Category: New Zealand NGOs

Source: Save The Children

Brussels, 20 December 2023 – The agreement reached today between the European Parliament and national governments in Europe on the reform of the European migration and asylum system will lead to  blatant violations of children’s rights, will endanger children on the move, and will lead to further separation of migrant families, said Save the Children.

The agreement – known as the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum – will also lead to systematising the detention of children of all ages at EU borders,  and undermine their fair access to asylum across the continent.

“The European leaders involved in these negotiations claim that the new Pact is a historic agreement on EU migration policy that will establish clear, fair and faster border procedures. This result is deemed crucial to reducing the influx of asylum seekers towards Europe.

“In fact, the agreement reached today is historically bad. It is evident that for the majority of legislators, the priority was to close borders, not protect people, including families and children escaping violence, conflict, hunger and death while seeking protection in Europe,” says Willy Bergogné, Save the Children Europe’s Director and EU representative.

According to Save the Children, the reform presented an opportunity to provide effective solutions to thousands of children and families ending up in inappropriate and often overcrowded facilities at borders, without adequate access to rights and assistance – a scenario all too common on the Italian shores, Greek or Spanish islands, and in the countries across the Balkans route, where children are victims of unspeakable violence perpetrated by smugglers and border guards at the external borders of the EU.

It was also a chance to reaffirm the EU’s role as child rights champion. Instead, should this reform obtain the final validation of the majority of the European Parliament and the Member States in Spring 2024, the systematic detention of families with children will become the norm. Children won’t be safer, especially those travelling unaccompanied, for whom the importance to be with reunited with their families, including their siblings, is discarded in the new Pact.  

The lack of mandatory relocation and effective solidarity in sharing responsibility for reception of people requesting protection in Europe was rejected by EU Member States. Instead, the new law would open possibilities to build more fences and walls, keeping people stranded at EU borders, subjected to inhumane treatment and violence. Rather than addressing these failures, the Pact risks legitimizing current violations and perpetuating a cycle of mistreatment of those seeking protection. Moreover, children won’t be exempt from accelerated evaluation of their protection needs at borders. As a result, many of them will risk not be granted asylum or other forms of protection based on their personal history and needs, nor will be able to access education, health, housing or psychosocial support as any other child in Europe.

“We will continue to stand for all children rights and to assist children on the move in Europe and at borders. A child is a child, no matter where they come from. Every child deserves a fair chance to be safe, protected, have hopes and dreams for a better future in Europe away from home, ” adds Willy Bergogné, Save the Children Europe’s Director.

Save the Children is a global child rights organisation working to improve the lives of children in need. We believe every child deserves a future. In Europe and around the world, we do whatever it takes – every day and in times of crisis – so children can fulfil their rights to a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. With over 100 years of expertise and programs in 116 countries, we are the world’s first and leading independent children’s organization – transforming lives and the future we share. For more information, visit www.savethechildren.net

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

Source: Save The Children

Save the Children Journalism Award Latin America and the Caribbean 2023 event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMh2bjmg36I

PANAMA,  19 December 2023 – Save the Children’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in partnership with the Inter American Press Association and the Gabo Foundation, announced the winners of the second edition of the Save the Children Journalism Award for Latin America and the Caribbean, a contest that seeks to promote journalism that gives a voice to children and adolescents in the region, placing their interests, situations, problems, problems and their stories on the public agenda.

In this second edition, 200 applications were received for journalistic works on the promotion, defense, and/or violation of the rights of children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean that were published in a media outlet in the region.

In a virtual ceremony, Save the Children awarded the 4 best journalistic works that give voice to children and adolescents in radio, television, digital, and printed press. The task of selecting the best works was entrusted to a group of judges made up of: Ginna Morelo, journalist representing the Gabo Foundation, Will Grant, BBC correspondent in Latin America, Mariana Belloso, journalist representing the Inter American Press Association and Alejandra Meglioli, Director of Program Quality and Impact of Save the Children for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The winners of the Save the Children Journalism Award for Latin America and the Caribbean 2023 are the following:

– In the printed press category, the winner is Ricardo Hernández Ruiz from the media outlet Gatopardo with the report: Los niños de la Zafra https://gatopardo.com/reportajes/los-ninos-de-la-zafra/.

