Category: Children and Wellbeing

Source: Save The Children

Refugees from Sudan in Renk, South Sudan. Photo by Joel Bebe/Save the Children. Content available here

• Today marks one year of deadly conflict in Sudan, and five years since the Notre Dame cathedral fire 

• The cathedral fire grabbed headlines around the world and raised more than USD 745 million in just two days. In 2024 the Sudan crisis has had limited global attention and has raised just USD 155 million.  

For further enquiries and to arrange interviews please contact: 

Emily Wight, Emily.Wight@savethechildren.org;  

Daphnee Cook, Daphnee.Cook@savethechildren.org; 

Delfhin Mugo, Delfhin.Mugo@savethechildren.org 

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

BANGKOK, 12 April – Children in Thailand are at risk of heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses as the country heads towards extremely hot weather during its annual Songkran festival, sometimes dubbed the world’s biggest water fight, said Save the Children.

The country’s meteorological department has warned “hot to very hot” weather[1] will hit the Thailand during the festival, which starts on 13 April, which may put children’s health at risk. In severe heat, infants and small children are more likely to die or suffer from heatstroke because they are unable or lack agency to regulate their body temperature and control their surrounding environment[2].

Many countries in the region are experiencing hotter and drier weather because of El Nino – a natural climate phenomenon brought about by changes in sea surface temperatures over the Pacific Ocean. Last year was the hottest since records began in 1850.[3]

Thai schools are currently on summer break and the annual holiday sees many families travelling for leisure or to reunite or to celebrate the festival with loved ones. However, with Thailand’s meteorological department warning this week that temperatures will hit 43 degrees in the northernmost parts of the country[4], and its health ministry saying that children, the elderly, and those with underlying health issues were most at risk from heat strokes, the holiday may be far less joyful for many families.

Across Southeast Asia, concerns over extreme heat have prompted authorities to issue similar advisories. Earlier this month in the Philippines, heatwaves forced schools closed across the country, while a new analysis by Save the Children shows that one in two out-of-school children and adolescents live in countries at the forefront of the climate crisis.[5]

Guillaume Rachou, Executive Director, Save the Children Thailand:

“This is supposed to be a time for fun in Thailand but soaring temperatures and heat stress are dampening the mood. Children are more vulnerable to heat-related health stress and risks than adults and care need to be taken at this time to ensure that they do not succumb to heat-related illnesses. We need to see urgent action now to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Failing to do this will have dramatic consequences for children’s health, safety, and wellbeing.”

In Southeast Asia, exposure to higher-than-average temperatures during early years has been linked to children attending fewer years of schooling.[6]

Save the Children has worked in Thailand since 1979. Save the Children Thailand works to support children who are most impacted by discrimination and inequality through programmes on education, child protection, livelihood and child rights governance.

ENDS

[1] https://www.tmd.go.th

[2] https://www.unicef.org/stories/heat-waves-impact-children#:~:text=Heat%20stress%20can%20lead%20to,issues%20due%20to%20congenital%20defects.

[3] https://wmo.int/media/news/wmo-confirms-2023-smashes-global-temperature-record

[4] https://www.thairath.co.th/news/local/bangkok/2777890

[5] https://www.savethechildren.net/news/half-out-school-children-live-countries-most-vulnerable-climate-change-philippines-latest-shut

[6] https://www.unicef.org/media/105376/file/UNICEF-climate-crisis-child-rights-crisis.pdf

For further enquiries please contact:

Amy Lefevre, Global Media Manager, Asia (based in Bangkok): Amy.Lefevre@savethechildren.org

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

Damage at a Save the Children’s Child Friendly Space following a missile strike in Dnipro, Ukraine. [Save the Children]

KYIV, 11 April 2024– With 11 children killed and 46 more injured, March 2024 has become the most dangerous month for children in Ukraine since July last year, Save the Children said today,

According to latest UN figures, at least 57 children were killed or injured in Ukraine in March 2024, which is twice as many as the number of children killed or injured in February, and the highest number of child casualties in the country since 57 children were killed or injured in July last year.

At least 125 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine in the first three months of 2024, with more than one child killed or injured on average per day – a 20% increase on the number of children killed or injured during the same period in 2023. ^[2]  

The casualties include four children – the youngest a three-month-old baby– who were injured in a single attack on 27 March, following a daytime bombing in Kharkiv, which damaged residential buildings, medical facilities and schools.

