By FRED OLUOCH

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Yves Willemot, Unicef chief communication officer in South Sudan, spoke to Fred Oluoch about the situation children are facing after the civil war broke out in 2013

The South Sudan civil war broke out in 2013, can you give a brief outline of how the war affected children?

After the civil war ended in 2018, South Sudan has been going through the worst humanitarian crisis since its independence ten years ago, which is affecting most children and is impacting their rights. An estimated 8.3 million people – two-thirds of the entire population – are in need of humanitarian assistance. More than half of those affected – 4.5 million – are children.

The total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has fluctuated over the years between six and 7.5 million people.

The humanitarian crisis in South Sudan is a child rights crisis. It is not solely limited to the issue of food insecurity and access to food. Two-thirds of children in South Sudan are unable to access even their most basic rights – the right to life, the right to education, and the right to a family and protection. Millions of children in South Sudan are denied the right to be a child.

As an indication, in 2021, 1.4 million are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. This is the highest figure since the start of the civil war in 2013. Also, over 300,000 children are expected to suffer from the worst form of malnutrition.

What is Unicef doing about this situation?

In this context Unicef is appealing to the donor community not to cut their humanitarian budgets for South Sudan and its children. More than ever, the children in the youngest country in the world need donors to support them so they can enjoy their rights – and just be children.

Since 2013, how has Unicef been working with the government of South Sudan and other humanitarian agencies to safeguard the rights of children?

Unicef is working in close collaboration with the line ministries in South Sudan, including the ministries of Health, Education, Gender, Child and Social Welfare to address the needs of children and ensure the rights of children are respected. While rolling out programmes to ensure access to basic services to children and their communities, Unicef actively collaborates with other UN agencies as well as non-governmental organisations. Specifically, Unicef works with close to 40 partner organisations in dealing with children suffering from acute malnutrition.

How would you gauge South Sudan in terms of protecting children’s rights and do the warring parties take into account children’s rights?

South Sudan has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children and has thereby confirmed its engagement the ensure the rights of all children are respected, in all circumstances. The continued insecurity and sub-national violence in the country as well as the impact of flooding leading to the displacement of large groups of the population and the disruption of access to social services have impacted negatively on the fulfilment of the rights of millions of children.

Children make 62 percent of more than two million refugees from South Sudan in the region. What programmes does Unicef have to protect children wherever they are in Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda?

Unicef works in close collaboration with various partners to address the specific needs of children that are displaced in the country. South Sudan is one of the world’s largest humanitarian and refugee crisis with 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees and over 1.6 million internally displaced persons.

The displaced children are among the most vulnerable and most affected by the humanitarian crisis in terms of their rights to health care, education and protection. Unicef is rolling out programmes to address the various needs of South Sudan children living in refugee camps in neighbouring countries. These programmes include activities in the area of health care, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, education, and child protection.

Nearly three-quarters of the South Sudan children are out of school. Has Unicef escalated the issue at the UN Security Council level?

We estimated that 2.8 million children are out of school in South Sudan. During the closure of schools because of Covid-19, an additional two million children lost access to education. Unicef has advocated for the schools to be reopened given the long-term impact of school closures on the overall well-being of children, including on their health, nutrition, and protection, as well as on the development of the country.

Schools finally reopened on May 3, after having been closed for more than 14 months. UNICEF, with its partners, has been supporting the return to school through the training of teachers, the printing and distribution of textbooks and learning material and the distribution of Covid protective supplies like face masks and hand washing units. Children themselves have been vocal about their will to return to school and for the schools to remain open.

In the last decade, the United Nations has verified more than 170,000 grave violations against children in conflict globally. What are some of the remedies by UNICEF to reduce this type of exposure?

About 13,000 cases of grave violation of child rights (six grave violations of child rights –have been documented and reported in South Sudan since 2013. UNICEF is working on the issue of grave violations of child rights through prevention, reporting, and case management. UNICEF sets up campaigns to prevent children to become victims of grave violations. This includes sensitizations campaigns against sexual violence, recruitment by armed groups. The organization also documents cases of violations and reports them to the Security Council through the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism. And UNICEF also provides support – including psycho-social assistance – to children affected by grave violation of child rights.

Given that the ceasefire in South Sudan is largely holding, are we likely to see an improvement in the humanitarian situation in the near future?

It is good to see the ceasefire concluded in 2018 is holding, but the country continues to face high levels of inter-communal violence that need to be addressed in order to create a solid peaceful environment to allow long term development. The continued inter-communal violence is also impacting on the humanitarian actors, their security, and the security of the humanitarian supplies, and thereby on the capacity for the humanitarian community to address the needs of the people most in need.

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BIO

Yves Willemot is Chief of Communication of Unicef South Sudan.
He joined Unicef in 1989 and has worked for the organisation in Belgium, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo before joining Unicef in South Sudan in 2019.
He holds a master’s degree in international public law and politics from the University of Ghent (Belgium).