Category: New Zealand NGOs

Source: Save The Children

Source: Save The Children

13 year old Zain from Sindh province, Pakistan tries to keep cool in extreme heat. Photo by Insiya Syed/Save the Children

Content available here: Save the Children (contenthubsavethechildren.org)

LONDON, 30 AUGUST 2024 – One-third of the total global child population—or 766 million children – were exposed to extreme heatwaves in the year between July 2023 and June 2024 as temperatures hit new record highs, according to new analysis by Save the Children.

In the same period, 344 million children – 15% of the world’s total – experienced the highest temperature recorded in their location since at least 1980.

Children around the world are experiencing more intense and frequent heatwaves because of the climate crisis, putting their physical and mental health as well as rights such as education at significant risk, the child rights organisation said.

Save the Children analysed satellite imagery of surface temperatures covering every part of the world. The child rights organisation defined an “extreme heatwave” as three consecutive days experiencing a temperature in the top 1% of all those recorded in that location in the previous 30 years.

The data showed that the number of children affected by extreme heatwaves almost doubled from 2022/23 to 2023/24.

The new data showed that in July 2024 alone, 170 million children experienced heatwaves. The same month also saw unprecedented heat globally, including the hottest day ever on record.

Children’s bodies are less able to regulate their temperature compared to adults, making them more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, Save the Children said. Their respiratory and immune systems are also still developing, making them more susceptible to the negative health impacts of poor air quality that often accompanies heatwaves.

Save the Children said that extreme heat is leading to an increase in child hospitalisations, the prevalence of respiratory conditions like asthma, in addition to impacting children’s mental health and overall development. Heatwaves are also worsening existing inequalities and food insecurity.

Heatwaves also disrupt education through school closures and decreased learning. In April and May 2024, more than 210 million children missed out on school days due to extreme heat. In Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, in May at least 26 million children or 52% of all the country’s pupils in pre-primary, primary and secondary education missed classes due to extreme heat.

In conflict zones, the compounding effects of heatwaves and humanitarian crises further endanger children already facing precarious circumstances.

Sameer, 13, from Sindh province in Pakistan, which recorded 52°C in May 2024 – close to the country’s record high of 54C – said the sweltering heatwaves led to him and his classmates becoming unwell:

“We get heat strokes and the children faint. One of my friends, Yasir, collapsed. He got a sudden fever and began to vomit. Then he was quickly taken to the hospital. Because of the intense heat, children get bouts of vomiting, fevers, and dizziness. I have become dizzy several times while sitting at my desk.” [1]

Shruti Agarwal, Senior Adviser on Climate Change and Sustainable Economies at Save the Children, said:

“The scale of this crisis is staggering. When nearly a third of the world’s children are exposed to heatwaves, it’s not just a record, but a catastrophe. This is no longer about discomfort, we’re talking about a threat to children’s survival, their education, their future. What we are seeing is an alarming trend where heatwaves are becoming more frequent, more severe and longer lasting, hitting children most impacted by inequality and discrimination the hardest. These heatwaves are not just a weather phenomenon – they’re a bleak indicator of our planet’s health and pose a grave and disproportionate risk to the health and wellbeing of children and future generations.

“The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat. For children, it means growing up on an increasingly uninhabitable planet. And while they are the least responsible for the mess we’re in, they have the most to lose. Children and young people have been speaking up for years now, and it’s high time world leaders show they are listening by taking bold action to save their lives and their futures.”

Save the Children is calling for national governments to rapidly phase out the use and subsidy of fossil fuels and ensure a just and equitable transition in order to limit warming temperatures to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.

Governments must recognise children as key agents of change in the climate crisis, and ensure children have platforms to speak out, the child rights organisation said. Leaders must also include and centre these voices – and the needs and rights of children, particularly those affected by inequality and discrimination – in the global response to climate change, including in climate finance from higher-income countries to lower-income countries. At a practical level, this includes ensuring buildings like schools are more resilient to rising temperatures so that children can learn safely.

Around the world, Save the Children works to create lasting change with and for children by supporting communities to strengthen their resilience to the climate crisis and calling on world leaders to tackle its root causes.

