnerships, and sustained investment to protect children. restore dignity and safeguard the future of generations to come. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Eswatini. Next speaker is Guatemala.

President, Madam Executive Director, Guatemala is grateful for the presentation of Thank you, Secretary General. In line with UNICEF's Annual Report on Humanitarian Action, we recognize the essential role that staff plays in protecting children before, during, and after emergencies. We are particularly concerned by the fact that more than 1 in 5 children live in conflict-affected areas and that grave violations against children continue to increase. Become normalized. Respect for international humanitarian law and protection of the civilian population, especially boys, girls, and adolescents, are legal and moral obligations, and these must be observed by all parties to any conflict. Safe, rapid, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian access must continue to be guaranteed to ensure that assistance reaches those who need it most. In a timely manner. As a country that is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and disasters, Guatemala knows firsthand about the impact that the convergence of food insecurity, malnutrition, human mobility, and extreme weather events can have on children. Our Humanitarian Response Plan for 2025 identified 2.2 million people in humanitarian need. And our goal is to serve 1 million people through a multi-sectoral response. We also found that 2.9 million people are facing food insecurity in crisis or emergency phases, while in 2024, more than 25,000 cases of acute child malnutrition were recorded. Guatemala underscores the importance of strengthening preparedness, anticipatory action, and adaptive national social protection systems for countries that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Anticipatory action represents an essential tool for reducing risks and responding in a timely manner to extreme climate events that disproportionately affect children and the most vulnerable communities. Taking action before a crisis Actually emerges, saves lives, it protects livelihoods, and it preserves essential services, strengthening the resilience of communities. Guatemala values its cooperation with UNICEF and the United Nations in terms of strengthening national capacity in disaster risk management, food and nutritional security, child protection, and care for people on the move. The protection of children is not just a humanitarian responsibility, it is and investment in peace, resilience, and in the future of our societies. I thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Guatemala. I now give the floor to United States.

Thank you, Mr. President. Under President Trump's leadership, the United States is reorienting its humanitarian assistance around interest-driven diplomacy. The humanitarian reset and UNAID reforms reflect a back-to- basics approach to reduce waste, fraud, and duplication, streamline functions, and ensure assistance is strategic, time-bound, and focused on measurable results. The United States humanitarian assistance will remain accountable, targeted, and focused on measurable life-saving outcomes aligned with hyper-prioritized needs. The United States review— views crimes against children is among the gravest violations imaginable. The figures in this report— children killed, maimed, recruited by armed actors, or being subjected to sexual violence on a horrific scale— are not just statistics, but a call to action. Protecting children is a universal responsibility, but nations and leaders owe this responsibility to its children. To this end, the United States United States is providing significant resources through OCHA-managed pooled funds, which deliver assistance twice as fast as previous years and more efficiently for frontline activities. We call on UNICEF to continue building its collaboration with OCHA under this model and apply the hyper-prioritized resource targeting within its core mandate. We also urge other donors to support these reforms to maximize impact, efficiencies, and focus on the greatest needs. As mentioned in our opening statement, the United States continues to support national and regional responses to the Ebola crisis in DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan, and other emergencies including Hurricane Melissa, which has affected over 700,000 children. We recognize the dedication of UNICEF's staff operating in challenging crisis environments, and especially those working on Ebola. The figures in this report are sobering. A $10 billion appeal, UNICEF received less than a third. As UNICEF's single largest contributor to humanitarian response, the United States insists on disciplined focus of UNICEF's core life-saving mandate. Every dollar spent on duplication, overhead, and activities outside of UNICEF's core mandate is a dollar taken from a child in need. Further reform progress is needed. Where access is blocked or aid diverted, responsible actors and governments, not donors, bear the responsibility for these children and families who suffer. The United States cannot fund aid that cannot reach those in need or that strengthens perpetrators of harm. The United States strongly encourages UNICEF to laser focus on—

Thank you, distinguished representative of the United States. Next speaker is Nigeria.

Thank you, Mr. President. Nigeria aligns with the statement delivered by Eswatini on behalf of the African Group, and we make the following comments in our national capacity. We thank UNICEF for the presentation of its annual report on humanitarian action and commend the organization for its unwavering commitment to delivering life-saving assistance to children and vulnerable populations affected by conflict, national disaster, public health emergencies, and other humanitarian crises across the world. The report highlights the increasing complex humanitarian landscape and the growing needs of children who continue to bear the disproportionate consequences of conflict, displacement, food insecurity, climate-related shocks, and disease outbreaks. Nigeria recognizes UNICEF's support to governments— in playing the critical role in providing protection, health services, nutrition, education, water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in some of the world's most challenging operating environments. My delegation particularly welcomes UNICEF's continued emphasis on strengthening resilience, promoting local ownership, and advancing the triple nexus— humanitarian, development, and peace— building sustainable national and community capacities, remains essential to reducing vulnerabilities and ensuring that humanitarian interventions contribute to long-term recovery and development. Nigeria continues to confront a range of conflicts, complex and interconnected challenges, including conflict and displacement, climate-related shocks such as flooding, public health emergencies, and socioeconomic vulnerabilities that disproportionately affect children. And families. In response, the government has implemented a number of national-led initiatives aimed at strengthening resilience and improving outcomes for children. We commend UNICEF for its continued support to these homegrown initiatives and for aligning its assistance with national priorities through its partnership with federal and state governments. Nigeria remains deeply concerned about the persistent humanitarian challenges affecting children in many parts of Africa, including those arising from armed conflict, forced displacement, food insecurity, climate change, and public health emergencies. We therefore underscore the importance of predictable, flexible, and sustainable financing for humanitarian action to enable UNICEF and its partners to respond effectively and in a timely manner to emerging and protracted crises. Furthermore, Nigeria encourages UNICEF to continue strengthening partnership with governments local communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, youth groups, and women-led organizations. Community engagement and locally-led responses are critical to ensuring that humanitarian interventions—

I thank the distinguished representative of Nigeria. Next speaker is Germany.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, distinguished members of the Executive Board. We wish to express our gratitude to UNICEF for its vital work and unwavering dedication to delivering for children and their families affected by crisis worldwide. UNICEF demonstrated remarkable resilience and reach despite an exceptionally challenging operational environment. Germany supports the humanitarian reset and appreciates UNICEF's constructive engagement in the process. We remain firmly committed to ensuring that the needs and rights of children stay at the center of these efforts. We recognize that declining funding levels necessitate difficult choices and operational adjustments. In this context, we commend UNICEF's efforts to review its operations and prioritize life-saving interventions. At the same time, it is crucial to preserve, wherever possible, opportunities to strengthen resilience and support longer-term development outcomes, particularly in view of the increasingly protracted nature of many humanitarian crises. Thank you. In this regard, we would welcome further information from UNICEF on its approach to the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in the context of ongoing reform efforts such as the Humanitarian Reset and UNATD. We note that work on the HDP nexus will continue beyond the humanitarian review as part of UNICEF's regular work plans and would appreciate more detail on the envisaged scope and direction of this work. The humanitarian reset is a shared responsibility of organizations and member states alike and requires close cooperation across the system. Our expectations are clear: a stronger focus on comparative advantages and better coordination. In this regard, we particularly welcome UNICEF's increased alignment with interagency planning processes and the initiative on integrated global supply chains. At the same time, Further efforts across the UN system will be essential, including shared services, data systems, warehousing, fleets, and premises at country level. Germany appreciates UNICEF's continued efforts of unanticipated action and localization. We commend UNICEF for exceeding the Grant-Bergen localization targets. We share the view that localization goes beyond local procurement and implementation. It requires a meaningful transfer of decision-making power, capacities, and resources to local and national actors as key first responders and primary duty bearers. Finally, we are deeply concerned about the severe impact that declining education funding will have on children, particularly girls. Cuts to gender-responsive education programming risk reversing hard-won progress and creating long-term consequences for social cohesion and For sustainability. sustainable Thank you. development. Germany remains firmly committed to supporting UNICEF in its vital mandate to protect and support children in humanitarian crisis. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Germany. Next speaker is Micronesia.

