About us
For over 70 years, the UN Children's Fund has been protecting the rights of children around the world. And we wont stop.
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United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.
UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
In all of its work, UNICEF takes a life-cycle based approach, recognizing the particular importance of early childhood development and adolescence.
UNICEF programmes focus on the most disadvantaged children, including those living in fragile contexts, those with disabilities, those who are affected by rapid urbanization and those affected by environmental degradation.
UNICEF was created with a distinct purpose in mind: to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. We advocate for measures to give children the best start in life, because proper care at the youngest age forms the strongest foundation for a person’s future.
The Executive Board is the governing body of UNICEF, providing intergovernmental support and oversight to the organization, in accordance with the overall policy guidance of the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.
The Executive Board reviews UNICEF activities and approves its policies, country programmes and budgets. It comprises 36 members, representing the five regional groups of Member States at the United Nations. Its work is coordinated by the Bureau, comprising the President and four Vice-Presidents, each officer representing one of the five regional groups.
More information on the Executive Board can be found in the Informal Guide.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behavior towards children.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history, and UNICEF uses it as the conceptual basis for work.
The Convention changed the way children are viewed and treated – i.e., as human beings with a distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity.
The unprecedented acceptance of the Convention clearly shows a wide global commitment to advancing children’s rights.
The Republic of Belarus ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990.
UNICEF is guided by the Convention and strives to ensure that rights of children become unshakable ethical principles and international standards of behavior in relation to children.
We focus most of our efforts on the most vulnerable - children under the age of 8; children with disabilities; those who were left without parental care; adolescents in conflict with the law; children and women who have experienced and / or witnessed violence.
UNICEF works together with government bodies, public and international organizations, private companies that want to support child protection, and, of course, with the children themselves and their parents to improve the situation in Belarus for those children who need our support.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors & Advocates
UNICEF’s celebrities have a wide range of talents and achievements, but they all share a commitment to improving the lives of children worldwide. And in each case a celebrity’s association with UNICEF comes about because he or she has already demonstrated that commitment.
Fame has some clear benefits in certain roles with UNICEF. Celebrities attract attention, so they are in a position to focus the world’s eyes on the needs of children, both in their own countries and by visiting field projects and emergency programmes abroad. They can make direct representations to those with the power to effect change. They can use their talents and fame to fundraise and advocate for children and support UNICEF’s mission to ensure every child’s right to health, education, equality and protection.
To help children, you do not need to be a famous singer or actor. What matters is the desire to help. Join now!