ENDS

We have multimedia content available here: Save the Children (contenthubsavethechildren.org)

Notes to Editor:

The analysis also revealed that from July 2023 to June 2024:

Regionally: The highest number of children who experienced heatwaves was in South Asia with 213 million, followed by East Asia and Pacific with 129 million and West and Central Africa with 117 million children affected.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, and West and Central Africa, the average number of heatwave days more than doubled compared to the previous 12 months.

Most affected countries: Andorra, San Marino and Albania saw 100% of children affected. In Thailand it was 97.5%, 97.2% in Cambodia, and 88.7% of children in Syria.

As the world’s most populous country, India saw the highest number of children experiencing heatwaves, with 170 million (39.5% of total child population), followed by Bangladesh with 38 million (71.5%) and Nigeria with 37 million (33.7%).

Save the Children’s study used satellite data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service and global child population estimates from WorldPop, aligned with UN World Population Prospects 2022.

For this research, a heatwave is defined as three consecutive days with temperatures above the 99th percentile of the past 30 years for a specific location. Our stringent 99th percentile definition highlights extreme conditions; using a 97th percentile would raise affected children to 1.7 billion, using the reference period of 1991-2020 for the current year.

Data includes heatwave records from 2000 onwards and unprecedented temperature spikes compared to 1980-2023 records.
More detailed methodological note available on request.

[1] Sameer attends a Save the Children Child-Friendly Space, which provides critical support during extreme weather events, offering a safe environment to escape the heat and harsh conditions. The centre also delivers sessions on how to stay safe during the intense heatwaves along with educational programmes to create lasting change for children.

We have spokespeople available. For more information and interview requests please email:

Emily Wight, Global Media Manager: Emily.Wight@savethechildren.org;

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

Source: Save The Children

UKRAINE: TWO IN THREE CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOLS IN FRONTLINE AREAS – SAVE THE CHILDREN   

KYIV, 27 August 2024 – About two-thirds of children in frontline regions of Ukraine cannot attend school in person but rely on remote learning that is plagued by challenges from the ongoing war, according to Save the Children’s latest research [1]. 

The aid agency’s new report ‘I Want a Peaceful Sky: Education and Children’s Wellbeing in Wartime Ukraine’ reveals the dramatic impact that two years of full-scale war displacing more than 25% of the country’s 38 million population [2] has had on education in Ukraine. The research was based on testimonies from about 1,500 students, caregivers, and teachers. 

Of 334 children surveyed in six regions close to the frontline or the Ukraine-Russia border – Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Mykolaiv – 221 (64%) reported they can only join classes online, while only 15% attended school in person and 17% used a combination of both [3].  

Schools in frontline regions of Ukraine remain closed, due to the danger of air strikes and shelling, while thousands of education institutions across the country cannot reopen due to a lack protective shelters. As a result, almost half of school-aged children in Ukraine – about 1.9 million children – rely on remote education on a full or part-time basis, according to the Ministry of Education.  

Some children cited in the report had no choice but to study online using smartphones with broken screens, with many reporting poor internet (79%), lack of electronic devices for learning (42%), and electricity shortages (40%) as significant barriers to their learning. 

Anton*, 11, a fifth grader from Mykolaiv, said: “Now learning is online, if I have the internet or electricity turned off, I am not able to come to the lesson. It’s not what it used to be. I dream that the war will end so that we can go to school and learn.”  

Maryna*, a principal in Kherson region, said: “There are no schools that operate in-person in our community.  The importance of school education is not just about good marks and learning itself, but in developing communication skills, socialization, capability to get along with peers and with adults.” 

At least 3,000 educational institutions have been damaged and more than 300 destroyed during the war, comprising more than 10% of Ukraine’s schools. [5]  

More than half of the surveyed families reported that their schools had been damaged, with the figure rising to over 90% in heavily affected regions like Kharkiv and Donetsk. 

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city that faces bombardment almost daily, the local authorities have moved in-person education underground, setting up classrooms in subways. 

“Even when there is shelling or air raid alarms, I do not hear them at all. I do not know about it, so at that moment I am not feeling anxious. Here, I communicate with friends, learn new material, so I like it. Personally, it is more difficult for me to study at home because I am often distracted, and here, we are with teachers,” said Maryna*, 17, who attends classes underground for several days a week. 

More than half of surveyed families across Ukraine (57%) – or 330 families out of 584 – said their children lacked face-to-face time with teachers.  

