The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
10 million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in extreme jeopardy with insecurity trickling into neighboring countries: UNICEF
Ten million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - twice as many as in 2020 - are in extreme jeopardy in central Sahel and caught up in a brutal armed conflict with insecurity spilling over into neighboring countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
“Nearly four million children are also at risk in the neighboring coastal states Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana,” said John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist, speaking to journalists at the United Nations in Geneva. “That's due to hostilities in these countries between armed groups and national security forces, which is increasingly spilling across borders. Today, UNICEF is launching a new child alert, warning of the extreme jeopardy facing the lives and futures of children in the central Sahel.”
According to UNICEF, the year 2022 was particularly violent for children in the central Sahel.
“The situation has been getting and accelerating a lot worse at an alarming pace,” said Mr. James. “The conflicts may not have clear borders and boundaries, they may not be headline-grabbing battles. But slowly and surely, things have been getting worse for children and millions of them are now caught up in the center of this crisis.”
In Burkina Faso, three times more children were killed during the first nine months of 2022 than in the same period in 2021, according to UN data. Most of the children died from gunshot wounds during attacks on their villages or as a result of improvised explosive devices or explosive remnants of war.
With climate change making water scarce, conflict around water points has driven forced displacement.
“The armed conflict has also become increasingly brutal,” emphasized Mr. James. “We've seen armed groups operating in ways that lead to blockades of towns and villages. And we are also seeing deliberate attacks on water points where families and children go to get their water“.
Non-state armed groups that reject the national education system burn and loot schools, threatening, abducting or killing teachers, said UNICEF.
“When we talk about schools, more than 8,300 schools in those three countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are now closed due to violence and insecurity,” said the UNICEF spokesperson.“That's teachers who fled the schools, that's children who are too scared to go to the schools, that's families who are displaced, that's buildings that have been attacked and caught up in the violence. In Burkina Faso, that's more than a fifth of schools closed due to insecurity, actually, it’s almost a quarter now within the country.”
At least 172 violent incidents, including attacks by armed groups, were reported in the border areas in 2022.
“We're also talking about the risk of spill-over into the coastal countries as well,” said Mr. James. “Last year, we saw 172 violent attacks in the northern parts of those four countries. And, for instance, in Benin, there were nine schools closed due to insecurity, the same in Togo as well.”
The crisis is unfolding in one of the most climate-affected regions on the planet. “Climate change, temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average in the region,” Mr. James said. “Rainfall is erratic, it can come in in rapid amounts in a short space of time. We saw major floods in countries in the region last year, we know about high food prices, global conflicts and COVID behind that. Chronic underfunding of humanitarian and development work and also the need for a greater national commitment to investing in essential services for children.”
UNICEF has urged all parties involved in violence in the Sahel to fulfil their legal obligation toward children under international humanitarian and human rights law, including ending attacks on children and the services they rely on.
UNICEF has appealed for $ 473.8 million to support the humanitarian response in the central Sahel and neighboring coastal countries.
-ends-
STORY: Child alert Central Sahel – UNICEF
TRT: 2:58”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 17 March 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with speakers on the podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “Nearly 4 million children are also at risk in the neighboring coastal states Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. That's due to hostilities in these countries between armed groups and national security forces, which is increasingly spilling across borders. Today, UNICEF is launching a new child alert, warning of the extreme jeopardy facing the lives and futures of children in the central Sahel”.
- Medium shot, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “The situation has been getting and accelerating a lot worse at an alarming pace. The conflicts may not have clear borders and boundaries. They may not be headline grabbing battles. But slowly and surely, things have been getting worse for children, and millions of them are now caught up in the center of this crisis”.
- Close up, hands typing
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “When we talk about schools, more than 8,300 schools in those three countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are now closed due to violence and insecurity. That's teachers who fled the schools, that's children who are too scared to go to the schools, that's families who are displaced, that's buildings that have been attacked and caught up in the violence. In Burkina Faso, that's more than a fifth of schools closed due to insecurity, actually, it’s almost a quarter now within the country”.
- Medium shot, journalists looking at their mobile phones
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “The armed conflict has also become increasingly brutal. We've seen armed groups operating in ways that lead to blockades of towns and villages. And we are also seeing deliberate attacks on water points where families and children go to get their water. “
- Medium shot, journalists with UNICEF speaker at podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “We're also talking about the risk of spill over into the coastal countries as well. Last year, we saw 172 violent attacks in the northern parts of those four countries. And, for instance, in Benin, there were nine schools closed due to insecurity, the same in Togo as well”.
- Close up, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – John James, UNICEF West and Central Africa Emergency Communication Specialist: “It's a complex crisis. There are a number of causes, but just to pick out a few: Climate change, temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average in the region. Rainfall is erratic, it can come in in rapid amounts in a short space of time. We saw major floods in countries in the region last year, we know about high food prices, global conflicts and COVID behind that. Chronic underfunding of humanitarian and development work and also the need for a greater national commitment to investing in essential services for children”.
- Wide shot, speakers at podium with journalists
- Medium shot, journalists and spokespersons
- Close up, hands typing
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
Nazi death camp survivor Ivan Lefkovits shared harrowing testimony of his experiences on Monday to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, with a timeless message for present and future generations: “Don't be neutral, especially not towards human suffering."
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday said it was “deeply concerned by the use of unlawful lethal force in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank”, as part of an ongoing Israeli military operation.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“We are deeply alarmed at the heightened risk of an attack by the M23 armed group on Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” Ravina Shamdasani said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Intensifying hostilities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo involving the non-state armed group M23 have caused further mass displacement in the mineral-rich region, with fears that the regional capital Goma could come under attack, UN agencies warned on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Aid is surging into Gaza “at scale” in line with the ceasefire agreement that has seen Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners released and families reunited, but massive needs remain across the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
2
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO , OCHA , WMO
UN regrets US exit from global cooperation on health, climate change
UN agencies reacted with regret on Tuesday to the United States’ decisions to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
'Cabrini' film lead and Gomorrah star Cristiana Dell’Anna travelled to Geneva on Friday to highlight the age-old dangers confronting migrants – and the astonishing Italian missionary who travelled to New York City's slums at the turn of the last century, determined to protect them.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns of escalating danger for Sudanese civilians amid ethnic violence and war crimes.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
UN health agency says 500 to 600 aid trucks a day could reach Gaza once ceasefire begins
Amid media reports that Israel’s Security Cabinet recommended the approval of a Gaza ceasefire on Friday, humanitarian aid agencies prepared to expand the flow of humanitarian aid assistance to Palestinians in the territory, devastated by 15 months of war.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA , UNHCR
UN stands with people of Ukraine for the long term insists UN aid chief at humanitarian appeal launch in Kyiv
The embattled people of Ukraine and those forced abroad need $3.32 billion in lifesaving and sustained humanitarian assistance to help them cope as a fourth year of war looms after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, UN aid chiefs said on Thursday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Syria: Tragedy ‘at every step’ as millions of children face landmine threat – UNICEF
In Syria, landmines and other explosives left over from years of conflict present an ever more lethal threat to children, accounting for over 100 child deaths and injuries last month alone, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO , WHO
LA wildfires: Climate change made the disaster worse says WMO
The powerful dry winds and tinderbox conditions that have been fuelling the continuing Los Angeles wildfire tragedy have been made worse by climate change, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.