– In the television press category, the winner is Gracielly Bittencourt Machado of TV Brasil with the report Orfaos do Femenicidio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRbA6EhU8WY&t=826s

– In the radio category, the winner is Sarah Fernades with the podcast: Mined Childhood from the media Brasil de Fato: https://on.soundcloud.com/jV7pE

– In the digital press category, the winner was Manuel Ureste from Animal Político with the investigative report Niñez migrante, promesas de papel (animalpolitico.com).

By decision of the Jury, an Honorific Mention was included in the award to Natalia Herrera for the investigative report El Tren de Aragua: detrás de la explotación sexual de migrantes en Latinoamérica by El Espectador, from Colombia, and the media of Alianza Rebelde Investiga (Runrun.es, El Pitazo and Tal Cual), from Venezuela. El Tren de Aragua: behind the sexual exploitation of migrants in Latin America | EL ESPECTADOR

During the award ceremony Violeta, teenage member of Save the Children’s Gannar advisory group stated:

“I think that the role of the journalist is extremely important because it is that person who is in charge of investigating, talking to the communities and transmitting those messages, those stories to society. This is precisely why it is important that their investigative work is transparent, that they talk to the families in the communities and to the children and adolescents to transmit our stories more transparently. I invite all journalists to work in a more transparent format, to talk to the communities, to the families, to the children, and to the adolescents. To work with them so that their stories are transmitted in a more organic and truthful way”.

Monica Kuljich, Save the Children’s Director of Communications and Media for Latin America and the Caribbean says:

“We are very pleased to announce the winners of the second edition of the Save the Children Journalism Award for Latin America and the Caribbean. This year we received more than twice as many applications as in the first edition. This fills us with great emotion as it indicates that the award is getting stronger and that more and more journalists are interested in disseminating the issues that are impacting children and adolescents in our region. Save the Children will always be an ally of the media to make visible the problems and diverse realities experienced by children in Latin America and the Caribbean, and around the world.”

The rules of the award and more information can be found on the website: periodismosavethechildren.org

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For further enquiries please contact:  María Gabriela Alvarado – maria.alvarado@savethechildren.org

Source: Save The Children

LONDON/GENEVA, 20 December 2023 – At least 12,000 people – 30% more than in 2022 – lost their lives due to floods, wildfires, cyclones, storms, and landslides globally in 2023, according to a new analysis from Save the Children. [1] 

In around 240 such climate-related events recorded in 2023, international disaster database EM-DAT recorded a 60% rise in the number of deaths from landslides, a 278% increase in deaths from wildfires and a 340% increase in deaths from storms between 2022 and 2023, driven in large part by the devastating death toll in Libya from the floods that resulted from Storm Daniel in September. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe as a result of the climate crisis.  

Save the Children’s analysis of EM-DAT data also underlines how the world’s low income countries have borne the brunt of the climate crisis in 2023, with over half of the people killed in 2023 being from low income or lower-middle income countries [2], and almost half (45%) of those killed (5,326) from countries responsible for less than 0.1% of the world’s emissions according to the EU’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR).   

Kelley Toole, Global Head of Climate Change at Save the Children said: 

“The analysis clearly shows how the climate crisis disproportionately affects those who have done least to cause it and are least able to withstand its most damaging effects, further entrenching inequality, poverty, and displacement.  

The thousands of deaths from extreme weather events this year are a particularly stark example of the huge impact that climate change has on children, families, and communities. Climate disasters leave children homeless, out of school, hungry and fearful that floods, storms, and wildfires will take the lives of their loved ones.  

We need to significantly scale up climate finance and make it more responsive to children’s needs, including for loss and damage. An agreement to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels at COP28 is a step in the right direction but falls short of the rapid fossil fuel phase-out desperately needed to secure a just transition for children globally.” 

2023 was marked by a number of cataclysmic climate disasters for children and their families. 

Cyclone Freddy brought destruction to Madagascar, Malawi, and Mozambique in February, before striking Mozambique for a second time in March. The cyclone, one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones on record, killed upwards of 1,400 people across the region, displaced thousands and destroyed over 1,600 schools in Mozambique and Malawi, disrupting the learning of hundreds of thousands of children.  

In Madagascar, schoolgirls Anjo, 11, and Juliana, 6, were among the children who missed out on learning after the cyclone destroyed their schools. Save the Children helped the girls with school supplies to help them return to school. 

