The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
The UN Migration Agency appealed on Friday for the immediate liberation of a volunteer and child who remain missing since a gun battle in South Sudan at the weekend that claimed the lives of three agency workers.
According to IOM, they were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups in Isebi, Morobo County, in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria region.
The volunteers had been manning an Ebola screening point in border areas between South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, tracking the spread of the deadly disease that has killed more than 2,180 people in DRC since last August.
Speaking in Geneva, spokesperson Paul Dillon repeated the call “for the unconditional release of a female volunteer and a four-year-old child abducted in South Sudan during gun battle on Sunday morning that claimed the lives of three IOM humanitarian workers”.
The three IOM workers were two men and a woman, and it is understood that it was her son that was abducted, Mr. Dillon said.
He added that “all possible action” was being taken “to get our colleague released from her abductors immediately without pre-conditions”.
For the time being the agency has halted operations in several border areas.
“Obviously, we are there for a reason, to monitor possible flows of Ebola into South Sudan,” Mr. Dillon explained.
“These individuals in South Sudan as in many other countries are very much on the front line in this response.”
He added: “We have suspended our operations in five of those border areas until we can get clarity on the security situation and the commitment from all actors in that area that the security of our staff in that area will be safeguarded.”
IOM began operations in southern Sudan in early 2005 and established the IOM South Sudan mission after the country’s independence in July 2011.
Last month, Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian/Resident Coordinator Alain Noudehou noted concerns that if Ebola spread to South Sudan, it risked overwhelming the healthcare system.
Since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, IOM has provided support to thousands of host communities, returnees and internally displaced people.
This includes those seeking protection at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan Protection of Civilians sites, IOM said in a statement.
- Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations, Geneva.
- Wide shot, journalists and podium in Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
- Medium shot, journalists, profile.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Paul Dillon, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “The International Organization for Migration continues to call for the unconditional release of a female volunteer and a four-year-old child abducted in South Sudan during gun battle on Sunday morning that claimed the lives of three IOM humanitarian workers.”
- Medium shot, journalists, profile, Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Paul Dillon, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “All possible action is being taken with the goal of trying to get our colleague released from her abductors immediately without pre-conditions.”
- Medium shot, TV camera crews, Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Paul Dillon, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “We have suspended our operations in five of those border areas until we can get clarity on the security situation and the commitment from all actors in that area that the security of our staff in that area will be safeguarded.”
- Close up, journalists, profile, Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Paul Dillon, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “Obviously, we are there for a reason, to monitor possible flows of Ebola into South Sudan. These individuals in South Sudan as in many other countries are very much on the front line in this response.”
- Close up, journalist’s fingers holding pen and writing on notepad, Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
- Medium shot, podium partly obscured by press release being held up by journalist, Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
- Medium shot, journalists, Press Room III, United Nations Geneva.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.