Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg is donating $100,000 to UNICEF toward efforts to protect children from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the agency announced on Thursday.
Thunberg is donating the $100,000 prize she was awarded for her global activism by Human Act, and the organization is donating a similar amount to UNICEF.
“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child-rights crisis,” Thunberg said in the announcement. “It will affect all children, now and in the long-term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most. I’m asking everyone to step up and join me in support of UNICEF’s vital work to save children’s lives, to protect health and continue education.”
The funds will go toward UNICEF’s emergency programs to fight COVID-19, including providing soap, masks, gloves, hygiene kits, protective equipment and other support to health care systems.
The United Nations released a report this month warning that children are at risk of being among the biggest victims of COIVD-19, even though they have largely been spared from the most dire direct health effects of the disease.
The U.N. report found that the coronavirus crisis is having a profound effect on children’s overall well-being. The report found that children in particular are facing the socio-economic impacts of the crisis and, in some cases, facing impacts of mitigation measures that may “inadvertently do more harm than good.”
“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,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement on Thursday.
“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,” Fore added.