With forced displacement at a record high of 110 million people around the world, Mr. Guterres called for more solutions to resettle refugees and help them rebuild their lives. He also stressed the need for solidarity with host countries and communities.
More than numbers
“These are not numbers on a page”, said the UN chief. “These are individual women, children and men making difficult journeys – often facing violence, exploitation, discrimination and abuse.
“This Day reminds us of our duty to protect and support refugees – and our obligation to open more avenues of support.”
This year’s theme is “Hope Away From Home”. Mr. Guterres – who led the UN refugee agency UNHCR for a decade, called on the international community to “harness the hope that refugees carry in their hearts.”
Include refugees ‘at all levels’
From Kenya, where he’s been visiting the vast Kakuma refugee camp, the current UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said that the world should step up investment and “commit to including refugees in our communities at all levels – in our schools, workplaces, health-care systems, and beyond.”
In a tweet, Mr. Grandi deplored the fact that this year’s World Refugee Day coincided with the news that more than half a million people have now fled Sudan to neighbouring countries. “Guns must fall silent if we want this exodus to stop,” he said.
Pushed into hunger
The UN migration agency IOM, issued a statement honouring the strength and resilience of those forced to flee from conflict, announcing that since 2001, agency teams have provided orientation training for more than one million on the move.
This includes some 700,000 refugees being resettled.
The head of the World Food Programme Cindy McCain tweeted that conflict and climate shocks were pushing more and more people into hunger and homelessness.
“WFP is working with partners like UNHCR to deliver critical aid to millions of refugees in 40-plus countries. Today and every day, they deserve our continued support.”
“‘I kept running for days, holding my children tightly and fearing we could be caught at any time. I left my family, friends, and home to seek safety in another country. I am still running, but now from the memories that haunt me daily and the blurred future that awaits my children.’
These are the words I hear every time I interview a refugee woman. The reasons for seeking asylum vary, but refugees’ stories are different, as their paths to safety are steep. However, they have all been suffering and sharing the same small amount of hope.
Although I have been working with UNHCR to promote the refugee cause for four years now, I still wonder how the world can move forward with ease after every humanitarian disaster that leads to the displacement of people from their homes.
When I first joined UNHCR Egypt in 2019, I was shocked by a comment on our social media channels that refugees are not welcome in our society. I was not surprised as much as I felt the urgency of campaigning to humanize refugees, as their representation in the news rarely goes beyond numbers.
Utopia of using media for development
We kicked off our first localized campaign in 2020 with a cooking show that featured celebrities cooking together with refugees and giving them the space to tell their stories and a platform to be heard.
Surprisingly, we got more than 5.5 million organic views on our social media accounts, far beyond what we expected. More important than the view numbers was positive feedback we received from the refugee communities and the public.
I had also engaged the media and food bloggers to try the refugees’ recipes and post about them. Then, we started seeing the public trying the recipes and giving their feedback on our social media account using the campaign’s hashtag.
After this campaign, I believed that for the first time in my work, I had succeeded, giving refugees a chance to shine and show off their culture, talents, and resilience instead of focusing only on their vulnerabilities and needs.
Then the ball started rolling. Since then, I have worked on engaging more than 30 influencers, content creators, and well-known celebrities in the Arab world in innovative campaigns with refugees at their heart and a dignified media representation of them.
Most recently, I worked on an acapella song for International Women’s Day, engaging eight refugee women of four different nationalities with an Egyptian acapella band and the rising Egyptian-American star Yasmina ElAbd. The song was made up from the lyrics of four songs from Syria, Sudan, Yemen, and Egypt.
It is fantastic work, but the daily reality we live in is the war in Ukraine, the earthquake in Syria, the brutal conflict in Sudan, and more.
I have learned that in times of crisis, the focus often shifts away from the human aspect. What is important now is how the hosting countries will be affected, how to meet the direst needs of the displaced populations, and how to get the funds needed to achieve this.