Anjo said: “All my notebooks got wet and damaged during the cyclone. I am now keen to go to school, thank you very much for the school bag and the school kits.  

Juliana’s father has been out of work due to the extreme weather and the damage. Juliana said: “As a result, we are not eating well enough. Save the Children gave me a schoolbag, pens, pencils, erasers, and notebooks. Not only that but also money to my mother. After that, the quality of the food improved, and I am motivated to go to school.” 

In Pakistan, almost 200 people, almost half of them children, were killed in rain-related incidents during the monsoon season which began in late June, according to ECHO and UN reports. This year’s rains have amplified a still challenging situation for communities following the mega floods of 2022, which were some of the worst in the country’s history. Almost 500 children lost their lives in last year’s devastating deluge.  

While better forecasting, disaster preparedness and management have over the last century reduced the number of people who die from weather-related disasters, the number of global extreme weather events has increased five-fold over the past 50 years according to the World Meteorological Organization. Modelling research by Vrije Universiteit Brussel released by Save the Children found that a child born in 2020 will experience on average seven times more heatwaves in their lifetime than someone born in 1960, twice as many wildfires, and nearly three times the exposure to river floods, crop failures and droughts.  

As the world’s leading independent child rights organization, Save the Children works in 116 countries, tackling climate across everything we do. Save the Children supports children and their communities globally in preventing, preparing for, adapting to, and recovering from climate disasters and gradual climate change. We have set up floating schools, rebuilt destroyed homes and provided cash grants to families hit by disasters to provide the basic needs of children.  

Save the Children also works with child climate campaigners who are demanding change. Children across the world are calling for better access to climate education, more funding for climate-resilient infrastructure and a seat at the table with decision-makers. 

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Notes to Editors:  

[1] Save the Children used the international disaster database (EM-DAT) to identify the number of people killed as a result of wildfires, floods, cyclones and other storms and landslides since 2019. Droughts and extremes of temperature while linked to climate change were excluded due to the difficulty in capturing all deaths attributed to these. The EM-DAT database was last accessed on 18 December 2023 and covers up to 6 December 2023. Given that data for 2023 is still incomplete, year-on-year changes were calculated based on monthly averages for that year.  

[2] Countries’ income groupings were based on World Bank classifications. Venezuela is currently unclassified by the World Bank however; we considered it to be a lower-middle income country for the purpose of this analysis based on this study by the Inter-American Development Bank.  

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For further enquiries please contact:

Aisha Majid, Data Media Manager, based in Madrid, aisha.majid@savethechildren.org   

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

Source: Save The Children

Jamaal* (11 months) attends a Save the Children clinic in Sudan with his mother Nada* (30) to receive treatment for malnutrition (pre-surgery). Save the Children

The baby’s distress drew my attention despite the crowded clinic.

His cries reflected his immense pain. His severely swollen head – twice his body weight – must have been causing throbbing headaches and endless nausea.

His mother did her best to console him, holding him and making reassuring sounds. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t take away his pain.

I first met baby Jamaal* and his mother Nada* at a busy Save the Children clinic just south of Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum.

Nada told me her family had been living under a tree for months. They were forced to flee their home in Khartoum soon after violent conflict broke out in April this year.

And with conflict still raging just a few hundred kilometres away, there is no chance of them returning home any time soon. Nada doesn’t even know if their home still exists.

Jamaal – who was born just before the war started and is now 11 months old – had spina bifida and hydrocephalus at birth; a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal build-up of fluid in the brain.

Since then, Nada has been fighting hard for Jamaal to receive the surgery he desperately needs to drain the fluid and relieve the pressure. She told me she’d been advocating her son’s case to anyone who would listen.

But the conflict in Sudan has brought the country’s health system to its knees. Health workers, supplies and facilities continue to be targeted. Where health facilities remain open, a lack of medical supplies, including blood bags and oxygen, water, fuel and personnel are severely disrupting services.

And the National Health Insurance Scheme – which would have helped cover the cost of Jamaal’s lifesaving operation and medication in public health facilities – has collapsed.

To make matters worse, Jamaal has become malnourished due to his family’s dire living conditions and lack of access to nutritious food.

Despite receiving therapeutic food at the Save the Children clinic, Jamaal’s condition was not improving, signalling that his health was deteriorating rapidly.

Seeing their desperate situation our teams did everything in their power to help Jamaal.

