Category: Children and Wellbeing

Source: Save The Children

The Impact on Families & Children

Since 2017, Rohingya refugee children have gone without formal education, parents and caregivers have gone without employment, and all refugees have become more vulnerable to injury from fires, flooding, and rising insecurity.

As a result, many families are reliant on food rations and need access to safe water and healthcare.

Food assistance for the Rohingya refugees has been cut by a third in just 5 months – it’s now only $8 a month per person, or $0.27 cents a day. This is because of a massive funding shortfall for the World Food Programme.

The 500,000 Rohingya children living in Cox’s Bazar are worried about their futures. They need hope.

Now is the time to show them that the international community has not turned its back on them. Read the stories of Sultana*, Rakib*, Ayaz* and Antora*.

Note: All text written in italics are direct quotes.

Please donate to our Children´s Emergency Fund.

Source: Save The Children

BRUSSELS, 23 August 2023 – European policymakers must take urgent action to create safe routes for migrants, following devastating reports that 18 people, including two children, were killed this week in wildfires in northern Greece, said Save the Children.

Federica Toscano, Senior Advocacy Advisor for Children on the Move at Save the Children Europe, said:

“Children continue to die – at sea and on land – as they embark on perilous journeys to escape conflict and violence in search of safety in Europe. The EU’s policies of deterrence and externalisation are causing human tragedies at its borders almost daily. The latest tragedy with 18 people killed in Greek wildfire, in an area that is a crossing point for thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe, is no exception.”

“This is a stark reminder of the urgent need for the EU and Member States to prioritise safe paths for families seeking protection in Europe and find effective climate crisis solutions. No child should die because of the way Europe handles pressing challenges it faces. Safe routes save lives.”

Save the Children runs programmes in many European countries, including close to border areas and disembarkation points, focusing on emergency assistance, child protection, information and psychosocial support, training and education.

ENDS

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Source: Save The Children

Damages to the block of flats hit by missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on July 31, 2023. More content available here and here

KYIV, 22 August 2023 – Child casualties in Ukraine increased by more than 7% between May to August compared to the previous four months as air and drone attacks tripled, with no end to the danger faced by children after 18 months of war, Save the Children said today. 

Since May 2023, a total of 148 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine, bringing the number of child casualties since the escalation of war on 24 Feb last year to more than 1,700, according to UN data. This includes 545 deaths, with 24 children killed this summer.

The month of June was the deadliest so far this year for children with 11 children killed and 43 more injured. According to verified UN data,[1] there was an increase in all civilian casualties in Ukraine in between 1 May and 13 August with June recording the highest number of total civilian casualties in 2023 at 865.

Conflict analytics reports showed that between Jan 1- April 30 there were 459 air and drone strikes. This rose to 1,432 between 1 May and 4 August, with about 95% of these attacks in populated areas. 

In one such attack on the morning of 31 July, a missile hit an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih, Southern Dnipro, destroying five storeys of a high-rise building.  A 10-year-old girl and her mother were killed in the incident, with more than 80 further reported casualties, including seven injured children.  

Lyudmyla’s* apartment was one of more than 250 homes damaged in the neighbourhood. All the windows of her family’s home were blown out by the explosion and the noise woke up her 18-year-old grandson.  

“He was shocked, and rushed outside straight from his bed once he heard the explosion. He could not even change his clothes. He later came back to grab documents and that is when another explosion occurred. He was terrified by such a loud noise,” said Lyudmyla*, 65. 

“My two other grandchildren – aged 11 and 13 – were staying with their mother at a relative’s house. They were just 300 metres away from the explosion. The windows and doors were also blown out at that apartment. Everyone was scared.” 

On 11 August, an 8-year-old boy was killed in Kolomyia, western Ukraine, after a missile struck the back garden of his family home. A family of four was killed by shelling in Kherson region two days later, including a 12-year-old boy and a baby girl just 23 days old. Just last week on 19 August, a six-year-old girl was among the seven people killed and 180 injured in an attack in the northern city of Chernihiv. 

Amjad Yamin, Save the Children’s Advocacy Director in Ukraine, said: 

“Ukraine is 18 months into full-scale war, and there seems to be no reprieve from the perilous circumstances endured by children and families. We have witnessed numerous attacks on populated areas that took the lives of children and their parents, left hundreds of people injured or severely distressed, and damaged or destroyed homes, plunging thousands of families into uncertainty.  

