It’s been one year since Boko Haram captured 276 girls from their school in Borno, north-east Nigeria. Since then, more than 1.2 million people have been forced to fleed their homes to escape the violence. Children have seen things that no child should ever see. These are three of their stories. Ahmid (15): “I ran … Continued

One year ago, 276 girls were abducted from their school in Chikbo by Boko Haram, a terrorist group in Northern Nigeria. UNICEF Ireland work experience student, Siofra Richardson, reflects on the first anniversary of #BringBackOurGirls and the impact it’s had on children. UNICEF’s recent report, Missing Childhoods, revealed that more than 800,000 children have had … Continued

iham (right) and her friends go through a Unicef leaflet about psychosocial support and mine risk education. Photo: Unicef/Yemen 2015/Al-Asaadi After decades of underdevelopment, political instability, and local conflicts children in Yemen face an extremely challenging humanitarian situation. An upsurge of violence in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, has put more children than ever in danger. For 13-year-old … Continued

  This week marks one year since the tragic event when 276 girls were kidnapped from their school in Borno, north-east Nigeria. Since then, scores of other girls and boys have gone missing – abducted, recruited by armed groups or forced to flee. Children have seen their loved ones killed and watched as their homes … Continued

  “To survive war requires intelligence and I want you to use that intelligence now for your future” – author & former child soldier, Ishmael Beah After the UNICEF-negotiated release of over 500 children in South Sudan in mid-January 2015, scores of children were seized by armed men from a village in the north of … Continued

It started as just another day of boys’ play. ‘I was with my friends at a quarry that is used as a shooting range; it was seven of us. We’ve played there many times before’, recalls Maksim* somberly, lying in a hospital bed in his native Donetsk city. ‘We spotted a cluster bomb that was … Continued

“There’s not only the loss of possessions, a home or the lives of family members…there’s the trauma of insecurity, the sense that they don’t have any safety. They wonder: Will we wake up in the morning?” – Mia Farrow, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador speaking on her fourth visit to Central African Republic An estimated 535,000 people … Continued

Meet Assia, 10, one of 423,000 people who has fled Central African Republic to escape escalating violence. Now living at a returnee site in Chad with her grandmother, what Assia misses most about her old life is her sister: “My sister lives in another town and it has been a long time since I have … Continued

UNICEF Ireland intern, Karl Boos, reflects on the fourth anniversary of the Syrian Crisis and the impact it’s had on children. Sunday the 15th of March 2015 was the 4th anniversary of the on-going conflict in Syria. Over these four years, 2 million Syrian children, have been forced to flee their war torn country to … Continued

  Heavy fighting in Eastern Ukraine has left children and families vulnerable and in need of urgent support. Despite limited access, our Unicef colleagues continue to provide aid to communities such as Donetsk and Luhansk. But as with any conflict situation, it’s children who’ve been hit hardest. Here are five facts that you might not have heard about the situation … Continued