
‘Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child-rights crisis’
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has launched a joint global funding campaign with Danish NGO Human Act to support UNICEF´s efforts in protecting young lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To kickstart the campaign, Thunberg donated the $100,000 prize money she received alongside her Human Act Award 2020 by the Danish NGO for global activism.
Charity Human Act also gave $100,000 to UNICEF to match Thunberg’s donation.
Proceeds from the campaign will be directed to UNICEF’s emergency programmes to fight COVID-19, including through the provision of soap, masks, gloves, hygiene kits, protective equipment, life-saving information and other support to healthcare systems.

“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child-rights crisis,” Thunberg said in a statement.
“It will affect all children, now and in the long-term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most.”
Announcing the campaign, Thunberg wrote: “The poorest and the most vulnerable people are always the hardest hit by a crisis.
“Just like the climate crisis, the consequences of the corona pandemic will be most damaging for children in poor countries, in the poorest neighborhoods and for those already in disadvantaged and vulnerable situations.
“More than 1.5 billion children are today affected by school closures.
“This has a direct effect on millions of children and young people’s possibilities to learn, to a lunch meal and get access to water and sanitation.”
She noted that with schools closed more than 300 million school children relying on schools’ meals as a source of daily nutrition would go hungry.
Urging her followers to support the campaign, she added: “This is a global crisis and for millions of children the impact will be lifelong. We need to act now – for the sake of every child.”
More child deaths in 2020
According to a recent U.N. report, while children have been largely spared from the direct health effects of the virus, the global economic downturn could lead to hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020.
In addition, as many as 66 million additional children could fall into extreme poverty this year due to the pandemic, adding to the estimated 386 million children in dire destitution in 2019, the report estimated.
“The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest struggle the world has seen in generations,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore
“Children and young people are among the most severely impacted by the knock-on effects of COVID-19, so it is only natural that they would want to do something about it. Through her activism, Greta Thunberg has proven that young people are ready to take a stand and lead change in the world. UNICEF is very pleased that Greta and her supporters have not only chosen to take a stand against this pandemic, but to do so in partnership with UNICEF.”
“UNICEF is very pleased that Greta and her supporters have not only chosen to take a stand against this pandemic, but to do so in partnership with UNICEF”, added Fore.
You can donate to the campaign here.
Share this story to get more people to partake in the campaign.
Lifestyle
Vegan culture, food, beauty & more
Vegan Nottingham student creates budget-friendly oat milk machine to reduce carbon footprint and combat rising prices
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 30th May 2023
The invention is sustainable and cost-effective. A vegan undergraduate studying product design at Nottingham Trent University has developed a container that can help people create their own oat milk at home for just 20 pence per litre. “Oatilicious,” provides significant cost savings compared to store-bought oat milk for up to £2.20 per carton. The innovative …
Bear Grylls ’embarrassed’ by past vegan diet promotes meat, blood, and bone marrow for better health
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 15th May 2023
“I’ve tried to listen to my body more, tried to listen to nature, and I don’t miss vegetables at all. I don’t go near them, and I’ve never felt stronger, my skin’s never been better, and my gut’s never been better.” Adventurer and TV presenter Bear Grylls has become a die-hard carnivore fan after admitting …
VEGAN MEMES
NEED A LAUGH?
QUIZZES
All the quizzes you love to binge!
QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert
- Marlon Farrugia
- 10th January 2020
How much vegan knowledge do you have stored away? Do you have to Google your way through a shopping trip, or do you have all the bad E-numbers memorised? Find out now with this quiz. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …
Continue reading “QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert”
QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 13th October 2019
Spook Season approaches. There will be ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and glucose. You need a costume, and you want to it to show off your personality, which means VEGAN. But what to choose? Take our quiz to find out your perfect outfit. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a …
Continue reading “QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?”
QUIZ: What kind of vegetable are you?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 26th September 2019
“If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?” A question that has tormented humanity throughout the ages – until now. Read: QUIZ: If you score 19/20 on THIS quiz, you’re a Vegan God Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …