跳到內容(按回車鍵)
主要內容

聯合國兒童基金會2012年終回顧

2012-12-31

在充滿挑戰的一年,為兒童取得成就

紐約/香港,2012年12月31日--對聯合國兒童基金會(UNICEF)及其合作伙伴而言,2012年又再是充滿挑戰的一年──在財政支持未如理想的情況下,仍要應對多種人道主義需求。

縱然如此,UNICEF仍為兒童取得顯著成果,包括對抗疾病和降低兒童死亡率。

對抗疾病及兒童死亡率

實現聯合國「千禧發展目標4」 的工作上,已取得實質進展:全球5歲以下兒童的死亡人數,從1990年約1,200萬人下降至2011年的690萬人。

A woman carries a bucket filled with safe water that she was given during a water distribution from a tanker-truck, on the Jamali Bypass, the main highway in Jacobabad District, in Sindh Province. The truck bears the logos of UNICEF and other support partners. More than 58,600 flood-affected people in the province have received safe drinking water via tanker trucks. By mid-October 2012 in Pakistan, monsoon rains and torrential flooding that began in early September had affected more than 5 million people – primarily in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. Over 459,000 homes as well as roads and schools have been damaged or destroyed; some 265,000 people remain displaced in relief camps, with many others living in roadside and other informal settlements; over 1.1 million acres of land and an estimated 54 per cent of health facilities have been affected; and numerous water sources have been contaminated. More than 80 per cent of the affected are women and children under age 14 in need of shelter, food, safe drinking water, sanitation, maternal and child health care and malaria prevention. Malnutrition rates in the hardest hit districts are well above the emergency threshold, and 74 per cent of children in affected communities are out of school. Logistical constraints are hampering relief efforts in many areas, and continuing insecurity is placing United Nations staff and other humanitarian workers at increased risk. In response to the crisis, UNICEF is working with the Government (which has pledged US $91 million to the monsoon floods response), as well as with other UN agencies and partner NGOs. Support includes the provision of: essential child and maternal health services; therapeutic and supplementary feeding programmes; safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and hygiene kits; ongoing immunization services, including to eradicate polio; temporary learning centres and child-friendly spaces; and protective services for children, including for family reunification and psychosocial support. UNICEF is requesting US $15.4 million to fund its part of the response over the next three months.
這意味着每天少了14,000名兒童不幸夭折。

同時,實現根除愛滋病病毒/愛滋病及小兒麻痺症的日子亦近在眼前。靠着簡便的藥物治療方案,以及防治愛滋病病毒母嬰傳播工作項目的成功,全球愛滋病病毒新感染個案,將有望在2015年前降至零。

今年9月,聯合國秘書長潘基文召開了20年來,在杜絕小兒麻痺症工作方面最關鍵的會議。儘管小兒麻痺症仍於阿富汗、尼日利亞及巴基斯坦等國家肆虐,但在1988年至2011年間,感染率已大大降低了99%。會議上,各國領袖更重申了根除小兒麻痺症的承諾。

UNICEF執行主任安東尼.雷克直言:「如果我們在未來數年仍未杜絕小兒麻痺症,歷史一定不會輕易放過我們。」

伙伴關係

2012年是合作創新的一年。「重申承諾」行動推動了國際間廣泛合作,共同減少可預防的兒童死亡個案。自6月發動行動以來,全球已有逾半數國家簽署承諾。

UNICEF亦致力於「加強營養」行動(Scaling up Nutrition movement)。這項行動集結了30個國家、27名全球領袖及逾100個組織,共同幫助1.65億名5歲以下兒童解決發育不良的問題。

幫助兒童生存與發展

UNICEF於2012年應對了各種人道主義災難,幫助兒童生存與發展。

敘利亞共和國的境內衝突,影響超過100萬名兒童,UNICEF正為這些兒童及鄰國逾20萬名難民兒童提供緊急援助物資。

[THIS IMAGE IS FOR USE BY UNICEF ONLY – DO NOT SHARE WITH EXTERNAL MEDIA] A boy stands in Aleppo, capital of the north-western Aleppo Governorate. The city has been a site of prolonged fighting during the conflict. By late September 2012 in Syria, escalating war continues to take its toll on children and their families. Some 2.5 million people have been affected, of which 1.2 million – half of them children – have been displaced. Deaths, including of children and women, are estimated at 19,000. Syrians have also fled to neighboring Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey; more than 226,700 have registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), while over 75,000 are awaiting registration. UNICEF continues working with diverse governments, other United Nations organizations and local and international NGOs to respond to the needs of affected children both in and outside Syria. UNICEF also supports initiatives in education, water, sanitation and hygiene, health, nutrition and child protection, including the provision of child-friendly spaces and psychosocial assistance for children traumatized by their experiences in relation to the conflict. To fund this work, UNICEF has requested US$123 million, of which less than 25 per cent has been received to date.
西非薩赫勒地區的旱災,是今年最嚴峻的挑戰之一。該地區多逾1,800萬人面臨糧食安全問題。據估計,當時約有110萬兒童危在旦夕。有些國家更因持續衝突、大量難民湧入,以及霍亂爆發等原因,令糧食危機不斷惡化。截至9月底,UNICEF已向逾73萬名5歲以下、患有嚴重營養不良的兒童提供治療,拯救生命。

在巴基斯坦,UNICEF援助了超過10萬名受洪災和動盪局勢影響的兒童及婦女,並保護他們。

2012年,剛果民主共和國的境內難民人數升至2009年以來新高,面對該國新一輪的暴力衝突,UNICEF迅速作出回應,協助了3,000多名失散兒童與家人團聚。

此外,2012年亦是南蘇丹宣佈獨立後的第1年,在緊張的政治形勢,以及難民湧現和種族衝突頻生的環境中,UNICEF幫助了超過35萬名兒童獲得緊急供水和衞生服務。

雷克先生表示:「我們每天辛勤工作,幫助兒童生存與發展;幫助女童發揮潛能;保護兒童免受暴力和剝削;幫助每位兒童接種疫苗,杜絕小兒麻痺症;確保生命拯救物資供應充足;開拓更多樣化的伙伴關係,以加快工作進程等……除了以上種種,還有更多、更多的工作都讓我們感到無比自豪。」