The increase in casualties comes as the country has seen a marked increase in attacks by guided and unguided aerial bombs, as reported by the UN ^[1].

Explosive weapons, including missiles, drones, aerial bombs, artillery, and rocket launch systems have accounted for 87% ^[3] of total 1,957 children killed or injured since the war in Ukraine escalated in February 2022.

Sonia Khush, Country Director for Save the Children in Ukraine, said:

‘Over the past two years, there has not been a single day when sirens did not sound across Ukraine warning of a grave threat of shelling or airstrikes. Missiles, drones, and bombs force children to spend hours in underground shelters, destroy their homes and schools, and kill and injure children themselves, their families, and friends.

‘Lately, we have observed a disproportionate use of explosive weapons against in populated areas that caused dozens of casualties and obliterated critical civilian infrastructure. This cannot continue any longer. Children must not be begging to be spared of attacks and violence – it is their sacred right to survive, grow, and develop peacefully that we all must respect and protect at all costs.’

Save the Children calls for all parties to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law and abstain from using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas. Civilians and civilian objects, especially those impacting children such as homes, schools, and hospitals, must be protected from attack all time.

Save the Children has been working in Ukraine since 2014 and has scaled up operations since the war escalated in February 2022. The organisation is working closely with multiple partners to provide life-saving assistance such as food and water, cash transfers, and safe spaces, to make sure children and families impacted by this crisis have the support they need.

NOTES:

• [1] According to OHCHR verified data, 57 children were killed or injured in June and in July 2024. In February 2024, there were 28 children casualties registered.
   Ukraine: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict – March 2024
• [2] A total of 125 child casualties have been recorded through the first three months of 2024. With 104 child casualties registered over the same time span in 2023, (125-104)/104=21/104=0.2019 or 20% increase in child casualties.
• [3] According to OHCHR, Ukraine two-year casualties update, a total of 1885 children have been killed or injured over two years of war in Ukraine, with 1639 casualties caused by explosive weapons.

For further enquiries please contact:

Randa Ghazy, Regional Media Manager for North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe: Randa.Ghazy@savethechildren.org;

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

An open call to all UN Member States to stop fuelling the crisis in Gaza and avert further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life.

We, the undersigned organisations, call on all States to immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is risk they are used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.

Israel’s bombardment and siege are depriving the civilian population of the basics to survive and rendering Gaza uninhabitable. Today, the civilian population in Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented severity and scale.

Violations of international humanitarian law

Furthermore, Palestinian armed group-led attacks killed around 1,200 people and took hundreds of Israeli and foreign hostages, including children, and continue to hold more than 130 hostages captive inside Gaza. Armed groups in Gaza have continued to indiscriminately fire rockets toward population centres in Israel, disrupting school for children, displacing and threatening the lives and well being of civilians. Hostage-taking and indiscriminate attacks are violations of international humanitarian law and must end immediately.

Humanitarian agencies, human rights groups, United Nations officials, and more than 153 member states have called for an immediate ceasefire. However, Israel continues to use explosive weapons and munitions in densely populated areas with massive humanitarian consequences for the people of Gaza. World leaders have urged the Israeli government to reduce civilian casualties, yet Israeli military operations in Gaza continue to kill people at unprecedented levels, according to remarks by the UN Secretary-General. Member states have a legal responsibility to use all possible tools to leverage better protection of civilians and adherence to international humanitarian law. Gaza’s remaining lifeline – an internationally-funded humanitarian aid response – has been paralyzed by the intensity of the hostilities, which have included the shooting of aid convoys, recurrent communications blackouts, damaged roads, restrictions on essential supplies, an almost complete ban on commercial supplies, and a bureaucratic process to send aid into Gaza.

Destruction and civilian harm

Israel’s military activity has destroyed a substantial portion of Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, water infrastructure, shelters, and refugee camps; the indiscriminate nature of these bombings and a pattern of apparently disproportionate civilian harm they routinely cause is unacceptable. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned of the “heightened risk of atrocity crimes” being committed in Gaza and called on all states to prevent such crimes from unfolding. Since this call, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has only deteriorated further:

• More than 33,000 Palestinians, at least 14,500 of them children, have been killed over the last six months, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Thousands more are buried under the rubble and presumed dead.

