EU Statement UNICEF Executive Board: Agenda items 2 and 3

EU Statement -- UNICEF Executive Board: Agenda items 2 and 3

16 June 2026, New York -- Statement by EU as a donor delivered by Mr. Hans Das, Deputy Director General Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO - EU Commission), at the UNICEF Executive Board on Item 3: General Statement under Item on Annual report for 2025 of the ED

Agenda Items 2 and 3

Opening statements by the President of the Executive Board and the Executive Director of UNICEF and Annual Report 2025

Chair, Madam Executive Director

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

First of all, I would like to reiterate our strong support to UNICEF and our appreciation for the dedication of your staff and partners in the field, especially in these very challenging times for the humanitarian community as a whole. With an unprecedented number of children requiring humanitarian assistance in 2025, we welcome that UNICEF continued to deliver aid and services in more than 100 countries and to actively advocate for children's rights.

Despite a sharp decline in development assistance, we also commend UNICEF for nevertheless managing to reach an income of $8.1 billion in 2025, only 2 per cent below 2024, thanks in part to an unprecedented mobilisation from the private sector, including with interesting initiatives on innovative finance.

We welcome assurances that the UNICEF mandate and programmes to promote gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women are unwavering. Regarding the implementation of the last Gender Action Plan 2022-2025, we welcome the progress made in terms of access to quality services for girls and women, but we are concerned about the relatively low achievements in terms of outcome change. We encourage UNICEF to redouble its efforts to further advance gender equality, and in particular to continue its fight against maternal malnutrition and strengthen its support to equitable access to education.

Violence against women and girls remains widespread. We commend UNICEF for exceeding its 2025 target in humanitarian situations for reaching girls, boys and women with risk mitigation, prevention and response to address gender-based violence. We encourage UNICEF to deepen its actions, including its valuable work with UNFPA on ending Female Genital Mutilation. We want to recall that the EU remains strongly committed to preventing, fighting and responding to gender-based violence in all its forms, and to reaching gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

We are deeply concerned by the impact that current funding pressures are having in areas dedicated to preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse. While we recognise the progress achieved, protection from SEAH is a core institutional responsibility and accountability requirement; it is not optional and should not be deprioritised when resources are constrained, especially as risks are rising and children remain particularly vulnerable. The EU looks to UNICEF to take all necessary measures to safeguard essential prevention capacity, sustain inter-agency coordination efforts, and maintain safe reporting and survivor-centred assistance systems in this environment. Could UNICEF outline the concrete steps it is taking to protect dedicated PSEA capacity and sustain prevention and inter-agency initiatives, while maintaining the reach and quality of reporting and victim/survivor assistance mechanisms, despite current funding pressures?

We also call for UNICEF to safeguard the Centrality of Protection in all its interventions, as there is no life-saving without protection and this is also critical to reduce the need for humanitarian assistance.

We look forward to the implementation of the new Strategic Plan and encourage UNICEF to maintain its ambitious objectives for the well-being of all children. The EU has been and will continue to be a major donor to UNICEF across its humanitarian and development work.

Thank you.