Category: New Zealand Associations and Organisaitons

Source: Save The Children

Olympian Inés Melchor, Peru, long-distance runner, looks at her medals. Credit: Save the Children/ Miguel Angel Arreategui Rodrigue

• The Paris Olympics start on 26 July and celebrate global excellence in sport; meanwhile millions of children around the world are denied sporting opportunities due to poverty, conflict, gender or disability.

PARIS, 23 July 2024 – Too many children are missing out on the opportunity to take part in sport in a safe and enjoyable environment, said Save the Children, with the organisation joining Olympians and children to call for greater recognition of sport as an essential right for children [1]. 

Physical activity is essential for children and adolescents’ physical growth, cognitive development, motor skills, and overall mental wellbeing, with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommending children and adolescents do at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day. However, around 81% of adolescents globally do not meet recommended levels of activity according to the WHO.

Sport is particularly important for children, as in addition to the health benefits, it also gives them the opportunity to make friends and feel connected. Physical activity including sport can also benefit children’s mental health, improving mood, and boosting cognitive function  according to the WHO.  

Yet many children around the world are unable to access sports and the associated benefits due to factors such as gender, conflict, poverty, or their refugee status, said Save the Children.  

The child rights agency spoke to children and former Olympians from around the world to learn about what sport means to them.  

Inés Melchor from Peru, a long-distance runner who participated in the Athens 2004, London 2012 and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, said: 

“Sport is hugely beneficial for children and adolescents’ physical and mental health. It combats stress and sets them on a good path for a healthy life. We need to value children’s participation in sport and provide them with opportunities and encouragement to take part.” 

Nikkita Holder from Canada, who participated in the 100-meter hurdles and the 100-meter relay in the London 2012 Olympics, said: 

“Sport is essential for children’s development, yet too many miss out. Every child has the right to participate in sports, but unfortunately, barriers such as poverty, gender discrimination and disability prevent many children from playing. As a community, it is our responsibility to break down these barriers and ensure that all children have the chance to experience physical and mental benefits of sports.” 

Since 2018, Save the Children and The Arsenal Foundation’s Coaching for Life programme [2] has given almost 5,000 refugee children living in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan the opportunity to play football. The programme challenges gender inequality and encourages communities to support girls’ participation in football – there are now an equal number of girls and boys taking part.  

Rehab*, 15, is a junior coach with the Coaching for Life programme, and initially faced resistance from some members of her community for participating in sport. She said: 

“They (the community) think that boys can play football, but girls shouldn’t. They have the mindset that girls should stay at home, clean, and not go out for training or work. These beliefs are rooted in traditional norms and expectations.” 

Children with disabilities often encounter challenges when trying to participate in sports, said Save the Children. Langyuan, 17, from China, faced barriers to accessing sport due to preconceptions about his hearing impairment and learning difficulties. He joined Save the Children China’s Disability and Inclusion Programme [3] at the age of 8, where he fully achieved his potential for sport. Since joining the programme, Langyuan has grown in confidence and has won many medals at the Sichuan Special Olympics. He now plays several sports, Langyuan said:  

“Playing basketball, running, swimming, roller skating, Tai Chi – I can do all of these. I started Tai Chi when I was seven, so I’ve been doing Tai Chi for almost ten years now. I like Tai Chi because it’s good for my health.”   

Sarah Cowley Ross from New Zealand, an Olympic Heptathlete who competed in the London 2012 Olympics, said: 

“Not only is sport vital for children and young people’s physical and mental health, it also teaches them important lifelong skills such as resilience, dedication, and teamwork. It’s crucial that we remove barriers preventing all children from taking part – sport should be available to everyone.” 

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.   

 *Name changed to protect identify 

Notes:  

[1] According to Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

[2]  For 10 years, The Arsenal Foundation and Save the Children partnership has brought hope to children in some of the toughest environments, such as Iraq, Somalia, Indonesia, and in Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan. In 2018, we took our partnership to the next level and combined our expertise to design and implement our innovative programme, Coaching for Life, which uses the power of football to improve the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of children. We launched the programme in Za’atari Refugee Camp with a focus on supporting children and their families who had been affected by the war in Syria. 

[3] Save the Children in China’s Disability and Inclusion Programme supports children with disabilities in accessing quality inclusive education and provides services for their comprehensive development in pre-school, compulsory education, and vocational training. The programme operates primarily in Sichuan Province, and in collaboration with other sectors, helps facilitate Individualized Education Plans to tap into the specialties and potentials of children with multiple disabilities, including areas such as sports. 

