Category: New Zealand NGOs

Source: Save The Children

RENK, South Sudan, 27 March 2024 – About 1,000 people a day are fleeing into South Sudan from Sudan after nearly one year of war, arriving in scorching heat and with children in dire need of support, Save the Children said.

More than 600,000 people – both refugees and returnees – have crossed the border since last April, arriving into a region already facing a severe hunger crisis, and the numbers continue to rise as the hostilities show no sign of abating. Most people arrive with nothing, having lost their homes and livelihoods. Some children have reported seeing loved ones, including their parents, killed on route.

The majority have arrived at the border crossing of Joda in Upper Nile State by foot or on donkey carts, from where up to 200 people at a time are crammed into trucks with standing room only. They are taken to two overcrowded transit centres in nearby Renk, a two-hour journey on dirt tracks in temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) as South Sudan battles its worst heatwave in four years.

They usually spend about two weeks in the centres – which houses over 15,000 people, even though they were built for no more than 3,000 – where food and water are scarce, healthcare is limited, and many sleep outside in makeshift shelters. From there 500 people at a time are packed onto barges for a two-day journey along the Nile to head to other destinations in South Sudan or packed into trucks for a 12 hour road trip to a refugee camp in Maban.

Most of these families have been displaced before. Many fled to Sudan from South Sudan in 2013 when widespread intercommunal violence erupted just two years after the country celebrated its independence as the world’s newest nation. Despite a peace deal in South Sudan in 2018, the country is still facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, plagued by continuing violence, repeated climate disasters, widespread hunger, mass displacement and now soaring prices. Even before the war in Sudan, about 9 million people – about 75% of the population ­– including nearly 5 million children were in need of humanitarian assistance.

Read more: What is happening in Sudan?

For people fleeing the conflict in Sudan, however, life in South Sudan is a better option. About 1.75 million people have left Sudan, according to latest UNHCR data, headed to South Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic and Egypt.

Amira*, 37, a South Sudanese citizen, crossed the border into South Sudan with her husband and two young children in early March before being taken to one of the transit centres in Renk. She was working at a hospital in Khartoum  as a surgical nurse when the fighting started and was trapped in the basement for three days before she could get home.

“We have lost everything. We left everything behind,” she said. “My husband and I both had good jobs and my son was happy at school but that changed overnight. When the fighting began, we had no choice but to leave. Our lives in Khartoum were destroyed. So much has changed in a year, but now we both just want to get jobs and be settled again, so our children can go to school.”

For children in Renk’s transit centres, Save the Children has opened Child Friendly Spaces, where they can play, paint, dance, learn and receive psychosocial support.

Margret, 25, hails from South Sudan and is one of Save the Children’s team working with children in the centres. She fled to Sudan during South Sudan’s conflict and was forced to flee again when armed clashes broke out in Khartoum last April. It took Margret five days to reach Renk. She was robbed of the few possessions she’d managed to take with her.

“They took my laptop and my phone. Life is very difficult there. They killed my friend,” she said. “I feel better here. I get to play with the children – they make me smile again.”

Since the escalation of violence in Sudan, Save the Children has expanded its operations in Renk to assist families. Staff members are on location from the border to the boats to keep children and families safe, help them on and off the trucks, see to their immediate needs and emotional welfare, as well as reunite unaccompanied children with their families.

Pornpun Rabiltossaporn, Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan, said the needs were so much greater than the support currently available. She said:

“We want to ensure that the children arriving here are protected, get the psychosocial support they need, and that unaccompanied girls and boys are reunited with their families as quickly as possible. But so much more needs to be done.”

Save the Children’s CEO Inger Ashing visited Renk this month to draw attention to the escalating crisis and call for urgent funding with needs overwhelming. A UN funding appeal for US$1.8 billion for South Sudan is only 18% funded so far. She said:

“This is one of the world’s most overlooked crises and it is getting worse by the day. I heard so many heartbreaking stories from children. Some saw their parents killed. Others were separated from their families. Many told me they just wanted some normalcy and to go back to school.

“It is devastating to think that this journey is not the end of their ordeal but just the start with many not knowing where they are going and with no resources at all. Most displaced people on average spend seven years on the move. That is half a child’s time in education.

“No child should wake up fearing for their safety, worried about when they will next eat, and not knowing where they will sleep that night. No child should be without an education. The international community needs to step up to commit the funding and resources needed before it’s too late.”

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.