There’s also a significant shortage of teachers, with more than 43,000 – or about 10% of Ukraine’s total teachers workforce [6] – displaced either internally or abroad. One in four teachers, the vast majority of which are women, are also balancing teaching with humanitarian work, according to a survey cited in the report. 

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

Save the Children calls for all parties to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. Civilians and civilian objects, especially those impacting children such as homes, schools, and hospitals, are protected from attack, and all children must be protected from any violations of their rights. 

Save the Children has been working in Ukraine since 2014 and has scaled up operations since the war escalated in February 2022. To help children across Ukraine access education, Save the Children and its partners have established around 90 Digital Learning Centres – hubs with all the necessary digital learning tools and devices and facilitators trained to provide learning and wellbeing support.  

We have also funded rehabilitation works, including shelter refurbishment, at 70 schools and kindergartens across the country, and supplied laptops and tablets to regions where schools remain closed, so girls and boys without essential devices to continue their learning remotely. 

 *Names changed to protect identity  

NOTES: 

[1] https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/i-want-a-peaceful-sky-education-and-childrens-wellbeing-in-wartime-ukraine/

[2] 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine currently displaced across the globe, and 3.5 million more are registered as internally displaced in Ukraine, according to UN data. 

[3] Based on SCI’s analysis of survey data collected for the report – https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/i-want-a-peaceful-sky-education-and-childrens-wellbeing-in-wartime-ukraine/

[4] According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine as of September 2023: https://ukrstat.gov.ua/operativ/operativ2023/osv/osv_rik/zso23_ue.xlsx 

[5] Estimates vary, see saveschools.in.ua for updated statistics, available at: https://saveschools.in.ua/en/ as well as Ukraine Common Country Analysis 2023, UN Country Team in Ukraine / UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine (2023) https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-common-country-analysis-2023?_gl=1*11v68hc*_ga*MTU0Njg3NTU2NS4xNzA1MzE1Mzky*_ga_E60ZNX2F68*MTcwNTMzODUxNS41LjEuMTcwNTMzOTQwOC41MC4wLjA 

[6] As of September 2023, there is a total of 390,000 teachers in Ukraine according to The State Statistics Service of Ukraine  

For further enquiries please contact:

·     Soraya Ali, MENAEE Global Media Manager Soraya.ali@savethechildren.org

·     Vsevolod Prokofiev Ukraine Media Manager, vsevolod.prokofiev@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

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

“Hundreds of drones and missiles have struck Ukraine in recent hours, with at least four children have injured in the strikes according to local reports. 

“The bomb siren went on at six in the morning, and soon after the blasts started rocking the sky above Kyiv. I lost count of the explosions as the windows and walls in my apartment started shaking, and I had to quickly take shelter, as did millions of children and their families. Damp and cold basements, cellars, and subway stations – children had to endure difficult conditions paired with immense fear and distress as the air raid alert lasted almost ten hours. 

“Across the country, entire cities remain without stable electricity and water supplies. Liquid petrol generators roar across the streets, and even critical pieces of infrastructure like children’s hospitals havA e switched to alternative sources of energy and limited their operations in response to the emergency blackouts. 

“With the school year starting in just a week, up to a million children in Ukraine that rely on remote education risk will face new barriers to accessing online classes and may fall even more behind in their studies. 

“The exact scale of damage to energy infrastructure is unclear but believed to be extensive, and no timeline is provided at the moment when the power supplies can be fully restored. Attacks against energy infrastructure are prohibited by the rules of war and are unacceptable as they deprive millions of children across Ukraine of healthcare and education. 

“We call for all parties to this conflict to commit to their obligations under international humanitarian law and ensure that children, their families, and essential civilian infrastructure are protected at all times.” 

Source: Save The Children

RAMALLAH, 22 August 2024 – New displacement orders issued by Israeli authorities have forced another mass movement of families and humanitarian workers from areas in Deir al-Balah – one of the only remaining areas in the occupied Gaza Strip with essential infrastructure and warehouses storing aid supplies.  

Many Palestinian families, already forcibly displaced countless times since October, are on the move yet again, including humanitarian workers critical to providing the limited aid response that is still possible.

At least 24 NGOs have reported impacts from orders in the past week resulting in the forced displacement of staff members, operations disrupted, and at least one site sheltering civilians under attack. Warehouses storing supplies are located within the  blocks that have come under orders that are resulting in forcible displacement.

