Fast assistance where it is needed.
In an emergency, every minute counts.
There’s no time to lose when disasters and crises hit. The Emergency Relief Fund allows UNICEF to have lifesaving supplies ready for immediate deployment when disaster strikes. Three examples of how the Emergency Relief Fund helped children in 2023:
Child refugees in Armenia
On September 19, 2023, military hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh triggered a mass exodus of over 100,000 people – including 30,000 children. Now refugees in Armenia, they are dependent on humanitarian assistance. In coordination with the Armenian government, UNICEF provided lifesaving aid and emergency supplies from its Health, Nutrition and WASH programs, along with winter clothing for 3,000 children in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Child protection centers in Türkiye
In the last decade, more than four million children entered Türkiye as refugees, most of them from Syria. The earthquakes on February 6, 2023, brought the social system for children to the brink of collapse. These children were especially at risk of being subjected to violence, abuse and exploitation. In collaboration with its partners, UNICEF helped 140,746 children in child protection centers – for example by reuniting families or through awareness campaigns against gender-specific violence.
Reconstruction after the earthquake in Nepal
Since the earthquake on November 4, 2023, in western Nepal’s Karnali province, over 200,000 people – 68,000 of them children – urgently need humanitarian assistance. UNICEF distributed hygiene kits, water purification tablets, tarpaulins and blankets to help protect from the cold, and set up temporary learning centers and first-aid tents.