* Name anonymised to protect identity

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For further enquiries please contact:

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

Source: Save The Children

A pile of livestock carcasses along the road in Sukhbaatar province, Eastern Mongolia. 04 March, 2024. Photo credit: Khash-Erdene Bayarsaikhan / Save the Children

ULAANBATAR, 27 March 2024 – Mongolia’s extreme winter conditions, or Dzud, shows no sign of abating and the country, which is at the frontlines of the global climate crisis, is paying for it dearly having lost 5.2 million livestock[1], or about 8 % of its total livestock, said Save the Children.

Many children in the worst affected areas of the country, where around a third[2] of the population is nomadic, are also missing out on school because of road closures brought on by thick snow and ice, as well as families who have been forced to tend to their herd fulltime.

About 5.2 million livestock have been confirmed dead so far this winter out of 64.7 million livestock that were recorded alive at the end of 2023.[3]

The livestock sector is an integral part of Mongolia’s economy, accounting for an average of 13 % of the country’s GDP. It also accounts for about a quarter of all jobs and has been a part of traditional livelihoods for centuries.

Major dzuds used to take place about every decade in Mongolia but the frequency has increased in recent years due to climate change leading to pasture depletion.  This is the second consecutive severe dzud to hit Mongolia in the past decade and dzuds are expected to take place every other year going forward.[4]

The cold weather conditions brought on by Dzud – a natural phenomenon when drought is followed by a harsh winter that kills crops and freezes livestock to death – is also taking a toll on children and families.

In Uvs province, Western Mongolia, Nansalmaa, 25, who is a mother to five children, including a one-month-old baby, said the family lost 10 horses and 3 cows to Dzud this winter. Her husband, Togtokhbayar, sold most of the family’s sheep and goats in the autumn and had culled their herd to try to make it through the winter with minimal losses.

Nansalmaa plans to move to Ulaangom city, the province’s center, so that her eldest can attend school.

Elsewhere in Uvs province, where over 400,000 livestock[5] perished last year because of the Dzud, Sumiya,3, and Batsettseg, 4, were taken out of kindergarten. With all their family members busy taking care of animals in the countryside, the two girls had no one to look after them near the school and have remained with their parents and grandparents at their home located near an ice-covered and treacherously winding road.

The girls’ grandfather Davaa, 56, said: “I haven’t seen a winter this hard since I became a herder, some 33 years ago.”

During a visit to affected areas in Mongolia this month, Save the Children also observed emotional distress displayed by children who had lost livestock, including beloved family animals, and from a lack of attention from parents who are busy trying to keep their livestock alive.

In Sukhbaatar province in eastern Mongolia, the sight of animal carcasses piled along the roadside is a stark reminder of the Dzud’s devastation. Herders that Save the Children spoke to this month became tearful when recounting the loss of their herd. For many, livestock are their pride and represent the result of their hard work.

Bayan-Altai Luvsandorj, Country Manager and Representative, Save the Children Japan, Mongolia office, said:  

“We’re seeing widespread devastation and impact on children and families in Mongolia because of Dzud. Some children in the worst-affected soums, or regions, are missing out on school because roads have been completely cut off. Other children who do manage to go to school lack essential items including hygiene products and winter shoes because herder families are focused on trying to keep their livestock alive.

Herding and livestock have traditionally been a big part of Mongolia’s culture and traditional way of living but the loss of so many animals could push more families to move to cities which will affect their children and plunge some families into poverty and unemployment.”

Save the Children is actively working in five of Mongolia’s 21 province in response to the current Dzud and is providing psychological first aid to children living in school dormitories whose families have been affected by dzud.[6]  by training dormitory teachers on how to provide psychological first aid to children.

Save the Children has worked in Mongolia since 1994 running programmes focused on education, child protection, health, and addressing child poverty and child rights governance as well as providing humanitarian assistance to herder households affected by dzuds, floods and sandstorms. 

 

ENDS 

 

[1]https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiODIxNzExMzYtNWNjZi00NzUzLTk5MzktZDM2ZTRkOGRkZDllIiwidCI6IjBmOWUzNWRiLTU0NGYtNGY2MC1iZGNjLTVlYTQxNmU2ZGM3MCIsImMiOjh9

[2] Of the 983485 households in Mongolia (2023), 189,280 were herders (nomads) according to the National Statistics Office, which is 19 percent of total households.

[3]https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiODIxNzExMzYtNWNjZi00NzUzLTk5MzktZDM2ZTRkOGRkZDllIiwidCI6IjBmOWUzNWRiLTU0NGYtNGY2MC1iZGNjLTVlYTQxNmU2ZGM3MCIsImMiOjh9

[4] https://www.asianstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/mongolian-dzud-threats-to-and-protection-of-mongolias-herding-communities.pdf

[5] UVs province governor data.

