The multifaceted crises are increasingly causing significant damage all over the world. Armed conflicts, political instability, and climate change, in conjunction with health and economic crises, pose serious threats to children’s rights.
The humanitarian system is currently facing a shortage of resources and is stretched beyond its capacity. UNICEF projects 20% drop in 2026 funding after US recent cuts. Communities and countries that are being affected may have least role in climate change. So, there is a lack of equity element here. This is unfair.
In other words, communities that are being affected the most by climate change often have contributed the least to its causes. This highlights a significant lack of equity in addressing the issue. Cumulatively since 1850, the U.S. has emitted a larger share than any country of the greenhouse gases causing current climate change, with some 20% of the global total of carbon dioxide alone.
And, US is abandoning efforts to reduce global warming, even as the world has reached record levels of heat that scientists say is driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels.
Please find reference links:
https://www.unicef.org/thailand/press-releases/statement-unicef-executiv...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02041-1
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/climate/trump-us-climate-policy-chang...
Can some friends help me understand what is happening?
Thanks
Gonca Yilmaz is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Social Paediatrics and Child Health. She is a social pediatrician in a training hospital in Ankara, Turkey, and has a postgraduate degree in Social Pediatrics. Her interests include child rights, child abuse and neglect management, well-child and baby care, and infant nutrition. goncay AT gmail.com