South Sudan calls for priority in World Humanitarian Summit

May 26, 2016 (JUBA) – Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, has called on the World Humanitarian Summit convened this week in Istanbul, Turkey, between 23-24 May, 2016, to prioritize the world’s youngest nation in the humanitarian interventions.

In his speech he delivered to the Summit and extended to Sudan Tribune, Owusu, also said the gathered global leaders should also recognize the centrality of political will to prevent and end conflicts, to address root causes, to reduce fragility and strengthen good governance in countries like South Sudan.

‘World leaders and people from all segments of society affirmed that those who are most at risk of being left behind – including the more than 60 million people displaced worldwide, 2.3 million of them in South Sudan – will receive the global attention and support they deserve,” he said.

The top humanitarian coordinator in the country, also commended that the Summit also reinforced support from all stakeholders to go beyond meeting humanitarian needs, by changing people’s lives through ending needs, as well as the vital importance of gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights becoming pillars of humanitarian
action.

“All of these issues are of course particularly pertinent in South Sudan today, where the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) brings hope that the needless suffering of so many civilians may finally come to an end,” he added.

He said the world needed to capitalize on the momentum generated by the Summit, to ensure that the global community does not allow South Sudan to become a forgotten crisis.

“The humanitarian appeal is today just 29 per cent funded. We need more contributions urgently in order to reach people in dire need across the country as they seek to regain their lives and livelihoods,” said Owusu.

“I am delighted that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hussein Mar Nyuot, and the Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul were present at the Summit. It was a pleasure to be part of the delegation.”

The gathering, he added was the first World Humanitarian Summit attended by over 9,000 participants from 173 Member States, including 55 Heads of State and Government, hundreds of private sector representatives, and thousands of people from civil society and non- governmental organizations.

“The United Nations in its 70 years has never come together at this scale, with this many different stakeholders, to discuss the pressing challenges that are resulting in so much human suffering today,” he observed.

(ST)