So-called ‘“evacuation” orders issued by Israeli authorities on 13, 15, 16  and 21 August continue to obstruct aid operations, affecting a number of agencies including Save the Children, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), MSF, Solidarités International, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Oxfam, Humanity & Inclusion, Action Against Hunger, Islamic Relief, Project HOPE,  DanChurchAid and Norwegian Church Aid and partners, and Palestinian partners of ActionAid, War Child, Danish Refugee Council, Médicos del Mundo, Middle East Children’s Alliance and WeWorld.

A shelter belonging to ANERA has come under fire, while NRC has waited more than 15 days for the Israeli authorities to respond to a request to deconflict an area where they seek to relocate staff following Israel’s latest displacement order. 

The UN said that multiple orders issued by Israeli forces in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah between 8 and 17 August impacted 17 health facilities, including five primary healthcare centres and nine medical points, disrupting essential health services. Disruptions will also threaten the ability to administer critically needed polio vaccines once they arrive in Gaza.

Communities are cut off from vital aid, as suppliers who deliver essential items like water, face challenges reaching locations close to the areas which people have been ordered to leave.

Humanitarian actors must be allowed to deliver aid based on need rather than the designation of safe areas by a party to the conflict.

“Even if Israeli authorities let polio vaccines in, with the biggest responders in Gaza constantly pin-balled from one place to the next, how can we deliver an effective campaign and reach the children in dire need of that protection? If you want to understand the access situation, this is it – not the trickle of trucks exceptionally allowed to enter.” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children Regional Director for the Middle East.

“Palestinians in Gaza have been relentlessly uprooted, forced from one so-called ‘safe’ area to the next, enduring unimaginable hardship and loss. Among them are brave humanitarian workers who risk their lives every day to save others. Our ability to provide meaningful aid in any part of Gaza does not meet our ambitions, l let alone the overwhelming needs. Deir al-Balah, once declared a humanitarian zone, is now under attack with bombardment at our doorstep,” said Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are a humanitarian organisation, trying to deliver humanitarian services in what Israel had unilaterally declared a ‘humanitarian zone’. These conditions don’t just punish us, they impact civilians in desperate need of assistance,” said Suze van Meegen, NRC’s acting Country Director in Palestine.

“The situation has become incredibly dangerous.  There’s constant fighting, and the sounds of shelling and explosions are clearly audible. Skin diseases are spreading rapidly. We’re all becoming paranoid that we’ll get infected. The physical toll is real. I’ve been having severe stomach pains, likely from the contaminated water we’re forced to drink. I don’t know how much longer we can survive like this,” said Lena*, Mercy Corps staff member in Gaza.

For more than 10 months, humanitarian organisations have called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. Now the looming risk of a polio outbreak and urgent need to vaccinate children in Gaza makes this more urgent than ever. 

All parties to conflict have an obligation to facilitate humanitarian access at all times. Israel as the occupying power is obligated to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the occupied population are met. This includes facilitating humanitarian aid and creating conditions that enable the safe provision of supplies, and has been ordered by the International Court of Justice in its provisional measures of 26 January and 24 May. 

Rafah served as the main hub for Gaza’s strained aid operations until early May, when  Israeli forces expanded their ground operations there. Aid agencies were forced to move their operations to Deir al-Balah. With northern Gaza decimated, southern Gaza largely inaccessible, civilians and aid workers, and critically needed humanitarian operations,  now have nowhere left to go. 

Editor’s Note

• The Israeli designated “humanitarian zone” now ecompasses less than 11 per cent of Gaza, according to the UN. 
• Civilians who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes remain protected under international humanitarian law.

Signed on

1. Save the Children 
2. War Child
3. ActionAid 
4. DanChurchAid
5. Solidarités International 
6. Islamic Relief
7. Middle East Children’s Alliance
8. Danish Refugee Council
9. WeWorld
10. Humanity & Inclusion/ Handicap International (HI)
11. Norwegian People’s Aid
12. Project HOPE
13. The Palestinian Association for Empowerment and Local Development – REFORM 
14. Agricultural Development Association – PARC
15. Anera
16. Médicos del Mundo
17. Médecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
18. Medical Aid for Palestinians
19. Norwegian Church Aid
20. Action Against Hunger
21. ChildFund Alliance
22. Global Communities 
23. Mercy Corps
24. Oxfam
25. CARE International 
26. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
27. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

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

PORT SUDAN, 22 August 2024 – Nearly 500 unaccompanied and separated children have arrived in Blue Nile and Gedaref states over six weeks as heavy fighting forces more people to flee for safety after 16 months of conflict, Save the Children said.