• Our Emergency Health Unit organised a hospital referral for the surgery and a cash grant to pay for the operation, ongoing medication and transport to and from the hospital.
• Our Food Security and Livelihoods team organised a rental home for the family to live for the next three months while Jamaal recuperates from the surgery.
• Our nutrition team sourced the right therapeutic food Jamaal needs to gain weight and recover from malnutrition.

I was very emotional when I saw Jamaal after the surgery. The pressure on his head was going down and his eyes were clear and happy.

But the smile on Nada’s face and the relief in her eyes – and her sheer determination to save her son’s life against all the odds – is something I’ll remember forever.

*********
Save the Children is currently supporting 85 health facilities across Sudan and has deployed its Emergency Health Unit to work alongside local health workers in White Nile State and Al Gezira State to provide essential healthcare services for host communities and displaced people.

Services provided by the mobile clinics include treatment for diseases, vaccinations, maternal and child healthcare, the management of malnutrition cases and psychosocial support.

Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit provides children and their families with lifesaving, quality healthcare in some of the toughest and hardest-to-reach places in the world.

The Emergency Health Unit has teams of experts – including health professionals, water, sanitation and hygiene specialists and supply chain managers – who have decades of experience providing vital healthcare during conflicts, catastrophic natural hazards and disease outbreaks.

*Names changed to protect identities

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR LIFE-SAVING WORK

Source: Save The Children

Baby Yaqub*, born at a displacement centre in Sudan thanks to support from a Save the Children mobile health clinic. Photo by Mosaab Hassouna/Save the Children. More content available here

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KHARTOUM, 19 December – Some 29,250 babies in Sudan will be born without medical assistance in the next three months, putting them and their mothers at risk of complications that could have lifelong and even fatal consequences, said Save the Children.

While an estimated 45,000 babies will be born in the next three months across the entire country, according to the UN, only 35% of the population have access to any form of healthcare. This leaves 65% of people without access to hospitals, clinics or trained health professionals, meaning some 29,250 of these babies will be born without any professional support[i].

The first 28 days of a child’s life – the neonatal, or newborn, period – carries the highest risk of death. It is also the most dangerous period for the newborn’s mother. Even before the war that broke out this year, Sudan had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, according to UN data[ii].

The new analysis from Save the Children comes as aid agencies scramble against the clock to fill the gaping funding gap of 60% of the total US $2.6 billion needed to respond to the conflict.

Following months of violence, the health sector has nearly completely collapsed. Health workers, supplies and facilities continue to be targeted by armed groups, and where health facilities remain open, a lack of medical supplies, including blood bags and oxygen, water, fuel and personnel are severely disrupting services.

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

“When the conflict that broke out in April, millions of people were pushed into hell. Tens of thousands of new lives will be born into this anguish – more than half with no access to healthcare.

“While much of the world celebrates holidays and marks the end of the calendar year, 22 million children in Sudan are living an everyday nightmare of violence, fear, hunger, illness and distress.

“Even after eight months of aid agencies sounding the alarm, the response to Sudan’s crisis does not even have half the funding required to meet people’s basic needs. What will it take for people to care?

“There is a lot going on in the world right now, but we are pleading with the international community to remember children, their mothers and communities in Sudan.”

Some 25,000 pregnant women are estimated to be on the move across Sudan, likely cut off from health services and the right nutrition needed to support their growing babies[iii]. Nafeesa*, 27, experienced this earlier this year, fleeing her home in Khartoum with her 7-year-old son Ali* while pregnant before giving birth to her son Yaqub* in a shelter for displaced people, with support from Save the Children’s mobile health clinic.

She said: “I delivered Ali* in Khartoum. When I was pregnant with him, I was following up with a doctor, an obstetrician. Every month, I used to go for tests and an ultrasound, and I used to take all my tablets (nutritional supplements) until I delivered naturally.

“There’s a big difference [between now and when I delivered my first baby]. The difference is that when we were there our financial condition was good. But now things have changed since we came here to this complex. When we were there, we were living in our hometown, but now we are displaced.”

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is providing life-saving aid and children protection services together with national and international partners. Since the conflict broke out, Save the Children has reached 250,000 people, including more than 135,000 children and is operating medical and nutrition centres to provide food and other items for displaced families.

Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit provides children and their families with lifesaving, quality healthcare in some of the toughest and hardest-to-reach places in the world. The Emergency Health Unit has teams of experts – including health professionals, water, sanitation and hygiene specialists and supply chain managers – who have decades of experience providing vital healthcare during conflicts, catastrophic natural hazards and disease outbreaks (including Ebola, cholera, COVID-19 and measles).

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Source: Save The Children

Girls play the Mine Danger board game during a mine awareness session  in Kyiv region, Ukraine. Credit Oleksandr Khomenko/Save the Children

KYIV, 18 December 2023 – Steer clear of bare ground. Do not go near abandoned tanks. Never reach for a discarded toy. Call the emergency services. 

Children in Ukraine who are terrified to step on the ground due to the high prevalence of land mines or explosive remnants of war are being taught how to stay safe – using a board game developed by a Save the Children partner. Players take turns rolling a dice to advance on the board, while learning how to avoid danger and what rules to follow. 

Over 6,000 copies of the “Mine Danger” game have been distributed to children in the north and south of Ukraine. Along with the game, Save the Children also facilitates mine risk awareness classes. More than 17,000 children, parents, caregivers, and community members are expected to attend mine-risk awareness training by the end 2023.

Ira*, 7, and Vika*, 8, primary school students from Kyiv region who attend the training, said:

“I learned how to know where they [mines] are even without a sign. If you see a weird toy, you should not approach it and move away. Also, if you see a tank or any destroyed machinery, you cannot go there. And if there is bare ground where nothing grows, you cannot go there either.” 

Landmine education is proving critical for the safety of children in Ukraine, where at least 1,068 people have been killed or injured by mines or explosive remnants of war since the start of the war – the equivalent of two every day since February 2022.

In less than two years, Ukraine has become the most heavily mined country in the world. Up to one third of Ukrainian territory – or 174,000 square kms which is equal to the size of Florida in the US – is contaminated. Even areas where active fighting has ceased remain gravely dangerous due to the high prevalence of landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Areas near the frontline in the east and south of the country are particularly affected.

In a town just 70km (43 miles) from the fighting in Kharkiv region, Illia* , 7, used to be so terrified of mines that he refused to step on the ground.

Illia’s* family endured five weeks of relentless fighting and shelling at the start of the war.. Their home was damaged by a shockwave from an explosion and several mines landed in their backyard.

“I opened the door and mines started flying above. Two fell in our backyard, five or six in the neighbour’s garden. It was a direct hit to the house. If it were not for the snow, the house would have burned down.It was scary, especially when cluster munitions started flying,” Illia’s* father, Serhii*, said.

The experience made Illia* too scared to be alone, even for a brief time. He refused to walk outside of the home, so his parents and grandmother had to carry him wherever they went.

lllia’s* mother Antonina*, said: “Illia* was not going outside. He said someone might have planted [explosives] at night when we did not see. He would not walk in the backyard. He has only now began moving more freely but he still walks cautiously; he is not running around, and he won’t step on grass at all. He will only walk on the pavement.

“We only walk where others have gone first. I am an adult, and I am afraid.”

Just 20% of the contaminated land – about 40,000 square kms – is currently accessible for de-mining due to ongoing hostilities, according to the government of Ukraine. Research suggests it might take up to 757 years and $37 billion to clear the land.

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

“After almost two years of war, mine contamination in Ukraine has reached terrifying proportions and is only growing by the day. Even in areas without active conflict, children and their families are in grave danger of coming across an explosive object. The risk of sustaining life-changing or terminal injuries for children is extremely high; they are seven times more likely to die because of blast trauma.

“The life of a child should be carefree, playing in a safe environment without worrying about every step they take. Unfortunately, children living in the conflict-affected areas of Ukraine have been robbed of what others take for granted.”

Save the Children calls on all parties to refrain from the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas and take stock of the impact on civilian populations in the planning and conduct of military activities. Mines and other explosive ordinances pose a serious risk to children and hamper possibilities of development of those mine affected areas.

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

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*names changed to protect identity

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Source: Save The Children

Gaza, 17 December 2023 – The fifth and longest communication blackout across the Gaza Strip since 7 October means the limited aid that has been permitted into Gaza cannot be distributed to more than a million people in need beyond the Gaza-Egypt border area of Rafah, says Save the Children.

