Category: Children and Wellbeing

Source: Save The Children

KHARTOUM, 1 September 2023 – Children and families living in near-siege conditions in  Kadugli in southern Sudan have run out emergency food supplies, with fighting blocking access to several major roads and medical services at a standstill, according to Save the Children staff based in the town.

Fighting escalated on 14 August, forcing over 50,000 people – including at least 30,000 children – to be displaced across the town of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan Stateⁱ. Roadblocks have created a siege-like situation, with food stocks in Kadugli Town fully depleted, and attempts to bring in more supplies failing. 

According to Save the Children staff in Kadugli, many of the displaced families have fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Some of the families had only recently arrived in Kadugli having previously fled Khartoum, only to find themselves on the move for a second time.  Most of the movements in the town are of people fleeing the Hajr Al-Maak neighbourhood and going to the Al-Radaif neighbourhood, with many of the displaced families are now sheltering in schools.

While some roads are still open, Save the Children is concerned that the ongoing battle is already preventing essential aid supplies from entering the city. An estimated 160,000 displaced people lived in Kadugli prior to the attacks, of whom about 100,000 needed humanitarian assistance even before the conflictⁱⁱ

Save the Children has an established office in Kadugli, and its staff along with other humanitarian workers have been advised to restrict their movements. Two humanitarian compounds, not belonging to Save the Children, as well as many public buildings, have been hit by stray bullets during the clashes.

Save the Children staff remaining in Kadugli are working around the clock to reach the most vulnerable children impacted by the conflict, providing critical family tracing and reunification services for children separated from their families in the chaos, as well as food for children living on the streets.

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

“We are deeply concerned for the children and families trapped in Kadugli. This is an evolving situation and our teams are doing all they can to keep services available to children while they themselves seek shelter.

“As fighting escalates, it is only going to become increasingly difficult for families to leave Kadugli, and for humanitarians to reach them. In many ways the town is under siege, as food stocks have totally run out and there is no way to replenish them. Those who remain and are injured will not get the medical treatment they need to survive. There is a very real risk that children will start dying from hunger. These families have already fled their homes once in the last few weeks. This latest fighting means that families once more have to flee, some with nothing in their possession.

“The international community needs to recognise and treat the conflict in Sudan as the large-scale emergency that it is, and act accordingly. This is a major and growing emergency. The international response so far has been woefully short of what is needed. Food, water, shelter, medical supplies, protection support for children – families in Sudan need the absolute basics to survive.”

The situation in Kadugli and South Kordofan remains extremely volatile, with roads connecting Khartoum to Kordofan and Darfur blocked, limiting the movement of essential humanitarian supplies.

At least 435 children have been reported killed in the conflict across Sudan, and at least 2,025 children injured, although these figures are an underestimate and the true toll likely to be far higher.

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983. In 2022, Save the Children directly reached 2.1 million people, including 1.5 million children, with programming focused on child protection, access to quality education, health and nutrition support and responding to emergencies. 

NOTES:

• [i] According to a memo received by Save the Children from the Humanitarian Aid Commission in South Kordofan, some 10,000 households have been displaced by the current fighting. In Sudan the IOM uses an estimate for household size as five people (two adults and three children), thus 10,000 households = 50,000 people including 30,000 children, although this is likely a lower estimate.

• [ii] 2023 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO).

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Source: Save The Children

Myroslav*, 12, and his cat Olha at his house in Kharkiv region, East Ukraine. More content available here

KYIV, 31 August 2023 – More than 40% of children in Ukraine will not be able to go back to school fulltime when classes open 1 September and will have to rely on online or hybrid learning due to a lack of bomb shelters in schools and threat of air strikes, Save the Children said today.

As the second academic year in wartime starts, the number of children set to attend in-person education is expected to increase to 2.3 million from 1.3 million last school year. But an estimated 1.7 million children – or 42% – will have limited access to in-person teaching, according to assessments by Ukraine’s Ministry of Education. This includes about one million students who will rely solely on remote learning. ^[1]

Myroslav*, 12, lives in a village in eastern Kharkiv region, just 70 km (43 miles) from the frontline in Donbas. Myroslav is in sixth grade, but he has already spent half of his education learning from home, first due to the COVID pandemic, and now because of conflict.

“I might go blind soon because I use my smartphone so much for lessons. How long have I been using it this way – two or three years? I cannot understand the information properly. If it is offline – it is better”, Myroslav* said. “I used to have better grades than now. Sometimes the internet goes out, there’s lagging, and we cannot hear our teacher. It is a common problem.”

