For the 25th time, UNICEF Germany is awarding prizes for photos and photo reportages that document the living conditions of children worldwide.”High-quality documentary photography can open eyes,” says Georg Graf Waldersee, chairman of the board of UNICEF Germany, on the website of the United Nations Children’s Fund. “The works that are awarded prizes in UNICEF’s annual photo competition do just that: They open our eyes to the situation of children in our world.”
‘Shock, pain and grief have many faces’
He must have seen terrible things: Eight-year-old Israeli Stav survived the Hamas raid on his kibbutz on October 7, 2023, which abruptly ended his carefree childhood. His face reflects the pain and sense of loss.
Israeli photographer Avishag Shaar-Yashuv portrayed the boy and other children in an emergency shelter after their homes were ravaged. She was awarded first place for her haunting photo reportage — along with a Palestinian photographer.
It is the first time in the 25-year history of the UNICEF Photo of the Year that the jury has awarded two first prizes. “The Jury of the UNICEF Photo of the Year, acutely aware of the very different numbers of victims in Israel and Gaza, did not presume to establish a ranking of suffering,” states the UNICEF Germany website.
Palestinian children victims of war: Dareen and Kinan
Dareen (11) and Kinan (5) are finally safe in a hospital in Qatar. The brother and sister are from Gaza; their entire family was killed in an Israeli Air Force bombing raid. It is uncertain what their future holds.
The Palestinian Samar Abu Elouf, who taught herself photography with borrowed cameras, has captured many victims of the war in pictures — they have lost arms, legs or their sight. In all her photos, Abu Elouf highlights the dignity of these children, even in dire distress. She was also awarded first place.
A virus advances in Congo
Japhet is just seven-months-old. He has been infected with the Mpox virus, better known as “monkeypox.” There is a vaccine against Mpox, but in poorer countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Japhet’s home country, vaccines are in short supply. Children are particularly at risk.
According to the African Union, 1,000 people have already died and many more are infected.
Little Japhet is lucky. His mother has taken him to a health center where his pustules are being treated with antiseptic medication. They are not well equipped there either, but he is still better off here than on the mud floor of a hut.
French photojournalist Pascal Maitre was awarded second place for this picture.
A difficult path to life
Gabin is one of 10% of all children worldwide who were born prematurely, according to a study by the World Health Organization. With every week less in the womb, the entry into life becomes more dramatic.
The little boy was born at less than six months but has an irrepressible will to survive. French photographer Maylis Rolland captured the touching moment in this hospital in the city of Rennes when Gabin, still wearing a breathing mask, reaches for his mother Doriane’s nose. This photo won third place.
In addition to the first three places, the independent UNICEF jury of experts awarded other photos with honorable mentions, including the following.
An overlooked tragedy in Sudan
One of the biggest humanitarian disasters of our time is rarely making headlines.
According to the United Nations, more than 14 million people in the East African country have been displaced amid the war opposing the Sudanese military and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a conflict that has been raging since 2023.
Schools and health posts are being destroyed, children are being forcibly recruited as soldiers and girls are being raped. Hunger is omnipresent. Around 730,000 children are so severely malnourished that their lives are in danger.
Irish photographer Ivor Prickett, who also works for the United Nations Refugee Agency, has captured the misery of the people.
When a boy no longer speaks
Milo has suffered from a rare condition since he was six years old: at home he babbled away happily, but beyond the safety of his family circle, he couldn’t get a word out.
In medicine, this is called “selective mutism.” His mother, the Canadian-Mexican photographer Patricia Krivanek, gave him a camera so that he could express his feelings in pictures while also jotting down what bothered him.
Krivanek, who took this photo of Milo, eventually helped her son through this therapy.
A childhood without parents
They live in orphanages or struggle alone and unprotected on the streets.
The United Nations estimates that around 140 million children worldwide have no home. Not all of them have had to mourn the loss of their father and mother due to war, epidemics or hunger. Many also come from broken homes where they were exposed to violence and abuse.
Traveling around Latin America and Africa to document the everyday lives of orphans, Italian photographer Valerio Bispuri wants to give a voice to these “invisible” people, who live so unnoticed and forgotten as if they had “never been born.”
Gaining self-confidence through dance in Nigeria
Far from the polished parquet floor of ballet schools and where the average monthly income is around €200, there are girls and boys who practice pirouettes and overcome gravity in graceful aerial leaps.
This is the case for instance in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, where some 20 children regularly train under the guidance of their teacher Daniel Ajala in an open backyard, amongst chickens. It was strange at first for the community living in this poor district, but Ajala wants to give the children a new perspective to life. It helps them, he says, “to raise their voices and defend themselves.”
French photographer Vincent Boisot captured this scene in which a girl hangs out freshly washed tutus to dry.
In thrall of smartphones
The smartphone is omnipresent in children’s rooms, with even toddlers increasingly staring at the device — even though the negative effects on social and communication skills and learning ability have long been scientifically proven.
French photographer Jerome Gence has captured cell phone mania in pictures. People sit together and look at their cell phones instead of talking to each other. He notes that 50% of French families use their phones during meals.
Some brain researchers have already diagnosed the younger generation with “digital dementia.” Not just in France, but worldwide.
This article was originally written in German.
The post UNICEF Photos of the Year 2024 show global children’s fates appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
