Catherine Russell never forgets the children she meets. As Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), she bears witness to the stories of tens of millions of children and young people suffering around the world?and shares cause?for optimism and hope wherever she finds it.??
¡°Children just want to be children. No matter what, the bleakest situation, the most terrible things, they still want to play, right? They want to find some joy. They want to just be kids, and I think that's what we all have to?work to protect,¡± she says.
2024 was one of the worst years on record for children in conflict, a devastating statistic that the United Nations is refusing to accept as a deadly new normal.
In this episode?recorded at the end of 2024, Catherine Russell reflects on the impacts of childhood trauma and the limits of human resilience. She?looks back on a childhood spent trick-or-treating for UNICEF.
About Awake at Night:
Hosted by Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, the podcast Awake at Night?is an in-depth interview series focusing on remarkable United Nations staff members who dedicate their careers to helping people in parts of the world where they have the hardest lives ¨C from war zones and displacement camps to areas hit by disasters and the devastation of climate change.
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