The United States has advised the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, to focus on its core mandate and refrain from issues that fall outside that mission.
Jonathan Shrier, Acting US Representative on the UN Economic and Social Council, delivered UG government’s statement at the ongoing 2025 Second Regular Session of the UNICEF Executive Board in New York.
The envoy cautioned UNICEF to keep away from “distracting narratives” such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the “ambiguous” gender language.
“Harmful gender ideology is detrimental to the well-being and development of children,” Shrier asserted. “We remain concerned that UNICEF is promoting an ideological agenda under the guise of sexual and reproductive health and rights.”
The agency’s focus, according to Shrier, must remain on tailored support for interventions like primary health care, access to safe water, sanitation, and nutrition, to address preventable child mortality and disability.
Shrier said that stakeholders must not lose sight of shared goals to ensure every child not only survives but thrives, reiterating America’s belief that mothers and fathers know how to best raise their children and create a thriving society.
The US wants deviation from protracted aid toward peaceful, lasting solutions to conflict and crisis, expanded trade, and local resource mobilization, assuring of collaboration with UNICEF and other member states.
Stressing that the US can no longer bear the majority of humanitarian assistance globally, Shrier urged UNICEF and other agencies to pursue greater innovation in financing, including expanded partnerships with the private sector and alternative funding models.
The representative, however, expressed America’s strong commitment to providing life-saving humanitarian assistance and effective, strategic, efficient, and time-bound responses to disasters.
Focus on core mandate, stop promoting gender ideology – US tells UNICEF
