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11th December 1946: UNICEF established by the United Nations General Assembly

3,451 views · Published 11 December 2018 · 2:25 · Indexed 1 October 2026

Channel: HistoryPod · 2018 · Education

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Six years of warfare on an unprecedented scale had caused widespread devastation, and left countries across the world struggling to provide even basic care for their people. Appalled by the plight of children in these countries, Polish physician Ludwik Rajchman encouraged the United Nations to establish an emergency fund to help them.

Raychman had previously led the Health Committee of the League of Nations, but had been unable to secure a leading role in the newly-established World Health Organisation. Although bitterly disappointed by this, he used his extensive experience of international bureaucracy to create the necessary proposals and lobby the world’s governments to vote in favour of establishing the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

UNICEF was formally established with the unanimous approval of UN General Assembly Resolution 57(I) on 11 December 1946. Under the direction of Maurice Pate, its first chief executive, UNICEF immediately began to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by the war.

By 1953 the organisation had renamed itself the United Nations Children’s Fund, though it kept the acronym UNICEF. Funded by contributions from both governments and private donors, UNICEF works closely with a team of celebrity Goodwill Ambassadors to promote their work and advocate for UNICEF causes. These continue the organisation’s original aim of promoting the health and well-being of children across the world.

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