Thank you, Mr. President, Executive Director, distinguished delegates. Micronesia thanks UNICEF for its 2026 Annual Report on Humanitarian Action. We commend its clarity, its honesty, and its unwavering commitment to protecting children in the world's most vulnerable context. For Micronesia, humanitarian action is not an abstract policy discussion. It is our lived reality. All children stand on the front lines of a climate emergency they did not create. Yet the crisis affecting small island developing states, particularly in the North Pacific, rarely make global headlines. When disaster strikes our islands, it often goes unseen, even as it devastates entire communities. Micronesia underscores that the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator and the coordinated action of his team, including UNICEF through the UN Multicountry Office in Micronesia, is indispensable to effective humanitarian response. When Typhoon Sinlaku struck in April 2022, bringing destructive winds, flooding, and severe damage to schools, health facilities, and water systems. The RCEP team was among the very first to mobilize. Under its coordination, UNICEF conducted rapid assessment, deployed staff immediately without delay. This unified UN response ensured that children and families received critical support at the moment they needed most. Micronesia applauds its responsiveness. It reflects the value of a UNICEF presence that understands local realities, maintains trust relationship, and can act without delay. For small island states, this speed is not simply helpful, it is life-saving. The annual report rightly highlights the need for predictable financing strengthened preparedness, and child-centered humanitarian system. We strongly echo these priorities, but we also emphasize the importance of ensuring that small, remote, and other often overlooked SIDS are fully visible in global humanitarian planning and reporting. Our vulnerabilities may be less visible, but they are no less severe. As climate-driven disasters intensify, we urge UNICEF and partners to continue investing in warning systems.

I thank the distinguished representative of Micronesia. Next speaker is Pakistan.

Thank you, President. We thank the Director, Office of Emergency Program, for the presentation on the Annual Report on UNICEF Humanitarian Action.

We commend UNICEF, its staff, and partners for their steadfast commitment to protecting children in some of the world's most challenging humanitarian settings. The report presents a sobering picture of the challenges confronting children today, exacting a devastating toll on millions of children and their families. Equally troubling is the growing disregard for international humanitarian law, restrictions on humanitarian access, and the continued rise in grave violations against children. President, as highlighted in the report, across humanitarian situations, children continue to bear the heaviest burden of crises. In conflicts and situations of foreign occupation, they face killing, maiming, displacement, family separation, and denial of basic services.

The plight of Palestinian children in Gaza remains amongst the gravest illustrations of this tragedy.

President, in climate-induced disasters, health emergencies, and food crises, they face hunger, disease, interrupted education, unsafe water, and heightened protection risks.

We would like to highlight 3 priorities.

Priorities. First, UNICEF's life-saving work must be sustained and strengthened across all humanitarian settings, including conflicts, situations of foreign occupation, climate-induced disasters, public health emergencies, food insecurity, and displacement. Second, humanitarian action must remain principled, needs-based, and child-centered, with safe, timely, and unimpeded access to children and families in need. Thirdly, the international community must ensure predictable, adequate, and flexible funding for UNICEF's humanitarian operations, particularly in underfunded and forgotten crises, so that essential support in child protection, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, and education in emergencies can reach every child in need.

Pakistan reaffirms its full support for UNICEF's humanitarian humanitarian mandate.

We urge sustained collective action to ensure that every child affected by conflict, disaster, displacement, hunger, or disease receives protection and assistance. Investing in children in emergencies is not only a humanitarian imperative, it is an investment in a more secure future. I thank you, Mr. President.

I thank our distinguished representative

Thank you very much, President. Mexico welcomes UNICEF's Annual Report on Humanitarian Action. We recognize the results achieved in an extremely challenging context. Despite the challenges, UNICEF has responded to 414 emergencies, providing essential assistance on multiple fronts. In this context, Mexico reiterates the importance of preserving sufficient, flexible, and predictable funding that will allow UNICEF to respond quickly and effectively. We also note with concern that there have been attacks on multilateralism and a failure to comply with international humanitarian law, and this has forced UNICEF to take difficult decisions in order to protect the most vulnerable children. Mexico also recognizes UNICEF's efforts to prioritize and focus its interventions as part of the humanitarian reset, and we believe that the humanitarian compact should expedite delivery of assistance and strengthen coordination while preserving specialized capacities in the areas of nutrition, healthcare, water, sanitation, hygiene, wash, education, and protection. Mexico is also delighted by the establishment of the Children in Conflict Humanitarian Diplomacy Squad, and we highlight the close collaboration between UNICEF and— UNICEF. The Security Council's Working Group on Children in Armed Conflict. We also encourage UNICEF to continue to strengthen a gender-responsive humanitarian response. President— Children deserve to be raised in peace, not in violence and conflict, but that goal remains a pending responsibility of the international community. Mexico reaffirms its trust in the humanitarian work of UNICEF in challenging contexts, and we believe in the invaluable work of its staff. UNICEF can also count on Mexico. As we have done for the past 29 years, Mexico will continue to strongly condemn all forms of violence against children, including murder, maiming, sexual violence, forced recruitment, denial of humanitarian access to children, and attacks on schools, and together with any other violation of the rights of the child. I thank you.

