Over a million children fled escalating S. Sudan violence: U.N
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May 7, 2017 (NAIROBI) - More than one million children have so far
fled South Sudan where escalating violence continues, the United
Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the U.N Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
announced Sunday.
JPEG - 14.4 kb
Children walk through a camp for internally displaced persons at the
United Nations Mission to South Sudan (UNMISS) base in the capital,
Juba, on 9 January 2014 (AFP)
“The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan
has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this
conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable,” said Leila
Pakkala, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
“Add this to the more than one million children who are also displaced
within South Sudan, and the future of a generation is truly on the
brink," she added.
Children, U.N figures show, make 62 per cent of more than 1.8 million
refugees from South Sudan, with majority seeking refuge in Uganda,
Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
“No refugee crisis today worries me more than South Sudan,” said
Valentin Tapsoba, UNHCR’s Africa Bureau Director, adding “That refugee
children are becoming the defining face of this emergency is
incredibly troubling. We, all in the humanitarian community, need most
urgent, committed and sustainable support to be able to save their
lives.”
According to the world body, more than one thousand children have been
killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in 2013, while an
estimated 1.14 million children have been internally displaced within
the war-torn East African nation.
Figures from the U.N also show that nearly three quarters of the
country’s children are out of school, the highest proportion of
out-of-school children in the world.
"The trauma, physical upheaval, fear and stress experienced by so many
children account for just part of toll the crisis is exacting ," the
two U.N agencies stated.
"Children remain at risk of recruitment by armed forces and groups
and, with traditional social structures damaged, they are also
increasingly vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation,"
their joint statement further observed.
Over 75,000 refugee children in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have reportedly crossed South
Sudan’s borders either unaccompanied or separated from their families.
Meanwhile, UNICEF’s says its appeal for South Sudan and its refugees
in the region, which calls for $181 million to address the acute needs
of refugees until end of the year has only been 52% funded. On the
other hand, UNHCR’s funding appeal for South Sudan of $781.8 million
is reportedly only 11% funded.
(ST)
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