Escalation in violence in Sennar’s state capital Sinja on 29 June triggered widespread fighting which has displaced about 725,000 people, over half of whom are estimated to be children, according to data from International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (IOM DTM).[1]

Families are fleeing to Blue Nile and Gedaref states with rising numbers of children arriving without their parents, Save the Children said.  Many of these families are being displaced for the second and third time, having sought refuge in Sinja in Sennar state after fleeing Khartoum and Gazira states earlier in the conflict.

Save the Children child protection teams in Blue Nile and Gedaref states have recorded at least 451 children between June 29 and August 14 forced to make the perilous journey to safety without their parents, the highest number they have recorded in such a short period since the conflict started in April 2023.

At least 60,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who have made their way to Blue Nile state have been settled in more than 109 gathering sites and schools, which could delay reopening of schools in September.

Further, ongoing heavy rains and floodings are compounding the suffering for families and children fleeing fighting, with muddy and impassable roads making it difficult to get essential supplies, including food and medicine to people who need them.

The interior ministry this month reported heavy rainfall across different parts of the country killing at least 68 people, increasing the suffering for millions of people struggling to survive in the world’s largest displacement crisis. The heavy rains have also led to a scarcity of essential drugs and goods such as wheat flour, oil, cereals and onions. in the local markets, driving up prices.

More than 16 months of conflict have killed and injured thousands of children, forced many into child labour, destroyed healthcare and education, upended food systems, and created the world’s worst child displacement crisis with 6.7 million children now forced from their homes [4].   

Mary Lupul, Humanitarian Director of Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“Our staff in Blue Nile and Gedaref states are receiving at least nine children without their parents in camps for displaced people every day. During my visit to an IDP camp in Gedaref last month I saw children who had endured terrifying journeys arrive at our reception centres, completely exhausted and many showing signs of malnutrition.

“These children have seen their homes, hospitals, playgrounds and schools bombed, looted and occupied, and have been separated from their parents or guardians. They’ve lost loved ones and been subject to unspeakable violence. We know that children who have been separated from families are at much higher risk of violence, abuse and exploitation, including trafficking, recruitment into armed groups and sexual and gender-based violence.

“In Gedaref, Save the Children has put up a child friendly space where children can play and be children again. They are sheltered from the fighting happening outside this place and receive lots of psychosocial support from our staff. Here, they have a chance to express their emotions through drawing, find comfort in other children and even enjoy a game of volleyball.

“What I personally witnessed is that children even in the most dire and trying of circumstances want to be children and the opportunity to play and be with other children is so important.  Yet this crisis is not getting the attention it deserves. Save the Children is calling for an immediate ceasefire and meaningful progress towards a lasting peace agreement as well as for the international community to step up and release the necessary funding and resources to protect children’s lives.”

The humanitarian response for Sudan is significantly underfunded, with donors contributing just 37.4% to a $2.7 billion UN response plan. 

In early August, Save the Children warned that the number of children in Sudan seeking treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has surged to unprecedented levels. Data from the aid agency showing a rapid spike in malnutrition in the central southern state of South Kordofan where the number of under-fives admitted with SAM in June in alone was 99% of the programme’s expected case load for the year [1]. 

At the same time, the Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – the leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises – said there was famine in North Darfur’s Zamzam Camp due to the escalating humanitarian crisis which threatens to spill over into the rest of Sudan. 

Save the Children, in partnership with Ministry of Social Development, State Council for Child Welfare and Family and Child Protection Unit, is supporting unaccompanied and separated children with an interim care package that includes basic items such as rice, lentils, sugar, cooking oil, soap, blankets and mosquito nets in Damazine, Blue Nile state. 

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. Save the Children is also supporting refugees from Sudan in Egypt and South Sudan. 

ENDS 

[1] https://dtm.iom.int/reports/dtm-sudan-flash-alert-overview-june-july-2024?close=true

Subsequent IOM flash updates report that further displacement has occurred in Sennar state in August. For example: https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/dtm-sudan-flash-alert-conflict-abu-hujar-galgani-town-sennar-update-seven

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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

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements and location Vlogs.