The distinguished representative of Mexico. Next speaker is Turkey.

We align ourselves with the joint statement made by Belgium and will make these additional remarks in our national capacity. Turkey commends UNICEF for its humanitarian action and its tireless efforts to save and improve children's lives, often under difficult circumstances. We are meeting at a time when the global humanitarian system is facing unprecedented financial pressure. Recent reports once again demonstrate the depth of funding crisis. While humanitarian needs continue to remain high, the sharp decrease in the number of people who can be prioritized with limited resources is deeply concerning. In such an environment, we must ask ourselves how we can continue to protect and support the most vulnerable, particularly children. Having to be selective in humanitarian assistance is significant indication that the system needs to find new and creative ways to function. We therefore need innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable models that maximize impact despite limited resources. In this regard, we find the ongoing discussion on the transformation of the humanitarian system both timely and valuable. Thank you. Türkiye has long maintained a distinct humanitarian model based on a strong bilateral engagement, extensive field presence, and direct delivery of assistance. At the same time, we remain firmly committed to an effective multilateral humanitarian system. We believe that bilateral humanitarian assistance and efforts of relevant UN agencies can complement one another in a balanced and mutually reinforcing manner.

Thank you.

We are also concerned by the increase in attacks against humanitarian personnel and the growing barriers to humanitarian access. We continue to emphasize the importance of full respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of humanitarian workers. Ensuring safe, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian access remains essential, particularly for reaching vulnerable populations. Including children in Sudan, Gaza, and elsewhere. We remain ready to further strengthen our cooperation with UNICEF and other partners in delivering meaningful results for children around the world. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Türkiye. Next speaker is United Kingdom.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, DED Ted [SPEAKING SPANISH] The UK aligns itself with the statement delivered by the representative of Belgium and wish to make the following points in a national capacity. The United Kingdom commends UNICEF for its work on humanitarian action and is pleased to note that the UK was the second highest UNICEF humanitarian donor in 2025, providing $289 million. We also note with interest that humanitarian action continues to be a growing portion of UNICEF spend, up to 59%. The UK would like to begin by expressing our concern regarding the continued erosion of human and child rights. We underline the need for the centrality of protection and for international humanitarian law to be upheld and respected. Additionally, we are deeply concerned and want to see better and greater respect for humanitarian access. We also underline the need for reform and humanitarian reset to be driven forward with tangible results. We are pleased to see UNICEF exceeding its Grand Bargain commitments on localization, with 44% of funding to partners going to national and local civil society organizations, well in excess of the 25% target. But we do want to see continued movement in this area. Action must not—

must be as local as possible and as international as necessary.

We also want to see greater and appropriate use of new technologies and innovation. We underscore the importance of preparedness— and anticipatory action, noting the 14 country and risk-specific frameworks activated in 2024 to 2025 that enabled anticipatory actions in nutrition, WASH, health, education, child protection, and humanitarian cash ahead of forecasted shocks. Finally, the UK is pleased to see the looking ahead section in paragraph 66, which outlines that renewed and systematic engagement with development actors is needed to sustain essential services, protect development gains, and reduce humanitarian needs in fragile and conflict-affected settings. A far more ambitious commitment to localization, grounded in the primary responsibility of states as a first line of response, is also necessary.

Thank you. Necessary. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom. I now invite Netherlands to speak.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, DED Shaiban, Director Elmi. We would like to thank UNICEF and all its staff for the crucial work you continue to do. In extremely difficult circumstances, UNICEF remains a lifeline for millions of children and families. The Kingdom of the Netherlands wishes to highlight 4 points. First, we are deeply concerned by the continued deterioration of the safety of humanitarian workers. Attacks against humanitarian workers are unacceptable and violations of international humanitarian law cannot be normalized. We call on the entire international community to continue speaking out every single time the safety of humanitarian workers is under pressure. Second, in too many contexts, humanitarian access remains difficult while humanitarian needs grow. The Kingdom of the Netherlands remains committed to supporting humanitarian diplomacy efforts, and in this regard, we would like to ask UNICEF how we and others can become even stronger partners to UNICEF in safeguarding and improving humanitarian access. Third, on the humanitarian reset and UN80, we acknowledge the extremely difficult choices UNICEF continues to make. Next to geographic prioritization, it is important to prioritize in activities and leave some themes to other UN agencies, NGOs, or local actors. What kinds of activities has UNICEF stopped doing in crises and left to others? And do you foresee a moment in the future where the efficiency gains of reform efforts, such as increased collaboration or smarter ways of working can be quantified more clearly. Fourth, flexible funding remains essential for effective and efficient humanitarian action. As one of the largest donors to the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, as you mentioned, Director Elmi, we encourage all Member States to provide as flexible funding as possible, whether through core contributions or thematic funding mechanisms, enabling UNICEF to allocate allocate resources where needs are greatest. Could UNICEF elaborate on how it can further strengthen the attractiveness and visibility of flexible funding for member states so that humanitarian resources can be used as effectively and efficiently as possible? In conclusion, we would once again like to thank UNICEF for its partnership and for its indispensable work for children affected by crises worldwide. The Kingdom of the Netherlands remained a to be a committed partner in these efforts. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Netherlands. Next speaker is European Union.

