The United Nations Office at Geneva
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UNHCR OCHA Press conference 17 May 2023
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STORY: Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan
TRT: 03’22”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 17 May 2023
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Wide shot of journalists, conference room, Palais des Nations, Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva: “Today 25 million people- more than half the population of Sudan needs humanitarian aid and protection. This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country. The response plan we are launching today reflects that new reality. Through the plan, which is a revised version of the annual Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023, we aim to reach, 18 million people. The funding requirements of nearly USD 2.6 billion is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan."
- Wide shot: speakers, podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva: “The crisis in Sudan is rapidly evolving into a regional crisis. The needs in Sudan are fundamental and widespread, as you can expect from a conflict. Protection from fighting, medical support, food and water, sanitation, shelter, and trauma care- and we also receiving a worrying reports of increased sexual violence while the victims have little access to help. Children are especially vulnerable in this chaos that is unfolding.”
- Medium shot: camera, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations: “Today we launched an appeal of some USD 472 million to respond to the needs of over 1 million persons over the next six months. So far, the crisis, which has just started a month ago, resulted in massive outflows into neighboring countries.”
- Medium shot: panelists, UN logo in background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations: “About 220,000 refugees and returnees have been seeking safety in Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Central African Republic, and Ethiopia. 150,000 of them are Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers. Close to 60,000 are people who were refugees in Sudan and who are returning to their country in adverse conditions. So South Sudanese form the largest number. And overall, we have to keep in mind that there were 1.1 million refugees living in Sudan prior to this crisis.”
- Wide angle shot: panel of speakers, journalists
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva: “When you have a crisis like this and you don't have access to basic services, you don't have access to health and water, there's an enormous risk that there will be an increased risk of famine as well.”
- Medium shot: OCHA spokesperson, monitor in background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva: “We had asked for a USD1.75 billion for the original appeal for 2023. This has now increased to 2.6 billion. The number of people that we are targeting has gone from over 12 million to 18 million people. That's an increase of almost 6 million people. The number of people in need has gone up to 25 million. So you can imagine the needs have expanded drastically and throughout the country. Funding levels, however, as we have seen for many crises around the world in the last couple of years, has been poor and Sudan is no exception.”
- Close up: journalist filming from phone, monitor and speaker in background
- Close up: laptop
- Wide shot: panelists
UN seeks highest funding appeal ever for Sudan; nearly $3 billion needed for urgent humanitarian aid
Amid a massive increase in the number of people in Sudan impacted by more than a month of heavy fighting, the UN on Wednesday said that it needed a record near $3 billion to help them.
In addition to the revised request from the UN aid coordination office OCHA for $2.56 billion to fund its Humanitarian Response Plan targeting some 18 million people in Sudan, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that it needed $472 million to assist those forced to flee across Sudan’s borders.
The revised joint humanitarian response plan updates the response strategy launched for Sudan in December 2022.
“Today 25 million people, more than half the population of Sudan, needs humanitarian aid and protection,” said Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva, at a press briefing at UN in Geneva. “This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country. The response plan we are launching today reflects that new reality… The funding requirements of nearly USD 2.6 billion is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan."
The fighting that started on 15 April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has caused tremendous human suffering and exacerbated significant pre-existing humanitarian needs in Sudan.
Mr. Rajasingham warned that the crisis in Sudan is rapidly evolving into a regional crisis. “The needs in Sudan are fundamental and widespread, as you can expect from a conflict. Protection from fighting, medical support, food and water, sanitation, shelter and trauma care." He added that "we are also receiving worrying reports of increased sexual violence while the victims have little access to help. Children are especially vulnerable in this chaos that is unfolding.”
Since the fighting began nearly a million people have been displaced, the number internally displaced has risen to 730,000 and 220,000 have fled to neighboring countries, according to OCHA.
“Today we launched an appeal of some $472 million to respond to the needs of over one million persons over the next six months,” said Raouf Mazou, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations. “So far, the crisis, which has just started a month ago, resulted in massive outflows into neighboring countries.”
Mr. Mazou added that “about 220,000 refugees and returnees have been seeking safety in Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Central African Republic and Ethiopia; 150,000 of them are Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers. Close to 60,000 are people who were refugees in Sudan and who are returning to their country in adverse conditions. So, South Sudanese form the largest number. And overall, we have to keep in mind that there were 1.1 million refugees living in Sudan prior to this crisis.”
A few months ago, the need for humanitarian aid was almost half of today’s requirement, said OCHA’s Mr. Rajasingham. “We had asked for a $1.75 billion for the original appeal for 2023. This has now increased to $2.6 billion. The number of people that we are targeting has gone from over 12 million to 18 million people.”
Although needs throughout the country have “expanded drastically”, Mr. Rajasingham added that so funding levels for Sudan have been poor, “as we have seen for many crises around the world in the last couple of years.”