Source: Save The Children

Photo: Kohinoor* (15), a Rohingya child, Bangladesh.

COX’S BAZAR, 22 August 2024 —Rohingya children are living ‘in constant fear’ due to spiralling crime and violence in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, seven years after more than 700,000 people fled violence in Myanmar, said Save the Children.

The child rights organisation interviewed 73 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and adolescent children, in Cox’s Bazar, who described rising violence in the camps, including kidnappings for ransom, abductions and the recruitment of children by Rohingya armed groups in Bangladesh. Their interviews give an insight into how insecurity is affecting children’s lives and underline the need for increased protection for Rohingya refugees [1].

Children and their parents described a state of constant fear of armed groups, particularly at night. The violence—and the fear of violence and abductions—has led many Rohingya families to stay in their shelters and prevent their children from going outside.

Levels of stress, anxiety, and depression were already high [2], and focus group discussions revealed that struggles with mental health have increased as security in the camps has declined.

Nearly half (48%) of refugee households surveyed reported crime and violence as a protection concern, with 37% saying they felt ‘very unsafe’ or ‘a bit unsafe’ when going out alone at night, according to a camp wide assessment by the humanitarian coordination group in Cox’s Bazar [3].

Faruq*, 16, was recently kidnapped and told he would be killed if his family didn’t pay the ransom. His abductors initially demanded more than US$25,000, but he managed to escape.  He said:

“The kidnappers are threatening us in various ways. Because of all this, we can’t even sleep well at home. We stay up all night waiting for morning and worrying.

“Now, we can’t go to school to study. We can’t even leave our house. We don’t want any more kidnappings or extortion here. We want to be able to study well and play sports. We want to live life in such a way that we can do whatever we wish.”

Surveyed families have also reported a rise in child marriage and forced adult marriage due to insecurity. Some said that armed groups have been forcibly marrying Rohingya women and girls while others said that child marriage is the only way to protect their daughters from sexual violence. 

Kohinoor*, 15, told Save the Children that her family has been threatened by armed groups wanting to force her sister into marriage. She said:

“There is gunfire day and night. We live in constant fear. My sister can’t sleep at night due to panic; she remains restless and disturbed all night. We can’t even make it to school; we see people standing with guns. When I was in school, I dreamed of becoming a doctor when I grew up. Now, I can’t even study to become a doctor because there’s constant shooting here.

We are scared, too scared to go anywhere. We want a life like before when we could leave the house and go here and there and could play, could read. We wish everything could be the same again.”

With refugees too afraid at times to leave their shelters, Save the Children saw a decline in people accessing its services, including receiving cash distributions and attending learning and health centres, particularly in May and June.  

The child rights organisation also saw a fall in the numbers of Rohingya volunteers in the camps, with only half of day labourers turning up for work in May. Community health workers described occasions where they were too afraid to leave the health centres alone for household visits, disrupting access to healthcare for vulnerable refugees.

The recent political turmoil in Bangladesh in July and August saw a reduction in the number of police on duty across the country, including in the camps in Cox’s Bazar. The lack of police at the time led to an increase in insecurity and created more fear and anxiety for the Rohingya refugees.

Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh – just over half of whom are children. For seven years, Rohingya refugee children have gone without formal education, parents and caregivers don’t have jobs, and all refugees have become more vulnerable to deaths and injuries from large-scale fires, flooding and landslides – and now violence and insecurity in the camps.

A Child Protection staff member for Save the Children in Cox’s Bazar said:

“A sense of panic prevails among parents. For those [children] who are over the age of 15 or around 13, 14 years old, there is a sense of fear and dread within the families. They are frightened.

They are afraid to leave their homes, worrying about facing any problems outside.

As a result, there are fewer children in the playgrounds or on the streets within the camps. Our volunteers and social workers say that the number of children has suddenly decreased [at our Child Clubs]. They are scared to come.”

Shumon Sengupta, Country Director, Save the Children in Bangladesh, said:

“Crime and violence are now among refugees’ greatest fears. For seven years, Rohingya refugees have been confined to the camps with limited freedom of movement. They have nowhere to run to, nowhere they can escape from the threat of abductions and violence.

Rohingya children should not grow up in fear. In camps where the Bangladesh authorities have intervened, levels of crime have fallen – we urge the new Interim Government of Bangladesh to listen to the concerns of Rohingya children and protect all refugees from violence and insecurity.