According to telecommunications companies, the blackout resulted from damage to critical infrastructure. Communications are slowly resuming in central and southern Gaza following repairs. However, four days without working phone networks and internet left aid agencies like Save the Children unable to coordinate the delivery of assistance beyond the Rafah crossing into Gaza, or to secure the safety assurances from Israeli forces needed for aid supplies and staff to move throughout the Gaza Strip. The blackouts make it near impossible to coordinate with partners and contact staff to help them find relative safety, critical assistance and services.

The UN also reported reduced visibility on the humanitarian situation due to the blackout. Rafah currently hosts up to 600,000 people displaced by airstrikes, ground operations and Israeli military directives issued from 5 December. The road from Rafah to Khan Younis – a nearby area currently hosting nearly 100,000 people previously directed there by earlier Israeli orders – remains an active zone for Israeli military operations.

Without safety assurances, attempts at aid delivery would risk the lives of humanitarian personnel. More than 135 aid workers have already been killed in Gaza since 7 October, including Save the Children staff member Sameh Ewaida who was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month. The UN declared the first month of operations the most dangerous period for its staff in history.

“Since the siege on the 10 October, there have been heavy restrictions on the amount and types of aid allowed into Gaza. This has left aid agencies without the on-the-ground conditions needed for an effective and principled humanitarian response to the more than two million people in desperate need across the Gaza Strip,” says Save the Children’s Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee.

“The communication blackout restricts those options even further, leaving well over a million people completely cut off from lifesaving assistance. Our ability to do our jobs and to save lives is being prevented at every turn.

“We desperately need a ceasefire and safe, unfettered access throughout all of the Gaza Strip for lifesaving supplies and staff, including consistent and reliable communications. Without it, the lives of the over one million children hang in the balance.”

Save the Children is calling on the international community to secure an immediate and definitive ceasefire and for the Government of Israel to reverse the conditions that have made a meaningful humanitarian response almost impossible, including unfettered humanitarian access to all of Gaza, and the restoration of the commercial sector entry into Gaza. Starvation and the denial of humanitarian assistance must never be used as a method of warfare.  

Notes to editor:

For further enquiries please contact media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Source: Save The Children

Alicia* works in the potato field. She said that over the past four years, her potato crop has reduced by a third due to the impacts of climate change. Photo by Emily Wight/Save the Children

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HUANCAYO, 15 December 2023 – A freak combination of drought interspersed with night-time hailstorms is destroying crops and plunging children and families into hunger in the Peruvian Andes as the climate crisis and El Nino wreak havoc, Save the Children said.

This comes as an agreement was reached at COP28 to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels, falling short of the rapid fossil fuel phase-out needed to secure a just transition for children globally.

Farmers in the department of Junín – one of the highest and most drought-prone areas of Peru – said they are increasingly struggling to feed their children, with some seeing their entire potato fields wiped out.

Sonia, 37, lost her potato crop last year due to extreme weather. She said: “It’s not like it used to be and we’ve had a lot of changes: lack of rain, no water, it’s too dry. Now we only see a little bit of rain here. And then there’s the ice that comes in the night and freezes the ground.”

Sonia took paid work on other farms but she still had to limit her own food intake so that her children didn’t go hungry. She said: “I didn’t say anything to my children about the situation, I just brought food home for them and we would try to make one portion of rice or potatoes stretch longer. I was very worried, but what can I do about it, when the weather is like this?”

To diversify her income, Sonia has now opened a small shop and has bought some animals.

Junín is facing an unusually dry rainy season just as farmers hope for much-needed rains.  The National Center for Estimation, Prevention and Reduction of Disaster Risk (CENEPRED) projects the coming months will see agricultural production fall 30% in Huancayo province.

For Alicia, 38, the drought and ice that freeze crops at night have reduced her harvest by a third over the past four years, forcing her and her family to make do with less but she is proud that her two sons, 15-year-old Mario and 10-year-old Juan Manuel, are still in school.

She said: “I want my kids to become professionals. I don’t want children to continue working here and doing what I’m doing, I want them to have a different life.”

Between 2019 and November 2023, 1,110 water deficit and drought emergencies were recorded across Peru, resulting in the death of more than 34,000 animals and the loss of some 105,000 hectares of crops, according to the National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI).