[6]https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiODIxNzExMzYtNWNjZi00NzUzLTk5MzktZDM2ZTRkOGRkZDllIiwidCI6IjBmOWUzNWRiLTU0NGYtNGY2MC1iZGNjLTVlYTQxNmU2ZGM3MCIsImMiOjh9

Source: Save The Children

PORT-AU-PRINCE, 26 March 2024 – About five million people in Haiti, including one in two children, are now facing acute levels of food insecurity, with 20% of families in the capital alone one step away from famine, Save the Children said.

Soaring gang violence and dwindling aid in Haiti are fuelling an unprecedented hunger crisis in the country. According to an analysis of data from the Integrated Food Security Classification or IPC scale, a monitoring system for assessing hunger emergencies, more than 1.6 million people in Haiti are on the verge of famine and more than 600,000 of them are children. The situation in the country has deteriorated significantly over the last few years, going from 3.7 million food insecure and hungry Haitians in 2019 to nearly five million in 2024 – almost half of the country’s population.

Armed violence in Haiti has turned urban areas into battlefields, resulting in the displacement of more than 360,000 people. Gang violence and roadblocks have also hindered the flow of essential goods, leading to spikes in food prices and restricting aid organisations from distributing lifesaving food.

Chantal Sylvie Imbeault, Save the Children’s Country Director in Haiti, said:

“The crisis unfolding in Haiti is rapidly deteriorating, with gangs tightening their grip on approximately 90% of Port-au-Prince. Families are losing their source of livelihoods and being denied access to essential food and medical services. Shockingly, one in five families in the Port-au-Prince metro area is now one step away from famine, with armed violence and roadblocks obstructing humanitarian efforts. Aid organisations are scrambling to provide aid any way they can.

“Newly released data underscores the gravity of the situation, revealing that an additional 200,000 children will plunge into acute hunger between March and June. That will bring the total number of children confronting acute food insecurity to nearly two million. If gang violence deteriorates further in Haiti, the threat of famine will only loom larger and take lives.”

All parties must do their utmost to protect children and abide by international humanitarian law. Save the Children is also calling on the international community to urgently increase humanitarian funding for the crisis in Haiti.

Save the Children is working around the clock to support children who are trapped in a deadly cycle of violence, poverty and hunger. The child right’s organisation is providing cash so families can buy food and other essentials, and delivering health and nutrition support, including treating children for malnutrition and providing nutrition counselling to caregivers. Save the Children is also supporting children to access water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, to continue learning and ensuring they are protected from harm, exploitation and abuse. Save the Children has been working in Haiti since 1978, in both urban and rural communities.   

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

• According to newly released IPC data, 4.97 million people of the 91% of the population analysed in Haiti are expected to face acute food insecurity, IPC Phase 3+, between March and June 2024 – a 532,000 increase compared to the last IPC report in August 2023. Of the 4.97 million people facing IPC Phase 3+, 38% are estimated to be children, about 1.9 million.  Between March and June, 1.64 million people are expected to be in IPC Phase 4– emergency levels of hunger – just one step away from IPC 5, the worst phase, classified as ‘famine’ where extreme lack of food and other basic needs where starvation, death, and destitution are evident.  In Port-au-Prince, about 20% or 191,000 households the IPC analysed, are expected to face IPC Phase 4.   IPC_Haiti_Acute_Food_Insecurity_Projection_Update_Mar_Jun2024_Snapshot_English.pdf (ipcinfo.org)
• Migration Data and Resources | IOM Haiti, UN Migration | IOM Haiti 

Source: Save The Children

New York, 25 March 2023 – The more than one million children trapped in Gaza have been granted the hope of a brief respite today following the UN Security Council’s vote to pass a temporary ceasefire resolution, said Save the Children. However, while today’s ceasefire resolution is a vital step, it needs to be implemented immediately and sustained definitively to protect children and prevent atrocity crimes.  

Xavier Joubert, Save the Children Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory, said: 

“Today’s UN Security Council decision has the potential to become a lifeline for the children of Gaza, who are being bombed, maimed and starved. This resolution calls for an immediate temporary ceasefire. It must deliver immediately and be extended definitively; children’s lives hang in the balance.  