Myroslav* is likely to start another academic year from home as the threat of shelling is high in the area. On studying during the first year of the war, he said: “We had rocket launcher attacks just outside the village. Every five minutes something was flying overhead. How could one study like that?”

Only schools equipped with bomb shelters that can fit all students and staff during air raid alerts are allowed to fully re-open. According to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, only three out of four schools have these protective shelters. A total of 4,000 shelters are yet to be built or refurbished in schools across the country, mostly in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, where the threat of air strikes is highest.

The school that Yevheniia*, 16, attends in Dnipro has a shelter, but it can only accommodate a portion of students and teachers, forcing her to learn primarily from home. While Yevheniia*’s marks have suffered, she is most worried about her social skills moving forward into adulthood. This will be her final year at school before graduation and applying to university.

“Online learning has affected my relationships with classmates. There is less communication, so I have started to feel lost in society. I cannot find the right words, or express my opinion on certain topics,” Yevheniia* said.

Since the escalation of the war in February 2022, more than 360 education institutions in Ukraine have been destroyed, and about 3,400 more damaged – most of them in frontline areas.

“The school in our village is destroyed because it was hit by missiles. After the school collapsed, I had to study online. And our internet is bad. On 1 September, I want my school to open,” said Maryna*, 12.

She attends classes provided by Save the Children’s mobile learning groups in Mykolaiv region. The groups help children to access curriculum materials, digital learning devices and software in remote communities. Up to 80,000 teachers and 200,000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds across Ukraine lack laptops or tablets to maintain stable access to online classes.

Even in the parts of Ukraine that are further away from active combat, it is still dangerous for children to attend school asthe threat of missile strikesremains high across the country. Air raid alerts are daily, forcing children to rush from classrooms to underground shelters.

“Everything is ready for learning at our school. As for the shelter, we have the basement. At the end of the previous school year, there were strikes, and it was a little scary. We felt anxious and tired because of constant danger and loud explosions,” Nina*, an eight-grader from Kyiv region said.

“We can already distinguish it by sound, whether it is a missile or a drone flying. But I want a peaceful sky without missiles.”

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

“Children in Ukraine face another year of disrupted education. While there have been some improvements from last year, millions of children still do not have access to adequate in-person teaching. 

“After two years of war, we have thousands of children who have not set foot in classrooms or met their teachers and classmates in person. Going to school is vital not just for children’s education, but also for their social skills. Schools should be safe, happy places for children to learn while being supported and protected. These are some the most crucial years of their lives, and any disruptions to education can have long-term consequences all the way to adulthood. Children must be able to study without fear and anxiety over their safety.”

Save the Children calls on the adherence to obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and ensure that civilians and civilian objects, especially those used by children such as homes, schools, and hospitals, are protected from attack.    

In Ukraine, Save the Children helps to rehabilitate damaged schools, kindergartens, and shelters, and has established a network of Digital Learning Centres to help children access online education. The aid organisation also trains teachers, develops offline applications so children can enjoy reading at any time, and distributes Education Kits which contain pens, colouring pencils, notepads, and educational materials. 

–END–

*names have been changed to protect identity

NOTES:

• [1] Methodology: In May 2023, 1.321 million (33% of total 4.001 million total students) children in Ukraine were attending schools in-person, while 1.475 million students (36.9%) were learning online, and 1.205 (30.1%) million were learning in blended mode, combining online and offline classes, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Education. A total of 2.68 million children had impaired access to in-person education.

  In September 2023, an additional one million of students are supposed to access in-person education, according to MoE prognosis; an estimated total of 2.321 million (58% of 4.001 million total students) children are expected back at schools this academic year, while the remaining 1.68 million students (42%) will be accessing classes either online, or in blended mode.

  Of 1.68 million school students, Save the Children estimates about 55% of children (1.475/2.68=0.55=55%) or about 925,000 (1.68*0,55=0.925) to learn online, and 45% of children (1.205/2.68=0.45=45%) or about 755,000 to study in blended mode.

• Save the Children have rehabilitated seven schools and 15 school shelters across Ukraine so far so children could return to offline learning. The aid organisation has also established 80 Digital Learning Centres (DLC) across Ukraine for children to have safe and supportive environment that provides access to electronic devices and learning software.