Almost one third of people in Peru (27.5%)[i] live below the poverty line, and in Junín more than  half the population is food insecure (52.2%)[ii]. Lack of food can bring a multitude of health issues to children, with the latest national health survey showing 33.6% of children between 6 and 59 months of age suffered from anaemia in 2022, with the numbers higher in rural areas.

Recent Save the Children global analysis showed the number of children driven to hunger and malnutrition by extreme weather events in countries most vulnerable to climate impacts more than doubled in 2022. The analysis did not include Peru, but the child rights organisation fears this trend will increase as extreme weather becomes the norm across the world.

William Campbell, Country Director for Save the Children in Peru, said:

“As slow-onset disasters, droughts do not have the “shock factor” of other emergencies and often go unnoticed. But devastating humanitarian needs can arise gradually, often affecting the poorest families who are reliant on livestock and agriculture and perpetuating the cycle of poverty that impedes the lives, rights, wellbeing and opportunities of children.

“This crisis, unlike many others, is predictable. Save the Children has decades of experience working with communities, partners and governments to help children and families prevent, prepare and recover from disaster. We have the tools to project the impacts extreme weather will have on children and to support these communities to prevent or reduce these impacts – and we need more funding to allow us to continue our work in these communities.”

Since January 2022, Save the Children has been working in Junín with partners, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (SENAMHI) and Descocentro, to build up resilience to droughts and extreme weather events through anticipatory action work. These included a tool called an Agrometeorological Information System (SIA), which provides communities with information about climate risk with a three-month lead time to prepare for actions.

Save the Children has worked in Peru since 1980 in disaster risk reduction, humanitarian response, education, protection and health. Between 2022 and 2023 we reached 281,434 people including 99,968 children and adolescents.

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Emily Wight, Emily.Wight@savethechildren.org;

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Source: Save The Children

• Leaders are meeting in Geneva from 13-15 December for the Global Refugee Forum, the world’s largest international gathering on refugees.
• Save the Children with the Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts consulted 434 refugee children from 11 countries to highlight their views
• The feedback – Our Call for Answers: Children’s manifesto to the Global Refugee Forum 2023– shows refugee children are particularly worried about education and safety.

GENEVA, 15 December 2023 – Refugee children globally fear discrimination and exclusion from schooling, violence in camps and the community, and want a say in their future, according to a survey by Save the Children and the Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts.

The survey – captured in Our Call for Answers: Children’s manifesto to the Global Refugee Forum 2023and launched today at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum in Geneva – involved 434 refugee children from 11 countries in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The survey revealed common concerns across cultures, with children reporting abuse in or exclusion from education as their major stress point. Children also reported feeling unsafe in refugee camps, with fears of sexual and physical violence against girls particularly prevalent.

Many of the children consulted spoke of deep frustration at caregivers and institutions, and at barriers hindering their ability to influence decisions, such as language barriers, lack of access to local authorities, attitudinal barriers, gender disparities, and discrimination. They also spoke of opportunities being denied to them, such as the opportunity to contribute ideas to improve school curricula, enhance safety in camps and host communities, and organise activities to advocate for their own rights.

Inger Ashing, Save the Children International CEO, is at the Global Refugee Forum. She said:

“Refugee children are children. They have the same hopes and dreams as children anywhere, but even greater fears and vulnerabilities, because of what they’ve experienced having to flee their home countries.

“These children deserve the right to be heard and have their issues addressed. Their voices not only need to be part of the discussion, they need to be at the forefront of discussions and decisions shaping their future.

“Children told us they had hope that their participation in this Forumwould lead to an improvement in the lives of child refugees. They look to UN agencies, international organizations, and governments to address their concerns and provide support. For these children, the Global Refugee Forum symbolizes a promise—a promise to safeguard their future. We must respect this hope, not squash it further.”

ENDS

EDITOR NOTES:

• The Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts has over 30 members  – including UN entities, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, philanthropic foundations, individual experts and special procedures – united to ensure that children’s rights are central in the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

• In the weeks running up to the Global Refugee Forum (GRF), 434 refugee children from eleven countries across the world participated in a series of consultations organized by the Initiative for Children Rights in the Global Compacts and Save the Children. The children that participated in the consultations, 247 girls and187 boys (including 2 girls and 7 boys with a disability) were consulted between September  and October 2023.

