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Sudan Tribune

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Sudan Tribune

Plural news and views on Sudan

Humanitarian

Sudan, South Sudan most dangerous countries for aid workers, UN says

Sudanese Red Crescent Society volunteers distribute food to people in Khartoum who have been affected by the ongoing conflict in the country in late May 2023. (SRCS)

Sudanese Red Crescent Society volunteers distribute food to people in Khartoum who have been affected by the ongoing conflict in the country in late May 2023. (SRCS photo)

September 29, 2023 (NEW YORK) – Sudan and South Sudan are the most dangerous countries in the world for aid workers, the United Nations said on Friday, as it called for more funding to support humanitarian operations in these and other crisis-hit nations.

Of the 71 aid workers killed this year, 22 had been working in South Sudan and 19 in Sudan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. The victims were overwhelmingly local humanitarians working on the front lines of the response.

“Attacks on aid workers and facilities violate international humanitarian law, which had to be respected by all, without exceptions,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told a press briefing in Geneva.

Laerke also said that the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan required USD 2.6 billion, but only USD 813 million had been received as of September 29. Similarly, the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan required USD 1.7 billion, but only USD 899 million had been received.

“Combined, all UN-coordinated annual response plans in the world are facing their largest-ever funding gap at USD 39 billion,” Laerke said. “2024 could be an even more difficult year for humanitarian funding, as several top donors expect budget cuts in the coming year.”

Laerke said that one of the problems was that the donor base needed to be narrower, with most humanitarian funding coming from just 20 donors and the top five – US, EU, Germany, Japan, and Sweden – covering 65 per cent of the available budget. “There is a need for fair sharing of the burden,” he said.

Answering questions from the media, Laerke specified that there had been an average of 20 aid worker fatalities per year in South Sudan in recent years.

The UN called on all parties to the conflict to respect aid workers’ safety and security and allow them to operate freely and without hindrance. It also appealed to donors to increase their funding for humanitarian operations in Sudan, South Sudan, and other needy countries.

(ST)

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