• More than 75,000 people have beeninjured, many with life-changing injuries that will leave them with permanent disabilities; these include more than 1,000 Palestinian children who have lost one or more of their upper or lower limbs.

• An unknown number of Palestinian civilians, reportedly including children, have been unlawfully detained, according to the UN, and must be released.

• Palestinians continue to be killed nearly every day in areas the Israeli government told them to flee. In the first week of 2024, an Israeli airstrike killed 14 people – the majority children – near an area Israeli forces prescribed as a “humanitarian zone.”

• Over 70% of Gaza’s population, around 1.7 million people, has been forcibly displaced. Many followed Israeli-issued orders to relocate south and are now being squeezed into tiny pockets of land that cannot sustain human life, which have become breeding ground for the spread of disease.

Children and families face starvation

• Half of the population of Gaza – around 1.1 million Palestinians – are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation, the highest number ever recorded by the technical humanitarian body responsible for making evidence-based assessments of food insecurity, with famine now imminent in northern Gaza. The entire population of the Gaza Strip – around 2.2 million people – are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. 

• More than 70% of Gaza’s homes, much of its schools, and its water and sanitation infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged and left the population with almost no access to clean water.

• Not a single medical facility in the enclave is fully operational and those partially functioning are overwhelmed with trauma cases and shortages of medical supplies and doctors. More than 489 health workers have been killed.

• At least 243 aid workers* in Gaza have been killed, the highest of any conflict in this century.

Gaza today is the most dangerous place to be a child, a journalist, and an aid worker. Hospitals and schools should never become battlegrounds. These conditions have created a situation of utter desperation inside Gaza, leading top aid officials to declare that there are no longer the conditions for a meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza. This will not change until the siege, the bombardment and the fighting ends. In January, the United Nations described humanitarian access as a “significant deterioration.” Israeli forces have repeatedly denied permission for aid convoys to reach areas north of Wadi Gaza where people are at the highest risk of starvation.

In recent weeks, high ranking Israeli officials have begun calling for the deportation of Palestinian civilians out of Gaza. The forcible transfer within Gaza and deportation of a portion of the population across borders, lacking any guarantees of return, would constitute a serious violation of international law, amounting to an atrocity crime.

We demand an immediate ceasefire

We demand an immediate ceasefire and call on all states to halt the transfer of weapons that can be used to commit violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The UN Security Council must fulfill its responsibility to maintain global peace and security by adopting measures to halt the transfer of weapons to the Government of Israel and Palestinian armed groups and prevent the supply of arms that risk being used in the commission of international crimes, effective immediately.

All states have the obligation to prevent atrocity crimes and promote adherence to norms that protect civilians. The international community is long overdue to live up to these commitments.

Editor’s Note

• This statement was initially published on 24 January 2024, with the endorsement of 16 humanitarian organisations. Since its publishing, more than 250 civil society organisations around the world have endorsed the call. This statement has been updated to reflect figures that are accurate as of 10 April 2024, including the numbers of people killed, including children, aid workers, and health care workers, the number of those injured, and the latest figures in respect to food insecurity released by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. 

• Since the original statement was published on 24 January 2024, the following events have occurred:

• On 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures in the case of the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

• On 12 February 2024, the Dutch Court ordered the government of Netherlands to stop supplying F35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, due to the risk of serious violations of international humanitarian law. 

• On 23 February 2024, UN experts released a joint-statement stating that arms exports to Israel must stop immediately, stating, “The need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened by the International Court of Justice’s ruling on 26 January 2024 that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then.” 

• On 25 March 2024, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2728 demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan. 

• On 28 March 2024, the ICJ issued additional provisional measures alongside observations of the court that “famine is setting in.”

• On 5 April 2024, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution to “cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, the occupying Power…to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights.”

• The total number of aid workers killed includes staff members of UN agencies, NGOs, as well as thePalestinian Red Crescent Society. Figures on the annual number of aid workers killed in other context can be found on the Aid Worker Security Database. 

Undersigned 

For further enquiries please contact:

Randa Ghazy, Regional Media Manager for North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe: Randa.Ghazy@savethechildren.org;

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

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Source: Save The Children

BRUSSELS 10 April 2024 – Today’s decision by the European Union and its Member States to pass the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum will significantly weaken protections for children fleeing war, hunger and death, Save the Children said.