Media spokespeople available, please contact Ruby Wright, Global Media Manager, ruby.wright@savethechildren.org. For outside of working hours (BST) requests please contact: media@savethechildren.org.uk or +44(0)7831 650409.   

Source: Save The Children

RAMALLAH, 22 July 2024 – Palestinian children in Israeli-run prisons have told Save the Children of facing increasing starvation, abuse including sexual violence, with conditions deteriorating markedly since the start of the war last October including a rise in infectious diseases like scabies.  

Israel is the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts. On Friday 19 July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered an Advisory Opinion declaring the State of Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful, directly challenging the legal status of Israeli policies and practices related to military detention. 

Save the Children said that the ICJ’s conclusion reinforces the need to immediately end the arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinian children, a decades-long child protection catastrophe. 

Since last October, Save the Children’s partners have supported about 49 former child detainees in Gaza. The children reported physical abuse and interrogations where some said they were asked to strip naked and stand in extreme temperatures. During their arrests, their parents had no information on their whereabouts and once released, children showed clear signs of violence and ill-treatment, including bruises, shock, traumatic stress, and weight loss. Some children reported being sexually assaulted, harassed, strip searched, and violently beaten. Torture, cruel or inhuman treatment of children is strictly prohibited under international law. 

The Palestinian Commission has reported that more than  650  children from the West Bank and an unknown number of children from Gaza have been detained since October, a finding echoed by recent UN reports. Of these, around 250 are reportedly still in prison. 

The main alleged offense is stone throwing, which can carry a 20-year sentence in prison for Palestinian children.   

Firas* and Qusay*, both 17, are from the occupied West Bank and were detained in two different Israeli-run prisons before the war in Gaza started. They were released at the end of 2023. They spoke to Save the Children about the conditions in detention. 

Qusay* said he saw a child with head injuries from a beating so severe that he would faint every time he tried to stand. He also said new detainees brought to the prison were as young as 12 and 13 years old: 

“The younger children were really scared and kept crying, I wanted to take care of them, but when I asked the prison guard to allow me to stay with them, I was violently beaten.” 

The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, a governmental prisoners’ organisation set up in 1998, recently confirmed the spread of infectious skin diseases like scabies among prisoners due to a lack of hygiene items and shared bedding. Firas* recalled using a lighter to burn the ticks that would come near him, while Qusay* was released with tick bites covering his body. 

Qusay* said: 

“[After the war started], they took everything, we didn’t have enough blankets and I shared my pillow with another prisoner. In the winter, they opened the windows so we would feel cold. One child prisoner had a severe rash, so we asked the guard to allow him to sit in the sun or clean his body. The guard said, ‘Call me back when he’s dead’.” 

According to Israeli media reports, the recent increase in mass detentions has led to ‘intolerable’ overcrowding in Israeli prisons, with reports  of widespread abuse including detainees deprived of medical treatment and kept in cages, and human rights organisations documenting cases of torture.  

Firas* said the number of child detainees where he was held rose noticeably in the first five days after the war started on 7 October. Both children said conditions in detention deteriorated significantly after the war began. They said they would not be allowed to speak to or see their parents.   

Firas* said:

“The horrors we endured made me think that pre-war life in prison was heaven.”  

Child psychologists are warning that children released from detention are increasingly struggling to recover, unable to cope with the shock experienced in prison and the fear of being re-arrested. 

A psychologist from a partner of Save the Children said:  

“Their symptoms this time around are more intense and severe than in the past, partly because of the social conditions around them. The whole community is tense and stressed about what is happening. The children we talked to think a lot about their peers who are still in prison. They say, ‘we are safe now, but they are still not’. They feel guilty for being freed, and the constant fear of being re-arrested prevents them from thinking about the future. They can’t make decisions, they say, ‘Why would I think of tomorrow if they will re-arrest me’. Their families describe them as ‘frozen’.” 

With legal and family access to Palestinians in Israeli-run prisons further restricted since October, testimonies from children and adults released from detention are some of the only available sources on the conditions faced. 

Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Jeremy Stoner, said:    

‘We’ve been working alongside our partner on the ground and speaking to hundreds of former child detainees in the past years, and we have never seen such devastation and hopelessness. These children are trapped, unable to move or see the sun, forced into crowded cells with appalling, unsanitary conditions, and subject to severe abuse and violence. The children we spoke to have endured horrors an adult should never witness, let alone a child. 