Protection is crucial for displaced people while there are insufficient funds to meet their needs. As media practitioners, we focus on doing all we can to fight against misinformation and disinformation and provide details and real examples to the public to have them get see the reality and help.
Can their stories genuinely make a difference in those intense times? Would engaging in creative expressions such as a beautiful song embodying their cultures offer any aid during emergencies? Unfortunately, the answer is often a no.
Flowers blooming in the desert
I had studied at university how to use a people-centred approach in media campaigns, but was never taught how a camera and a microphone could end armed conflicts, wars, and displacement.
No one explained to me that our hopes for social change are limited to the availability of funds and the desire of people in power, and that our work will be criticized just for not taking one side against another.
One of the most resilient refugees I have met, who finished her Bachelor of Law in Egypt after she sought asylum and now runs her own nursery, said to me ‘mama, at that time, told me there is nothing more beautiful than a flower that blooms in the desert, and if you achieve success once, everything will change’.
Although I know the ongoing emergencies and crises will not cease any time soon, I have learned from refugees that flowers can bloom in the desert. Our role is to document this incredible journey, showcasing how refugees are overcoming the tragedy of displacement. It is the only weapon we can use to defeat stereotypes, xenophobia, and racism, a rewarding endeavour in itself, for now.”
Learn more about how the UN is helping refugees in Egypt here.
In this feature, part of a series exploring trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on migrant smuggling.
Migrant smugglers have been reaping rich dividends over the past decade in the Sahel, where armed violence, terrorist attacks, and climate shocks have displaced three million people and triggered growing numbers of others to flee, according to a new threat assessment report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
External threats like the crisis in Sudan are creating a “snowball effect” on the region, Mar Dieye, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator in the Sahel, told UN News.
“Not stopping this fire that started from Sudan and then spilled over in Chad and other regions could be an international disaster that will trigger a lot of more migrants,” said Mr. Dieye, who also heads the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS).
UNODC
Main migrant smuggling routes in and towards Mali (2020/2021)
‘We will take you anywhere’
Right now, Mr. Dieye said, most trafficking occurs at porous ungoverned border areas where the State is “extremely weak”.
The latest UNODC report identified other drivers alongside solutions buttressed by interviews with migrants and the criminals smuggling them, who revealed how the cross-border crime is unfolding in towns across the Sahel.
Many interviewees said smugglers were cheaper and quicker than regular migration, the report found. In Mali, where monthly income averages $74, a passport costs nearly $100.
In Niger, a key informant said authorities can take three to four months to process official documentation.
“But with us, if you want, we will take you anywhere,” the informant said.
If a passport is needed, a smuggler in Mali said in the report, “I will have it in 24 hours.”
IOM/Monica Chiriac
Due to border closures decreed by governments to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across West Africa, at least 30,000 migrants were stranded at borders, according to the UN.
‘Cash-cash’ partnerships
The report pointed to corruption as both a motivator to use smugglers and a key enabler for the crime.
Migrant smugglers could earn around $1,400 a month, or 20 times the average income in Burkina Faso, according to UNODC.
“Lucky smugglers” can earn as much as $15,000 to $20,000 per month, a smuggler in Niger said in the report.
The degree of collaboration with public officials is so entrenched, a smuggler in Mali explained, that he “has no fear of punishment from the authorities”, according to the report.
“I have never been worried by the authorities,” the smuggler said. “We are in a cash-cash partnership.”
Recalling instances when arriving at police checkpoints, a key informant interviewed in Niger shared his experience.
“You go to see them and give them their envelope, but, if you don’t know anyone in the team, you are obliged to take the migrants out and put them on motorcycles to bypass the checkpoint,” the informant added.
UNICEF/Romenzi
Migrants sit on mattresses laid on the floor at a detention centre located in Libya.
Ever greater risks
Increased demand from men, women, and children seeking to escape worsening violence and the consequent rising food insecurity has fuelled the cross-border crime, according to UNODC.
