Humanitarian needs for children worldwide are reaching unprecedented levels due to surging conflicts, rising hunger, global funding cuts, and collapsing essential services. UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children 2026 appeal has been launched, calling for US$7.66 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 73 million children, including 37 million girls and over 9 million children with disabilities, across 133 countries and territories in 2026. Children in emergencies are increasingly facing overlapping crises that are growing in both scale and complexity.
Escalating conflicts are driving mass displacement and exposing children to grave violations at record levels. Attacks on schools and hospitals continue, and verified cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence against children are rising sharply. In many crises, both children and aid workers are being deliberately targeted, exacerbating the risks faced by vulnerable populations.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell highlighted that children are enduring extraordinary challenges due to violence, famine threats, intensifying climate shocks, and the widespread collapse of essential services. The global humanitarian funding environment has worsened in 2025, with announced and anticipated donor cuts limiting UNICEF’s ability to reach millions of children in dire need. Severe shortfalls in nutrition programming, education, and child protection are forcing difficult decisions, reducing the frequency of services, and threatening programs for the most vulnerable, including survivors of sexual violence and children associated with armed groups.
Humanitarian access has also become increasingly restricted, preventing UNICEF and partners from reaching children trapped behind shifting frontlines. UNICEF warns that more than 200 million children will require humanitarian assistance in 2026, many of whom live in protracted crises that leave entire generations at risk of under-nutrition, limited education, disease outbreaks, and instability.
Despite these challenges, UNICEF is adapting its humanitarian approach to operate effectively in a shifting landscape while remaining anchored in child rights and the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. This includes prioritizing life-saving interventions, strengthening partnerships with governments and local actors, investing in preparedness and risk analysis, and building resilient national systems through humanitarian diplomacy.
Russell emphasized that the global funding crisis reflects a growing gap between humanitarian needs and available resources, not a decline in suffering. UNICEF is urging national governments, public and private donors to increase investment in children, prioritize flexible multi-year funding, support locally led responses, uphold humanitarian principles, and remove barriers that impede access to children in need.
