Algerian Radio
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has confirmed that hunger, wars, and disease threatened the lives of millions of children throughout 2025.
In its annual report for 2025, the organization stated that children in conflict zones, such as Sudan and the Gaza Strip, face the risk of death on a daily basis.
In parts of Darfur, Sudan, the UN agency observed famine during 2024 and 2025. In the Gaza Strip, famine was declared in parts of Gaza City during the summer of 2025, following the Israeli aggression and the siege that prevented the arrival of aid. Although there is currently no famine, the situation remains fragile, with 100,000 children in the Strip suffering from severe food insecurity, according to the report.
UNICEF indicated that the number of children in crisis and conflict zones has reached an unprecedented scale, with approximately one in five children living in such conditions—nearly double the number recorded in the mid-1990s. The United Nations also recorded the highest level of grave violations of children's rights and attacks on humanitarian workers, documenting 41,370 serious violations during 2024, an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous year.
In the same context, Christian Schneider, the Executive Director of UNICEF in Germany, explained that for the first time in a single year, famine was recorded in both the Gaza Strip and Sudan, noting that "famine in both cases was man-made due to war and conflicts."
Christian Schneider highlighted that "hunger and child poverty are not fate, like a natural disaster that takes us by surprise; rather, they reflect a glaring failure in our global policies and societies towards children," adding that children "pay the highest price even though they are innocent of these conflicts."
The UN organization does not expect an improvement in light of the current crises. However, it stresses that effective aid programs "have proven their efficiency in saving lives and providing a better future even in the most difficult circumstances," confirming that 2026 "will also be full of challenges," and that it "will continue to exert every effort to protect children as much as possible."
