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STORY: UN / CAR MSF
TRT: 2:09
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 JULY 2014, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
24 JULY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, dais
3. Close up, photographer
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sylvain Groulx, Head of Mission, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
“That disaster is only worsening throughout the country. It is a disaster characterized by unspeakable violence targeted against civilian populations, catastrophic levels of preventable disease and death, a lack of adequate humanitarian assistance for some of most vulnerable –and trapped- people on earth, and insufficient protection of those same people.”
5. Med shot, presser
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sylvain Groulx, Head of Mission, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
“In particular, thousands of Muslims are trapped in enclaves in western CAR, fearing for their lives, living in the bush, and largely cut off from aid. MSF’s mortality study reveals extreme levels of deaths among CAR’s Muslim minority. Among more than 3,400 families surveyed in a refugee settlement in Chad –who fled abuse and violence in CAR- more than 33 percent had lost at least one family member between November 2013 and April 2014.”
7. Wide shot, presser
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sylvain Groulx, Head of Mission, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
“In a further devastating illustration of the link between displacement and CAR’s mounting public health crisis, more than 14,000 people living with HIV have not received antiretroviral drugs from MSF for six months.”
9. Med shot, reporter
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dounia Dekhili, MSF’s Deputy Manager, Emergency Programs:
“Bureaucratic delays and a very very slow screening process to differentiate returned Chadian nationals from Central African refugees, has translated into an insufficient aid response. Only 17,000 people -13 percent of the total- are registered, entitling them to formal assistance.”
11. Wide shot, press conference room
A Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) mortality study among Central African refugees in Sido, Chad, reveals extreme levels of death during a violent crackdown against the CAR’s Muslim minority. The study found that one in three families surveyed had lost at least one family member between November 2013 and April 2014.
Speaking today (24 July) to reporters at UN Headquarters, the head of the MSF’s Mission in the Central African Republic Sylvain Groulx stressed that during two years he witnessed the unfolding of a disaster shocking in both scope and scale.
He said “that disaster is only worsening throughout the country. It is a disaster characterized by unspeakable violence targeted against civilian populations, catastrophic levels of preventable disease and death, a lack of adequate humanitarian assistance for some of most vulnerable –and trapped- people on earth, and insufficient protection of those same people.”
Groulx added that retaliatory attacks against specific communities in CAR are continuing right now, despite the presence of international forces.
He said “in particular, thousands of Muslims are trapped in enclaves in western CAR, fearing for their lives, living in the bush, and largely cut off from aid.”
He also said “MSF’s mortality study reveals extreme levels of deaths among CAR’s Muslim minority. Among more than 3,400 families surveyed in a refugee settlement in Chad –who fled abuse and violence in CAR- more than 33 percent had lost at least one family member between November 2013 and April 2014.”
Groulx explained that nearly the entire Muslim population in the western half of the country has fled.
The head of the MSF’s Mission in CAR underlined that throughout the country, a major health crisis prevails; adding that with the onset of the rainy season, cases of malaria, the leading cause of death in the country, continue to rise.
Groulx also said “in further devastating illustration of the link between displacement and CAR’s mounting public health crisis, more than 14,000 people living with HIV have not received antiretroviral drugs from MSF for six months.”
Finally, he noted that overall the needs on the ground in CAR keep mounting, and the provision of aid keeps falling short; adding that only 30 percent of the $565 million requested has been fulfilled so far.
Also speaking to reporters, MSF’s Dounia Dekhili noted that since last December, more than 120,000 people have fled CAR to find refuge in Chad.
She stressed that some people must pay to cross, or walk for hours to find passage, adding that it is crucial that the fundamental right of people to flee violence is guaranteed and respected.
The Chadian government’s decision, in May, to close its border and the inadequate humanitarian aid deployed in Cameroon impede Central Africans from seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.
Dekhili also said “bureaucratic delays and a very very slow screening process to differentiate returned Chadian nationals from Central African refugees, has translated into an insufficient aid response. Only 17,000 people-13 percent of the total- are registered, entitling them to formal assistance.”
On the situation of refugees in Cameroon, where the border is open, she explained that Central African refugees who arrive in this country are exhausted, sick and traumatized.
She noted that 77,000 refugees from CAR have settled in the east of Cameroon.