“The abuse and ill-treatment of Palestinian children must end. The decades-old protection crisis for Palestinian children can no longer be ignored. For too long, the Israeli occupation has severely impacted the lives of Palestinian children.”

Save the Children continues to demand an immediate moratorium on Israeli military authorities arresting, detaining and prosecuting children and for the immediate release of all children arbitrarily detained. 

Save the Children has been providing essential services and support to Palestinian children since 1953.  

Save the Children has been working with a partner in the West Bank for 10 years to provide rehabilitative support to children following their release from Israeli-run prisons. This includes psychosocial support, vocational assessments and trainings as well as remedial sessions for those who missed out on education.  We are also assisting children from Gaza who were detained during the war and have been subsequently released with psychosocial support and referral to medical services. 

Notes to Editor:  

• Since the beginning of the war Israeli forces have detained more than 9,400 Palestinians  from the West Bank in addition to thousands other from Gaza whose exact numbers are not confirmed. We know from our latest research before the war that most children in the military detention system face appalling emotional and physical abuse, including 86% of them reporting being beaten by Israeli authorities in detention, and 69% reporting having experienced sexual violence and abuse. 
• A 2022 research by Save the Children found that children in Israeli prisons are routinely denied their right to contact with their families at every stage of the detention process. Save the Children research in 2020,  2022 and 2023 found alarming levels of abuse and ill-treatment of Palestinian children held in the Israeli military detention system, echoing findings from UNICEF and Palestinian organisations.  

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

Source: Save The Children

Credit: Save the Children

DELHI, 18 July 2024 – A drone that can deliver food, water, and medical supplies to hard-to-reach communities in Himachal Pradesh, northern India, was handed over to local government officials by Save the Children this month in a bid to respond to disasters quicker and more effectively.

Many communities in Himachal Pradesh are still reeling from last year’s floods and landslides which affected around 125,000 people, including over 36,000 children, and resulted in more than 400 deaths.

In a first for the child right’s organisation, Save the Children (known as Bal Raksha Bharat in India) began testing the drone in the Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh as part of its flood response, and found it would be an effective way to get much needed supplies to remote communities.

The state-of-the-art drone has now been handed over to the State’s Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), who will use it to continue to deliver life-saving supplies to communities affected by disasters.

Naveen Shukla, Assistant Manager Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction, Bal Raksha Bharat (Save the Children in India) said:

“We tested the drone in presence of Deputy Commissioner Chamba, Himachal Pradesh and found it can travel over 12 miles (19.3 kms) from its launch site, carrying up to 20 kgs (44 lbs)  of essential supplies. The drone can also fly in automated mode, which is important in case there’s a loss of the GPS and satellite signals during a disaster. 

“It will be able to reach people in remote and cut-off areas of high mountainous, which become even harder to reach following any disaster situation due to blocked roads. This drone will likely save lives by providing lifesaving essential supplies in the current monsoon season and beyond.”

This year India has already seen more erratic and extreme weather due to the climate crisis, including one of its worst heatwaves on record, and now Himachal Pradesh is experiencing above average rainfall as it enters the monsoon season which typically lasts from June to September.

Sudarshan Suchi, CEO of Bal Raksha Bharat (Save the Children in India), said:

“Supporting the government to use drones to deliver medical supplies in the aftermath of a disaster is a game-changer. It helps ensure that even the most isolated communities can receive timely medical assistance, which is vital during emergencies, and it has the potential to be replicated across India. The initiative is all the more important given that we are seeing more extreme weather as a result of the climate crisis.”

In the aftermath of flooding in 2023, Save the Children also renovated 10 health facilities, providing toilets and making electrical and structural repairs, to ensure they can continue to provide medical services. The organisation also carried out extensive awareness campaigns, equipping communities and health facility workers with disasters preparedness skills such as first aid and evacuation procedures.

About Bal Raksha Bharat (Save the Children in India) 

Save the Children has worked in India since the 1940s, setting up its first Delhi office in the early 1970s, and has been a registered Indian entity, Bal Raksha Bharat, since 2008. The organisation is dedicated to improving the lives of children through education, healthcare, and protection. With a focus on ensuring that every child, has the opportunity to thrive, the organisation works tirelessly to support marginalised children and address the root causes of child poverty and vulnerability.