Rohingya refugees’ needs are as urgent today as they were seven years ago. The deteriorating situation in the camps is also pushing people into taking dangerous and deadly boat journeys in search of a better life.  Dwindling aid means resources in the camps are drying up further and barely meeting the survival needs of nearly one million people.  It’s time to accelerate progress towards long-term solutions. It’s time to give the more than half a million children in the camps a promise of a better life and hope for their future.” 

Save the Children urges Bangladesh, governments in Asia, and the international community to stand by Rohingya refugees. Increased aid, legal protections, education, and job opportunities are essential to ensure they live with dignity and hope.

Save the Children is one of the leading international NGOs working in the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh. We provide services including child protection, access to learning, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene services, and distribution of shelter and food items. We work in 29 of 33 Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and have reached about 600,000 Rohingya refugees, including more than 320,000 children, since the response began in 2017.

ENDS

Notes to editors

*denotes names changed to protect identity

[1] Save the Children carried out focus group discussions and interviews with 73 Rohingya refugees in the camps in Cox’s Bazar 19 May – 13 June. 

[2] https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/I-am-Still-Living-in-Darkness-Young-Rohingya-refugees-reflect-on-five-years-in-Bangladesh.pdf/

[3] https://rohingyaresponse.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BGD_CXB_J-MSNA-2023_Factsheets_Camps_Feb-2024.pdf

We have spokespeople available.

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For interview requests and further information, please contact:

Rachel Thompson, Asia Pacific Regional Media Manager rachel.thompson@savethechildren.org

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Source: Save The Children

A one-year-old child receiving treatment at Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit in Gaza [Sacha Myers/ Save the Children]

RAMALLAH, 20 August 2024 – Aid agencies and medical professionals have joined forces to call urgently for a ceasefire to allow life-saving polio vaccinations to be administered to about 640,000 children aged under 10 following confirmation of the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years, with reports of other suspected cases emerging.

At least 50,000 children born during the past 10 months of hostilities are highly unlikely to have received any immunizations due to the collapsed health system, while older children among the one million children in Gaza will have had their regular vaccine schedules disrupted or halted by violence and displacement.

Polio had been eliminated in Gaza more than two decades ago, but last month the WHO reported that the virus had been found in sewage samples from sites in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah. This month, one case was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The reemergence of the poliovirus in Gaza is a direct result of the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure, and the Government of Israel’s restrictions on repairs and supplies. Coupled with overcrowding, displacement, and a crippled healthcare system, these actions have created an environment ripe for the spread of the virus in Gaza.

A group of about 20 aid agencies and 20 medical professionals who have worked in Gaza said polio vaccines are in the region and ready to be distributed in August and September, but this requires full access for humanitarian supplies into Gaza from all border crossings, and safe, unhindered movement within the Strip. This can only be achieved with an immediate end to hostilities.

“Now polio is confirmed, the response needs to be measured in hours, not weeks. Without immediate action, an entire generation is at risk of infection, and hundreds of children face paralysis by a highly communicable disease that can be prevented with a simple vaccine,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East. “These children do not have the luxury of time.” 

Polio, a virus that can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours, is particularly dangerous in Gaza, where high malnutrition rates and toxic stress levels make children more vulnerable to infection. With Ministry of Health confirmations of polio in a 10-month-old in Deir Al-Balah, and WHO reports confirming the presence of poliovirus in wastewater, the situation is beyond alarming.

Humanitarian operations across Gaza are severely hindered by the ongoing bombardment and the obstruction of critical aid supplies and fuel at Israeli-controlled crossing points, and dangerous transit inside the Gaza Strip. Specialist refrigerated trucks needed to safely transport vaccines have been repeatedly rejected from entry, leaving thousands of children at risk.

“The health system in Gaza was destroyed long ago,” said Nahed Abu Iyada, CARE West Bank and Gaza’s Health Program Field Officer.“Without an immediate ceasefire and access to vaccines and humanitarian aid across the Strip, the people of Gaza are facing a public health disaster that will spread and endanger children across the region and beyond.”

Humanitarian organisations urgently call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire to allow polio vaccinations to take place in Gaza. For a polio vaccination campaign to be effective, it must be able to reach at least 95% of targeted children, and this cannot happen in an active war zone. Any ceasefire or pause requested by the UN must be used to facilitate full humanitarian access, not just for vaccines but for the full range of assistance needed to sustain civilians’ basic needs. All parties to conflict have an obligation to facilitate humanitarian access at all times, regardless of whether conflict is active or not.

