Dear Foreign Secretary,
We risk losing decades of progress for children around the world.
Multiple crises - conflict, climate change, mounting debts and extreme poverty – damage the lives of the most vulnerable children every day, drastically limiting their chances of getting nourishing food, life-saving health care or quality education. Every child should have these by right.
For many years, the international community has been making progress towards ensuring the basic right to health and education for all children, but this in danger of being reversed.
In 2023, nearly 21 million children missed out on one or more life-saving vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to preventable diseases. 45 million children under 5 are severely acutely malnourished. 90% of children in the lowest income countries cannot read a simple story by age 10. And extreme heat increases the risk of stillbirth by 5 % for every 1°C rise in temperature.
Children’s lives and futures are at risk. Urgent action is needed now. .
The UK Government must commit to maintaining and increasing UK Aid and focusing it on basic services for the poorest children in health and education, which protect them now and ensure they can thrive in the future. It must invest to make sure these services can stand up to the onslaught of climate change – especially in countries that feel its greatest harms though are least responsible for its causes. It must once again take a leading global role in persuading others to do the same.
The UK Government has a critical chance to put children first, both in the UK and around the world.
UNICEF UK is calling on the UK Government to commit to a Global Growing Up Promise by:
- Prioritising funding for health, nutrition, and education to set the world’s poorest children up for success.
- Using the UK's leadership to protect children from the climate crisis.
- Championing children’s rights in the plans and commitments the Government makes internationally.
The world’s Children cannot wait. The UK Government must fully commit to supporting children out of poverty, giving them the best start in life and hope for their futures.
Sincerely,
UNICEF UK