“Since last February, more than 1,700 children have been killed or injured due to unrelenting hostilities. The vast majority of those casualties are attributed to missiles and drones being fired at residential areas. This serves as a grim reminder that explosive weapons should not be used anywhere near populated areas, such as towns and villages.” 

Save the Children is calling on all sides to adhere 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.    

Save the Children has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, delivering humanitarian aid to children and their families affected by hostilities. It is also supporting refugee families across Europe and helping children to access education and other critical services.   

ENDS  

*names are changed to protect identity.

NOTES:

Ukraine: Civilian casualties – 24 February 2022 to 30 June 2023 | OHCHR 

Ukraine: civilian casualty update 31 July 2023 | OHCHR

Ukraine: civilian casualty update 14 August 2023 | OHCHR

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Source: Save The Children

Damages to the block of flats hit by missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on July 31, 2023. More content available here and here

KYIV, 22 August 2023 – Child casualties in Ukraine increased by more than 16% between May to August compared to the previous four months as air and drone attacks tripled, with no end to the danger faced by children after 18 months of war, Save the Children said today. 

Since May 2023, a total of 151 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine, bringing the number of child casualties since the escalation of war on 24 Feb last year to 1,680, according to UN data. This includes 541 deaths, with 25 children killed this summer. 

The month of June was the deadliest so far this year for children with 12 children killed and 45 more injured. According to verified UN data,¹ there was an increase in all civilian casualties in Ukraine in between 1 May and 13 August with July recording the highest number of total civilian casualties in 2023 at 848. 

Conflict analytics reports showed that between Jan 1- April 30 there were 459 air and drone strikes. This rose to 1,432 between 1 May and 4 August, with about 95% of these attacks in populated areas. 

In one such attack on the morning of 31 July, a missile hit an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih, Southern Dnipro, destroying five storeys of a high-rise building.  A 10-year-old girl and her mother were killed in the incident, with more than 80 further reported casualties, including five injured children.  

Lyudmyla’s* apartment was one of more than 250 homes damaged in the neighbourhood. All the windows of her family’s home were blown out by the explosion and the noise woke up her 18-year-old grandson.  

“He was shocked, and rushed outside straight from his bed once he heard the explosion. He could not even change his clothes. He later came back to grab documents and that is when another explosion occurred. He was terrified by such a loud noise,” said Lyudmyla*, 65. 

“My two other grandchildren – aged 11 and 13 – were staying with their mother at a relative’s house. They were just 300 metres away from the explosion. The windows and doors were also blown out at that apartment. Everyone was scared.” 

On 11 August, an 8-year-old boy was killed in Kolomyia, western Ukraine, after a missile struck the back garden of his family home. A family of four was killed by shelling in Kherson region two days later, including a 12-year-old boy and a baby girl just 23 days old. Just last week on 19 August, a six-year-old girl was among the seven people killed and 180 injured in an attack in the northern city of Chernihiv. 

Amjad Yamin, Save the Children’s Advocacy Director in Ukraine, said: 

“Ukraine is 18 months into full-scale war, and there seems to be no reprieve from the perilous circumstances endured by children and families. We have witnessed numerous attacks on populated areas that took the lives of children and their parents, left hundreds of people injured or severely distressed, and damaged or destroyed homes, plunging thousands of families into uncertainty.  

“Since last February, more than 1,680 children have been killed or injured due to unrelenting hostilities. The vast majority of those casualties are attributed to missiles and drones being fired at residential areas. This serves as a grim reminder that explosive weapons should not be used anywhere near populated areas, such as towns and villages.” 

Save the Children is calling on all sides to adhere 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.    

Save the Children has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, delivering humanitarian aid to children and their families affected by hostilities. It is also supporting refugee families across Europe and helping children to access education and other critical services.   

ENDS  

*names are changed to protect identity.

NOTES:

Ukraine: Civilian casualties – 24 February 2022 to 30 June 2023 | OHCHR 

For more information please contact:

Source: Save The Children

KHARTOUM, 22 August 2023 – At least 498 children in Sudan and likely hundreds more have died from hunger, including two dozen babies in a state orphanage, as critical services run out of food or close,  said Save the Children.