Media spokespeople are available. To arrange interviews please contact Ruby Wright, Global Media Manager: ruby.wright@savethechildren.org. For out of working hours requests (BST) please contact

media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409.

Source: Save The Children

ISLAMABAD, 17 July 2024 – Thousands of children in Pakistan are at risk of deadly disease as the country braces itself for above normal monsoon rains and potential flooding that is becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, said Save the Children.  

Almost 26,500 suspected cases of cholera, over 1.3 million cases of malaria and over 11,600 cases of dengue have already been recorded this year, according to the government’s National Institute for Health (NIH), an increase from 2023*, with cases likely to rise as Pakistan prepares for what experts say will be another particularly wet monsoon season. [1]

Two years ago, devastating floods displaced more than 8 million people and submerged large parts of the country. The country’s Disaster Management Agency has warned that displacement, damage to infrastructure and an increase in diseases linked to flooding are likely this year [2].

Children are particularly vulnerable to water and vector-borne diseases that are endemic in Pakistan with cholera and malaria among the leading killers of children in Pakistan as poor sanitation, contaminated water, overpopulation and poverty combine with the effects of climate crisis such as heavy flooding.

Malaria and dengue hit children harder due to their weaker immune systems and the fact that they tend to play outside where there is less protection against mosquitoes. Cholera meanwhile takes a heavier toll on young children, especially those under the age of 5 who are at higher risk of severe dehydration and death during cholera outbreaks.

Extreme monsoon rains in 2022 followed by Pakistan’s worst flooding on record triggered a record outbreak of cholera and malaria in the country. While this year’s rains are not expected to be as heavy as those in 2022, the UN last week warned that 3 million people in Pakistan could be affected. [3]

School closures, cases of water and vector-borne diseases and children’s particular susceptibility to extreme heat or drowning in floods demonstrate the unique impacts of the climate crisis on children.

Khuram Gondal, Save the Children’s Country Director in Pakistan, said:

“We need to see much more ambition on child-responsive climate finance from high-income countries and historical emitters that puts children’s distinct needs and vulnerabilities front and centre as when disasters like these floods strikes, it affects a child’s whole world. They must also commit to climate adaptation measures and help build the resilience of communities to climate-related shocks.”

While monsoon rains are normal in Pakistan, impacts such as flooding are now more frequent and severe due to climate change. Pakistan is among the world’s ten most vulnerable countries to climate change, while contributing less than 1% of the world’s total global carbon emissions.

Save the Children is part of the government task forces on cholera and on improving water and sanitation, which aim to efforts to strengthen surveillance, monitoring, and coordination around disease outbreaks.

Save the Children is also ready to respond to this year’s monsoon season, pre-positioning  essential items that will help with the management of diseases such as oral rehydration salts, water purification tablets, zinc supplements, cholera treatment kits, intravenous fluids and other items, in coordination with national authorities.[5]

Save the Children has been working in Pakistan since 1979 and has reached at least 14 million people, including children, through programmes in health and nutrition, education, child protection, livelihoods and through our humanitarian response programmes.

ENDS

* National diseases data by Pakistan’s NIH for every week in 2023 is unavailable or incomplete, but available data shows cases of cholera, malaria and dengue have all increased in 2024.

[1] Compiled by Save the Children from weekly Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) Reports by the NIH, as of 16 June 2024.

[2] http://www.ndma.gov.pk/

[3] https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/pakistan/pakistan-inter-agency-monsoon-contingency-plan-2024

[4] National Cholera Control Strategic Plan (Pakistan) 2024-2028

We have a spokesperson available.  

For further enquiries please contact: 

Amy Lefevre, Global Media Manager, Asia: 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

ATHENS, 17 July 2024 –More than 6,400 migrant children entered Greece this year, more than four times the number for the same period in 2023, said Save the Children, calling for greater protections for children fleeing war and hunger.  

Analysis of monthly figures from UNHCR suggest that between January and June this year, about 5,580 migrant children arrived by sea to Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, while about 830 arrived by land – a combined 400% increase compared to the 1,280 migrant children who arrived in the first half of 2023.  

About one in every four child migrants who arrived in Greece this year came without family or a legal guardian—totalling over 1,500 unaccompanied migrant children, or triple the figure from the first half of 2023.

Fileri Kyriaki, a lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees—a Save the Children local partner that advocates for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers—works on the Greek island of Kos, which is struggling with overcrowded refugee reception facilities known as Closed Controlled Access Centres.

