Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, has concluded a visit to Lebanon with a call for children’s health, education and protection to be treated as central to the country’s recovery. Her trip through southern Lebanon and Beirut comes as conflict, displacement and prolonged economic pressure continue to disrupt family life.
Tyre visit brings displacement into focus
In Tyre, Russell met families staying in a collective shelter after leaving their homes. Some had been displaced more than once. She also spoke with children whose homes and schools had been damaged or destroyed, leaving families uncertain about when they could return. The visit included a UNICEF-supported Makani centre, where children and young people receive learning and psychosocial support alongside other services.
The significance of those encounters lies in what they show about recovery at household level. A shelter may offer immediate safety, but children also need a reliable route back to schooling, health care and a stable home. For families repeatedly forced to move, each interruption can compound the effects of an earlier crisis. The needs raised during the visit therefore extend beyond emergency supplies to the public services that allow children to resume ordinary routines.
Schools and children remain under severe pressure
The scale set out alongside the visit is stark. Since 2 March, at least 261 children have been killed and 1,056 injured. The totals are presented as minimum figures, rather than a final accounting of every child affected by the conflict. Some 436 schools have been damaged or destroyed, putting about 100,000 children at risk of being without a classroom.
Those education figures matter not only because of the buildings lost. A damaged school can interrupt teaching, remove a place of routine and support, and make it harder for parents to consider returning with their children. The pressures are especially acute where families are also coping with displacement, poverty or the consequences of violence. Russell’s appeal placed learning and mental-health support alongside physical safety, rather than treating them as issues for a later stage.
Meetings in Beirut turn attention to recovery
In Beirut, Russell met President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed. Their discussions addressed how children can be kept healthy, educated and protected while national recovery work proceeds. Aoun emphasised the need for particular attention to children and families living south of the “yellow line”, as well as access to education, protection and essential services.
The published accounts describe talks and existing work, not a new funding package, policy change or formal agreement. That distinction is important. The visit is a high-level intervention that puts the needs of children before decision-makers; it does not by itself rebuild a school, settle a displaced family or resolve the conditions driving the crisis.
Support now and services for the longer term
Since the start of 2026, UNICEF has expanded humanitarian work that includes support for injured children and displaced families, supplies for shelters and health facilities, and help with learning and psychosocial care. It is also working with Lebanon’s public institutions and other partners on the systems that children depend on.
For Lebanon, the immediate challenge is to sustain protection and essential help for children already affected by conflict. The longer task is to ensure that recovery plans restore access to classrooms, health care and support for families, particularly in communities facing repeated disruption. Russell’s visit has brought those two demands together: urgent assistance cannot be separated from the conditions needed for children to recover their education, security and childhood.