Not only will today’s outcome undermine children and families’ right to asylum in Europe, it will put them at risk of detention, pushbacks and destitution at borders. 

Willy Bergogné, Save the Children Europe’s Director and EU Representative said: 

“Today’s decision could not have been worse for children and their families seeking refuge in Europe. It’s clear that the European Parliament and its EU Member States have prioritised restricting access to Europe over the urgent protection of vulnerable children escaping conflict, persecution, hunger, forced marriages and extreme poverty.  

“Now, all families, even those travelling with very small children, could end up spending weeks or months in detention centres. These children should be at school, making happy memories – not painful ones in detention centres that will no doubt impact them for years to come. 

“All children arriving in Europe deserve to meet a system that recognises their needs, treats them with compassion and dignity, and protects them from harm. Sadly, these rules could end up exacerbating the suffering and the distress of thousands of children in need of protection.  

“Save the Children remains committed to children and families on the move, making sure that their needs are met, and rights are respected, and will continue to provide crucial support across Europe. The role of organisations like ours becomes more important than ever, as child rights are put at risk by restrictive policies that fail to address the most important shortcomings of the current asylum system.”

 Save the Children is calling on the authorities in charge of implementing the EU Pact on Migration & Asylum to prioritise the protection of children and take steps to address and minimise any risks that could harm their rights.  

The decisions made by national authorities regarding border procedures, child protection measures, and monitoring systems will make a major difference in the lives and wellbeing of children and families seeking safety in Europe. 

For further enquiries please contact:

Save the Children’s Global Media Unit at GMU@savethechildren.org

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

Monica* is a 25-year-old woman from a family of eight, who was born in South Sudan but fled to Sudan in 2013 when war broke out in her home country. Her family spent the last decade living in Khartoum, until 2023, when war broke out in Sudan and the family were forced to flee again.  She barely made it in safety to the Renk border in South Sudan. Monica tragically lost her grandmother during the perilous journey. 

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This is her testimony about her journey out of Sudan:

“I was in my final year of university in Khartoum when war broke out last April, shattering my dream of becoming a nurse. When the fighting started, our family of eight including my five brothers, three sisters, my grandmother and my mother hurriedly fled towards the South Sudan border.

The journey was long and full of danger. Along the way our car was ambushed by armed men who robbed us of our belongings. A different group of armed men also threatened some of the girls and women in our group, saying they would take them as their wives if they did not give up their valuables like jewels, wrist watches and mobile phones. A soldier almost took me as a wife, forcing my family to give him all our phones and belongings to set me free. It was terrifying.

During the journey my grandmother fell ill. Rapidly her situation started to deteriorate. At first we thought she had malaria, but we did not know the cause of her illness. The journey was very long and after four days of falling sick my grandmother died. The other passengers expressed discomfort about travelling with a dead body so they asked the driver to drop us off. My mother had to leave the group to go and bury my grandmother as my younger siblings and I continued with the journey to Joda. It was my lowest moment of the journey to see my mother getting out of the car to go bury her mother. At that moment I did not know if we would get to the border. Luckily, we made it and my mother joined us at the Joda border point four days later.  

We have been displaced by war twice and my education has been put on hold twice. Sadly, both conflicts started at a critical time in my education, derailing my dreams. In 2013 when war broke out in South Sudan, I was sitting for my final primary school education, so I wasn’t able to move to the next level. At the height of that conflict, my family fled to Khartoum with the hopes of restarting our lives. My father and mother worked as casual laborers in the local market, barely earning enough to send me and my siblings back to school. I consider myself lucky to have had the chance to return to school and sit the secondary school final exams in 2020.

I am glad we made it to the Renk transit centre, about 70 kms from the border, after weeks of travelling from Khartoum. My family is back to South Sudan, and I started working with Save the Children at the transit centre in Renk as a child protection worker in August 2023. More than a 1,000 people fleeing from the war in Sudan are arriving daily in the transit centre.

Monica*(25), and other Save the Children’s case worker in South Sudan. Joel Bebe/ Save the Children

It pains me to see children arriving without parents or family members at the border, but I find joy in being part of the Save the Children team working to reunite them with their families and make them laugh and play. The transit centre has been my second home and seeing these children and their parents smile brings me joy.