Fileri said children travelling to Greece often experience agony and fear, knowing that they could die on their journey.

“There are no safe and legal channels to migration. The children have to risk their lives,” she said. “[And when they get to Kos] there is a total and chronic lack of adequate medical services, while at the same time the island’s structure is also insufficient for its inhabitants. There’s no capacity to actually screen vulnerabilities or provide them with the health care they need.”

Unaccompanied and separated children face additional barriers when they reach the Closed Controlled Access Centres. Until a guardian is appointed, these children have no one to bring them clothes, shoes or even a cell phone to call home and talk to their family.

Fileri said unaccompanied children also have to spend about two to three weeks in a fenced area called a ‘safe area’ until they are transferred to a shelter for unaccompanied children.

“Imagine that when an unaccompanied child is placed in the safe area, they are still wearing the wet clothes they wore during the boat journey. There is nothing to do in the safe area, no activities at all, recreational or otherwise. They are bored, and the place feels like a prison – it’s not at all child-friendly.  It is a container with barbed wire around it. In that sense, children who travelled with their families can exit the camp, while unaccompanied children cannot,” she said.

Last year, Save the Children and the Greek Council of Refugees found that most unaccompanied children seeking safety in Greece had their asylum claims rejected, leaving them without legal papers and vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

Now, with the European Union and its Member States approving the new Pact on Migration and Asylum – a legislative reform that will shape the region’s future migration system—earlier this year, there is concern that conditions could worsen for children. This move is expected to erode protections systems for children, potentially leading to more time in detention centres and more pushbacks at borders. 

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

“Children arriving alone in Greece are facing dire conditions that demand urgent attention, and the new EU Pact could make a bad situation even worse for them. Every child deserves safety and dignity upon arrival.  Yet, these children arriving in Greece are not being treated as children. It’s imperative that Greek authorities and the EU step up to provide robust guardianship, essential proper protection systems, and improved living standards. The Mediterranean also cannot continue to be a graveyard for children. Safe and accessible routes into Europe must be established to ensure their safe passage.”

Save the Children and the Greek Council for Refugees are calling on Greek authorities to ensure a dedicated focal point or guardian is assigned to every unaccompanied and separated child from their first day in the country and to fund robust child protection services to guarantee their safety and well-being.

The two organisations are also calling for the Greek authorities to improve  the living conditions at Closed Controlled Access Centres for children. This includes facilitating access to the host community and implement regular maintenance and cleaning protocols for facilities. Provision of essential recreational equipment and prompt action on hygiene concerns are crucial to mitigate health risks, such as frequent scabies outbreaks.

 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. 

The Greek Council for Refugees is the oldest NGO for refugee rights in the country. It provides legal and psychosocial support to refugees, and also provides interpretation and educational support.

Save the Children works with refugee and migrant children inside and outside of Europe, aiming to support vulnerable children with the greatest needs.

ENDS 

Methodology 

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Source: Save The Children

BANJUL, 16 July 2024 – Child protection groups vowed on Tuesday to drive more awareness around the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) after the Gambia rejected a bill seeking to end a ban following a campaign involving Save the Children’s partner the Child Protection Alliance.

The bill, if passed, would have overturned a 2015 ban on the harmful practice, which was one of the few legal protections for women and girls in the West African country. The Gambia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world, faced by 73% of women and girls aged 15 to 49.

Since a debate on the reversal of the law began in March, Save the Children had supported a call to stop the proposed amendment by the Child Protection Alliance (CPA),  a group of about 50 UN agencies, bilateral institutions, INGOs, civil society organisations, youth groups,  and government departments. Their actions included taking a lead in drawing up a legal argument on behalf of civil society to maintain the law and taking part in consultations with the National Assembly on the bill’s potential impact.

The CPA also ran discussions with two influential religious leaders to raise awareness among communities and parliamentarians of the bill and led a joint public statement calling for the law to be maintained and highlighting the risks of repealing it.

Emilie Fernandes, Country Director for Save the Children in Senegal  said:

“This is a win for the Gambian girls and women. Harmful practices like FGM must never be allowed. Even now, FGM continues to rob young girls of their childhood. It’s a gross violation of the rights of girls and young women to health, protection, and bodily integrity, and should be viewed as an extreme form of violence against women and girls.

“In response to this regressive bill, Save the Children and its partners used a holistic approach to advocate against the legislative change while also working to challenge and shift social norms that sustain and perpetuate the practice.

