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GENEVA SOUTH SUDAN
UNTV CH
STORY: GENEVA / SOUTH SUDAN
TRT: 02:23
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 MARCH 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press briefing
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, Spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“The humanitarian funding for the world’s youngest country has collapsed and this has put the lives of tens of thousands of children at risk.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, Spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“For South Sudan, UNICEF is currently facing a gap of some US$ 128 million dollars for 2016. In other words, only 18 per cent of the appeal has been received so far. What does it mean concretely for the children of South Sudan for 2016? It means that, a few examples, essential nutrition supplies will run out in August this year, it means that 3,3 million children will not be vaccinated against measles, it means that the efforts to reunify 7,300 separated children with their families will be halted, it means also that 260, 000 children affected by the conflict will not be supported to return to school.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The overall Humanitarian Appeal, the Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan, which this year asked US$1.3 billion is as of today only 7.8 per cent funded, overall, 7,8 per cent funded. The appeal was launched in December last year. In Dollar terms is means that overall US $100 million have been given to the appeal, obviously that leaves a gap of US$ 1.5 billion.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Leo Dobbs, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“We are hoping to gain access next week to an estimate 7, 000 refugees who are living in desperate conditions in a small town called Bambouti, which is located in a difficult to reach area in the easternmost part of Central African Republic. A four-truck convoy carrying UNHCR and WFP food and non-food aid is scheduled to leave Bangui on Saturday for Bambouti and will arrive hopefully on March 21.”
10. Med shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Leo Dobbs, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“The new arrivals in Bambouti, they outnumber the local population and they are putting a big strain on local resources, an area which already has problems with access, lack of health clinics, the only school was closed in 2002. Health is a big issue, including malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and scabies.”
12. Med shot, journalists
UNICEF said that South Sudan’s crisis, now in its third year, is becoming a forgotten emergency. As fighting spreads to previously peaceful areas in the west of the country, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told reporters Friday (11 Mar) that “the humanitarian funding for the world’s youngest country has collapsed, and this has put the lives of tens of thousands of children at risk.”
Adding to the population's misery, the peak of the lean season in May will bring with it the threat of famine to more than 40,000 people in South Sudan's central Unity State, already heavily affected by violence.
Boulierac said that “for South Sudan, UNICEF is currently facing a gap of some US$ 128 million dollars for 2016. In other words, only 18 per cent of the appeal has been received so far. What does it mean concretely for the children of South Sudan for 2016? It means that, a few examples, essential nutrition supplies will run out in August this year, it means that 3,3 million children will not be vaccinated against measles, it means that the efforts to reunify 7,300 separated children with their families will be halted, it means also that 260, 000 children affected by the conflict will not be supported to return to school.”
Nearly 100 groups working in South Sudan, including those who provide crucial services for the nutrition and protection of children, rely on funding and support from UNICEF. With the funding gap, these groups will be forced to scale back their services in the most vulnerable and hard to reach communities.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 6.1 million people are in need of protection and humanitarian assistance across South Sudan. OCHA’s spokesperson in Geneva, Jens Laerke, said that “the overall Humanitarian Appeal, the Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan, which this year asked US$1.3 billion, is as of today only 7.8 per cent funded, overall, 7.8 per cent funded. The appeal was launched in December last year. In dollar terms is means that overall US $100 million have been given to the appeal, obviously that leaves a gap of US$ 1,5 billion”.
Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that fighting in previously peaceful areas of South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state continues to force thousands of people to flee into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and even the volatile Central African Republic (CAR). UNHCR’s spokesperson Leo Dobbs said that “we are hoping to gain access next week to an estimate 7, 000 refugees who are living in desperate conditions in a small town called Bambouti, which is located in a difficult to reach area in the easternmost part of Central African Republic. A four-truck convoy carrying UNHCR and WFP food and non-food aid is scheduled to leave Bangui on Saturday for Bambouti and will arrive hopefully on March 21”.
The refugees first started arriving in Bambouti in December to escape fighting and rising tension between members of a local armed group and government forces in the South Sudan towns of Source Yubu and Ezo. Leo Dobbs: “The new arrivals in Bambouti, they outnumber the local population and they are putting a big strain on local resources, an area which already has problems with access, lack of health clinics, the only school was closed in 2002. Health is a big issue, including malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and scabies”.
According to UNHCR, the new arrivals, mainly women and children (with 30 percent aged three or less) tell of human rights abuses, including killings, rape and forced recruitment. Many said they lost husbands.
In its latest report published today in Geneva, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes South Sudan’s human rights records as “one of the most horrible ones” worldwide with some 1 300 reported rape cases in only one state over a period of 5 months in 2015.
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