  In frontline Mykolaiv region, Save the Children established a Digital Learning Centre for teachers so they have access to electronic devices whenever they need to hold online classes, and can host in-person lessons with some of their students. The aid organisation also runs mobile learning groups to bring education to children in remote communities severely affected by war.

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Source: Save The Children

Essam* and Lina*

Essam and Lina are 12-year-old students in Taiz, Yemen. They attend a school that has been severely impacted by the war.

Around eight years ago, the school was partly destroyed in a bombing.

The facility is both cold due to a lack of windows and crowded due to a lack of desks. The dilapidated, unkempt state of what remains of the school makes learning difficult for the students.

In addition, landmines are a constant danger within as well as en route to the building, with several devices having exploded randomly in recent years.

As a result, many students are afraid to enter the school grounds.

Despite these challenges to their education, Essam* and Lina* are determined to succeed.

Looking forward, they dream of the landmines being removed and their school being rebuilt so that they can study in safety. In the future, both Essam and Lina dream of becoming dentists.

At school, Essam and Lina are active members of the students’ council, which is supported by Save the Children. The students’ council is a platform for children to engage in leadership and community-building activities.

Through their involvement in the students’ council, Essam and Lina have been empowered to take leadership roles in promoting protection and well-being in their community.

They have led a project, with support from Save the Children, to paint some of the walls of their destroyed school and to draw flowers to brighten up its appearance.

The project has not only made the school more welcoming but it also showcases how the community’s children are willing to take action to make things better.

Source: Save The Children

Content available here

SINDH PROVINCE, PAKISTAN, 30 August 2023 – One year after Pakistan’s worst floods on record, children are terrified of a repeat of the disaster that submerged a third of the country and claimed more than 1,700 lives, Save the Children said.

Children have told the child rights organisation that the death, destruction and displacement they lived through last year was still deeply affecting their lives and the past few months’ monsoon rains and flooding in some of the same areas that were inundated last year have made them scared that it could happen again.  

About 8 million people were displaced at the height of the crisis although many people have now returned to their homes. There is no current data on how many people remain homeless or living in temporary shelters. Some schools damaged in the floods are yet to reopen and food prices have surged in recent months, raising concerns about child malnutrition in flood-affected areas. 

Save the Children is calling on the world to stop looking away, and to pledge urgent financial support to fully fund a recovery that meets the needs of children. International donors also need to provide support that acknowledges the losses and damages that Pakistan has suffered as a result of the climate crisis – to which children and communities in the country have done little to contribute.   

Ahmed Khan, 8, from Khairpur in Sindh province in the south-central Pakistan, was nearly killed when the floods swept through his home. He said: 

“Everything was flooded. My parents and uncle saved my life after a wall fell directly on me. I thought I would die.  It took two months of medical care before I started feeling better, but I still get headaches now and then.   

“I’m scared of going near buildings that might collapse. I’m terrified that something similar may happen again. 

“My favourite food is chicken and roti (bread) but during the floods, we had to go to bed hungry as there was no food available. For three months, we had to survive on just rice.” 

Safeer, 12, is also from Khairpur, and was born with a disability that means he does not have any arms. He recalled the terror he felt as the waters approached his home: 

“We suddenly heard people shouting and screaming loudly, followed by the flood. As the floodwater filled our entire house, we were in grave danger of drowning. 

“We were drowning in water because our land was at a lower level than the surrounding area, which caused the water to flow to our land.  

“In order to protect ourselves from flooding in the future, we are asking for homes in a safer location”.  

Safeer had to flee his home but has luckily been able to return.  

The impact of the climate crisis on the world’s most marginalised children are impossible to ignore in Pakistan, Save the Children said. Even before last year’s devastating floods, the country was ranked by the Global Climate Risk Index as the world’s eighth most vulnerable to climate change – while contributing less than 1% of the world’s total global carbon emissions. 

In addition to the floods, parts of Pakistan are experiencing intensifying heatwaves and droughts, with temperatures reaching 50°C last spring. A long drought before last year’s heavy rainfall made the flooding more likely as the parched land could not quickly absorb the heavy rains.  

Khairpur, which was at the epicentre of last year’s floods, is also one of the hottest places in Pakistan. Temperatures here regularly exceed 40°C , jeopardising children’s  health and wellbeing.  More than 800,000 children in Sindh were at risk of severe heat stress in June 2023.

For Safeer, these heatwaves are also jeopardising his right to play as he is forced to stay inside to shelter from the scorching sun. He said:  

“I have noticed temperatures rising and stronger sunshine. We avoid going outside due to the heat because the sun’s beams are so intense.” 