“The Gambia must now respect its international obligations, particularly the African Union’s Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights, which the country ratified in 2005. All organisations working on women/girls’ rights must be supported to continue their work to ensure the law is enforced at the community level.”

The Joining Forces Alliance, of which Save the Children is a member, also issued a statement in response to this bill.

Lamin Fatty,  the National Coordinator for the Child Protection Alliance, said:

“It has been 11 months of extensive work, ever since the introduction of the Private Member Bill to repeal the Women’s Amendment Act of 2015. The decision of the National Assembly to reject the Bill is a victory for women and girls in The Gambia. However, there remains a greater need to strengthen efforts towards creating more awareness around the harmful effects of FGM on women and girls, and engage more with law enforcement agencies for the effective enforcement of the law.”

Save the Children will continue to engage local communications channels and work with local influencers and also religious leaders on the ban on FGM and continue to support our partners like CPA to ensure that the law is enforced at the community level.

ENDS

For further enquiries please contact: 

Kunle Olawoyin, Regional Media Manager for West and Central Africa, Kunle.Olawoyin@savethechildren.org;

Daphnee Cook, Head of Global News, Daphnee.Cook@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

Source: Save The Children

JUBA, 10 July 2024 – South Sudan is on alert for a looming human and climate disaster in coming months with the world’s youngest country expected to suffer its worst floods in 60 years that will drive parts of the country to the brink of famine, said Save the Children.

The child rights agency is warning of a devastating large-scale hunger crisis among children in South Sudan, in response to new data released yesterday by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network [FEWS NET] which shows massive floods will contribute to a risk of famine in South Sudan from June 2024 until January 2025. 

Families in the areas expected to be worst impacted have already been battling years of conflict, hunger, rising food prices, previous floods, and, more recently, an recent influx of refugees and returnees from the 15-month conflict  raging in Sudan.

Despite a peace deal in South Sudan in 2018, the country is still facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with about 9 million people – about 75% of the population ­– including nearly 5 million children – in need of humanitarian assistance.

Unity State, a low-lying and flood prone region in the central northern part of the country, has been listed as particularly vulnerable to famine. The last formal declaration of famine anywhere in the world was in parts of Unity State in February 2017, where nearly 80,000 people faced famine conditions and mass deaths were only averted by an effective and rapid aid response.

The predicted famine is being driven in part by a major flooding event, which is expected to exceed the floods of 2020 and 2022. Current water levels in Lake Victoria, a source of the Nile, have reached a 128-year high, with the government of South Sudan issuing a warning that water released from the lake will flood vast parts of the country in the latter part of 2024. FEWS-NET estimates that the area impacted by flooding could exceed 65,000 km² – or the equivalent of the entire land area of Sri Lanka.

Pornpun Jib Rabiltossaporn, Save the Children South Sudan Country Director, said:

“A horror scenario is unfolding in South Sudan. While floods are part of life for families in much of the country, we are seeing a situation where the floods will be so extreme, over such vast patches of land, that entire communities will be marooned from assistance. In some villages, families won’t be able to travel the distance required by boat to search for food, or an income, for months.

“With already extreme levels of hunger and malnutrition in children across South Sudan, and a massive conflict over the border forcing hundreds of thousands of people into crowded refugee camps, in all likelihood we will see children start to die from hunger-related illnesses as the flooding takes hold.  

“Save the Children is urgently finalising its flood anticipatory and response plan, prepping communities and prioritising the most vulnerable high-risk locations. However the alarm isn’t being heard widely enough. There is imminent disaster threatening communities in South Sudan. Unless there is an urgent scaling up of funding for preparation work, the upcoming floods are guaranteed to wreak havoc. We are going to see a large number of homes destroyed, roads and low-lying settlements flooded, and monumental levels of hunger.”

Across the border in Sudan, the fighting which broke out in April last year shows no signs of abating, with reports of massive casualties and extensive damage to critical infrastructure.  More than 700,000 people have crossed into South Sudan from Sudan in a bid to escape the horrific violence that continues in one of the world’s most neglected conflicts, according to the UN. Almost all have crossed through the Joda border crossing into Renk county in South Sudan which is already struggling with its own food crisis.

Besides Unity state, the flooding is projected to affect areas where many people are already vulnerable, including Jonglei, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Warrap states. People in most of these locations are already vulnerable due to multiple impacts, including previous flooding, conflict, displacement, food insecurity, and an influx of refugees and returnees conflict in Sudan.