Since the discovery in 2012 of gold lacing the region, UNODC said research points to mining sites, where women are trafficked for sexual exploitation, and men are forced into indentured labour.
Smuggling routes have also become more clandestine and diverse in attempts to evade growing efforts by security forces, exposing refugees and migrants to even greater risks and dangers, according to the agency.
On the ground, operations are succeeding, UNODC reported. Among many examples cited in the report, a 2018 operation saw Nigerien police officers arrest ringleaders and dismantle a highly organized network suspected of having smuggled thousands of migrants to Spain, including through the Niger, Libya, and Algeria.
To build on these achievements, UNODC recommended actions States can take to tackle migrant smuggling, address the root causes, combat corruption, and create local job opportunities. The agency also suggested that counter-smuggling policies include development and human rights approaches.
A young migrant from Niger is being accommodated in a UN-supported camp in Burkina Faso.
Uprooting the causes
For many UN agencies and Sahelian nations, cooperation is key. Ongoing International Office for Migration (IOM) efforts include boosting livelihoods for returning migrants and forging new partnerships, including a recent agreement with the G5 Sahel Force, a multinational mission aimed at stabilizing the region.
“For IOM, regional cooperation is essential to ensure safe, orderly, and regular migration and respond effectively to challenges,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino.
The new agreement provided an opportunity for tailored, joint approaches that address the complex drivers of conflict, instability, and forced displacement, he said, adding that “seeking such solutions will stand as a stepping stone in our overall collaborative frameworks toward improving conditions for populations in the Sahel.”
A Mauritanian veil produced traditionally, in shop run by a migrant returnee.
Meanwhile, UNISS continues working with all UN entities and partner nations on such efforts as the Generation Unlimited Sahel and helping Sahelians support their families, said Mr. Dieye, emphasizing that the current situation remains “extremely worrisome”.
“It will require a collective response,” he said. “No one country can deal with it alone. I think this has to land on the lap of the international community. After all, it is an international crime.”
What’s the difference between migrant smuggling and human trafficking?
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are two distinct but often interconnected crimes, according to UNODC.
While human trafficking aims to exploit a person, who may or may not be a migrant, the purpose of smuggling is, by definition, to make profits from facilitating illegal border crossing.
Human trafficking can take place within the victim’s home country or in another country.
Migrant smuggling always happens across national borders.
Some migrants might start their journey by agreeing to be smuggled into a country illegally, but end up as victims of human trafficking when they are deceived, coerced or forced into an exploitative situation later in the process, for example being forced to work for no or very little money to pay for their transportation.
Criminals may both smuggle and traffic people, employing the same routes and methods of transporting them.
Smuggled migrants have no guarantee that those who smuggle them are not in fact human traffickers.
Migrants as Messengers’ Volunteers in Senegal participated in a creative residency with Guy Régis Jr, a Haitian playwright and theatre director, and Fatoumata Bathily, a Senegalese filmmaker.
An estimated 6.1 million are internally displaced, a 17 per cent increase from October, according to its Displacement Tracking Matrix.
IOMsaid civilians have been killed or forced to flee their homes due to a surge in violence and attacks by armed groups.
Deadly attack, intolerable dangers
At least 46 people were killed in the latest incident which occurred at a camp for displaced persons in eastern Ituri province on Sunday.
IOM strongly condemned the attack, which was reportedly carried out by Coopérative pour le développement du Congo (CODECO), a coalition of militia groups.
“This recent gruesome attack is a testament to the intolerable dangers displaced people in DRC face daily,” said Federico Soda, Director for the Department of Emergencies.
“IOM strongly condemns this heinous violation of international humanitarian law and recalls that attacks against civilians may constitute war crimes. Concerted efforts are desperately needed to end the violence and help the Congolese people find peace.”