Since the violence broke out in April, Save the Children has been forced to close 57 of its nutrition facilities, with 31,000 children missing out on treatment for malnutrition and related illnesses across the country. In the 108 facilities the agency still operates, therapeutic food stocks are running critically low, with buffer stock, or emergency supplies, now being used in the most extreme cases.

In Gedaref state in eastern Sudan, at least 132 children died from malnutrition between April and July, with 36% of all cases of children admitted to one state hospital with the condition dying from it or related illnesses. The hospital has also reported a significant increase in cases of malnutrition, with children recently displaced from Khartoum and living in squalid camps particularly affected.

In White Nile state, at least 316 children mostly under five, died from malnutrition or associated illnesses between May and July, and over 2,400 cases of children with severe acute malnutrition – the deadliest form of malnutrition – were admitted to nutrition facilities since the beginning of the year.

In Khartoum, at least 50 children, including at least two dozen babies, died of starvation or related illnesses in a state orphanage after fighting prevented staff from accessing the building to care for them.

Even before the conflict started, funding shortages had led to Sudan nearly exhausting its supplies of high-calorie and micronutrient rich peanut pastes, essential for treating malnutrition, including the “Plumpy’Nut” and “Plumpy’Sup” pastes.

In May Sudan’s only factory for manufacturing “Plumpy’Nut” was burned to the ground. The factory, which supplied aid agencies like Save the Children and the World Food Program (WFP), had been producing around 10,000 tons of the paste each year.

Dozens of warehouses storing food for WFP as well as aid organisations like Save the Children have been raided since the start of the conflict, with WFP declaring in May that at least US$14 million of food supplies had been looted. Dozens of WFP trucks are also being delayed at border points, further exacerbating the crisis.

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

“Never did we think we would see children dying from hunger in such numbers, but this is now the reality in Sudan.                                                                                                                                                                

“Seriously ill children are arriving in the arms of desperate mothers and fathers at nutrition centres across the country and our staff have few options on how to treat them. We are seeing children dying from entirely preventable hunger.

“The looting of UN warehouses, the burning of the therapeutic food factory, and the lack of funding have put significant strain on supplies of therapeutic nutritional products across the country

“Our pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears. The funding appeals for Sudan remain only 27% funded, with partners in Sudan still unable to access the much-needed funds.

“With humanitarian access deteriorating on a daily basis, the international community must step up and work to not only increase funding but to find collective solutions to ensure that the much-needed food and assistance can be safely delivered to children and their families across Sudan, including those trapped by the fighting.”

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:

– On 12 August 2023 , the Director General of the Children’s Hospital in Gedaref state Dr. Nisreen Abu Gadder said malnutrition diseases had claimed the lives of 132 children, in light of a significant increase in the incidence of the disease in the state and inside the camps sheltering the displaced fleeing the war in Khartoum. The Children’s Hospital recorded 365 cases of malnutrition from the beginning of April to the end of July 2023. A total of 33 deaths were recorded in April, compared to 41 in May, and 24 in June, compared to 34 deaths in July. She said that the death rate among children from malnutrition was 20% of the cases received by the hospital. She pointed to the high incidence of malnutrition in four localities in the state, which are the localities of Al-Mafaza, Qallabat Al-Sharqiyyah, Rural Qala’ Al-Nahil and Qilabat Al-Gharbiyya.

– In 2022 Save the Children supported 57 TSFP (Targeted Supplementary Feeding Program) clinics, with an annual caseload of 31,658 children aged 6-59 months of age. These have now been suspended, with the same number of children no longer receiving 

—ENDS–

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Source: Save The Children

ABUJA, 17 August 2023 – More than 1,680 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State, with fear of attacks stopping some children from ever attending school, said Save the Children.  

In April 2014, the abduction from a school in Chibok made global headlines and sparked the #BringBackOurGirls movement and protests, which attracted public support from celebrities and public figures including Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton, and then First Lady Michelle Obama.  

However new data analysis by Save the Children reveals that attacks on schools have been continuing out the spotlight and highlights the violence that schoolchildren and teachers face across Nigeria.

In addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed. Twenty-five school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period. 

The majority of these attacks took place in North-West Nigeria (49 attacks), followed by North-Central Nigeria (11 attacks).  