The world is watching to see if Member States fulfill their obligations and turn these words into action.Swift and meaningful steps must be taken by the international community – the UN Security Council, General Assembly, and all its Member States – to immediately implement today’s determination and do all within their power to secure its definitive extension. Children’s lives depend on it. Anything less will mark yet another failure, with devastating consequences for children.” 

 

For media spokespeople during GMT working hours please contact:

Ruby Wright, Global Media Manager, ruby.wright@savethechildren.org, +44 (0)7969983222

Randa Ghazy, randa.ghazy@savethechildren.org, Regional Media Manager- North Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe

For out of hours media requests please contact media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

 

Source: Save The Children

RAMALLAH, 25 March 2024 – The decision on 24 March by Israeli authorities to reject United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) food convoys into northern Gaza will accelerate the risk of famine and send already starving children more quickly to their graves, says aid agency Save the Children.

Xavier Joubert, Save the Children Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory, said: 

“We heard just last week from the authoritative body on hunger crises – the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification System – that children and families in northern Gaza face the imminent risk of famine, as early as this month. Children are already dying from starvation and disease at the highest pace the world has ever seen, since records began.

“Further restricting already drip-fed aid into northern Gaza is tantamount to tightening the noose. This announcement shows how funding cuts to the UN agency on which Palestinians and we as humanitarian organisations depend have further emboldened the weaponization of aid. This must be overturned with robust and immediate diplomacy from the international community, as is their legal obligation. International action cannot take longer to deliver than the mere days children have. Their lives depend on it.”

According to UN data, the daily average number of aid trucks entering Gaza dropped by more than a third in the weeks following provisional measures from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which ordered the Government of Israel to allow safe, unfettered humanitarian aid access.[1] Any denial of humanitarian assistance is a Grave Violation against children, according to the UN Security Council’s 1999 Resolution on Children in Armed Conflict. It is also tantamount to collective punishment and illegal under international humanitarian law. Any use of starvation as a method of warfare is strictly prohibited as a war crime under international law. 

Source: Save The Children

Students walking in a displacement camp in Yemen [Save the Children]

 

SANA’A, March 25, 2024 – After nine years of conflict in Yemen, two in five children, or 4.5 million, are out of school, with displaced children twice as likely to drop out than their peers, according to a new report by Save the Children.

The report, titled ‘Hanging in the Balance: Yemeni Children’s Struggle for Education’, found that one-third of families surveyed in Yemen have at least one child who has dropped out of school in the past two years despite the UN-brokered truce that took effect in 2022.

Although the truce officially expired in October 2022, parties have continued to adhere to its core elements and large-scale fighting has not reignited.  However, while casualty rates have dropped, three-quarters of students (76%) reported that their sense of safety has not increased, with 14% of families citing violence as a direct cause of school dropouts.

The ongoing violence and the collapsed economy in Yemen have pushed two-thirds of the population below the poverty line and displaced an estimated 4.5 million people or 14% of the population, most of whom have been displaced multiple times.

Save the Children’s analysis found that displaced children are twice as vulnerable to school dropouts, and while returning to the area of origin reduces the vulnerability of internally displaced children to school dropouts by 20%, ongoing insecurity prevents their ability to return home.

Monthly school fees and the cost of textbooks are putting education out of reach for many, with 20% of families reporting they are unaffordable. Over 44% of caregivers and children surveyed said that the need to support their family’s income generation was a primary reason behind school dropouts. Hani*, 48, is a teacher, who was compelled to withdraw two of his four daughters from school due to the high cost. “School expenses for each child can reach more than 25% of my salary. My salary is 76,300 Riyals (approximately US$46), and that is not even enough to cover the food we need.”

The minimum food basket – the amount needed to sustain a family of seven for a month – costs 85 USD on average in Yemen.

Rami*, a 12-year-old boy, said he had to drop out of school to support his family. Rami* said:

“How can I go to school when I know we can’t cover our expenses and my siblings need food? I must leave school and work.”  

Mohamed Mannaa, Save the Children Interim Country Director in Yemen said: 

“Nine years into this forgotten conflict, we are confronting an education emergency like never before. Our latest findings must be a wake-up call and we must act now to protect these children and their future.  

 “While the truce reduced some violence, it hasn’t ever brought the stability families desperately need to rebuild their lives. Above everything else, families in Yemen need an official ceasefire; without one, families are left in limbo.  

“We can’t let the children of Yemen, who yearn for nothing more than safety and the chance to learn, lose sight of a future filled with possibility. Every child in Yemen deserves to grow up with security, access to quality education, and a horizon filled with promise. The longer we wait, the harder it is to achieve long lasting impact.” 