My job is to run singing, dancing, and other fun activities for children at the child friendly spaces Save the Children run in the transit centres. Some of the children arrive here in total shock. They are totally stressed. They don’t want to talk and don’t want to mix with other children. They have seen things along the way that they just can’t understand and you just can’t imagine. Some of the children draw pictures of guns and shooting and of helicopters.

I am still hopeful of achieving my dream of becoming a nurse and I continue to take short courses to bring it closer to reality. Also, by working for Save the Children, I am able to provide for my family’s needs while also supporting my siblings’ education. I’ve always enjoyed working with children and I am excited to embark on this new journey with Save the Children to reach out to even more children. I want to continue sharing my story in order to inspire and empower more children, particularly girls.“

Support our life-saving work in countries like Sudan by donating to our Children’s Emergency Fund 

Source: Save The Children

Content available here 

KHARTOUM, 10 April 2024 – More than 10 million children in Sudan have been in an active warzone and less than five kilometres away from gunfire, shelling and other deadly violence over the past year of war, said Save the Children.

Analysis by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) on behalf of Save the Children found that one in two children in Sudan are currently or have been within five kilometers of the frontlines of the conflict within the last year, leaving them exposed to gunfire, shelling, airstrikes and other violence [1]. This is a 60% increase from the already 6.6 million children exposed to violence in the first month of the fighting , and shows how the conflict has continued to increase in scale and scope across the country.

Leaders meeting in Paris next week to discuss the crisis in Sudan must do all in their power to improve humanitarian access, protect children and stave off famine, said Save the Children, as fierce fighting continues to turn the lives of millions of children upside down. Leaders also need to urgently increase funding, with 95% of funds still lacking in the international humanitarian response.

The new joint analysis shows that since fighting erupted in Khartoum on 15 April 2023, over 10 million children have been exposed to battles, bombings, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks, mortar and missile attacks, and direct attacks on civilians. They will have witnessed or have suffered devastating injury, death, displacement, psychological harm and the destruction of their homes and communities.

The majority of violent events since April 2023 have occurred in the more populated locations of Sudan including towns and cities of over 100,000 people exposing many children to traumatising violence repeatedly[3]. According to ACLED’s analysis, around 5 million children have repeatedly been in the vicinity of such violence in the last year.

Jouman*, 16, fled Sudan with her family in November and now lives in Cairo, Egypt where she studies at a school for Sudanese refugees which Save the Children supports with learning resources and materials.

“The fighting was really tough. We never imagined that we would flee Sudan,” says Jouman.*

In Cairo, she enjoys playing football with her best friend at school, Hanaa*, 15 who was also forced to flee Sudan. Jouman* eventually hopes to return to Sudan where she wants to become a doctor in the future.

“I had good days in Sudan. I used to go to school, then back home and spend time with the family and [when with my friend], we have fun and study,” she says.

Dr. Arif Noor, Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“These findings show how dangerously close to death and injury so many children in Sudan have been over the past year of war. Children in Sudan have suffered unimaginably – they have seen killings, massacres, bullet-littered streets, dead bodies and shelled homes while they live with the all-too-real fear that they themselves could be killed, injured, recruited to fight or subject to sexual violence. Although the UN Security Council recently called for a ceasefire, fighting continues, with millions of children caught in the crossfire.

“The situation has reached boiling point. Millions more children do not have access to adequate food, 3.8 million are malnourished and thousands of others risk death from disease as the country’s health system has all but collapsed. Not a single child has been able to go to school over the past year. No child should have to go through what those in Sudan have been experiencing.

“Next week, when global and regional leaders come together in Paris, they must urgently prioritise both political and financial solutions to this crisis. They must do everything in their power to find solutions to end the fighting and work directly with the parties to the conflict to ensure they are adhering to their obligations under international law. They also need to commit to increasing funding to the humanitarian response plan, which a quarter of the way into this year remains woefully 5% funded. There has been limited to no collective global effort to protect children in Sudan. These children deserve better – and this is the opportunity to give them a chance to survive.”

Clionadh Raleigh, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACLED said:

“Over 10 million children have been repeatedly exposed to deadly violence across Sudan since hostilities began in April 2023. This staggering figure is the highest number of children exposed in the world and is equivalent to the total population of children in Germany. The future of Sudanese children is being callously sacrificed within a power contest that disregards the suffering and consequences endured by the Sudanese people. A year into the conflict, this trajectory ensures that more children, families and communities will be harmed and killed in the months to come.”

