"Myanmar wishes to congratulate you for your election as the President o f the Executive Board o f UNICEF. I would like to commend you for your able leadership. I also wish to congratulate Ms. Catherine M. Russell for her appointment as the Executive Director o f UNICEF and thank her for the comprehensive report. I look forward to working closely with the Executive Director and her team in the work o f UNICEF. I wish to join the previous speakers in expressing our deep appreciation to UNICEF for its outstanding work in many areas in particular protection o f children and promotion o f their rights and addressing many challenges children all over the world are facing. On my country, Myanmar, we are happy to learn that UNICEF’s humanitarian strategy focuses on delivery o f life-saving humanitarian assistance, to ensure continuity o f critical services at scale and promoting durable solutions. We thank UNICEF for its assistance even in the time o f crisis situation. According to UNICEF, since the illegal military coup in Myanmar on 1 February 2021, at least 114 children between ages 3 and 17 have been killed by the military, 18 children in last month alone. The military jun ta ’s widespread and systematic violence against the population, which as per the preliminary analysis by the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) could amount to crimes against humanity, includes, among others, attacks on education and medical personnel, torture o f arbitrary detainees to death, blockage o f life-saving humanitarian assistance, burning houses and religious facilities and massacres o f civilians including women and children. 2 The Christmas Eve massacre in Karenni State (Kayah State) on 24 December 2021 is one o f the many atrocities committed by the military. In the incident, at least 35 civilians including women, children and two humanitarian response staff members o f Save the Children were inhumanely killed and burnt by the military forces. Many children all over the country especially in conflict affected areas need livesaving humanitarian assistance, health care and education services. Therefore, I wish to request the UNICEF to find all possible ways including cross border humanitarian assistance to provide necessary assistance to those children in need. We would like to request the donor states to help UNICEF by providing necessary funding o f USD 151.4 million required by UNICEF in order to respond ably to the multisectoral humanitarian needs o f children in Myanmar in 2022. Here, I wish to stress that it is critically important to make sure that the assistance reaches to the children in need..."