(REUTERS) - Colombian pop star Shakira met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on Tuesday, and held a news conference on the importance of providing funding for early childhood development.

The 38-year-old singer, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), also spoke on the devastating photo of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi, whose body was washed up on a beach of a popular Turkish holiday resort.

"It is without a doubt one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time and the image of that little boy washed up on the shore is a tragic one and one that we shouldn't ignore and shouldn't forget and it should humanise the plight of the refugees because children should not pay the price of war and because all of us have a responsibility today and we cannot escape it," she said.

Shakira became a Unicef goodwill ambassador in 2003.