For decades, UNICEF has been a symbol of international cooperation. Now, it’s the target of an unprecedented effort by the U.S. government to undermine it. 

UNICEF grew out of post-war efforts to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of children whose lives were upended by the Second World War. It soon evolved into a global organisation dedicated to improving the health and welfare of children across the world.

By mid-century, founding leader Maurice Pate and UNICEF were able to channel international solidarity to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. For example, Pate devised a partnership with Mexico to drive down malaria, which was killing 20,000 Mexican children annually. Within four years, malaria was all but eradicated in the country, putting Mexico’s malaria levels on par with the United States.

But now, the Trump administration is taking direct aim at UNICEF, positioning one of the world’s most trusted child welfare organisations as its latest target. 

This attack has potentially devastating consequences for millions of children worldwide. 

Last week, UNICEF (along with a few other United Nations agencies) received a bizarre questionnaire from the United States that demanded “yes” or “no” answers to some 23 questions. These questions are absurd, and clearly crafted in such a way as to force answers that would justify an American withdrawal from UNICEF as its longtime financial and political backer.

For example, one question asks the agency to affirm that it “does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist, or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs.”

Of course UNICEF does — because it’s an agency of the United Nations! To be sure, the vast majority of UN member states don’t fall into any of these categories. But the UN is a member-based institution composed of 193 countries. Some of these countries are run by communist parties, like China and Cuba. Several can credibly be called totalitarian, like North Korea and Eritrea. Some are run by avowedly socialist parties, like certain countries in Northern Europe, and a few are expressly anti-American, like Iran. 

The UN is not a club of like-minded governments — that’s what groups like NATO or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation are for. Rather, the whole point of the UN is to serve as the one entity that can bring every country together to find opportunities for cooperation, transcending wide differences. 

Every day UNICEF provides a platform where countries can find ways to support the world’s most vulnerable children, despite their vast political and cultural divides.

Worrying times ahead.