Over a million children fled escalating S. Sudan violence: U.N

May 7, 2017 (NAIROBI) – More than one million children have so far fled South Sudan where escalating violence continues, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the U.N Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced Sunday.

“The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable,” said Leila Pakkala, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.

“Add this to the more than one million children who are also displaced within South Sudan, and the future of a generation is truly on the brink,” she added.

Children, U.N figures show, make 62 per cent of more than 1.8 million refugees from South Sudan, with majority seeking refuge in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

“No refugee crisis today worries me more than South Sudan,” said Valentin Tapsoba, UNHCR’s Africa Bureau Director, adding “That refugee children are becoming the defining face of this emergency is incredibly troubling. We, all in the humanitarian community, need most urgent, committed and sustainable support to be able to save their lives.”

According to the world body, more than one thousand children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in 2013, while an estimated 1.14 million children have been internally displaced within the war-torn East African nation.

Figures from the U.N also show that nearly three quarters of the country’s children are out of school, the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world.

“The trauma, physical upheaval, fear and stress experienced by so many children account for just part of toll the crisis is exacting ,” the two U.N agencies stated.

“Children remain at risk of recruitment by armed forces and groups and, with traditional social structures damaged, they are also increasingly vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation,” their joint statement further observed.

Over 75,000 refugee children in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have reportedly crossed South Sudan’s borders either unaccompanied or separated from their families.

Meanwhile, UNICEF’s says its appeal for South Sudan and its refugees in the region, which calls for $181 million to address the acute needs of refugees until end of the year has only been 52% funded. On the other hand, UNHCR’s funding appeal for South Sudan of $781.8 million is reportedly only 11% funded.

(ST)