Humanitarian situation worsens
As conflict intensifies, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, with millions facing acute food insecurity as well as other critical needs. Overall, more than 26 million people across the DRC need humanitarian aid.
Despite insecurity, and limited access to parts of the country, IOM and partners have been striving to provide emergency relief to displaced people and those affected by the violence.
The UN agency said it is scaling-up operations which will enable a more effective crisis response to the humanitarian emergency caused by the surge in violence.
Latest news reports said the bodies of at least 79 men, women and children had been recovered, with hundreds more potentially dead or missing. The UN migration agency (IOM) estimated that at least 400 had been on board, adding that 104 survivors had been brought to shore by the middle of the day, local time.
Briefing correspondents in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said UN chief António Guterres had stressed previously “that every person searching for a better life needs dignity and safety.
‘Comprehensive action’ needed
“This is yet another example of the need for Member States to come together and create orderly safe pathways for people forced to flee and for comprehensive action to save lives at sea and reduce perilous journeys.”
On Tuesday, IOM released figures showing nearly 3,800 people had died on migration routes within and from the Middle East and North Africa last year – the highest number since 2017, when 4,255 deaths were recorded.
The first quarter saw 441 migrants die in the central Mediterranean, and since 2014 more than 26,000 people have died or gone missing on all the routes combined.
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi tweeted that he felt “only sadness and anger after another deadly tragedy at sea”.
“May the victims rest in peace. May the survivors find consolation and care. May governments cooperate to increase safe pathways and work together on collective solutions to address these flows.”
Impossible choices
The UNHCR office in Greece pointed out that Wednesday’s deaths were wholly avoidable. “We need more safe pathways for people forced to flee,” the agency tweeted. “They should not be left with impossible life-threatening choices.”
According to Greek media reports, the boat that sank off the coastal town of Pylos was on its way to Italy having set sail from the Libyan city of Tobruk.
The shipwreck is the deadliest off the Greek coast so far this year.
Survivors were reportedly taken to the southwestern Greek town of Kalamata and were expected to be moved to a camp outside Athens.
The number fleeing violence in Sudan since fighting between rival militaries began in mid-April in Khartoum, quickly destabilizing the entire country, has now topped 100,000.
The majority of arrivals in eastern Chad – particularly Ouaddaï, Sila, and Wadi Fira provinces – are from the Darfur region, which has been deeply impacted by violence for decades, reminded UNHCR.
Thousands more on the move
“Reports from our teams on the border indicate that new waves of arrivals are still ongoing”, the agency said in a press release, estimating that up to 200,000 people may be forced to flee to eastern Chad in the coming three months.
UNHCR and its partners have been working closely with the Chadian government, providing support and coordinating the emergency response to address the needs of the newly arrived refugees.
Laura Lo Castro, UNHCR Representative in Chad, said humanitarians had “been working around the clock providing protection services, including specialized assistance to survivors of violence and children at risk, constructing boreholes and well, installing emergency latrines, running mobile clinics, organizing complex relocation convoys, scaling up camps capacity to accommodate newly arrived refugees in existing refugee camps, building family shelters and community infrastructures and we are starting to build new camps.”
The agency said the rainy season was fast approaching, requiring a massive logistical exercise to move refugees from border areas for their safety and protection.
Scrambling to build new camps
“We need to establish immediately new camps and extension of existing camps”, the agency said. “As host populations are gravely affected by the situation in Sudan, some assistance will need to be extended to the most vulnerable among the host population.”
UNHCR stressed that more funding was essential to provide lifesaving interventions.
Long-standing crisis
Prior to this crisis, Chad already hosted nearly 589,000 refugees, including 409,819 Sudanese fleeing conflict in Darfur, as of March 2023.
Nearly 128,000 refugees are in the country from the Central African Republic; 21,287 Nigerians escaping violence by Boko Haram, are present in the Lake region; 28,311 Cameroonians affected by inter-communal tensions, and 1,507 refugees from other nations.