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For further enquiries please contact:

Andrea NunezFloresRey andrea.nunezfloresrey@savethechildren.org

Sam Halyk samantha.halyk@savethechildren.org

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Source: Save The Children

Edris* (30) and his children, affected by the recent earthquake in Herat. (Photo Credit: Atabek Khadim / Save the Children)

 

KABUL, 14 December 2023– Almost 8 million children in Afghanistan – or one in three – will enter the new year facing crisis levels of hunger as increasingly freezing conditions threaten communities already reeling from drought, earthquakes, and economic hardship, said Save the Children.  New figures[i] released today by the IPC, the global hunger monitoring system, predict an increase in the number of people experiencing crisis or emergency levels of hunger in Afghanistan during the winter months, although the situation has improved compared with the same period last year. 

An estimated 15.8 million people – more than a third of the country’s population – are expected to  experience acute food insecurity before March 2024. Almost half of those – or 7.8 million – are children[ii]. During the winter, employment opportunities are reduced, and food and fuel prices usually rise, according to the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification).

Afghanistan is also having to cope with rising numbers of Afghans returning from Pakistan and Iran.  About 460,000 people[iii] have crossed back into Afghanistan since September after Pakistan told undocumented foreigners to leave, with an additional 345,000 returning from Iran, according to the de facto authorities in Afghanistan[iv].

Afghanistan faced three consecutive cuts in food assistance this year[v]. Families who have lost their homes and food stocks due to consecutive earthquakes in Herat in the country’s northwest  remain extremely vulnerable. Without an urgent injection of funding during winter, millions of Afghans are likely to go hungry. The international community must not take its eyes off Afghanistan and must urgently increase humanitarian assistance to save lives this winter, said Save the Children.

Zeba* and her family are bearing the brunt of this crisis. She recently brought her 7-month-old daughter to a clinic in northern Afghanistan run by Save the Children. 

Zeba* said:

“Sometimes we don’t have bread to eat, and we sleep hungry. Seeing my child getting weak day by day and crying for food is devasting.”

For people in Afghanistan already living in economic hardship, winter brings even more challenges. Last year, a brutally cold snap in January killed at least 160 people when temperatures plummeted to –34 degrees Celsius.

Edris*, 30, has been living in a makeshift tent with his family since the devastating earthquakes that killed more than 2,000 people in Herat province in October. Like 48,000 others, his home was damaged. It snows heavily in Herat and Edris* is worried about his three children spending the bitterly cold months in a tent he would previously have used for his animals. Without shelter his animals are unlikely to survive the winter, leading to a massive loss of income for the family.

Edris* said:

“Our homes are not usable, and we don’t know how we can survive this winter. The winter is approaching and it’s too cold in these places. It will be covered with snow for weeks, the ways to travel will be blocked and these areas will be freezing.”

When children experience hunger, they are vulnerable to severe health conditions including malnutrition and weakened immune systems. Harsh winter weather threatens to compound these health risks, potentially leading to respiratory issues, hypothermia and pneumonia.

Hunger can also have lasting effects on a child’s physical and cognitive development as well as take a psychological toll.

Arshad Malik, Save the Children’s Country Director in Afghanistan,  said:

“An estimated 7.8 million children will enter 2024 not having enough to eat. Hunger – combined with bitterly cold weather in large parts of Afghanistan – will create a perilous situation for children. Their nutritional needs must be met.  Insufficient funding is putting lives at risk each passing day.

“As well as immediate humanitarian funding to meet basic needs, we need to see concerted efforts to address the root causes of this hunger crisis, which is driven by a combination of climate change, economic instability, lack of jobs and high food prices.

“Afghanistan is experiencing disaster after disaster – floods, earthquakes and droughts have uprooted children’s lives. The country is now facing the additional pressure of hundreds of thousands of people returning from Pakistan and Iran. 2024 must be a better year for Afghan children.

“We also need to see the international community resuming basic needs programming to support the recovery of the Afghan economy.”

Save the Children has been supporting communities and protecting children’s rights across Afghanistan since 1976, including during periods of conflict and natural disasters. We have programmes in nine provinces and work with partners in an additional seven provinces.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) provides a common scale for classifying the severity and magnitude of food shortage and acute malnutrition.

In the latest IPC report for Afghanistan an estimated 13.1 million people in Afghanistan experienced high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC 3 or above) in October 2023. That number is projected to increase to 15.8 million people between November 2023 and March 2024, compared with 19.9 million for the same period last year.

For further enquiries please contact:

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