EU contributes €5.5 million to support children in South Sudan
September 7, 2015 (JUBA) – The European Union has announced a €5.5 million contribution to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to help support its operations in South Sudan, amidst the growing humanitarian needs in the world’s youngest nation.
According to UNICEF, an upsurge in the violence has forced tens of thousands more people to flee their homes, many of them seeking shelter at the UN mission’s ‘Protection of Civilians’ (PoC) sites, while others are reportedly hiding in remote swamps and on islands where they have been denied access to food, safe water and medicines.
The EU funding will reportedly cover interventions in the areas of nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene as well as child protection.
UNICEF said the number of people estimated to be facing crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity has doubled since the start of the year to 4.6 million people, including 874,000 children under five.
The agency further said an estimated about quarter of a million children under five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
“This generous contribution from the European Commission comes at a desperate time, with more than three quarters of a million people cut off from humanitarian assistance in the areas of the country most affected by fighting,” said Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF Representative in South Sudan.
“Some four million people are unable to meet their food needs, while many of the children suffering from severe acute malnutrition can no longer be treated because fighting in the last months has closed or interrupted at least half of the nutrition services upon which their survival depends,” he added.
The EU contribution of €5.5 million will support UNICEF in its emergency response in South Sudan, ensuring timely provision of therapeutic nutrition supplements for malnourished children, availability of water and sanitation supplies and child-friendly spaces and psycho-social support for children affected by the crisis.
“The humanitarian situation is going from bad to worse, as the conflict drags on at the expense of civilians. People are surviving thanks to a massive aid effort, which we need to keep up, now more than ever,” said Jean-Louis De Brouwer, operations director in the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department of the European Commission.
“With this new humanitarian funding, we are giving UNICEF the means to respond to the many emergencies in South Sudan and to bring down malnutrition and disease rates among children trying to hold onto life. But humanitarian assistance won’t solve the crisis, the only way is a political solution,” he stressed.
This year, UNICEF and partners will reportedly treat more than 140,000 severely acute malnourished children under five years old.
The European Commission has since 1992 partnered with UNICEF to reach emergency-affected populations with much needed aid. This latest reportedly contribution brings to €15 million the amount which the Commission has contributed to UNICEF in South Sudan in 2015.
(ST)