DEVELOPMENT: Urgent Aid Sought for Victims of 'Silent' Crises

  • by Ben Case (united nations)
  • Inter Press Service

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF said Tuesday that it must raise over a billion dollars this year to meet the basic needs of women and children in disaster zones worldwide, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

'Many countries featured in the report are silent or forgotten emergencies,' said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman in a statement. 'Women and children are dying every day due to disease, poverty and hunger, but sadly their deaths go largely unnoticed.'

The annual Humanitarian Action Report, an appeal for funding to aid victims of protracted emergencies, emphasises the effects of rapidly increasing food prices and climate change.

'The focus here is on risk reduction,' UNICEF spokesperson Patrick McCormick told IPS. 'There are a number of natural disasters we can predict each year, like a hurricane in Haiti or a flood in India, and we are trying to work with governments to reduce the damage beforehand.'

According to the World Food Programme, the 50 percent hike in the food price index from 2007 to 2008 has resulted in a massive increase in the number of people who are in a 'hunger status of concern,' from 850 million to 950 million people over the past year.

UNICEF also cited 'alarming' climate change predictions, such as a continuing rise in the number and impact of natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and droughts, which are expected to hit the global South and communities in poverty the hardest. In addition, UNICEF cited population growth, urbanisation and fuel costs as concerning factors.

The report comes amid a worsening global financial crisis that has seen many developing countries slip deeper into poverty, and donor countries cut back on overseas aid.

A 2009 humanitarian appeal by the United Nations Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said recent studies indicate that in the past, a financial crisis in a donor country has resulted in a reduction in aid donations from that country the following year.

OCHA's appeal does say that countries such as Sweden and Denmark have promised to maintain their humanitarian aid budgets despite the global economic crisis, but it admits that the coming year will be challenging for humanitarian agencies.

'We'll see,' said McCormick, 'UNICEF is totally volunteer funded and the (financial) crisis won't help, but we are hoping there won't be a problem.'

The UNICEF appeal includes 36 target countries, 24 of them in Africa. Over half of all requested funds will be directed toward five countries - Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Somalia. As with most nations listed, the main focuses in these countries are health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, and education.

UNICEF acknowledged the difficulty of addressing these issues in volatile areas such as its top priority, Sudan. However, the report expressed confidence that through cooperation with local partners improvements can be made on last year's successes in that country, when UNICEF was able to deliver aid to about half of the affected population.

UNICEF also cited a 2008 emergency measles and polio vaccination campaign, which was able to reach 90 percent coverage.

In addition to continued food and non-food aid, UNICEF hopes to build off of 2008 achievements in Sudan with goals such as maintaining new water schemes, installing household latrines, training local communities to operate these facilities and promoting hygiene awareness.

About 500,000 people have been killed in Sudan and 2.5 million displaced since 2003 in a situation the U.N. refugee agency has described as 'apocalyptic'.

Another expense is 'child protection,' which includes reporting on child-related human rights violations and landmine-risk education, but comes largely in the form of psychological help for children growing up in war-torn areas. Child protection is a proportionally high concern in two of the top 10 countries listed in the report - Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian Territories - where violence is a current leading cause of death.

The report represents only a fraction of the UNICEF mission, reflecting the severity of the issues facing the world's women and children in poverty.

'We've got to be optimistic to carry on in this business,' said McCormick.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service