Soaring food prices have further exacerbated food shortages for families. In July, the cost of food increased by 40% compared with the same month in 2022. Food shortages are estimated to impact even more people towards the end of 2023, potentially pushing more and more children into hunger and malnutrition. In the flood affected areas, an estimated 3.5 million children are severely malnourished. 

Save the Children also raised the alarm about extreme weather events projected as a result of climate change and further compounded by the naturally occurring El Nino phenomenon which is likely to increase global temperatures even further. Pakistan could see reduced rainfall that may lead to drought, with the impact on crops, livestock and food production peaking next year. 

These effects that the flooding has had on children in Pakistan shows how vulnerable they are to the impacts of the climate crisis.  

Save the Children’s CEO, Inger Ashing, has been visiting flood affected areas in Pakistan. Speaking from Sindh, she said:  

‘These floods have devastated children’s homes, schools, physical and mental health – their entire lives. And yet many children are still without homes, 30,000 schools are still in need of urgent repair – and children are telling us they are terrified. I’ve heard their concerns and now we need to take action. 

“Only through bold measures can the lives, hopes and futures of millions of children in Pakistan recover and be protected from future disastrous impacts of the climate crisis.  

“The international community must take a three-pronged approach – it must fully fund the ongoing humanitarian response; it must fully fund Pakistan’s ambitious recovery and climate resilience plan; and it must make bold commitments at COP28 to support countries, like Pakistan, for the climate related loss and damages they have incurred and will continue to endure. Ensuring that children’s rights, voices and unique experiences are at the heart of this approach must be a priority.” 

ENDS 

NOTES TO THE EDITOR:    

Save the Children Pakistan was the first INGO to respond to the 2022 floods emergency and has reached 545,753 people to date, including 265,727 children. We have programmes addressing children’s needs for food security, education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene.  

In Sindh province, Save the Children continues to support affected families through the distribution of cash, health and nutrition treatment and livelihood recovery programmes. 

The Pakistan Floods Response Plan has been extended to the end of 2023. International donor governments and aid agencies must fully fund the plan to ensure the humanitarian needs of 9.5 million vulnerable people are met. Funding must also be fast and flexible to enable the UN and other aid agencies to effectively respond to the immense and evolving scale of humanitarian needs, including those arising from the latest monsoon rains.   

Save the Children has been working in Pakistan since 1979, since when it has reached more than 14 million children and families with health and nutrition, education, child protection, livelihoods and humanitarian response programmes.  

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Source: Save The Children

KHARTOUM, 29 August 2023 – Save the Children is urging the leaders of the warring parties in Sudan to take greater measures to protect civilians, following the deaths of 39 people – mostly women and children – in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Tuesday.

The civilians were killed when shelling hit their homes, according to medics and witnesses, with images posted online showing dozens of bodies on the ground covered in shrouds. At least 50,000 people have already fled Nyala in the past three weeks.

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

“We are heartbroken yet more innocent lives have been lost in this brutal conflict. There is no excuse for children being killed and caught up in this adult war.

“Explosives such as those used in Nyala are one of the many ways children are being killed and injured in Sudan. Rockets, mortars, grenades, mines and improvised explosive devices are all causing children to suffer uniquely, and they and are far more likely to die from blast wounds than adult casualties.

“More needs to be done by the international community to pressure the warring parties to uphold the commitments they made in Jeddah in May 2023 where they declared to the world, they would comply with international law not to harm children and their families.

“The parties to the conflict must take all necessary action to minimise civilian harm – something that is not happening in Sudan currently, thus risking the lives of millions of children.”

At least 435 children have been reported killed in the conflict, and at least 2,025 children injured, although these figures are an underestimate and the true toll likely to be far higher.

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983. In 2022, Save the Children directly reached 2.1 million people, including 1.5 million children, with programming focused on child protection, access to quality education, health and nutrition support and responding to emergencies. 

—ENDS– 

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Source: Save The Children

Ahmad* joined Save the Children in 2021. He is a nurse with Save the Children’s Mobile Health Team and provides treatment for children and communities in very remote areas. Save the Children.

****

It has been two years since the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan. During this time, Afghans have been pushed further and further off the radar of the rest of the world – despite conditions for children and communities getting more and more severe.