These attacks have long-lasting consequences for communities and for children’s access to education, often leading to the mass withdrawal of children from school and school closures. In Katsina state in the North-Western part of the country, nearly 100 schools remain closed due to insecurity, affecting the education of over 30,000 children.  

In the aftermath of attacks, children and communities are left traumatised, and the majority do not receive psychological support.

During focus group discussions with affected communities, Save the Children staff found that many children were too scared to return to school. One girl, who survived the Chibok school attack, said: “I am afraid of being a victim some other day and afraid of dying or rape by the insurgents”.¹ 

Famari Barro, Country Director at Save the Children Nigeria, said more needs to be done to prevent attacks but also to support children and their families in the aftermath.  

“Nearly 10 years after the tragic abduction of the Chibok girls made international headlines, more than 90 of them are still held or missing, and countless children and teachers still live under the threat of violence, forcing many to flee or interrupt their education, sometimes forever.

“The combination of the trauma and loss of education resulting from these attacks is likely to be lifelong unless children are provided with the means and support to recover from the traumatic events they have been through and are able to return to school. It is vital that children’s lives and right to education are protected through the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration across the country.” 

In 2015 Nigeria endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, which seeks to ensure the continuity of safe education during armed conflict and outlines commitments to strengthen the protection of education from attack, but it remains largely unimplemented at the state and community levels. Rural community schools remain vulnerable to attacks.  

Ibrahim Zanna Sunoma, Deputy Speaker of the National Children’s Parliament, Nigeriasaid:  

“We are appealing to the government and other relevant stakeholders to prioritise expanding the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration across the country to ensure that children can learn in a protective environment in schools.  

“Government at all levels should ensure the implementation of the national policy on safety, security and violence-free schools that would prevent education from attacks, more investments and funding should be made in preventing Education from attacks in all 36 States of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).” 

Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001 and responding to the humanitarian crisis since 2014, providing food, clean water, nutrition and protection services, sexual and reproductive health care, and education to families across the region.  

Save the Children is also providing technical support to the government on policy changes and reforms, especially in critical sectors such as health, education, and social protection.   

In 2017, Save the Children launched Schools as Zones of Peace, a project which works with partners in Education in Emergencies Working Group (EIEWG) to support the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and its guidelines to ensure the protection of education from attack.

Notes to Editor: 

1. Interviewed in December 2021. 

—ENDS–

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Source: Save The Children

Sonia Kush, Ukraine Country Director. Save the Children

“I had been working in Iraq for several months and during the summer of 2003 I was based in Baghdad. We took some security precautions but we moved around relatively freely setting up Save the Children’s programmes and spending a lot of time at the Canal Hotel, which was the centre of the UN operation. The canteen at the Canal Hotel was a popular meeting spot for international and local NGOs, both to eat and to use the Internet.

Only a few days after landing back in the US, the news broke that the Canal Hotel was bombed, claiming the lives of 22 people. It was shocking. It was tragic. People I had been working with died that day, all dedicated professionals who had come to Iraq with a clear purpose to support people affected the conflict. As I watched the terrible scenes unfold on the TV, all I could think of was how courageous and passionate those colleagues were, and what a loss it was for the world that they were gone.

It was a real wake-up call for the humanitarian community, a major turning point. This attack was one of the most lethal in UN history, and it was the first time that a neutral international humanitarian organisation had been deliberately targeted like this. From then on we had to be far more aware of how we were perceived, the threats, and what would require increased levels of security.

This attack marked a new phase with the world changing in the past 20 years for humanitarian workers and the people they support. The number of incidents involving aid workers has more than trebled since 2003 with on average about 450 aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped every year. This creates new challenges for humanitarian workers and their employers who now have to spend more on security and risk mitigation to try to keep their workforce safe.

But one of the main challenges we have right now is access – trying to reach all vulnerable populations, regardless of whose control they live under. This really plays out in conflict settings where you often have different groups controlling different parts of a territory with no guarantee of safe access for aid or aid workers.

The world today is a lot more politicized in terms of sanctions or donor regulations that may make it easier to work in some areas than others. As an independent, neutral, humanitarian organisation wanting to reach all children, we really have to navigate a lot of politics and restrictions to ensure we can reach the most vulnerable, wherever they are.

And sadly it is only getting worse. At times, we have to justify why we need to help people, often faced with questions like why we don’t just ignore this or that group.