The number of children exposed to the deadly conflict has increased as fighting has spread to more parts of the country including Al-Jazirah, which was once Sudan’s breadbasket.

The intensity of the conflict has led to the displacement of four million children – the highest number in the world [4], while 230,000 children and new mothers are likely to die from hunger without critical action. Over 15,200 people, likely a large underestimate, including children have been killed, while thousands more have been injured. [5]

So far, the UN’s humanitarian response plan is just 5% funded, with an over $2.5bn shortfall [6].

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983. In 2023, Save the Children directly reached 2.1 million people, with 1.5 million of them children, with programming focused on child protection, access to quality education, health and nutrition support and responding to emergencies.

ENDS

Content available here www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Package/2O4C2SOOGQM5

Notes to editors:

[1] ACLED and WorldPop have developed a metric that provides information on the demographic and geographic characteristics of populations affected by conflict. The conflict exposure metric integrates event-based conflict data from ACLED with population size estimates from WorldPop, to estimate the civilian impact by proximity to an event. https://acleddata.com/conflict-exposure/

[2] The data analysis in this press release for children exposed to conflict in Sudan differs from overall population exposure counts as per the online ACLED conflict exposure calculator due to focus on children and application of a different buffer zone for “exposed” by ACLED.

[3] ACLED estimates around two thirds of violent events in the last year have occurred in cities and towns of over 100,000 people and that 95% of violent events have occurred in 56% of all locations that have experienced violence suggesting multiple exposure for these people.

[4] unicef.org/sudan/reports/unicef-sudan-humanitarian-situation-report-january-2024 

[5] ACLED figures cited by the UN

[6] UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service, https://fts.unocha.org/countries/212/summary/2024

*Name changed to protect identity

**********************************************************************************

For further enquiries please contact: 

Emily.Wight@savethechildren.org;  

Aisha.Majid@savethechildren.org; 

Delfhin.Mugo@savethechildren.org 

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

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Source: Save The Children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Duarte Agostinho ECHR case: disappointing outcome for the six young applicants’ access to justice but children should not lose hope following Court’s landmark ruling against Switzerland

STRASBOURG, 9 April 2024 – The decision made today by the European Court of Human Rights that the Duarte Agostinho case brought by six young Portuguese nationals was inadmissible is a disappointing outcome for the children, Save the Children said. However, the ruling issued at the same time by the Court in the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz case is a win for all generations, the child rights organization added.

According to Save the Children, states must protect children’s rights immediately, given the systemic threat posed by climate change and its severe impact on all children, particularly those impacted by inequality and discrimination.

In the first of the two cases, the children and young people argued that Portugal and 31 other European countries are failing to take adequate measures to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C and are therefore failing to meet commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement. They also argued that inaction by these countries to limit warming temperatures threatens the right to life and a protected, healthy environment, as guaranteed under European law.

The climate crisis is a child rights crisis, that hurts children first and worst, Save the Children said. It submitted an official third-party intervention in this case to the Court in May 2021, emphasising the unique and heightened vulnerability of children to the effects of the climate crisis and outlining the devastating impact of climate change on children’s right to safety, health, education and a prosperous future.

Analysis by Save the Children last week found that half the world’s out-of-school children live in countries most vulnerable to climate change, with extreme heat recently forcing schools to close in South Sudan and the Philippines.

But Save the Children said another landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights today in the case of KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz against Switzerland should give hope to child campaigners, for two key reasons. Firstly, the Court declared that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights encompasses a duty for states to act in a timely and appropriate way to mitigate the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life. Inadequate national climate policies and actions are therefore a breach of human rights, including children’s rights.  Secondly, the Court recognised that immediate action must be taken to avoid “a disproportionate burden on future generations”, acknowledging the threat posed by climate change to children’s rights.

Ulrika Cilliers, Global Director of Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children, said:

“Children around the world are demanding change – and action is not being taken quickly enough. Children are the least responsible for the damage caused by climate change, yet this global injustice affects every aspect of their lives, whether it’s having enough food to eat, having a roof over their head or being able to go to school.

“The science is clear: if we limit warming temperatures to 1.5 Celsius, children will experience fewer extreme weather events that have the potential to damage and disrupt their lives. 