Thank you, dear Chair. Speaking on behalf of the European Union as a donor, I would like to start by commending UNICEF for its humanitarian work in 2022. 2025 in an environment marked by unprecedented needs, grave violations of international humanitarian law, including against children, severe attacks against humanitarian aid workers, and severe funding shortages. I want to also emphasize the importance we attach to further advocacy on international humanitarian law and the protection of aid workers in general. We welcome UNICEF's humanitarian diplomacy and advocacy work in crisis with severe access constraints, such as Palestine, Sudan, or DRC, to name a few, under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator and in cooperation with other UN agencies. We regret that UNICEF received only 31% of its original requirements for its humanitarian appeal, and we understand that in the context of the humanitarian reset, UNICEF had to prioritize its interventions and focus on life-saving interventions. In this context, we welcome UNICEF's efforts to adapt and strengthen its humanitarian supply chains so as to maintain the timely and efficient delivery of life-saving assistance, and the EU will continue to be a partner with you on this. We note that this prioritization of interventions as of mid-2025, in line with humanitarian reset, led UNICEF to greater reliance on local partners.— that's certainly a positive development, but in order for this process to lead to qualitative work, it should be accompanied by solid engagement with local authorities and civil society. We therefore support the new UNICEF localization strategy, which puts the emphasis on capacity building of local partners, including national governments. We welcome your renewed commitment to the centrality of protection in humanitarian aid and to ensure that child protection and education in emergencies remain an integral part of life-saving assistance. In view of all funding constraints, our question would be how UNICEF can ensure that education in emergencies will stay a priority for the organization. We also welcome UNICEF's integration of children and caregivers with disabilities into emergency assessments and its work with local organization of persons with disabilities wherever possible. Securing better data collection and analysis is also crucial to the quality of programs, and we welcome the development of a version of the child functioning module for humanitarian context. Finally, we welcome that UNICEF started integrating anticipatory action more systematically into its humanitarian preparedness and response, as this is an efficient tool to reach populations earlier in case in the face of shocks. We look forward to the rollout of a new anticipatory action strategy for 2026-2029. And in conclusion, we will stay actively engaged with UNICEF and look forward to advocating—

I thank the distinguished representative of the European Union. Next speaker is Charlotte van Ahlenz.

Mr.

President, Madam Executive Director, distinguished delegates, I'm honored to speak on behalf of ChildFund Alliance, a global network of 10 child-focused development and humanitarian organizations supporting 36 million children and their families in 66 countries to end violence, exploitation, and deliver child-sensitive humanitarian action. We thank UNICEF for its humanitarian action Situation Report.

Today, I wish to draw attention to the humanitarian situation of children and their families in Mali, and to reaffirm our commitment to working alongside UNICEF and national partners to deliver programs to protect children affected by conflict, displacement, and crisis. Through our members, Children Believe, ChildFund International, Educo, and WeWORLD, The Alliance has remained operational in Mali for, for the past 20-plus years. In 2025, and more recently, our members reached more than 200,000 people directly and an additional 1 million indirectly through our awareness-raising programs and community-based intervention.

Our work spans across child protection, education in emergency, health and nutrition, food security, and WASH, with a particular focus on children that are displaced by the crisis, specifically on child protection through our child-friendly spaces and educational activities.

We also draw attention to the crisis of children in other neglected countries such as Ethiopia, Myanmar, Central Sahel, who are also experiencing— profound suffering.

We call for prioritized life-saving for children in Mali and other fragile contexts, including child protection, mental health, and psychosocial support. We call for respect for international humanitarian law to help us do our work and to have full access.

Localized savings and investment for our national partners. And we also call for the funding of the Mali humanitarian needs response plan and investment in approaches that prevent vulnerability and keep children safe.