In my job as a nutrition nurse in a Mobile Health Team run by Save the Children, my colleagues and I travel to communities that do not have easy access to healthcare. We screen patients for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) by measuring their height and weight and provide treatment accordingly – usually ready to use supplementary food (RUTF) once every two weeks.

The number of children I see in our health facilities with malnutrition has skyrocketed by 50% since I started. Over the past two years, the economic crisis and drought have driven families to the brink. Many survive on tea and bread – because it’s all they can afford. 

Malnutrition is a deadly condition that eats a child up and spits out a frail, lifeless child. If you compare a regular child with one who has malnutrition, you will see what I mean. Malnourished children become weak and thin; they become skin and bone because the condition literally dissolves their muscles.

A regular child can usually get by at school, but this is so hard for a malnourished child. If a mother says to her child, “We don’t have anything to eat”, this affects their mental health. Even if they grow physically, they often won’t have self-confidence and will feel anxious about how to feed. Being told you are poor and hungry is not good for any child.

As a father of three children, this makes me shudder. And while we do what we can in the mobile health team, the scale of this crisis is so vast, and we do not have enough medicine and staff to help everyone in need.

Over the past two years, things have really changed. There are more and more people without jobs in the villages we visit, and poverty has increased. When families cannot afford to provide the food their children need, the children become malnourished.

Before the Taliban regained control, the mobile health team I work with used to register 30-35 malnourished children a month – but this figure is now between 60 and 70.

This really is a plague on children – and one of the biggest causes is the drought. Across Afghanistan, most people earn their living from agriculture, but this is literally drying up due to climate change.

In one village, there is a river that has always been critical to the survival of the entire community. But in recent years, the water has stopped completely.

Sahida visiting Save the Children’s Mobile Health team with her twins, Nahida and Nadira (8 months old) for a malnutrition screening. Save the Children

This year, people have also had to deal with a horrible locust infestation that has destroyed crops. All these things on top of each other have put basic human needs further and further out of reach for people.

Despite it getting harder for this country to be self-sufficient, we have also seen cuts to lifesaving aid from aid agencies in some of these villages. This means families simply have very little to eat.

One story that I will never forget is of a woman who came to us with two children, both of whom had SAM. One of them we treated, but the other had another medical condition as well, so we referred them to the hospital.

The next time we saw this mother and asked about her child, she replied with her eyes full of tears:

“I lost one of my children. I decided to go to the hospital the next day, but she couldn’t make it an extra day and died during the night.”

This was the saddest day of my life.

It is also heartbreaking to see how girls, in particular, are most deprived. Because of the very traditional culture of some of the villages we work in, many parents prioritise their sons over their daughters.

It is obvious that parents give their sons more nutritious food than their daughters – if we look at our register, we have more malnourished girls than boys. And there are so many we don’t know about: mothers often bring their sons to us for checkups but leave their daughters at home.

But it’s not all sad – we cure children on a daily basis, and if they are not malnourished then we support their parents with advice and guidance to keep them healthy.

Of course, in these circumstances, that can be an uphill struggle, but all the same, because we can do this, families in the villages we visit are – on the whole – doing better than other villages that do not have access to our services.

While I have had the saddest days of my life in this job, I have also had the happiest. The same mother whose child tragically died brought her other two children to us and we managed to cure them both.

Life is exceptionally hard in Afghanistan – but we need to remember the precious joy in the changes we can make and the profound impact this has on human lives. If we can do that, we can keep going for the children of tomorrow.

*Name changed to protect identity

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Source: Save The Children

GENEVA, 28 August 2023 – Governments will need to recognise that inaction on the climate crisis is a child rights’ violation, factor environmental concerns into their efforts to protect and fulfill children’s rights, and empower and protect child activists, thanks to landmark new UN document published today.

In a major step for the world’s 2.4 billion children now currently experiencing the climate emergency, the new document recognizes children’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This is a result of scores of children across the world who have been calling for change, Save the Children said.

In this new text, “General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change”, the Committee of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that:

• The triple planetary crisis (pollution, climate crisis and biodiversity loss) constitute a child rights violation;
• Environmental degradation affects every aspect of children’s lives and threatens their future;
• Inaction by governments and businesses to address the environmental crisis results in child rights violation and the deprivation of their future;
• Children are not just passive victims, as demonstrated by their strong movement globally.