We obviously take a side. We take the side of children. Of their rights, of their need for food, education, healthcare and a clean environment. Which, interestingly, often puts us on a path of collision with certain governments or authorities that may not be doing things that benefit their own populations. So how do we be brave and speak out, yet still be able to operate in the same country? That’s an ongoing issue that we constantly deal with in some of the countries where we work.

It is not all bleak. Some things have improved over the past 20 years. Technology, for instance, has changed the way we work. Whether the prevalence of internet and mobile devices, or the use of cash as a response modality, these are widely accepted and the norm now as opposed to 20 years ago.

People are also better prepared in general, especially for natural disasters. In Bangladesh, for example, we don’t see the huge death tolls from cyclones that we used to see in the 1970s or 1980s.

Some of the issues are the same as in the past for any child caught up in a conflict setting. Children need protection. They need mental health support. They need to get an education. And they want to express themselves. So many of the needs haven’t changed, but we’ve learned a lot on how to address them.

Another interesting change – and we already see it happening – is the new generation of humanitarian workers are largely coming out from humanitarian responses in their own countries.  For example in Ukraine, I have about seven staff from the Middle East who grew up through the Syria conflict and worked on the Syria Response in different countries. I have a few who honed their skills in Ethiopia and others in Yemen. All are now working here in Ukraine, bringing everything that they learned from being part of those response both as staff and sometimes as people themselves deeply impacted by those events.

Workers like myself really believe in the humanitarian principles of independence, impartiality, humanity and neutrality, but our ability to act and deliver in accordance with those principles is challenged these days. The mistake we have collectively made is that we assumed since we have these principles, they will always be here. But I guess we learnt that these, like other rights, need to be continuously fought for to make sure they are not eroded.

One positive change we’d like to see in coming years would be for humanitarian agencies to be empowered to continue to follow the principles that we were founded on – independence, impartiality, neutrality and humanity. Also for states and donors and parties to conflicts to recognise us as independent players so that aid doesn’t become instrumentalized, or is used to further a certain side or a certain cause.

What keeps me motivated? I’ll tell you a story.

When I was working in the camps in northeast Syria, there was a little American boy whose parents had been killed and he was being cared for by a caretaker in the camp.

He eventually ended up with Save the Children in a centre that we were running for unaccompanied children. Our staff were able to use their presence and networks in the camps to find a phone number for his aunt in the US. We independently verified that this boy was indeed related to this family. The family was then supported by the US government who repatriated the boy and brought him to his grandparents in the US.

A few weeks after the boy returned home, the grandfather sent my colleague a video of him dancing in his house. Having seen him in the camp in northeast Syria and then seeing him dancing in his grandparent’s house – it was just amazing. That is what keeps me motivated. Every child’s life we change for the better is my motivation.”

—-

Sonia Khush is Save the Children’s Country Director for Ukraine, based in Kyiv. She was previously the Syria Response Director, based in various locations in the Middle East from 2015-2022, and prior to that a Senior Director for Humanitarian Response. Deployments included the Ebola Response in Liberia (2014), Philippines Typhoon Haiyan Response (2013), Haiti Earthquake (2010), and Banda Aceh Tsunami (2004), and Palestine (2001-2002). 

Sonia worked on Save the Children’s programmes in Iraq from 2003-2006. This including leading the start-up of our response from Kuwait into southern Iraq, and then initiating programming in Baghdad before returning to the US headquarters. It was a bombing attack at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad in 2003 killing 22 humanitarian aid workers and injuring more than 150 other people that led to the United Nations designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day (WHD). 

Sonia graduated from Tufts University (BA) and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (MA)

Source: Save The Children

• Four months since the brutal conflict began, extreme hunger is creating additional life-threatening risks for children
• New projections show more people will experience crisis levels of hunger in Sudan than any other time in the past decade.

Khartoum, 15 August – An additional 1.5 million children in Sudan are expected to fall into crisis levels of hunger by September, as violent conflict, displacement and sky-high food prices persist and a likely poor seasonal harvest predicted.

By June, nearly 8 million – or one in every three children – in the country were suffering crisis levels of food shortages, or IPC Phase 3 and above. Between July and September, this figure is expected to rise to 9.5 million, or an extra 17,000 children on average per day.

