Sir, – In 2025, an estimated 184 million children required humanitarian assistance, a figure projected to rise to 200 million in 2026. Children experience conflict and crisis differently from adults, with a lower threshold of harm and life‑long consequences when their needs are not met. Yet, children and their rights too often remain invisible in humanitarian policy and decision‑making – further undermined by a global trend of cuts to official development assistance (ODA).As the world’s largest humanitarian donor, the European Union has a vital role to play in ensuring that children affected by crises can access the services and support they need to survive, thrive and lead.Ireland’s forthcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union comes at a moment when crucial budgetary and policy decisions will be taken, with significant ramifications for children living through conflict and humanitarian emergencies worldwide.Ireland is widely recognised within the EU as a principled advocate for humanitarian action and child rights. While fulfilling its role as an honest broker, Ireland’s presidency in the second half of 2026 offers an opportunity to bring that values‑based leadership to the centre of EU decision‑making and to address the long-standing invisibility of children in European humanitarian policy.The forthcoming European Commission’s Communication on Humanitarian Aid provides a critical opportunity to do so. We expect this to explicitly align with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, and the EU’s Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict.Ireland will also lead the council’s conclusions on the humanitarian communication. This is a moment of real influence to recognise children’s lower threshold of harm and embed their distinct rights and needs at the heart of EU humanitarian action.At a time of escalating global need, children must no longer be an afterthought. – Yours, etc,JULIANE SCHMUCKER, Plan International Ireland, MOLLY BRADY-MARTIN, Save the Children,AIBHLIN O’LEARY, Unicef Ireland, MAURICE SADLIER, World Vision Ireland.