The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNICEF , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: South Sudan - Humanitarian Crisis - UNICEF
“We are going through the worst humanitarian crisis since independence”, says UNICEF ahead of South Sudan’s 10 years anniversary
A record 4,5 million children – two out of three – are in desperate need of humanitarian support, UNICEF warned today, ahead of the 10th anniversary of the country’s independence on July 9.
“We are actually going through the worst humanitarian crisis since independence 10 years ago”, said Mads Oyen, UNICEF’s Chief field operations in South Sudan, speaking today at a news briefing at the United Nations in Geneva.
With a child mortality rate being among one of the highest in the world with 1 in 10 children not expected to reach their fifth birthday, the Child Rights Agency is strongly appealing to donors to not reduce their contributions for UNICEF in South Sudan.
High levels of food insecurity are of particular concern. Some 1.4 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, the highest figure since 2013. More than 300,000 children – the highest number ever in the country – are expected to suffer from the worst form of malnutrition and are at risk of dying if treatment is not provided.
“There is nothing between humanitarian assistance and no assistance, and that is why we are appealing to donors to really put South Sudan in a separate category where we don’t cut, because any cuts again will result in immediate impact, because it is not a question of a weak government safety net, there is no safety net”, stated Mads Oyen.
According to UNICEF, there is no safety net on nutrition, on health, on water and sanitation and neither on child protection.
“Triggering factors include the continued violence and insecurity - both political violence and armed conflict - as well as inter-communal violence with breakdowns of law and order at local levels, with cycles of revenge killing, rapes and so on, as well as the impact of climate change and flooding”, said UNICEF’s Chief of field operations in South Sudan. The changing weather patterns are extremely disruptive in most difficult areas.
At the moment there are “8,3 million people need humanitarian assistance and 4,5 million of those are children. Those numbers have never been higher”.
Out of the USD 180 million funding appeal to assist the most vulnerable children this year, UNICEF has received so far only one third of it.
“South Sudan is really one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world and one of the most forgotten and we have the highest percentage of children in need in the world as part of the total population”.
The country has currently 3,2 million refugees outside and 1,6 million internally displaced people (IDP). South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011, after two civil wars. Only two years after independence, the country fell into another civil war, which is estimated to have killed almost 400,000 people. Today South Sudan ranks 187th out of 189 on the Human Development Index, and 179 out of 180 on another leading index that measures public sector corruption.
-ends-
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a cloudy day.
- Wide shot, a near-empty Room XXVII in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Mads Oyen, Chief Field operations in South Sudan, UNICEF: “We are actually going through the worst humanitarian crisis since independence 10 years ago”.
- Medium shot, journalist with mask on laptop
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Mads Oyen, Chief Field operations in South Sudan, UNICEF: “There is nothing between humanitarian assistance and no assistance, and that is why we are appealing to donors to really put South Sudan in a separate category where we don’t cut, because any cuts again will result in immediate impact, because it is not a question of a weak government safety net, there is no safety net”.
- Medium shot, journalists in room filmed from behind
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Mads Oyen, Chief Field operations in South Sudan, UNICEF: “Triggering factors include the continued violence and insecurity - both political violence and armed conflict - as well as inter-communal violence with breakdowns of law and order at local levels, with cycles of revenge killing, rapes and so on, as well as the impact of climate change and flooding.”
- Medium shot, journalist with mask
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Mads Oyen, Chief Field operations in South Sudan, UNICEF: “8,3 million people need humanitarian assistance and 4,5 million of those are children. Those numbers have never been higher”.
- Medium shot, journalists in the room
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Mads Oyen, Chief Field operations in South Sudan, UNICEF: “South Sudan is really one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and one of the most forgotten and we have the highest percentage of children in need in the world as part of the total population”.
- Medium shot, monitor with podium in background
- Medium shot, journalist listening
- Medium shot, cameraman filming
Similar Stories
2
36
1
1
Edited News , Statements , Images , Conferences | HRC , OCHA , UNOG
A record 383 aid workers were killed last year with hundreds more wounded, kidnapped and detained, the UN’s top aid official said on Tuesday in a call for accountability, at a solemn ceremony in Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following statement at today’s biweekly press briefing in Geneva:
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“In Gaza, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , OCHA
Gaza: Aid insufficient to avert ‘widespread starvation’ as Israeli military ramp-up forces more people to flee
The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.