Tens of thousands of refugees have arrived in Chad from Sudan.
Additionally, an estimated 381,289 Chadians are internally displaced, primarily in the Lake Chad Province.
Displaced communities continue to face insecurity in Chad and neighboring countries, compounded by food insecurity, malnutrition, the effects of climate change, and a lack of livelihood opportunities.
The protracted nature of displacement has strained services, natural resources, and social cohesion, said UNHCR.
‘Beacon of hope’
“For families uprooted by the crisis, the humanitarian assistance is their beacon of hope”, added Ms Lo Castro. We rely on the compassion and generosity of our partners to rally together to ensure the provision of critical protection and life-saving support. Together, we can save lives and restore dignity to those in desperate need”.
There is a need for $214.1 million urgently, to provide lifesaving protection and assistance to Chad’s forcibly displaced, which includes $72.4 million for the emergency response for refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan, reiterated UNHCR.
The cuts will reduce the value of rations provided to Rohingya refugees to $8 per month, or 27 cents per day.
At the beginning of the year, refugees were receiving a ration of $12 per person per month, which was just enough to meet daily needs, but on 1 March, that was cut to $10 – due to lack of funding support.
‘Extremely concerned’
“We are extremely concerned that WFP has been forced to cut food aid for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh”, said the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Gwyn Lewis.
“The nutrition and health consequences will be devastating, particularly for women and children and the most vulnerable in the community. We urgently appeal for international support.”
The mostly-Muslim Rohingya, fled by the hundreds of thousands after a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017, that the UN human rights chief at the time described as a text book case of ethnic cleansing.
Those fleeing persecution joined around 300,000 already sheltering in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement, and close to a million now live in what is, in effect, the largest refugee camp in the world.
Dependent on rations lifeline
Only 24.6 per cent of the response effort for the mostly-Muslim Rohingya, is funding allocated to provide basic health services, nutrition, food, and education for refugees, who do not have any other source of support.
People living in Rohingya camps are barred from working by Bangladeshi authorities, “and they are completely dependent on international community funding,” added Mr. Lewis.
His call was echoed by three of the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts who are monitoring the situation.
Tom Andrews, Michael Fakhri, and Olivier De Schutter, warned that the cuts will have devastating consequences, and urged donors to provide enough funds to restore rations in full.
“In the span of three months, Rohingya refugees have seen their food rations cut by a third, further eroding the health and security of a population already suffering from severe trauma and deprivation,” the experts said.
‘Devastatingly predictable’ consequences
“The consequences of the rations cuts will be devastatingly predictable: spiking rates of acute malnutrition, infant mortality, violence, and even death.
“It also will contribute to increased regional instability, and some Rohingya may decide that it is better to trust their lives to traffickers and smugglers and risk their lives at sea, than to face hunger and even death in the camps,” the independent UN experts warned.
Child development impaired
“The impact on the Rohingya will be severe and long-lasting, stunting the development of children and dimming the hopes of future generations. Vulnerable populations, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescent girls, and children under five will bear the brunt of the cuts and be further exposed to exploitation and abuse,” they said.
Even prior to the first round of rations cuts, health indicators for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were grim, the experts warned.
Forty-five percent of Rohingya families were not eating a sufficient diet. Forty percent of Rohingya children experienced stunted growth, and more than half suffered from anemia.
Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall in western Myanmar on 14 May, damaged or destroyed the shelters of approximately 40,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, exacerbating suffering and adding to budgetary needs.
Course reversal essential
“Member States must urgently act to close the $56 million funding shortfall for food rations that has led to these cuts”, calling on those who’ve already scaled back, to reverse course.
“Member States that have not yet provided financial support to the Rohingya should do so without delay,” the experts said.
“The failure to provide Rohingya families in Bangladesh with sustainable levels of food is a stain on the conscience of the international community. They are in Bangladesh not by choice, but because of genocidal attacks by the Myanmar military,” the experts concluded.