Together, we can help ensure that even in the middle of conflict and insecurity, children are protected, supported, and given the opportunity to grow.

So we stand ready to support UNICEF work and to support children's future. I thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of ChildFundAlliance. Next speaker is Standing Group of National Committees, please.

Thank you, Mr. President, Director Catherine Russell, distinguished delegates. I am making this statement on behalf of National Committees and I'm also linking it to item 16 on the agenda on Thursday on private sector fundraising and partnerships. On behalf of the committees, I thank UNICEF for this important report, and we hope that many will read it, contemplate, and act on it. The findings remind us that humanitarian action today requires all of us to join forces for children: governments, civil society, the private sector, and individual citizens. Through advocacy, public engagement, and awareness-raising, advocacy, as well as through child and youth participation, national committees help build public understanding of children's rights, respect for international humanitarian law and principles, and realities facing a child affected by crisis and conflict. At a time of severe underfunding, financial support for thematic humanitarian funding has become more important than ever. I would therefore like to highlight two two examples of national committees' work on how to support UNICEF humanitarian action through innovation, advocacy, and public engagement. With a well-established emergency funding setup and a clear commitment to provide flexible resources, UNICEF Germany was able to quickly respond to UNICEF's global humanitarian action. This effort was underpinned by strong public solidarity, innovative digital donor engagement, and working with corporate partners to provide flexible humanitarian support, in addition to what they already provide in UNICEF program partnerships. Similarly, UNICEF UK has successfully mobilized flexible resources through long-term engagement on underfunded emergencies. Thank you. Through innovative communication, close collaboration with country offices, and the development of an emergency alliance for corporate partners. These results come from national committees' conscious and strategic commitment to flexible resource mobilization, innovation, and building trust in the UNICEF emergency response. Together with governments and other partners, partners, We need to turn solidarity into action, concrete action for children. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Standing Group of National Committees. Is there any other delegation willing to take floor at the moment? If not, I now invite the Secretariat to respond to the comments and questions we have heard. Ted, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Let me take a couple of the points before Lucia will address the bulk of them. First of all, let me thank all of the delegations here present, all of those who have spoken, for their partnership and their support to UNICEF's work, for the recognition of that work, including the work of our colleagues on the front lines. Many of you have spoken to the issue of localization, and I want to come back to a couple of aspects. Firstly, to say we are fully committed to localization. We have far exceeded the Grand Bargain targets, but I want to focus on a specific aspect which several of you have referred to, including one of the last speakers, the UK, the importance of including in localization the work that we do in support of national systems in support of work with local and national authorities. And this is something that UNICEF has been advocating for within the IASC and as part of the definition of localization, because it's essential to have more sustainable humanitarian action at scale. There are exceptions in certain conflict settings where it's not possible, but in most settings it is possible and indeed necessary if we're not going to keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, and I think this is a key feature of both UNICEF but also UN work in humanitarian settings. Second, I want to really appreciate the support to the Integrated Supply Chain Initiative that we're working on with several UN partners, including WFP and the UN Secretariat, and I want to use that as— Thank you.— an example to address one of the questions directly asked by the Netherlands, notably, what are we going to drop? And under the Integrated Humanitarian Supply Chain initiative, we're all working towards categories of supplies that will be procured by one of the UN agencies, and that will achieve economies of scale, help to shape markets, as we've done with vaccines, for example. UNICEF is the largest procurer of vaccines globally, and over the last 20 years that's resulted in a savings of $1 billion. So similarly, you know, in this initiative on the humanitarian reform, the UN Haiti Humanitarian Cluster, and, you know, in line with that initiative, there will be certain categories of support that UNICEF will no longer procure, for example, shelter and relief items, which are likely going to be procured by IOM and HCR. In contrast, when it comes to some of the basic health items, UNICEF will be asked to do that, but other agencies will no longer do that. So those are the kind of choices that we're making as part of humanitarian reform. There were specific questions asked early on— I think it was Norway's, on behalf of the Nordic delegations— about the percentage of funding that were transferring to local organizations, as well as cash-based assistance, and I know Lucia will speak in more detail about this, but let me make the overall point that we can only do less with less. We can't do more with less. And when we have to secure certain global public goods that we're responsible for, such as the ready-to-use therapeutic food pipeline, and we have limited resources, that's what we first secure so that it's available for the community as a whole. And I think that has resulted in a certain flatlining of, of our transfers to local organizations, but we're fully committed to continuing that. And as I said, including government systems as part of that effort. On cash-based assistance, it's, it's really been impacted by a couple of countries. In Yemen, for example, For example, we had a very robust cash transfer program with the World Bank, reaching a third of the population of Yemen, but for the last year that's been in suspense, including because of impossible working conditions in the north of Yemen where we've got detained UN colleagues, 10 of whom are UNICEF colleagues. So there's a number of specific reasons why we're in this situation. I want to turn to the delegate from Ukraine and say that separation and displacement are one of the most stressful experiences that a child can face, and we're committed to finding family-based solutions based on individual best-case determination for every child that needs it. I'll be in Ukraine next week and then on to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, and we look forward to looking at further ways to support the children of Ukraine. And then lastly, let me just say from my end, there's a number of important humanitarian financing instruments that have been mentioned this afternoon. The Country-Based Pool Fund, people mentioned also the importance of support to national systems through humanitarian financing. I think what's critical is that we have a balanced and equilibrated humanitarian financing system. CBPFs play a key role. CERF plays a key role. Bilateral funding plays a key role. Core resources play a key role. Our EPF is the first money that gets out to a crisis. And last, flexible humanitarian funding. Many of you contribute to the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, and it is a lifeline for children in many places, so we appreciate every way you contribute to UNICEF's work for children. Thank you.

