UNICEF seeks $543 million for children in 33 'crisis countries'

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today said the agency is seeking $534 million to meet the needs of children in 33 countries in crisis, including Iraq.

Executive-Director Carol Bellamy's appeal came during a donor briefing in Geneva to detail UNICEF's funding needs for countries in crisis and followed on the heels of a stop at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where she took part in a number of panel discussions related to global development and the importance of investing in children.

Turning to the subject of Iraq during the briefing, Ms. Bellamy said that although it was her hope that here would not be a war, UNICEF, along with the rest of the UN family, has been working on contingency plans to meet the humanitarian needs of the population, about half of whom are children. She added that even though some of the countries in crisis occupy the headlines, the world should not overlook the children in any of them.

Ms. Bellamy was in Geneva as part of her two-week trip to Europe and South Asia to take part in discussions on sustainable development, armed conflict and HIV/AIDS.