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UN / CAR CHILDREN UPDATE
STORY: UN / CAR CHILDREN UPDATE
TRT: 2.45
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV / UNICEF / IRIN
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT
1. Wide shot, exterior, UN headquarters
13 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Med shot, panel
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative, Central African Republic (CAR):
“The children of Central-African Republic are witnessing terrible violence. You look into their eyes and they are just lost. But ut is not just the violence. It is a shear brutality – chopping, maiming. It is a nightmare. But unfortunately, it is all too real.”
FILE – IRIN - 12 NOVEMBER 2013, BOSANGOA, CAR
4. Various shots, wounded child in hospital
13 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative, Central African Republic (CAR):
“Before the crisis the situation was not good at all. And it wasn’t since. Every 21 minutes a child died in CAR from preventable diseases."
FILE - IRIN - 22 DECEMBER 2013, BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
6. Various shots, displaced children at IDP camp at Bangui airport
13 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative, Central African Republic (CAR):
“We have identified since December 2013, 194 children maimed and killed. Beheaded and some time eviscerated.”
FILE – UNICEF - 4 JANUARY 2014, BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
8. Various shots, malnourished kids
13 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative, Central African Republic (CAR):
"Cholera outbreak with the onset of the rainy season is a major risk for the population of the Central-African Republic, particularly for children.”
FILE - IRIN - 22 DECEMBER 2013, BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
10. Various shots, displaced children at IDP camp at Bangui airport
13 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative, Central African Republic (CAR):
“It was a silent crisis, and we have now a major humanitarian emergency going on in the country but we are not getting a lot of visibility.”
12. Wide shot, end conference
A UNICEF representative working in Central African Republic (CAR) said that children there were witnessing terrible violence, “you can see it in their eyes.”
Speaking at a press conference at United Nations (UN) headquarters, Souleymane Diabaté told reporters that even before the current crisis, the situation was fragile, “every 21 minutes a child died from preventable disease.”
Diabaté said that CAR was among the six countries in the world with the highest mortality rate for children.
Fighting in CAR has taken on an increasingly sectarian nature following a 2012 coup and has since grown more brutal.
Reports of ongoing human rights violations and reprisal attacks between largely Christian anti-balaka and Muslim Séléka rebels have displaced hundreds of thousands of people both inside and outside the country and left 2.2 million in need of humanitarian aid.
Thousands have been killed since the beginning of this conflict and according to UNICEF, 194 children have been either killed or maimed and massacred since the beginning of this year.
Diabaté said the security situation in CAR remains very fragile and unpredictable. At times UNICEF has to work from Chad, but they do have supplies and surveillance systems in place to combat diseases like polio and cholera, which are endemic in Chad and Cameroon.
He said that although there are no new cases of polio or cholera in CAR, a cholera outbreak with the onset of the rainy season is a “major risk” for children.
Diabaté said that (USD) 1 million has been pledged from the HAR (Humanitarian Action Report) for children for this crisis but there is a huge gap – so far only mobilized 20 percent has been mobilized.
Partially he said, because the country has always been a “silent crisis.”
“We have now a major humanitarian emergency going on in the country but we are not getting a lot of visibility.” – said Diabaté and underlined that nobody yet even think about the impact the crisis will have on the region.
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