The number of people facing hunger in Sudan has doubled over the past year, with more than 20.3 million or over 42% of the country’s 46 million people facing crisis levels of food insecurity. This number is the highest number of people going hungry in Sudan since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) started listing hunger data for the country in 2012, and possibly a longer period beforehand.

Regions with the highest levels of active conflict are showing the highest presence of food shortages, with the worst impacted populations in West Darfur (where 62% of the population is highly food insecure), Khartoum and South Kordofan.

Sudan’s planting season, normally starting in May, has been completely upended, with thousands of farmers forced from their land and leaving the ground fallow. The price of sorghum, millet and wheat is also substantially higher than normal.   Sorghum  is the staple food for the majority of poor households in central and eastern Sudan regions, millet is the staple in Darfur, and wheat the staple food for northern states.

Wide looting of markets, shops, banks, homes and public buildings led to an increased shortage of essential supplies, further aggravating the fragile food insecurity and malnutrition.

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

“People are struggling to stay safe and not be killed in the violence, while also struggling to get enough food to eat. In conflict areas, if you go to a market, you risk being robbed, shelled, murdered, or caught in the cross-fire. If you get to that market, the chances are, the shelves are empty.

“It’s impossible to over emphasize the seriousness of the situation in Sudan. This is a desperate, dire crisis for children. We are talking millions of individuals being pushed from their homes, leaving everything behind, eating one measly meal a day. 

“There should be an urgent end to the conflict and the international community should step up for the children of Sudan.”

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 to provide humanitarian relief to people affected by the drought in western Sudan. Since then, we’ve been supporting children and families affected by conflict, displacement, extreme poverty, hunger and a lack of basic services. Many of the children and families we serve are among the most vulnerable and hardest to reach.

NOTES:

• In the latest IPC Acute Food Insecurity Snapshot for Sudan, Over 16.9 million people in Sudan experienced high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) in June 2023. This number is estimated to increase to 20.3 million people between July and September 2023.
• Around 47% – or 23 million – of the population of Sudan are children. The proportion of children in these figures is estimated at 7.9 million (June) and 9.5 million (July – September) respectively.

—ENDS–

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Source: Save The Children

Eight-month old Nadira* is screened for malnutrition in Jawzjan, Afghanistan. Nadira has been diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), as drought and poverty take their toll. Photo by Shekiba Mohammadi/Save the Children. More content available here

Content available here

KABUL, 15 August 2023 –More than a third (38.4%) of children surveyed in Afghanistan have been pushed into work to help their families cope with soaring levels of poverty and hunger, two years since the Taliban regained control, Save the Children said[i] .

Children are being forced into dangerous situations to support themselves and their families, with staff from the child rights organisation reporting that one girl was crushed to death by a truck as she was smuggling goods over a border crossing.

Three quarters of children (76.1%) surveyed said they are eating less than they were a year ago as the country’s worst drought in 30 years has caused crops to fail, livestock to die and put food and water further out of reach for children and their families. The drought has impacted 58% of the households interviewed by Save the Children. 

This new initial analysis by Save the Children, based on a survey of households in six provinces, shows the stark needs of people in the country experiencing a deadly mix of poverty, climate change, and hunger. With millions deprived of food aid due to cuts in international funding, this should be a wake-up call to the international community to stop looking away.

Sajida*, 31, and her family in northern Afghanistan have been badly hit by the drought and economic crisis. Sajida wishes she could feed her children potatoes, fruit and meat, but they can only afford rice. Two of her children, 8-month old twins Nahida* and Nadira*, have been diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and are receiving treatment at a mobile health clinic run by Save the Children.

Sajida said: “We don’t have water in our village. We go to another village and use donkeys to bring water back here. There are long queues [of people] waiting for water. All the farmers pray for rain, but this year they are hopeless. They think the drought will destroy normal life here.”

She added: “My children come and say to me: “Mum, we don’t want to eat boiled rice. Give us potato fries.” But with teary eyes, I say: “I wish we had potatoes in the kitchen, but the only food I can cook is boiled rice.”

“They are very young, and they don’t know what it means to be poor and to not have money to buy potatoes. I feel bad seeing the condition of my children. I can’t give them a good life, not even a portion of good food.”

Afghanistan is one of the world’s starkest illustrations of the deadly toll the climate crisis is having on families who depend on agriculture in order to survive. The country is now facing its third consecutive year of drought, which is affecting more than half the population.

