Edited News | UNICEF , OCHA
Ongoing violence in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest has created a fast-growing humanitarian emergency now affecting some 1.9 million people, a “15-fold increase since 2017”, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
In Geneva, UN Children’s Fund spokesperson Marixie Mercado explained that almost a million children were affected in the west African nation, which until a few years ago was among the most settled and peaceful in the region.
Insecurity – and to a lesser degree, extremely poor access – have left around 65 per cent of both regions out of bounds to aid workers, who’ve face increased attacks and risk being taken hostage, as do civilians.
“What began as a political crisis in the northwest and southwest regions is now a quickly deteriorating humanitarian emergency,” said Ms. Mercado, a reference to separatist clashes that began in late 2017 that was linked to alleged discrimination against the country’s English-speaking regions.
“Around 1.9 million people, about half of whom are children, are estimated to be in need, an increase of 80 per cent compared to 2018, and an almost 15-fold increase since 2017,” she insisted.
With security worsening in rural and urban areas, particularly in the northwest, UN humanitarian coordinating office OCHA insisted that human rights violations continue to be committed by both separatists and Government forces.
“Arbitrary arrest, burning of villages and indiscriminate killing of civilians are conducted with impunity,” it said in its latest situation report on Monday.
For a growing number of youngsters, the situation has deprived them of an education, with thousands of schools closed amid threats by separatists seeking leverage for a political solution to the crisis.
“Three years of violence and instability in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon have left more than 855,000 children out of school,” said Ms. Mercado.
Thousands of youngsters “are living in fear”, she added.
In all, nine in 10 primary schools - more than 4,100 - and nearly eight in 10 secondary schools (744) remain closed or non-operational in the troubled northwest and southwest since the start of the school year in September.
“Fear of violence has kept parents from sending their children to school and teachers and staff from reporting to work,” the UNICEF official explained.
In a bid to help children who’ve been prevented from learning, community-run learning activities have been organized.
UNICEF has also purchased reading books and other learning materials for 37,000 school-aged children, as well as broadcasting literacy and numeracy lessons by radio, offering a nine-month cursus.
Security fears continue to hamper the work of humanitarians however, with 529 recorded security incidents in the southwest and northwest since the beginning of the year, according to UNICEF.
Since August, this has meant that a growing number of aid organizations have faced hostage-taking and extortion, while five out of seven attacks against aid workers took place between September and October.
“In the southwest region, access has improved slightly and we have been able to conduct more missions during the second quarter of the year compared to the first, and to reach places that haven’t been accessible for a year or more,” Ms. Mercado said.
Condemning all attacks on aid workers and humanitarian supply teams, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke also highlighted the reported kidnapping of three schoolgirls last month.
“When armed groups like this kidnap students on the way to school that’s absolutely horrific and must be condemned,” he said.
The OCHA spokesperson noted that lack of funding continues to be a major issue in Cameroon, with the $299 million appeal for 2019 only 41 per cent funded.
In May, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet welcomed the Government’s openness to work with the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR, to seek effective solutions to the major human rights and humanitarian crises caused by the serious unrest and violence taking place in the country.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday. “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the World Investment Report 2025. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the report.
1
1
1
Edited News
Afghan journalist Zahra Nader fled twice due to Taliban rule, highlighting severe women's rights issues.
1
1
1
Edited News
Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza documents war's impact, gaining global attention but facing personal peril.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
As the Iran-Israel crisis continued into a sixth day, the UN deputy human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif called for urgent talks to end the continuing exchanges of missile attacks between Tehran and Tel-Aviv.
2
1
1
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Heavy fighting in Sudan continues to escalate as a “direct result” of the continued flow of arms into the country meaning that the war is far from over, top independent human rights investigators said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
More Gazans killed trying to get food, healthcare near to ‘full disaster’
Gaza’s health system is at breaking point, overwhelmed time and again by scores of patients killed or injured near aid distribution sites, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
La situation en République démocratique du Congo est aujourd’hui encore plus grave et alarmante, a averti lundi le Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme Volker Türk.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, highlighting key issues and trends, and the human rights situation in some 60 countries.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP
As diplomatic efforts continue to end fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN development agency (UNDP) issued an appeal on Friday on behalf of people uprooted by the violence to help them rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
The very real risk of famine continues to stalk Sudan’s communities impacted by war, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, in an appeal for more funding to support immediate needs and boost longer-term recovery across the country.
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
What can each one of us do to save the planet, asks Yann Arthus-Bertrand on World Environment Day
The last documentary film of legendary nature photographer, documentary director and environmental activist “Nature: The Call for Reconciliation” looks for an answer.