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UN / CENTRAL SAHEL HUMANITARIAN
STORY: UN / CENTRAL SAHEL HUMANITARIAN
TRT: 2:11
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 OCTOBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
20 OCTOBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We need to reverse this downward spiral with a renewed push for peace and reconciliation. And we need to make space for vital humanitarian assistance and investments in development and people. The Sahel is a microcosm of cascading global risks converging in one region. It is a warning sign for us all requiring urgent attention and resolution.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
3. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
20 OCTOBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"There's nowhere in the world that worries me actually quite as much as this region. I fear we are close to a tipping point, and that has potential ripple effects that could reach neighbouring countries and further afield. And really a preventable tragedy is looming, and we've seen a sharp deterioration over the past two years in humanitarian needs, and that is a symptom of that."
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
5. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
20 OCTOBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"We won't succeed unless we not just put the Sahel high on our agenda but keep it there. We have to get beyond the humanitarian response. We need action which is on, as Giovani said, sufficient scale, sufficiently persistent, and sufficiently fast. The people of Sahel are not giving up on striving for a better future for their children. The world needs to stand in solidarity with them. That's not just the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do."
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
7. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
20 OCTOBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY
8. SOUNDBITE (English) David Beasley, Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP):
"And we listened to woman after woman, family after family, saying that before because we had fled - we were internally displaced - host communities like for example in Niger or other parts of Burkina Faso were giving us a place to live, and we were working the land. And now, not only am I feeding my family, but I'm also now selling in the marketplace. I bought a bicycle. I've got new shoes, and I'm able to carry my good to the marketplace. This is what is going to stabilize. This is what is going to help the people. And we can't wait any longer."
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
9. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Sahel is a “microcosm of cascading global risks converging in one region,” and serves as a “warning sign for us all requiring urgent attention and resolution.”
In a message to a virtual ministerial meeting on the Central Sahel today (20 Oct), the UN chief said the situation in the region is at a breaking point with record-level humanitarian needs, a deteriorating security situation, and rising violence affecting women and girls in particular.
Guterres said, “We need to reverse this downward spiral with a renewed push for peace and reconciliation. And we need to make space for vital humanitarian assistance and investments in development and people.”
The Secretary-General appealed for 2.4 billion USD to cover the remaining months of 2020 and provide emergency assistance through 2021 in the Central Sahel. He said long-term solutions will come through sustainable development, good governance, and equal opportunities for all but noted that this will not happen overnight. He stressed that the international community, however, could prevent the crisis from growing deadlier and costlier in the future.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said, "There's nowhere in the world that worries me actually quite as much as this region. I fear we are close to a tipping point, and that has potential ripple effects that could reach neighbouring countries and further afield. And really a preventable tragedy is looming, and we've seen a sharp deterioration over the past two years in humanitarian needs, and that is a symptom of that.”
Lowcock stressed that the root causes driving humanitarian need in the Central Sahel are not being properly addressed that is the core problem. He noted the importance of having a comprehensive response including a security response that wins the backing of local communities, bigger investments in basic services, and support for economic diversification and growth. In the meantime, Lowcock stressed the need to keep humanitarian situation under better control.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator said the UN had raised 586 million USD for its humanitarian response in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger this year, but hundreds of millions more were needed and there will be a large requirement for assistance in 2021.
Lowcock said, "We won't succeed unless we not just put the Sahel high on our agenda but keep it there. We have to get beyond the humanitarian response. We need action which is on, as Giovani said, sufficient scale, sufficiently persistent, and sufficiently fast. The people of Sahel are not giving up on striving for a better future for their children. The world needs to stand in solidarity with them. That's not just the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do."
David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the Programme would run out of fund for Burkina Faso in November and in January for Mali. He said WFP needed an additional 135 million USD in the next six months just for basic food security for the most vulnerable people.
Beasley said failure to do so would mean people will become to vulnerable to famine, destabilization, migration, as well as extremist groups looking to use food as a recruitment weapon. He said the number of displaced has jumped in the past two years from 77,000 to 1.6 million people, while the number of people experiencing extreme food insecurity multiplied from 300,000 to over three million people in the past year.
The WFP chief said his field visit to Burkina Faso showed him the value of the contributions made and working programmes. He said he listened to “woman after woman, family after family, saying that before because we had fled - we were internally displaced - host communities like for example in Niger or other parts of Burkina Faso were giving us a place to live, and we were working the land. And now, not only am I feeding my family, but I'm also now selling in the marketplace. I bought a bicycle. I've got new shoes, and I'm able to carry my good to the marketplace. This is what is going to stabilize. This is what is going to help the people. And we can't wait any longer."
Beasley said the Nobel Prize recently awarded to WFP was not only about the work of the Programme, rather it was a message to the world that there is a lot of work to do.
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