“Despite today’s disappointing outcome, we stand with André, Catarina, Cláudia, Mariana, Martim and Sofia as well as other children and young people pushing for action to protect their rights, lives and futures from the multiple risks brought about by climate change. It is critical that children and young people, who are leading the way in the fight against the climate crisis, are not deterred from taking action. Adults need to ensure they have safe and meaningful platforms to influence change, and act on their recommendations. Governments need to act now. The lives, rights and futures of children depend on it.”

 Save the Children was advised in relation to its third-party intervention on a pro bono basis by the law firm Hausfeld & Co. LLP, alongside a team of barristers comprising Tim Otty KC and Ravi Mehta of Blackstone Chambers and Emma-Louise Fenelon of 1 Crown Office Row.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

(1)   When this case was first brought to the Court in 2020 it was the first for a climate change related case, but following an expedited procedure the case was heard in September 2023. There have since been other climate change related cases before the Court.  The Court has handed down judgment in two other cases on the same date: (i) KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland and (ii) Carême v. France. 

About the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights is an international court within the Council of Europe based in Strasbourg, France.  It rules on applications alleging violations of civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights against any of the 46 States parties to that Convention, such as the application brought by the six Portuguese children and young people. Its judgments are binding on the countries concerned and have led governments to change their legislation and practices in a wide range of areas.

About Save the Children’s intervention

The European Court of Human Rights can allow third parties to intervene in its cases. This allows parties with relevant experience and expertise to assist the Court in its decision making. An intervener is neither an applicant nor a respondent in the application.

In this case, the Court granted Save the Children’s request to provide written observations about the relationship between climate change and children’s rights.

About the case

The case is Duarte Agostinho & 5 Others v Portugal & 31 Others, more information can be found here.

The case is brought by six young people from Portugal: André , Catarina , Cláudia , Mariana , Martim  and Sofia . More details about the applicants can be found here.

The case was originally filed against all 27 Member States of the EU plus Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine and the UK. The applicants have since withdrawn their case against Ukraine, so the respondent states are now 32.

Save the Children’s third-party intervention in full is available here.

In October 2020, the Court granted the case a priority status due to the importance and urgency of the issues raised.  In June 2022, the Court referred the case to a 17-judge “Grand Chamber” which only hears cases raising the most serious questions.  The main hearing took place in September 2023.

Source: Save The Children

Amman, 9 April – An increasing number of attacks in Syria is threatening to further deteriorate the already dire humanitarian situation in the country, say a group of leading international NGOs in Syria.   

The Syria INGO Regional Forum (SIRF) say the attacks are placing people’s lives at risk, continuing to cause damage to civilian infrastructure and restricting access to essential services. Data obtained by the  SIRF show that over the last nine months, more than 16,000 conflict-related incidents have been reported by humanitarian partners, a 33% increase from the previous period.

Those with influence over parties to the conflicts must urgently work for de-escalation, say the SIRF. With international attention rightly focused on the ongoing devastation in Gaza, there are concerns that parties to conflict are intensifying hostilities inside Syria as the world is looking elsewhere. 

This combination of escalating local, regional, and internal violence threatens to worsen the situation inside the country and increase the already high levels of contamination with explosive ordnance, putting the lives and wellbeing of millions of Syrians at risk now and for years to come.

The SIRF calls on all parties to the conflicts to urgently cease all hostilities, ensure protection of civilians guaranteed through the international instruments and immediate abidance by the international humanitarian law.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, there have been 45 airstrikes [1] in Syria, averaging nearly two attacks per week. More than 60 civilians [2] have been killed so far as recent strikes have taken place in densely populated urban areas and airports, including Aleppo, Damascus, Lattakia, Deir Ez-Zor, Idlib and Qamishli. Most recently, two civilians were killed in a strike in a Damascus suburb where NGO and UN premises and guesthouses are located.

Such airstrikes not only endanger lives of civilians and humanitarian workers, but also risk further destabilization of Syria, already deeply affected by more than 13 years of conflict.

As the protracted conflict continues to exact a heavy toll on Syrian economy, people are resorting to moving in areas susceptible to attacks, or entering fields contaminated with explosive ordnance out of desperation. Dozens of civilians have been reported killed and injured by airstrikes in Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor Governorates, including civilians gathering truffles, an important source of income for communities in that area. Meanwhile, women and girls, whose movement outside the home is already limited, are being further restricted.