With a reported increased number of those people living in IPC phase 3, 4, and 5 which indicates increasing dire levels of hunger, Mr. Rajasingham also warned of looming famine in the region. “When you have a crisis like this and you don't have access to basic services, you don't have access to health and water, there's an enormous risk that there will be an increased risk of famine as well,” he said.
-ends-
Teleprompter
A very good morning to you.
Thank you for joining us ahead of this at this press conference.
One moment, we just do that again.
Thank you once again for joining us here at this press conference to on the joint launch of the revised Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023 and the Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan for May to October 2023.
We have with us Mr Ramesh Raja Singham, the Head and Representative of the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs here in Geneva, and Mr Ralph Mazzu, the Assistant **** Commissioner for Operations at the UN **** Commissioner for Refugees, who are here to brief you ahead of meeting to launch the revised Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan.
We will start off immediately with a few opening remarks from our guests and then over to you for your questions.
Thank you very much.
Over to thank you very much Orlando.
The conflict that erupted on 15th of April last month in Sudan has killed hundreds of people, injured more than 5000 people and millions more have been confined to their homes, unable to access basic services and essential healthcare.
And nearly and nearly 1,000,000 people have been displaced, many across to neighbouring countries.
Today 25 million people, more than half the population of Sudan, need humanitarian aid and and protection.
This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country.
The response plan we are launching today reflects that new reality.
Through the plan, which is revised, which is a revised version of the annual Humanitarian Response plan for 2023, we aim to reach 118,000,000 people.
The funding requirements of nearly $2.6 billion is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan, and we launched it together with the refugee response plan that my unit here, colleague Mr Mazur will speak to.
Because the crisis in Sudan is rapidly evolving into a regional crisis, the needs in Sudan are fundamental and widespread, as you can expect from a conflict.
Protection from fighting, medical support, food and water, sanitation, shelter and trauma care.
And we also receiving a worrying reports of increased sexual violence.
While the victims have little access to help, children are especially vulnerable in this chaos that is unfolding.
At the same time, the humanitarian community, we have suffered great setbacks in the operational environment, particularly in and around Khartoum and Darfur.
Aid workers have been killed, our officers and stockpiles looted and 60% of health facilities in affected areas out of action for various reasons including the fighting.
Some frontline responders in civil society groups have continued bravely to provide life saving medical services where possible and applaud their courage.
They have seen other we are not.
We have also seen other progress in recent days.
For example, the World Health Organisation has delivered 30 tonnes of medical supplies to Al Jazeera state, just South and southeast of Khartoum.
Trauma supplies to treat 2400 people were delivered to five hospitals in that state and to three hospitals in Khartoum.
Humanitarian partners also resuming operations in some Darfur states.
In North Darfur, UNICEF is supporting water trucking to care facilities and distributing sanitation and health supplies.
And in Eastern Darfur, UNICEF has provided clean water to some 40,000 people in the AL Ning camp for internally displaced persons.
But much, much more needs to be done.
When the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths was in Port Sudan recently and he spoke to you from there, he stressed that two things were critical to get commitment from the parties to facilitate aid and to have the aid pipeline funded.
Last week, we welcomed the Jeddah Declaration of commitment from the parties.
That was a first good step towards access and protection of civilians.
The next step starts today where we present our plans and call for for the resources necessary to deliver for the people of Sudan.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Masood.
Thank you, Lando.
More than a month into this devastating crisis, countless people remain trapped and terrified inside Sudan, innocent victims of this indiscriminate fighting.
Those who have fled across the country's many borders are shattered, often having left behind or lost loved ones and finding themselves in places where access is extremely hard and resources are minimal.
We're already doing everything that we can as fast as we can, but sadly we need once again to call on countries and individual with the means to step up for innocent people who have lost everything through no fault of their own.
Today we launch an appeal of for some $472 million to respond to the needs of over 1,000,000 persons over the next six months.
So far, the crisis which has just started a month ago, resulted in massive outflows into neighbouring countries.
About 220,000 refugees and returnees have been seeking safety in Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Central African Republic and Ethiopia.
150 of them are Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers.
Close to 60,000 are people who were refugees in Sudan and who are returning to their country in adverse conditions.
So the South Sudanese form the largest number and overall we have to keep in mind that there were 1.1 million refugees living in Sudan prior to this crisis.
In addition to that, we have about 10,000 people who were refugees in Sudan and who are now moving to 1/3 country as they cannot go back to their country of origin.
And we must acknowledge and thank asylum countries for opening their borders and for the protection and generosity that they're showing to those fleeing everywhere.
The teams, humanitarian teams, governments have established presence, have already established presence or scaled up initial presence.
Often those who are leaving Sudan are arriving in very, very remote locations, very difficult to access.
And I would like to make reference to Chad, where in just a few days we saw an increase of 30,000 people.
The immediate priority for us now for those who have to, to support those who have to, to flee into neighbouring countries is first to support host countries, ensuring access to territory and provide asylum to individuals.
