The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
10 million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in extreme jeopardy with insecurity trickling into neighboring countries: UNICEF
Ten million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - twice as many as in 2020 - are in extreme jeopardy in central Sahel and caught up in a brutal armed conflict with insecurity spilling over into neighboring countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
“Nearly four million children are also at risk in the neighboring coastal states Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana,” said John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist, speaking to journalists at the United Nations in Geneva. “That's due to hostilities in these countries between armed groups and national security forces, which is increasingly spilling across borders. Today, UNICEF is launching a new child alert, warning of the extreme jeopardy facing the lives and futures of children in the central Sahel.”
According to UNICEF, the year 2022 was particularly violent for children in the central Sahel.
“The situation has been getting and accelerating a lot worse at an alarming pace,” said Mr. James. “The conflicts may not have clear borders and boundaries, they may not be headline-grabbing battles. But slowly and surely, things have been getting worse for children and millions of them are now caught up in the center of this crisis.”
In Burkina Faso, three times more children were killed during the first nine months of 2022 than in the same period in 2021, according to UN data. Most of the children died from gunshot wounds during attacks on their villages or as a result of improvised explosive devices or explosive remnants of war.
With climate change making water scarce, conflict around water points has driven forced displacement.
“The armed conflict has also become increasingly brutal,” emphasized Mr. James. “We've seen armed groups operating in ways that lead to blockades of towns and villages. And we are also seeing deliberate attacks on water points where families and children go to get their water“.
Non-state armed groups that reject the national education system burn and loot schools, threatening, abducting or killing teachers, said UNICEF.
“When we talk about schools, more than 8,300 schools in those three countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are now closed due to violence and insecurity,” said the UNICEF spokesperson.“That's teachers who fled the schools, that's children who are too scared to go to the schools, that's families who are displaced, that's buildings that have been attacked and caught up in the violence. In Burkina Faso, that's more than a fifth of schools closed due to insecurity, actually, it’s almost a quarter now within the country.”
At least 172 violent incidents, including attacks by armed groups, were reported in the border areas in 2022.
“We're also talking about the risk of spill-over into the coastal countries as well,” said Mr. James. “Last year, we saw 172 violent attacks in the northern parts of those four countries. And, for instance, in Benin, there were nine schools closed due to insecurity, the same in Togo as well.”
The crisis is unfolding in one of the most climate-affected regions on the planet. “Climate change, temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average in the region,” Mr. James said. “Rainfall is erratic, it can come in in rapid amounts in a short space of time. We saw major floods in countries in the region last year, we know about high food prices, global conflicts and COVID behind that. Chronic underfunding of humanitarian and development work and also the need for a greater national commitment to investing in essential services for children.”
UNICEF has urged all parties involved in violence in the Sahel to fulfil their legal obligation toward children under international humanitarian and human rights law, including ending attacks on children and the services they rely on.
UNICEF has appealed for $ 473.8 million to support the humanitarian response in the central Sahel and neighboring coastal countries.
-ends-
STORY: Child alert Central Sahel – UNICEF
TRT: 2:58”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 17 March 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with speakers on the podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “Nearly 4 million children are also at risk in the neighboring coastal states Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. That's due to hostilities in these countries between armed groups and national security forces, which is increasingly spilling across borders. Today, UNICEF is launching a new child alert, warning of the extreme jeopardy facing the lives and futures of children in the central Sahel”.
- Medium shot, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “The situation has been getting and accelerating a lot worse at an alarming pace. The conflicts may not have clear borders and boundaries. They may not be headline grabbing battles. But slowly and surely, things have been getting worse for children, and millions of them are now caught up in the center of this crisis”.
- Close up, hands typing
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “When we talk about schools, more than 8,300 schools in those three countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are now closed due to violence and insecurity. That's teachers who fled the schools, that's children who are too scared to go to the schools, that's families who are displaced, that's buildings that have been attacked and caught up in the violence. In Burkina Faso, that's more than a fifth of schools closed due to insecurity, actually, it’s almost a quarter now within the country”.
- Medium shot, journalists looking at their mobile phones
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “The armed conflict has also become increasingly brutal. We've seen armed groups operating in ways that lead to blockades of towns and villages. And we are also seeing deliberate attacks on water points where families and children go to get their water. “
- Medium shot, journalists with UNICEF speaker at podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “We're also talking about the risk of spill over into the coastal countries as well. Last year, we saw 172 violent attacks in the northern parts of those four countries. And, for instance, in Benin, there were nine schools closed due to insecurity, the same in Togo as well”.
- Close up, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “It's a complex crisis. There are a number of causes, but just to pick out a few: Climate change, temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average in the region. Rainfall is erratic, it can come in in rapid amounts in a short space of time. We saw major floods in countries in the region last year, we know about high food prices, global conflicts and COVID behind that. Chronic underfunding of humanitarian and development work and also the need for a greater national commitment to investing in essential services for children”.
- Wide shot, speakers at podium with journalists
- Medium shot, journalists and spokespersons
- Close up, hands typing
Similar Stories
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
The Human Rights Council on Wednesday heard gruesome testimony of torture, rape and execution of Ukrainian detainees and soldiers by Russian forces, as a high-level independent probe delivered its latest mandated report in Geneva.
2
23
1
1
Edited News , Press Conferences | UNITED NATIONS
Cyprus talks result in trust-building measures, show ‘new atmosphere’ among divided island’s leaders, says UN’s Guterres
UN-led efforts to kick-start talks on the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus have resulted in agreements on new trust-building measures and also underscored the positive “new atmosphere” surrounding the discussions, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.
1
62
1
2
Edited News , Images | UNITED NATIONS , UNOG
Fresh talks over the future of Cyprus continued on Tuesday as representatives of the divided Mediterranean island gathered at the UN in Geneva along with guarantors Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom at the request of UN chief António Guterres.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG , WFP
The Government of Israel has ramped up settlement of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, transferring its own population into the territory and unlawfully demolishing Palestinian homes. At the same time settler violence has increased with continued impunity, the UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Following last night’s Israeli strikes in Gaza, Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following comment at the bi-weekly news briefing in Geneva: “Weare horrified by last night’s Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza, which killed hundreds, according to the Ministry of Health in the strip. This will add tragedy onto tragedy.”
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC , OHCHR
The Iranian Government has continued to ramp up efforts to restrict the rights of civilians including young children as part of a concerted effort to crush dissent, investigators mandated by the Human Rights Council insisted on Friday.
2
1
1
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Senior human rights investigators reporting to the Human Rights Council alleged on Thursday that sexual and gender-based violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinian men, women and children have been increasingly used “as a method of war” following the 7 October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Bangladesh: Humanitarians describe ‘extreme desperation’ as aid cuts deepen Rohingya children’s suffering
In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts in aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday gave an update on the situation in Syria’s coastal region as reports continue to emerge of the distressing scale of violence there since 6 March.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
The aid response in Burundi to the crisis in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “is literally buckling”, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Friday, as it relayed dramatic testimonies from people forced to flee the unchecked advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Close to 80,000 have fled DR Congo amid fighting, sexual violence: UNHCR
In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), insecurity and horrific sexual violence have pushed tens of thousands to flee across borders with no sign of the exodus stopping, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the Human Rights Council, highlighting key issues and trends, and the human rights situation in more than 30 countries.