Save the Children has worked in South Sudan since 1991. The child rights organisation provides children with access to education, healthcare and nutritional support, and families with food security and livelihoods assistance. In 2023, the organisation’s programmes reached over 1.9 million people including 1.1 million children and this year Save the Children hopes to reach 1.4 million people in South Sudan. 

Source: Save The Children

To ensure that refugees can access protection, states must guarantee the right to seek and enjoy asylum and uphold their commitments to the international refugee protection system. This obligation applies to all EU Member States under Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Yet, the recent and increasing attempts by the EU and its Member States to evade their asylum responsibilities by outsourcing asylum processing and refugee protection risk undermining the international protection system. The undersigned human rights and humanitarian organisations are alarmed by these developments and urge the EU and its Member States to safeguard the right to territorial asylum in Europe.

Discussions on the externalisation of asylum are not new, and have been consistently criticised, contested and rejected over the years. The European Commission itself ruled out the legal feasibility of such models in 2018, describing them as “neither desirable nor feasible”. Global protection needs are higher than ever and low and middle income countries are hosting 75% of the world’s refugees. Despite this, there has been a recent upsurge in proposals to shift the processing of asylum applications, or indeed the responsibility for providing refugee protection, to non-EU countries.

Italy, for instance, is currently seeking to process asylum applications of certain groups of asylum seekers outside of its territory, from detention in Albania – which risks leading to prolonged, automatic detention, a denial of access to fair asylum procedures with necessary procedural guarantees, and delayed disembarkation for people rescued or intercepted at sea. Others, such as Denmark and Germany, are assessing the feasibility of this type of arrangement. 15 EU Member States and some political groups have endorsed similar shortsighted measures to shift asylum processing outside EU territory and encouraged the European Commission to explore ways to facilitate this through further legislative reform, including through a watered down ‘safe third country’ concept.

These attempts must be seen in the context of parallel containment efforts that seek to stem departures and prevent the arrival of asylum seekers to EU territory through partnership agreements with third countries, with little to no attention to the human rights records of those authorities. Over the past years, the European Commission has continued bypassing public or parliamentary scrutiny and EU legislative frameworks as it concludes ever more controversial and untransparent deals with non-EU countries, throwing at them large sums of money with no genuine human rights safeguards or monitoring mechanisms, with the aim to contain and deter migration and onwards movement of refugees toward the EU at seemingly any human cost.

Human costs of externalisation

Most notably, Australia’s offshore detention scheme demonstrates how these models have created prolonged confinement and restricted freedom of movement, deeply harming both the mental and physical health of people seeking protection. Persistent human rights abuses arise as a result, including the imposition of conditions amounting to inhumane and degrading treatment, neglect, a lack of access to legal aid, lack of identification of and support for specific needs, and family separation. This should have served as a warning.

But more recent attempts – such as the UK-Rwanda asylum scheme, which is not yet in effect following the UK Supreme Court declaring it unlawful and in any event is unlikely to be operationalised at any significant scale – have already led to people being placed in detention and in a damaging legal limbo under threat of removal. Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and other third countries breaches arrival countries’ obligations under international refugee norms, and undermines their commitment to the rule of lawAttempts to outsource asylum to third countries are a manifestation of states’ flagrant shirking of their legal responsibility for people in need of protection. Outsourcing asylum processing and protection to third countries who cannot provide effective protection or are already disproportionately hosting refugees, is inconsistent with the objective and spirit of the Refugee Convention. It also obfuscates jurisdiction and responsibility, making it more difficult for people to access justice when their rights are violated. Where extraterritorial asylum processing has been tested, it has caused immeasurable human suffering and rights violations.

The EU and Member States’ false promises of ensuring compliance with fundamental rights in the context of externalisation arrangements are no more than empty words. As the extensive track record of human rights violations in partner countries such as Libya demonstrates, the EU and Member States have no adequate tools and competencies to effectively monitor or enforce human rights standards outside of EU territory. Beyond the dire human cost, these arrangements also have a ruinous impact on the administration and cost of asylum systems, with the UK’s attempts to forcibly remove people to Rwanda being projected to cost a staggering £1.8 million per asylum seeker returned. This is not only an unjustifiable waste of public money, but also a lost opportunity to spend it in ways that would truly aid people seeking asylum by investing in fair and humane asylum systems and the communities that welcome them.