Thank you, and I'll try in the next 10 to 15 minutes— I was told to really try to cover some of the key areas and some of the very good questions received. And of course, I'm here, we can engage on the margin and also get back to you on some of the specifics. But first of all, I wanted to thank you all for the very good question, but most important, also for the support, the encouragement, and also the solidarity with our colleagues on the ground in all the settings that you mentioned and beyond. So your support and encouragement is really for us life-saving, and it will continue to give us the motivation in staying in delivery, particularly in the most difficult context. Also, thank you for the support. Many of you, as also Dzhaba mentioned, illustrated the different ways you're supporting us: your voice, your leverage, your influence, your support in-country, your, as ideas in how we can better deliver for children is also part of the long-standing relationship with all of you, and you also brought some examples. Let me try to group some of the questions in terms of, first of all, the prioritization. Many of you have asked us how do we do— how do we deal with the difficult decision and difficult choices and having to hyper-prioritize in certain causes. Context. For us, what is important is that we continue really to focus on the most vulnerable groups and also avoid unwanted consequences of leaving some of the groups or the areas behind. So our dual mandate in terms of being humanitarian and development really help us in making sure that we use our tool in the toolbox to make sure that nobody is left behind, and so some of the countries are not deprioritized or falling into a the category of forgotten crisis or underfunded crisis. And I think that, for instance, the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, also to respond to the Netherlands, is really— and many other comments— is one of the tools who help us also in terms of equity, making sure that also when there are not other instruments, including country-based pooled funds or appeals, we are able to respond rapidly, either with our core resources with the EPF or with the GHTF. An example, of course, is the distinguished delegate from Micronesia, who said the speed— and there was no humanitarian international appeal, but we were able, because our capacity to quickly mobilize our in-country resources and longstanding partnership with the partners, together, of course, with the Resident Coordinator and the other agencies. Localization. Will continue to be at the core of our engagement for the Reset and beyond. It's something that we have been working for many years and now has been even accelerated within the Reset. And, you know, the trends over the past 3 years have actually been, you know, fairly, fairly good. So '25 was actually higher than '22 and '23. So it's really a matter of making sure that we continue on this trajectory, but also our Our ambition is to really be further transformational and go beyond the metrics of simply the transferring of funds and really looking at how do we continue to increase the capacity, support the capacity of those actors, also in terms of risk management. The distinguished delegate of Belgium spoke about how do we make sure that we support our partners in terms of risk sharing and managing those risks. So, for us, also, localization is really making sure that we look at national and local systems in terms of first respondent, in terms of deepening the engagement with frontline workers in the DRC. For instance, now with the Ebola response, we're very much in focus on community health workers as first responders. So, localization is a really broader concept for us, and we'll continue to work on on that in terms of really making sure that they not only are seen as implementing partners, but also as helping in the prioritization of the areas of the program that affect them, that, you know, that they engage them directly. So it's part of a broader conversation. In terms of education in emergency and child protection, absolutely, the EU— the ECODEL, the EU delegate, many of the EU and Norway and others have actually— we are— life— education in emergency is life-saving, is life-sustaining, and for us is not, again, is not an optional area of work. So, help us to make sure that in-country with different funding mechanisms is not deprioritized, because also around education, and we see the example also recently in in Gaza, in Sudan, and in other contexts, is what community want, is what children want, is what their parents want. So definitely, this is area where we continue to be extremely committed. We need your help in amplifying their voice, particularly when education is under attacks. We have seen many contexts where the teachers have been killed, students terribly as first victims. and not only in conflict but also in natural disasters. So how do we make sure that we keep education and child protection as, for us, first line of protecting, protecting children? Together with that, there was a series of questions in terms of IHL, centrality of protection, our role in continuing the mandate of the monitoring and reporting, and the children conflict agenda. So we are continuing to work with the Secretary-General's Special Representative on CAC. Next week, I mentioned, is going to be the report, and our— it is going to be there at the Security Council. It continues to be a priority. It's very difficult and complex work that we continue to do with our teams on the ground, including where there are areas, together with the other UN agencies as well, where difficult access a constrained environment, attacks to our teams. So you can continue to count on us and committed on together on protection of IHL, humanitarian advocacy, and diplomacy as a tool to get those voices out and to speak out consistently, as many of you have asked in your statement, every time there is a violation. So definitely this will continue to be at the center of our work. in terms also of normative, normative role. Let me also speak— there was a series of questions from Germany and many of you others, from also Mexico and Eswatini and Guatemala, on the— in Nigeria as well— on the importance to not going beyond the immediate life-saving short-term, but really making sure that we build resilience, system strengthening as our main mandate, leaving the capacity embedded in the local actors, but also a closer link between the humanitarian development and peace nexus. For us, what is new at this point in time, because it is something that we have really been doing for the past few years, is really also a closer engagement with the IFIs in terms of keeping those social services afloat— Afghanistan, Yemen, Lebanon, many other contexts— and really making sure that we work more closely with the development partners as our natural partners in building those systems. Not only humanitarian development, but also during the development phase, how do we continue to anticipate And many of you referred to the rollout of our new strategy in 2026 for anticipatory action preparedness. We're also rolling out by the end of the year the Emergency Preparedness and Response Platform 3.0 that is not only going to be helping us, but also our partners in making also emergency preparedness more fine-tuned with artificial Intelligence, geodata analysis, predictive analysis, and really being able to horizon scanning in terms of anticipating emergency around the world, particularly also related to the one related to climate change. And just yesterday, you will see also, we released a new report on the impact on children of climate change, where a very large number of children are affected by the least 3 different episodes of climate change. Lots of appreciation as well, of course, for the support to our engagement to the reform process, and maybe this will be my last, let's say, group of answer to— we continue to be very committed to the humanitarian reset. To the new humanitarian compact. We are leading or co-leading a series of those work streams, particularly the supply— integrated supply chain, as was mentioned by many of you, as also the—