In northwest Syria, shelling has recently impacted the town of Sarmin. Tragically, two women and a child, were killed, 12 people, including three women and eight children, were critically injured, while a car bomb exploded in the town of Azaz, killing at least seven people, and wounding 30. Moreover, people continue to grapple with the threat of suicide drones, which have impacted civilian vehicles on some occasions in the past few weeks. Key civilian infrastructure was not spared from violence, with reports of at least three schools and one NGO-supported hospital being damaged in March 2024 alone. 

The northeast of Syria has also been critically affected by airstrikes in recent months, with vital fuel, electricity, and water infrastructure destroyed affecting millions of Syrians’ access to water.

Conflict escalation is a threat also to humanitarian workers. The recent killing of a WHO staff in Deir Ez-Zor is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by humanitarians in extremely volatile environments, undermining humanitarian efforts and depriving vulnerable populations of lifesaving assistance. In addition to these extreme threats, in recent months the conflict has had an increasing impact on humanitarian operations in Syria.

Humanitarian needs across Syria have never been higher than they are today. 16.7 million people need assistance – nearly half are children. Escalating conflict risks driving these needs higher at a time when donor support for Syria is decreasing. Instead of perpetually having to revert to emergency humanitarian response when incidences of conflict increase, the humanitarian community would rather engage with communities and donors in addressing medium to long-term needs through early recovery interventions and pave the way to alleviate poverty across Syria. This will only be possible through immediate cessation of all hostilities across the region, enhanced protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and increased support for humanitarian and early recovery interventions.

Notes to Editors

[1] [2] UNDSS

For further enquiries please contact:

Randa Ghazy, Regional Media Manager for North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe: Randa.Ghazy@savethechildren.org;

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements, and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

In the six months of war on Gaza since the 7 October attacks on Israel by Palestinian armed groups, children and families across the Gaza Strip have faced relentless Israeli airstrikes and ground operations. Nowhere is safe and nowhere is left untouched.

Bisan is from Gaza and has been documenting her life and experiences throughout the last 6 months. Here is her month-by-month account of the war on Gaza.

October

Hey everyone, this is Bisan from Gaza. I’m still alive.

All of this… It was destroyed.

A child’s rocking chair among the rubble in Gaza. Photo: Bisan / Save the Children.

November

It is now entering the second month and nothing is getting better. Everything is getting worse.

The bombing increased and increased.

The bombings have been in crowded places since the beginning of this war.

This is coming while the hospitals are suffering from the shortage in fuel and medical supplies and in the staff also.

The most important demand is to ceasefire now.

Hundreds of children, women, and innocent civilians are under the rubble, under the fire, under the bombs right now.

People are running, people are escaping to the south. There’s no food or water or clean water or anything in the north. But even the situation in the south is not safe. There is bombing in the south.

December

Many people are evacuating here, making their tents over the sand and the grounds without any food without any water, without a roof over them.

They have told me that they don’t have bathrooms here.

January

There is not enough water.

People walk long distances, waiting in lines to fill some salty water.

Families reusing water, paying money and walking long distances to access water. Photo: Bisan / Save the Children.

February

People cannot just get back to their homes because they are in war zones and they don’t have any other places to go to.

These people are now threatened by everything, like starving, dying because of the diseases, and because of the bombing as the military operations is starting now in Rafah.

Rafah is dangerous as other places in Gaza Strip. People here are very scared of the upcoming days.

March

Ramadan comes this year while people are not even in their homes, with no ceilings, with no shelter, with no kitchens, with no lovely moments with the family, with no rest.

April: 6 months of war

We’re still alive.

Yesterday and before the connections were cut off, we felt that it was cut off forever.

We don’t have any internet connection, cellular connections and the electricity also was cut off. So, we’re talking about darkness.

No one can know anything.

And just bombing all around us. We saw the sky lighting up, we heard the bombings, but we don’t know where.

That was terrifying.

I’m afraid that they will not stop.

They’re killing us.

Most of us are children and women. All of us are civilians.

Ceasefire in Gaza.

Help us.

After 6 months of war in Gaza, children have lost everything. Children have lost loved ones, lost their homes, schools, hospitals, playgrounds, childhood, hopes, and safety. It has been 6 months of war, hunger, and fear.

We need a definitive ceasefire now, unfettered humanitarian access, and accountability for violations against children.

Join us and call for a #CeasefireNow.