Through providing guidelines to national governments that have ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the Committee is now calling on these governments to:

• Integrate environmental and climate issues in their work towards the fulfilment of every other children’s right;
• Empower children and protect child campaigners and activists, demanding, among other things, that they are given access to courts and that they are protected from retaliation when they participate in activism;
• Inform children of environmental considerations and include them in decision-making processes that will affect their lives;
• Regulate business activities to ensure that they follow due diligence procedures that integrate children’s rights impact assessments into their operations.

Olt, 16, from Kosovo, is a member of child-led group Respect our Rights, which is supported by Save the Children. Olt is one of the children consulted by the Committee about this decision, and said during the campaign: “Science proves that the earth is dying and adults need to hear us because we are more aware of the damage that they have done to our world. So, it is very important to listen because our opinion is valid no matter the age, no matter who, no matter where we are from, everyone’s opinion is valid and we see the world from a different perspective than adults.”

“If I could tell world leaders something that they need to do and advice is take action now, literally now, because there is not a lot of time to take action. Our world is dying and there is so little time for us to help it, to save it. And if we don’t want our kind to go extinct, we must take action now.”

Across the world, the rate at which children are experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis is escalating. Save the Children’s report published with climate researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Born into the climate crisis: why we must act now to secure children’s rights, found that, based on the original Paris agreement pledges, children across the world will face far more climate impacts such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, cyclones and crop failures than their grandparents – particularly those in many low and middle income countries.

Michel Anglade, Director of Save the Children’s Advocacy Office in Geneva, said: “Over the past few years, children have been speaking out and forcing us to reckon with the impact of our lifestyles on the planet and, in turn, on the rights, lives and wellbeing of children and future generations. Children tell us how they and their friends are going hungry due to crop failures; how flooding prevents them from going to school – and they need us to act urgently.

“This landmark document – a response to the change spurred by children across the world – will hopefully prompt states to incorporate environmental and climate change concerns into their legislation, regulate businesses, and allow children to continue to demand climate justice.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

This “General Comment” was drafted by the Committee of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, composed of 18 independent experts who evaluate the work of governments on children’s rights. This document is a response by the UN to the wide call of children for the international community to react to current environmental devastation and climate change.

This Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 and ratified by 196 states, outlines universal children’s rights such as the right to life, survival and development. A General Comment provides guidance on what these rights imply for a specific topic or area of legislation. The now published “General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change”, explicitly addresses the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution, outlining countermeasures to protect the lives and life perspectives of children.

—ENDS–

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Source: Save The Children

A container filled with rice that Mahbuba*, 31, purchased with her food rations in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, 24 Aug 2023 – Six years after 750,000 Rohingya people fled violence in Myanmar to seek safety in Bangladesh, the health and wellbeing of more than half a million children is at risk due to recent drastic cuts in food assistance, Save the Children said.

Rohingya refugees in camps in Cox’s Bazar – the world’s largest refugee settlement – now have a third less food than five months ago – and the child rights organisation fears people will be pushed further into hunger and illness without urgent additional funding.

Rohingya refugees have told Save the Children they fear they could even starve, with one 12-year-old boy saying he has not eaten a piece of fruit in three months. Parents say they regularly go without food to feed their children and cannot sleep at night due to anxiety about how their families will survive.

Since March 2023, the World Food Programme has been forced to cut food assistance to the one million refugees in the camps by a third – to just US$8 per month or US$0.27 per day – due to a massive funding shortfall.  [1] The Rohingya refugees rely almost entirely on food aid to survive as they are not allowed to leave the camps or formally work.

In a recent assessment, several Rohingya refugee families told Save the Children how the US$0.27 a day only buys rice and a litre of oil and how their children are falling sick from the severe shortage of nutritious and diverse foods, like meat, eggs or vegetables.

Even before the first food ration cuts, 45% of Rohingya families were not eating a sufficient diet and malnutrition was widespread in the camps, with 40% of children experiencing stunted growth. [2]

After six years, conditions in the squalid, overcrowded camps are dire and inhabitants are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of the worsening climate crisis.

Nearly 37,000 Rohingya refugees saw their flimsy bamboo shelters damaged or destroyed when Cyclone Mocha struck the camps in May.[3] Recent torrential rains and landslides destroyed even more homes and killed at least four refugees, including a child and her mother. Diseases are easily spread. Scabies cases are currently increasing with more than 40% of people affected. [4]

Children are increasingly victims of physical violence as the lack of money and food impacts families. Physical abuse has accounted for more than a quarter of all cases reported to Save the Children’s child protection team this year. Children also live in fear of armed gangs who engage in drug smuggling and human trafficking. [5]

Rakib*, 12, shares a shelter with his mother Mahbuba* and sister. Six years ago, his father was shot and killed in the violence in Myanmar.