The—

—Chaiban mentioned, where we already have concrete example on how, for instance, during the recent Middle East crisis, we managed to negotiate together with WFP and others reduced fees for humanitarian cargo, prioritization of humanitarian cargo, in the Ebola response now as well. We are putting together our transport supply logistic capacity, our contact with the suppliers, particularly for PPEs and others. So the examples are starting to be visible, and we see really that when we put our effort together, efficiencies and economies of scale are possible, and we really need to continue to work together as a shared commitment in these— Thank you. In this regard, including, of course, very closely— working very closely with the OCHA, the Interagency Standing Committee, and our work, of course, in making sure that also the new funding mechanism, including the pooled fund, together with— in complementarity with other funds, work well, as also mentioned by the distinguished delegate of the US and the recent allocation. as well. I think, Mr. President, I'll stop here and very happy to continue the discussion in the next few days and on the margin of the board. And thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you, DAD Chaban and Director Elmayr, for this comprehensive response. Is there any other delegation who wishes to take the floor at this time? If not, we shall consider the annual report on UNICEF humanitarian action later in the session under agenda item 19, the adoption of draft decisions. Before we adjourn for the day, I believe that the Secretary of Executive Board, Mr. Andrés Franco, would like to make an announcement.

Thank you, President.

Mr. Secretary, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Two quick announcements. One, the informal consultations will resume immediately for some minutes— 15 minutes.

Yeah, with Greta's leadership.

And then after that, at 6:30, all of you are very welcome to the UNICEF house for the reception. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I thank the Secretary for this important announcement, this brings us to the end of this afternoon's meetings. This meeting is adjourned. See you soon.

Thank you.