Notes to Editors:

• Polio can cause total paralysis within hours and is especially dangerous for children under five.
• The World Health Organization has confirmed the presence of poliovirus in Gaza.

Signed:

Islamic Relief Worldwide 

MedGlobal

ActionAid

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)

War Child

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

WeWorld

CARE

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)

Humanity & Inclusion/ Handicap International (HI)

DanChurchAid

ChildFund Alliance

Plan International

Accion Contra el Hambre (ACF)

Médicos del Mundo (Médecins du Monde Spain)

Oxfam

International Rescue Committee

Mercy Corps

Children Not Numbers NGO

Save the Children

Doctors and medical professionals:

Feroze Sidhwa, MD, MPH, FACS, FICS

Trauma, critical care, acute care, and General Surgeon

Served at European Hospital, Khan Younis, March 25 – April 8, 2024

French Camp, CA

Thaer Ahmad, MD

Emergency Medicine Physician

Served at Nasser Hospital, January 2024

John Kahler, MD, FAAP

MedGlobal Cofounder

Served in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah, Gaza, January,  March 2024

Abdullah Ghali, MD

Orthopedic Surgery Resident

European Hospital in Khan Younis, April 3 – 8, 2024

Houston, TX

Abeerah Muhammad MSN, RN, CEN

Emergency and Critical Care Nurse

European Hospital, May 2024

Yipeng Ge, MD, MPH, CCFP

Primary Care Physician and Public Health Practitioner

Tal Al Sultan Primary Health Care Center in Rafah, February 12-19, 2024

Ottawa, Canada

Benjamin Thomson, MD, MSc, MPH(c), FRCPC

Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Public Health

Multiple sites in Rafah, Deir-el-balah

March 2024

Toronto, Canada

Noor Amin, MD, CCFP(SEM), FCFP

Primary Care, Emergency and Sports Medicine physician

Al Aqsa Hospital and European Gaza Hospital April 2024

Mississauga, Canada

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

Internal Medicine/Pediatrician

Al-Aqsa Shushes Hospital, June 24- July 16, 2024

Nabeel Rana, MD

Vascular Surgeon

Served at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Deir al-Balah, June 20 – July 9, 2024

Hina Cheema, MD

Obstetrician and Gynecologist

Served in Al Emirati hospital, Rafah March 2024

Served in Nassar hospital, Khan Younis, June-July, 2024

Ahmed Ebeid

Anesthesia

Served in European General Hospital, January –  February 2024

Served in Kamal Eledwan Hospital, March- April 2024

Bilal Piracha, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor Emergency Medicine

Served at Aqsa Hospital, DeirAl-Balah, March 7 -19 & July 19- 25, 2024

Served at Al Ahli Hospital (Gaza City), July 26 – August 1, 2024

Professor Nick Maynard MS, FRCS, FRCSEd

Consultant Surgeon (General and Thoracic Surgery)

Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford, UK
Served as member of Medical Aid for Palestinians Emergency Medical teams in Gaza:

December 26, 2023 – January 8, 2024, Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al Balah, Gaza

April 22– May 6,  2024, Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Albalah, Gaza

Javid Abdelmoneim FRCP, DTMH

Emergency Medicine Physician

Nasser Medical Complex, Khan Younis June -July 2024

Khaled Dawas MD, FRCS (General Surgeon)

Consultant Surgeon

University College London Hospitals

Member of Medial Aid for Palestinians Emergency Medical Teams in Gaza 2023/4

Dr. Trish Scanlan

Pediatrician  & Co-Medical Director

Children Not Numbers

Dr James Smith MBBS, MA, MSc, MSc

Emergency Physician, UK

Lecturer in Humanitarian Policy and Practice, UCL, UK

Served in Al Aqsa Hospital, December 16, 2023 – January 8, 2024

Served in Al-Mawasi, Rafah, Al-Aqsa Hospital, & supported patient evacuations ins Gaza City, North Gaza)

Alia Kattan MD

Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine

Served in European General Hospital, Gaza, April 29 – May 17, 2024

Tanya Haj-Hassan, BMBCh, MSc 

Served in Gaza, March 11-25, 2024 

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