United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund --UNICEF, an integral part of the United Nations system, has its own governing body, an Executive Board that sets policies, reviews programmes and approves budgets. With headquarters in New York, UNICEF carries out its work through eight regional offices and 125 country offices (figures effective as of 31 December 1998). The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre is located in Florence, Italy. UNICEF cooperates with national governments, non-governmental organizations and other United Nations agencies in 161 countries and territories.
　 The 37 National Committees for UNICEF, mostly in the industrialized world, are non-governmental organizations that support UNICEF in advocacy for children and fund-raising.
As many as 86 per cent of the 5,594 UNICEF posts are in the field. UNICEF also has an office in Tokyo, and Supply operations based in Copenhagen. Its Private Sector Division commissions, produces and markets the well-known UNICEF cards, calendars and stationery.

What We Do

　For more than 53 years UNICEF has been helping governments, communities and families make the world a better place for children. Part of the United Nations system, UNICEF has an enviable mandate and mission, to advocate for children's rights and help meet their needs.
　 In 1996 the UNICEF Executive Board reaffirmed the mission, saying that 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 behaviour towards children."
　 UNICEF now works in 161 countries, areas and territories on solutions to the problems plaguing poor children and their families and on ways to realize their rights. Its activities are as varied as the challenges it faces, encouraging the care and stimulation that offer the best possible start in life, helping prevent childhood illness and death, making pregnancy and childbirth safe, combating discrimination and cooperating with communities to ensure that girls as well as boys attend school.
　 UNICEF was created at the end of World War II to relieve the suffering of children in war torn Europe and it continues today to respond rapidly in crises, helping recreate a sense of stability and normalcy, reopening schools and establishing safe spaces for children when armed conflict and war, flood and other disruptions occur.
　 In so many other ways -- supporting National Immunization Days in the global effort to eradicate polio, encouraging young people to prepare for and participate in issues affecting them or helping them resist the onslaught of HIV/AIDS -- UNICEF is on the ground and at the fore, bringing ideas, resources, strategies and support to bear when and where they are needed most.
　 The current Executive Director is Carol Bellamy of the United States of America.
The UNICEF mission statement is also available in Arabic, Chinese and Russian as well as in English, French and Spanish.
　 For hard copies of UNICEF publications, kindly contact your nearest UNICEF Field Office (if you are in a developing country) or your National Committee for UNICEF (if you are in an industrialized country). There may be a shipping and handling charge.
For more information, read our Frequently Asked Questions. For comments, suggestions and other information requests, email netmaster@unicef.org

　Our Mission

　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 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 behaviour towards children.
　 UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress.
　 UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families.
　 UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children - victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation and those with disabilities.
　 UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care.
　 UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority.
　 UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social, and economic development of their communities.
　 UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realization of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.