Check against delivery

Mr President, Madam Executive Director,

I am speaking on behalf of the European Union as a donor.

First of all, let me thank the President of the Bureau. We would also like to express our renewed appreciation to UNICEF staff and implementing partners for their work and commitment to address the needs of children, including those forcibly displaced and children on the move. The significant increase of grave violations against children in armed conflicts, combined with access restrictions and increased attacks against aid workers, made 2024 an incredibly challenging year where children have paid a terrible price. As we speak, children around the world, including in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, DRC, Haiti, Myanmar, Afghanistan and elsewhere, bear the brunt of conflicts and crises.

In this regard, we strongly support UNICEF’s commitment to improve its capacity to reach the most vulnerable children, and making sure the voices of these children and young people are heard when designing strategies and actions. We thank you for the update on UNICEF humanitarian action and welcome its enhanced focus on equity and humanitarian access through diplomacy and advocacy. We do encourage UNICEF to pursue its efforts to serve the most hard-to-reach populations and develop a people-centred approach in its action which strengthens accountability to affected populations. We look forward to the development of UNICEF’s next Strategic Plan and its intention to strengthen the humanitarian-development-peace nexus more deeply into the operating model, to create more holistic, sustainable solutions and better impact for vulnerable communities.

We strongly support UNICEF’s continued efforts to better serve marginalised groups, in particular women and girls. We note the positive results of the evaluation of UNICEF’s gender policy and Gender Action Plans, indicating significant progress in meeting gender commitments, notably through increased involvement of women and girls in humanitarian response and advancing the rights of adolescent girls in particular. However, much remains to be done, especially integrating gender aspects at the outset in needs assessments. We look forward to seeing the next Strategic Plan reflecting clear results for girls and women in key areas, including sexual and reproductive health rights and in combatting sexual and gender-based violence.

We welcome UNICEF’s commitment to better serve children with disabilities and the update on UNICEF’s Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy. We commend that in 2024, 75 per cent of Humanitarian Action for Children appeals included children with disabilities, and welcome UNICEF’s progress on disability inclusion. We encourage UNICEF to step up its efforts so that future Country Programme Documents systematically integrate disability and that all sectors areas reach the same levels of disability inclusion in their programming.

Faced with increasing challenges for children, we look forward to seeing how UNICEF will draft its next Strategic Plan and tackle the root causes of instability. With its dual mandate, UNICEF is in a position to combine humanitarian response with longer-term development goals. It is only through an integrated approach to fragile countries that we will collectively be able to prevent future crises and provide a stable future for children.  Going forward, it will be crucial for UNICEF to strengthen its collaboration and partnerships both at global and country levels. More collective, unified approaches will be needed given the current challenging financing climate.

To conclude, I would like to reaffirm the European Union’s strong commitment to promote and protect the rights of the child. The EU has been and will remain a key donor to UNICEF, and we are looking forward to continuing our partnership with you.

I thank you.