In its new Monitor on the World of Work report, ILO shows that while in high-income countries, only 8.2 per cent of people willing to work are jobless, that number rises to over 21 per cent in low-income countries – or one in every five people.
Low-income countries in debt distress are worst affected, with more than one in four people who want to work unable to secure employment.
Widening jobs gap
ILO’s Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection, Mia Seppo, said that global unemployment was expected to fall below pre-pandemic levels, with a projected rate of 5.3 per cent in 2023, equivalent to 191 million people.
However, low-income countries, especially those in Africa and the Arab region, were unlikely to see such declines in unemployment this year.
The 2023 global jobs gap, which refers to those who want to work but do not have a job, is projected to rise to 453 million people, she said, with women 1.5 times more affected than men.
Africa hit hardest
The UN agency further indicated that Africa’s labour market had been hit the hardest during the pandemic, which explained the slow pace of recovery on the continent.
Unlike wealthy nations, debt distress across the continent and a very limited fiscal and policy space, meant that few countries in Africa could put in place the kind of comprehensive stimulus packages they needed to spur economic recovery, ILO explained.
Inadequate social protection
Ms. Seppo stressed that without improvement in people’s employment prospects, there would be no sound economic and social recovery. Equally important is investment in welfare safety nets for those who lose their jobs, the ILO senior official insisted, which is often inadequate in low-income countries.
According to the agency’s research, boosting social protection and expanding old age pensions would increase gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in low and middle-income countries by almost 15 per cent over a decade.
Social investment benefit
The annual cost of such measures would be around 1.6 per cent of GDP – a “large but not insurmountable” investment. Ms. Seppo suggested that the amount could be financed by a mix of social contributions, taxes and international support.
“There is an economic gain to investing in social protection”, she said.
Ms. Seppo also insisted that the need to create fiscal space for social investment in low-income countries should be considered “with urgency as part of the ongoing global discussion on the reform of the international financial architecture.”
Prepare for the future of work
While the unemployed divide projected by the report was worrisome, it was “not inevitable”, Ms. Seppo said, and the right concerted action on jobs and social protection funding could support a recovery and reconstruction which leaves no one behind.
In calling for improved capacity to develop “coherent, data-informed labour market policies” that protect the most vulnerable, the ILO senior official insisted that these should have an emphasis on upskilling and reskilling the labour force to prepare it for a “greener, more digital world of work”.
The country, commonly known as North Korea, attempted to fire off its first military reconnaissance satellite earlier that day but it crashed into the sea, according to media reports.
The DPRK has reportedly pledged to conduct another launch after it learns what went wrong.
The UN chief noted that any launch using ballistic missile technology is contrary to relevant Security Council resolutions.
“The Secretary-General reiterates his call on the DPRK to cease such acts and to swiftly resume dialogue to achieve the goal of sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.
Chaos and confusion
The launch sparked confusion in neighbouring South Korea and in Japan.
Authorities in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, sent text messages urging residents to move to safety but later said they were sent in error.
The Japanese Government also issued a warning to people in Okinawa prefecture, located in the south of the country.
WFP’s Country Director in Sudan, Eddie Rowe, told reporters in Geneva that in a major breakthrough, the agency distributed food assistance to 15,000 people in both Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) controlled areas of Omdurman, part of the Khartoum metropolitan area, beginning on Saturday.
Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Rowe highlighted other recent food distributions, in Wadi Halfa in Northern State to reach 8,000 people fleeing Khartoum and on their way to Egypt, as well as to 4,000 newly displaced people in Port Sudan.
Rapidly scaling up support
In total, WFP has been able to reach 725,000 people across 13 states in the country since it resumed its operations on 3 May, following a pause brought on by the killing of three aid workers at the start of the conflict.
Mr. Rowe said that WFP was rapidly scaling up its support, which they expected to expand depending on progress in negotiations for humanitarian access for all regions, including the Darfurs and Kordofans, strongly impacted by violence and displacement.
