Humanitarian work for children faces immense difficulties due to the ceaseless conflicts in some countries and regions, said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell while calling for global unity to build a world where children can survive and thrive.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) aired on Friday, Russell pointed out the devastating impact of conflict on children, whose normal livelihoods are completely disrupted.
"The humanitarian work is so challenging because we have one conflict after another. And if you think about children and what happens to them in a conflict, it's truly devastating. First, they're impacted directly - they can be killed or maimed or orphaned. Terrible things happen to children in these contexts. But children rely on social services, right? So, education, healthcare. What happens in a conflict? Those are completely disrupted," said the UNICEF chief.
She cited the example of Sudan in Northeast Africa where the deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since mid-April 2023 has displaced millions of people.
"Let me give you an example of Sudan. I was there not too long ago. Seventeen million of those children have been out of school for a year, and there's no sign that they're going back anytime soon. In this camp that UNICEF supports, and I was talking to the girls - there were four of them and they were about 12 years old. And they were telling me what it was like. And I said, 'how do you think about your future?' And the interesting thing was, they kept telling me, 'I want to be a doctor, I want to be a nurse, I want to be a lawyer'. I was really so moved by that because I thought their lives have been crushed completely almost in a way that's hard to imagine - the things that they've seen. But they still have hope, right? They believe that the world may work out well for them," said Russell.
She underscored the abject conditions children fall into when a conflict breaks out, calling for international cooperation in easing tensions around the world to create peace for children.
"If you look at Gaza, Sudan, Afghanistan, DRC (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the numbers and the places continue to grow, and the challenges are immense, and children suffer so much in those places. War is always the worst enemy of children, and I think we just have to all join hands. And that's why this cooperation is important. Everyone needs to come together and think about what kind of world do we want. We want a world where children can survive and thrive," said Russell.
Humanitarian work for children faces mutliple challenges amid unending conflict worldwide: UNICEF chief
China will strengthen fiscal and financial coordination to amplify policy effectiveness, experts said as the draft central and local budgets for 2026 were unveiled on Friday at the ongoing fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress.
According to the draft central and local budgets for 2026, 1.3 trillion yuan (190 billion U.S. dollars) of ultra-long special treasury bonds will be issued to provide continued support for the implementation of major national strategies and security capacity-building in key areas and for large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs.
Ultra-long special treasury bonds totaling 800 billion yuan will be allocated to support the implementation of major national strategies and security capacity-building in key areas, and 250 billion yuan in ultra-long special treasury bonds will be earmarked for consumer goods trade-in programs.
The country will refine these programs in terms of their scope and subsidy standards, and continue to support the scrapping and replacement of automobiles, home appliance trade-in schemes, and purchases of new digital and smart products.
China will also set up a 100-billion-yuan fiscal-financial coordination fund to boost domestic demand. The fund will support consumption and private investment through loan interest subsidies, financing guarantee, and risk compensation.
"Fiscal and monetary policies are the two major macroeconomic tools for macro-control, and their coordination is crucial. For instance, fiscal funds primarily serve as a guiding role, while financial institutions provide the capital. When fiscal guidance and financial resources are combined, the synergistic effect creates a result greater than the sum of its parts," said Yang Zhiyong, director of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences.
"By leveraging interest subsidies, we can mobilize substantial credit from financial institutions, thereby naturally stimulating consumption. The Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the People's Bank of China, has introduced highly innovative measures, such as providing guarantees for the issuance of corporate bonds by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and compensating investors for losses. I believe the leveraging effect, making minimal efforts for maximum results, will become even more potent," said Yao Dongmin, director of the Center for China Fiscal Development under the Central University of Finance and Economics.
China's top legislature opened its annual session on Thursday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders attending the opening meeting alongside more than 2,700 NPC deputies. This year's NPC session is scheduled to run till March 12.
China to strengthen fiscal, financial coordination to amplify policy effectiveness: experts