“We used to eat fresh fish in our meals before (the food cuts). Now we can’t even buy enough lentils. Sometimes I feel angry and sad when I see just only rice for a meal.”

Mahbuba* is not allowed to leave the camp to earn money and is terrified that the food assistance her family relies on could be cut even further:

“We are hearing rumours that this will be cut down to US$6 [per month] soon. If that happens, then we will have no choice except starve to death. When I go to collect rice from the food assistance outlets, I feel like crying at having such a tiny amount.”

Zia*, 12, a Rohingya refugee child, said: “Last time I had fruit was three months ago. We can’t have good food anymore. We can only afford chicken once a month.”

Zia’s 5-year-old sister, Antora*, was in hospital for 2 months after losing weight and developing an infection.

“During the two months there, they gave us nutrition support, she recovered andgot well,” said their mother, Mehrun Nesa*. “But later on, when wecould not provide her balanced diet, she fell ill again.” 

After six years as refugees, their desperation is increasing. Thousands have used people traffickers to embark on perilous boat journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia, journeys that have cost thousands of lives.[6]  There are fears that families will resort to any means to live, including child labour and child marriage.

Shaheen Chughtai, Save the Children’s Country Director in Bangladesh, said:

“After six years, there is no end in sight for the misery Rohingya refugees are having to endure. Half a million children’s lives are at risk from the food cuts. They – and their families – have lost all hope.

“The humanitarian response is at breaking point. The UN’s 2023 humanitarian response plan for the Rohingya refugees is only 30% funded. [7] This is a children’s crisis, and those children are in danger of becoming a lost generation.

“They cannot remain stateless and unprotected, living their lives in isolated limbo.  The international community should demonstrate it has not turned its back on them – and to properly fund the humanitarian programmes in the camps.

“Most Rohingya refugees say they want to go back to their homes when conditions allow for a safe, dignified and voluntary return with a guarantee that their rights will be upheld. Until that happens, we must move beyond using humanitarian aid as a plaster. After six years, we cannot continue with a short term approach. The international community must show now that it has not forgotten the Rohingya refugees.”

*  Names changed to protect identity

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Save the Children conducted a qualitative study in the Cox’s Bazar camps from 26-31 July 2023.  We spoke to 93 people which included 39 children.

Save the Children is one of the leading international NGOs working in Cox’s Bazar and has been there since 2012. It has reached about 600,000 Rohingya refugees, including more than 320,000 children, since the response began in 2017.

Save the Children, with the support of the Bangladesh government, is running over 100 centres that support children’s learning and well-being in their mother tongue – Rohingya. Now we are helping these children learn Burmese by using the Myanmar curriculum.

 [1] UN in Bangladesh appeals for immediate funding as Rohingya refugees face new cuts in food aid | United Nations in Bangladesh

2 https://www.wfp.org/news/lack-funds-forces-wfp-cut-rations-rohingya-bangladesh

3 https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/unicef-bangladesh-humanitarian-situation-report-no-64-january-june-2023

4 https://msfsouthasia.org/bangladesh-scabies-in-rohingya-refugee-camps/

5 https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/13/bangladesh-spiraling-violence-against-rohingya-refugees

6  https://www.unhcr.org/news/unhcr-seeks-comprehensive-regional-response-address-rise-deadly-south-east-asia-sea-journeys

7 https://fts.unocha.org/appeals/1143/summary

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For further enquiries please contact:

We have Shaheen Chughtai available as a spokesperson.

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Source: Save The Children

Ayaz, 1,  Fahim, 12, Anisa, 11, Salema, 8, Maleka, 6, and Jesmin, 4, posing for a photo in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Saddam Hosen / Save the Children.

Context: In 2017 hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fled violence in Rakhine state in Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh. Most ended up in Cox’s Bazar, which was already hosting refugees from previous waves of displacement. Cox’s Bazar is now the world’s largest refugee camp.

In Mahbuba’s own words

“I’ve worked on Save the Children’s refugee response in Cox’s Bazar since 2017 and I’ve seen some things getting better for the children in the camps – and some things far worse.

The Rohingya refugee arrivals from 2017 have endured six years of disasters in the camps, including cyclones, floods and landslides. Their shelters are slightly less flimsy than they were in 2017.  They are mostly made of bamboo and plastic sheets, so they easily get damaged or destroyed in extreme weather. There have also been many fires over the years, which quickly sweep through people’s homes, which are tightly packed together. It is of course still the world’s largest refugee camp – and it’s still really overcrowded.