The impact of the education crisis on Yemen’s children and their future is profound. Without immediate intervention, an entire generation risks being left behind, with long-term consequences for the country’s recovery and development. 

 

Save the Children calls on all stakeholders, including the Yemeni authorities, donor states, institutions, and humanitarian actors, to urgently address these challenges. This includes committing to a renewed peace process, ensuring the protection of schools and students, increasing funding for education, and scaling up integrated child protection interventions. 

For over 60 years, Save the Children has been dedicated to supporting Yemen’s children. We’re currently active across 11 governorates, focusing on food security, health, nutrition, child protection, education, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiatives. Our work includes health and nutrition programs, access to education through non-formal learning and teacher training, child protection efforts, and strengthening community resilience with cash assistance and livelihood opportunities. 

-ENDS 

 

Multimedia content available for this release:

Case studies (interviews, broll, photos) – School where students were injured in Lahj: www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Package/2O4C2SOYSCTM

Videos (Interviews and broll) – Morad* and Hani*, school teachers in Lahj: www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Package/2O4C2SOYS8UT

Notes to Editors: 

1. According to OCHA, of Yemen’s 10.7 million school-age children over 4.5 million are out of school. 
2. Research methodology: The report ‘Hanging in the Balance: Yemeni Children’s Struggle for Education’ combines a mixed-methodology approach, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research methods across Yemen. This comprehensive study involved surveying 1,068 children and 528 caregivers to gather quantitative data. Qualitative insights were obtained through in-depth interviews with 15 children, caregivers, and teachers affected by the crisis. Focus Group Discussions were held with 30 children from various regions to hear directly about their fears, hopes, aspirations, and perspectives on their educational journey and prospects.

Source: Save The Children

New York, 22 March 2023 – The more than one million children trapped in Gaza will continue to be exposed to bombs, guns and starvation following the UN Security Council’s failure once again to pass a ceasefire resolution, said Save the Children.  

 

Xavier Joubert, Save the Children Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory, said: 

“Once again, children in Gaza have been abandoned by the people whose responsibility it is to protect them. 

Once again, the international community has failed to perform its most basic duty. 

Children will continue to be killed, maimed, struck down by preventable diseases, and face starvation because of this failure today. 

It has been 157 days since the UN Security Council first failed to adopt a ceasefire resolution. In that time, at least 12,597 children have been killed in Gaza, with thousands more likely trapped under the rubble.  

How many thousands more need to die before the world acts?” 

 

For media spokespeople during GMT working hours please contact:

Ruby Wright, Global Media Manager, ruby.wright@savethechildren.org, +44 (0)7969983222

For out of hours media requests please contact media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Source: Save The Children

MAHA’S* STORY

Maha*, 10, has lived with her family – including her 16-year-old sister Maya* – in Taiz, Yemen since being displaced from her village due to conflict.

In October 2022, the sisters’ lives were changed forever when they stepped on a landmine while collecting firewood for cooking. Even though Maha* was rushed to hospital for surgery, she lost her left eye and had her right hand amputated. In addition, Maha* injured her right leg and Maya* broke her left leg.

Maha* loves going to school, however, the incident has made doing so difficult. Maha* has been able to attend a workshop for injured children organised by Save the Children and, as she has recovered, has started going to school again alongside her sister using crutches.

Looking forward, Maha* wants to become a doctor so that she can help children who have been impacted by landmines too.

READ MORE: How children are overcoming climate change, conflict and other crises to continue learning

Source: Save The Children

More than twelve years of destructive conflict in Syria has hit those who are least responsible the hardest – the nation’s children. Half of Syria’s children have grown up knowing nothing but conflict and displacement, facing fear and uncertainty. 

The earthquakes that struck the Türkiye-Syria border, along the North West of the country in February this year, were yet another devastating blow for families.

Save the Children and our Syrian NGO partners have worked with children in North East and North West Syria to capture their environment and take photos that would allow them to show the rest of the world their reality and share their hopes and dreams for the future.

The images contrast neighbourhoods shattered by the earthquake in Idlib with those destroyed in the conflict in Raqqa. They highlight the devastated infrastructure surrounding children across Syria today. In both contexts, children’s hopes and dreams share a common thread – the possibility to imagine a life without destruction and a future with an opportunity beyond conflict.

Scroll to view the child-led photography exhibition.

This series was curated for the Brussels VII Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region.

_{Note: All text written in italics are direct quotes from children.}

_{*Names have been changed to protect identity.}