Hunger on the rise
In addition to the 16 million Sudanese who were already finding it “very difficult to afford a meal a day” before the fighting started, Mr. Rowe warned that the conflict compounded by the upcoming hunger season, could increase the food insecure population by about 2.5 million people in the coming months.
With the lean season fast approaching, WFP’s plan was to reach 5.9 million people across Sudan over the next six months, he said.
He stressed that WFP needed a total of $730 million to provide required assistance as well as telecommunications and logistics services to the humanitarian community, including all of the UN agencies operating in Sudan.
17,000 tonnes of food lost to looting
He also reiterated the humanitarian community’s call on all parties to the conflict to enable the safe delivery of urgently needed food aid, and deplored that so far, WFP had lost about 17,000 metric tonnes of food to widespread looting across the country, particularly in the Darfurs.
Just two days ago, he said, the agency’s main hub in El Obeid, North Kordofan, came under threat and looting of assets and vehicles was already confirmed.
Over 13 million children in need
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that “more children in Sudan today require lifesaving support than ever before”, with 13.6 million children in need of urgent assistance. “That’s more than the entire population of Sweden, of Portugal, of Rwanda,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.
According to reports received by UNICEF, hundreds of girls and boys have been killed in the fighting. “While we are unable to confirm these due to the intensity of the violence, we also have reports that thousands of children have been maimed,” Mr. Elder said.
‘Death sentence’
He also pointed out that reports of children killed or injured are only those who had contact with a medical facility, meaning that the reality is “no doubt much worse” and compounded by a lack of access to life-saving services including nutrition, safe water, and healthcare.
Mr. Elder alerted that “all these factors combined, risk becoming a death sentence, especially for the most vulnerable”.
UNICEF called for funding to the tune of $838 million to address the crisis, an increase of $253 million since the current conflict began in April, to reach 10 million children. Mr. Elder stressed that only 5 per cent of the required amount had been received so far, and that without the therapeutic food and vaccines which this money would allow to secure, children would be dying.
Healthcare under attack
The dire situation of healthcare in the country has been aggravated by continuing attacks on medical facilities. From the start of the conflict on 15 till 25 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) verified 45 attacks on healthcare, which led to eight deaths and 18 injuries, the agency’s spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said.
He also cited reports of military occupation of hospitals and medical supplies warehouses, which made it impossible for people in need to access chronic disease medicines or malaria treatment. Mr. Jašarević recalled that attacks on healthcare are a violation of international humanitarian law and must stop.
Keep borders open: Grandi
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, concluded a three-day visit to Egypt on Tuesday, with an urgent call for support for people fleeing Sudan – and the countries hosting them – insisting that the borders must remain open.
More than 170,000 people have entered Egypt since the conflict started – many through Qoustul, a border crossing that Grandi visited close to the end of his trip. The country hosts around half of the more than 345,000 people who have recently fled Sudan.
Mr. Grandi met newly arrived refugees and Egyptian border officials, to get a sense of the hardships being endured.
Loss ‘on a huge scale’
“I heard harrowing experiences: loss of life and property on a huge scale,” Grandi said. “People spoke of risky and expensive journeys to arrive here to safety. Many families have been torn apart. They are traumatized and urgently need our protection and support.“
The UNHCR chief also held talks with the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and discussed how best to support refugees and mobilize resources for host countries, not least Egypt.
“I commend Egypt for its long-standing commitment to providing a safe haven to those fleeing violence,” Mr. Grandi said. “The Government, the Egyptian Red Cresent and the people, have been very generous in supporting arrivals. We urgently need to mobilize more resources to help them to maintain this generosity.”
Prior to this conflict, Egypt was already host to a large refugee population of 300,000 people from 55 different nationalities.
After registering with UNHCR, refugees and asylum-seekers have access to a wide range of services including health and education. UNHCR’s emergency cash assistance programme started during the last week.
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