The Rohingya refugees were dealt a further blow in February this year when the World Food Programme (WFP) reduced food rations due to funding cuts. It came at a time when food prices were rising in Bangladesh and as a result, many families across the camps are experiencing food insecurity. I’ve spoken to desperate people who can no longer afford nutritious food, such as vegetables and lentils. Meat is out of the question for most. My nutrition colleagues are seeing more cases of malnourished children and pregnant women in recent months than they have for a long time.

Antora, 5, helps her mother prepare a meal with their food rations in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Rubina Alee / Save the Children.

Faced with such dire circumstances, my team – which is tasked with protecting children from direct harm – is hearing more and more cases of families resorting to dangerous coping mechanisms, such as marrying off their girls before they are of age. Many families see this as having one less mouth to feed when food is scarce. My team is also seeing a concerning rise in cases of child labour. It’s incredibly sad to see children robbed of their childhoods in this way.

Over the past year, there has been an increase in incidences of violence in the camps, including clashes between armed groups. There’s also a marked increase in gender-based violence. There have been cases of gangs raping and sexually abusing Rohingya women, but it’s often not reported.

My colleagues saw an increase in violence in refugee homes during the COVID 19 pandemic when people were quarantining with their families. We are still hearing cases of fathers and husbands becoming hostile and sometimes violent toward their partners and children, and mothers punishing their children more harshly as a negative coping mechanism during the home confinement. 

Many children have witnessed or experienced violence themselves. They are understandably upset and afraid. My team provides children with psychological first aid, psychosocial support and counselling, so they can process their experiences in a safe environment. Our social workers/case worker also support women and girls who have experienced sexual violence, as well as supporting them to receive essential health services.

Living in a refugee camp for years on end takes a psychological toll as people face uncertain futures. It’s also difficult for people to depend almost entirely on humanitarian aid.

But that’s not to say that there aren’t any positives to report.

We used to see many cases of children getting lost or going missing. There are now far fewer cases of unaccompanied children as we can use our strong networks across the camps to quickly locate lost children and reunite them with their families.

I’ve personally found that children are now more aware of their rights which is really heartening. They have the skills to speak up and protect themselves from harm. They have a voice and they can say no.

There are also positives in terms of refugees’ resilience in the face of unimaginable adversity.

Refugees aren’t allowed to leave the camps to work outside in the host community, but there is a level of small-scalebusiness in the camps. I’ve seen women gaining confidence to set up small businesses. I know a very young woman who set up a shop beside her house, selling vegetables and snacks.

There’s another young woman whose story stays with me. When she was a child, my colleagues discouraged her parents from arranging a marriage. She’s now 18 years old and a volunteer with a big NGO here. Last week she told me she has been speaking to other families about the dangers of child marriage.

These stories give me some hope, but the humanitarian needs remain truly enormous.

Bangladesh will continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis, and I fear many more homes and lives will be lost in Cox’s Bazar. Rohingya people are living in appalling and unsafe conditions. Six years on, more funding is desperately needed. The world must not turn its back on the one million Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar.

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Notes

The Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar is suffering from acute food insecurity, defined as IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) despite the presence of significant assistance. Additionally, the presence of IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) population highlights additional needs and inability to meet their essential needs, according to IPC

95% of all Rohingya households are moderately to highly vulnerable and remain entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance, similar to 2020 (96%), according to 2023 Bangladesh Humanitarian Response Plan

The Global Acute Malnutrition rate for Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh stands at 12 percent – just below the 15 percent WHO ‘Emergency’ threshold but still categorized as ‘Serious’. Some 40 percent of children have stunted growth and 40 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are anaemic – all this is before the World Food Programme food ration cut, according to the World Health Organisation.

Save the Children

Save the Children has been working in Cox’s Bazar since 2012 and increased activities significantly following the 2017 exodus of refugees to Bangladesh with programmes in education, health and nutrition, food, water, shelter and child protection services. Following disasters such as landslides and fires, Save the Children provides emergency assistance to children and their families, including temporary shelter in our learning spaces.

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For further enquiries please contact:

–          Daphnee Cook Daphnee.cook@savethechildren.org / +254 717 524 904 (in Nairobi)

–          Rachel Thompson, Rachel.Thompson@savethechildren.org

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