Levels of hunger are higher in northern Afghanistan, where families rely heavily on farming to survive. Here, the drought has led to severe hunger in one in three households – 34.3% – in Sar-e-Pul province and one in five households – 20.7% – in Jawzjan, home to Sajida and her family. [ii]. For comparison, about 6% of households in Nangarhar and Kabul provinces reported severe hunger respectively.

Hunger not only has a serious impact on children’s physical health but also on mental health, creating anxiety and depression[iii].

Women and girls are at the sharp end, with more than twice as many female-headed households living with severe hunger as male-headed households[iv] and 17% more girls than boys are eating less than they were last year[v].

All this has led to child labour, with more than a third (38.4% ) of children surveyed working to support their family, and 12.5% of households reporting having their children migrating for work, opening up an unprecedented child protection crisis, according to the child rights organisation.

Save the Children does not have comparable data from the same provinces last year. However recent data from the International Labour Organisation found one in 10 children across Afghanistan are engaged in child labour[vi].

Arshad Malik, Country Director for Save the Children in Afghanistan, said: “Two years since the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan, conditions for children and their families are abysmal. What we are seeing is a perfect storm of the climate crisis, poverty and the legacy of conflict inflicting hunger, malnutrition and misery on people who have done nothing to contribute to any of these conditions.

“The fact that children are being pushed into unsafe practices such as labour and migration should send shockwaves around the world. We received a recent report where a small girl was crushed to death while she hid under a moving truck on the Torkham border, as she was forced to smuggle goods across.

“We hope that the international community, which has significantly cut funding to critical food aid across Afghanistan, will rethink this isolationist approach, remember the millions of innocent children whose lives are in jeopardy, and stop punishing them for decisions they have had nothing to do with.”

Save the Children is calling for an urgent injection of humanitarian aid as well as long-term development assistance from the international community for the growing needs of people in Afghanistan. The aid group is also urging donor governments not to freeze or suspend ongoing and existing funding towards humanitarian work in Afghanistan, as this will have a devastating effect on the civilian population, particularly women and girls. Children’s rights, especially girl’s right to education, must be prioritised by all stakeholders.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Save the Children’s initial analysis surveyed 1207 adults and 1205 children in Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan, Kabul, Nangarhar, and Sar-e-Pul provinces, Afghanistan, between 8 July and 2 August 2023.

Save the Children has worked in Afghanistan since 1976, including during periods of conflict, regime change, and natural disasters. It has programs in nine provinces and works with partners in an additional six provinces.

Since the Taliban regained control in August 2021, Save the Children has been scaling up its response to support the increasing number of children in need in areas that were previously inaccessible. Save the Children delivers health, nutrition, education, child protection, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, and food security and livelihood support. Since September 2021, Save the Children has reached more than 4 million people, including 2.1 million children.

*name has been changed to protect anonymity

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Source: Save The Children

ROME, 9 August 2023 – EU and its member states must take responsibility and prevent migrant deaths at sea by improving search and rescue efforts in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Save the Children said after three deadly shipwrecks over the past week.

Giovanna Di Benedetto, Save the Children’s spokesperson in Italy, said it had been a deadly week on the Mediterranean. According to reports, 41 migrants including three children died in a shipwreck last week off the Italian island of Lampedusa. Another two vessels capsized on the weekend in the same area, with the bodies of a woman and toddler recovered by the Italian coastguard. Based on survivors’ first accounts, dozens of people are still missing.

“How many more ‘wakeup calls’ do EU governments need? While thousands of Europeans are enjoying their holidays in the Mediterranean, children are drowning. The EU is ignoring their duty of care for children and families seeking safety in Europe. We fear there will be more bodies before we see meaningful change. This is a tragedy for all Europeans.

“Deaths on the move are not inevitable. One of the reasons for such deaths at Europe’s land and sea border is the EU’s failure to provide safe and legal routes for those seeking safety.

“Save the Children calls on the EU and its member states to take responsibility and prevent migrant deaths at sea by improving search and rescue efforts and ensuring ships in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, whether they are NGOs or merchant vessels, face no obstacles when they rescue people in distress and help them reach safety.”

Save the Children runs programmes in many European countries, including close to border areas and disembarkation points, focusing on emergency assistance, child protection, information and psychosocial support, training and education.

END

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