Ripple effects of evading responsibility

The political feasibility of externalisation arrangements has also been heavily contested, given third countries’ reluctance to take on responsibility for asylum seekers or refugees that Europe refuses to welcome. The outsourcing of asylum processing and refugee protection sends a dangerous signal to countries in the global South on EU countries’ refusal to uphold their responsibilities towards refugees and do their fair share. Far from showing international solidarity, the EU is attempting to further push its responsibilities onto countries who already host the majority of refugees with often far fewer resources – a policy that is not necessarily conducive to building global influence, the European Commission’s stated aim. Simultaneously, the bloc is reducing the non-migration-related support it offers partner countries, by redirecting already scarce aid to efforts to prevent migration, and spending large shares of development aid on domestic programmes. Almost 17% of EU Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members’ Official Development Assistance (ODA) is allocated to in-donor refugee costs, meaning it never leaves their territories. Trade or visa relations have also become bargaining chips in controversial deals with non-EU countries to press them to fulfil the EU’s domestic migration objectives.

This lack of commitment to responsibility sharing, international treaties and the global refugee protection system is not lost on partner countries, and risks undermining their willingness to provide protection: why would other major refugee hosting countries be incentivised to take on the EU’s responsibility for refugee protection, when the EU itself refuses to uphold the right to seek asylum on its territory? The potential ripple effect could be devastating for refugee protection globally.

Civil society organisations have been clear about their serious concerns with regards to the recently agreed reforms under the Pact on Migration and Asylum. Nonetheless, the transfer of asylum seekers outside of EU territory for asylum processing and refugee protection is not provided for in the Pact, nor within current EU law. After the EU and Member States have spent close to a decade attempting to reform the EU’s asylum system, they should now focus on implementing it with a human rights centred approach that prioritises the right to asylum per EU law and fundamental principles of international refugee law to which they remain bound. They should not, mere weeks after the reform has passed, waste further time and resources on proposals that are incompatible with European and international law.

Signatories
11.11.11
ActionAid International
Adopt a Revolution
AGDDS
AMERA International
Amnesty International
APDHA – Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía
ARCI (Associazione Ricreativa e Culturale Italiana)
Asociación de Mujeres migrantes y refugiadas Tierramatria
Asociación Elin
Asociación Rumiñahui
Bedsteforældre for Asyl
Brot fuer die Welt
Caleidoscopia
Caritas Europa
Casa do Brasil de Lisboa
CCFD-Terre Solidaire
CEAR
Centre for Peace Studies
Christian Council of Norway
Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, CCME
Ciré asbl
CNCD-11.11.11
Commission on Migration of the European Baptist Federation
CONVIVE – Fundación Cepaim
CRLDHT
Danish Refugee Council
Danish United Nations Association / FN-forbundet
DIGNITY
Dutch Council for Refugees
Ellebæk Contact Network
EuroMed Rights
Europe Cares eV.
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
European Evangelical Alliance (EEA)
European Network on Statelessness
Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI)
Finnish Refugee Advice Centre
Finnish Refugee Council
Foundation for the Promotion of Rights, Algeria
Fundación Alboan
Fundacja Inicjatywa Dom Otwarty
Fundacja Right to Protection
Geloof & Samenleving
Greek Council for Refugees (GCR)
HIAS Europe
Human Rights Legal Project

Human Rights Watch
I Have Rights
International Rescue Committee
Irídia-Center for the Defense of Human Rights
iuventa-crew
JRS Europe
Justice & Peace Netherlands
La Cimade
LeaveNoOneBehind
LGBT Asylum
Ligue des droits humains Belgique
Lysfest for Humanisme
Médecins du Monde International Network
Migration Consortium
Migration Policy Group
Mission Lifeline International.e.V.
Movimiento por la Paz, MPDL
Novact
Ocalenie Foundation
Oxfam
Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants – PICUM
Polish Migration Forum
Polska Akcja Humanitarna
PRO ASYL
r42-SailAndRescue
RECOSOL – Rete delle Comunità Solidali
RED ACOGE
Refugees International
Refugee Legal Support (RLS)
Refugees Welcome
RESQSHIP e.V.
Salud por Derecho
Save the Children
Sea-Watch
Seebrücke
Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes España – SJM
Små Broer
SOLIDAR
Solidarity with Kærshovedgård
SOS Humanity
SOS Racism Denmark
Statewatch
Stowarzyszenie Egala / Egala Association
Svenska Kyrkan (Church of Sweden)
United Against Inhumanity
Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen
Vores Asylbørn
Zusammenland gUG