Support host countries to provide the timely and life saving protection and humanitarian assistance for those fleeing.
Provide specific protection assistance to those who have special needs and for third country nationals, assist authorities in immigration procedures.
Thank you.
Thank you both very much for those remarks.
I should just point out that we did share with you a summary document of the two appeals a short while ago, so you have that in your inbox.
I should also note that we have to stop this press conference at 9:15.
On that note, over to you for your questions.
OK, the room.
OK.
We have a question from Tamar of the Kuwait News Agency.
Go ahead, Tamar.
Yes, good morning.
The question is related to the donor countries.
Are you in contact already with some donors countries or a specific group like the EU, the Gulf countries for example?
Or it is an open appeal and first come first service.
Thank you for the question.
Now we have been in touch with with donors from the very first day of of this crisis and last week we provided already an initial outline on what the needs would be.
Since then, we have updated, then we have provided additional information, but we are of course already in contact with with with donors and we are insisting that this is an emergency and we need all donors to act as fast as possible.
Yes, I think as in any crisis of this sort, we're in contact as Ralph Sauce just mentioned from the very beginning with donors because it's instrumental that they're funding comes as early as possible to you know, to assist life saving operations.
Thank you both.
We have a question in the room here from Moussa from Almighty Maxi Eskia and risk the famine Ozodhi Ki Ki.
Pesh or Sudan?
Yes, as as you know, in the whole of the Eastern Africa, we've seen year after year of, of poor rains.
And so the, the, the level of those people in IPC 434 and five, which is the measurement of, of food insecurity has increased and we're seeing record numbers throughout the globe this year.
So when you have a crisis like this and you don't have access to basic services, you don't have access to health and water, there's an enormous risk that there'll be an increased risk of family as well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We have a question now from Isabel from the Spanish News Agency.
Go ahead, Isabel.
Good morning.
Thank you, Ronaldo.
Thank you for this briefing.
I would like to ask, since last week when the parties committed to, to facilitate the, the access, the delivery of aid to, to the people, what has happened on the field?
Is this access happening?
The things are better the, the, the, the, the aid organisations are able now to, to distribute aid.
And because we have heard and we know that fights are very heavy in Khartoum, for example, and other places.
So how this all this is happening?
And if related to this, you can, you can say if you know how many people left Khartoum since the, the conflict began.
Thank you.
Yes, thanks for the question.
So the, the, the commitment that was made by the parties recently in Jeddah is, is absolutely necessary.
But we also must underline here that throughout the crisis, many organisations, and these are primarily frontline responders who are suddenly, these are organisations themselves, have continued as best as possible to provide assistance.
But since then, as I mentioned, WHO has has delivered significant quantities of health and medical supplies to Sudan.
Unisys, UNICEF has also started operations in DAF where as I mentioned, but we do need to scale up and obviously we do need continued security and safety for our for our operations to be able to, to continue in both Darfur, Khatam and all the affected areas as imperative that the the commitments are adhered to, but also they are they are built on to provide a longer term ceasefire so that these populations can return to some degree of normalcy.
Thank you.
We have a question now from Albert Otti of the German News agency.
Go ahead, Albert.
Hello.
Thanks for.
Taking my question.
I have a.
Question to to both.
Gentlemen, I think at the end of last year there had already been an aid appeal for.
Sudan.
So my question is.
To what and and I?
Assume that some funds had.
Already come in.
So my question is, you know.
To what extent is this current appeal funded, or how big?
Is is the funding?
Gap or have.
You been using all the funds?
That you had already now for, for the, for the current crisis.
Yes, thank you and thank you.
And that's an extremely good question because funding is critical for the Sudan crisis both even before this, this recent conflict, as you know, we had asked for $1.75 billion for the original appeal for 2023.
This is now increased to 2.6 billion.
We have the number of people that we are targeting has gone from over 12 million to 18 million people.
That's an increase of almost 6 million people.
The number of people in need has gone up to 25,000,000.
So you can imagine the needs have expanded drastically and and throughout the country funding levels.
However, as we have seen in for many crises around the world in the last couple of years, is, has been, has been poor and Sudan is no exception.
But we really do hope that the the donors will step forward for this particular crisis because as you can see, it's one of the worst ones that we are experiencing today.
And millions have been affected by this, by this fighting without any access to basic services, especially health.
Thank you.
No thank you.
As as Hamesh Hamesh said, indeed in in neighbouring countries, we already had very poorly funded appeals with the response to our appeal had already been limited.
So it's clear that we absolutely need the the additional resources that that we're asking now to continue to respond to the humanitarian needs of populations which are already displaced in the region and in addition to that for those who are now displaced from from Sudan.
Thank you both.
We now have a question from Yuri Aprelev of Rio Novosti.
Yes, thank you.
And my question is about refugees.
In the document.
It is indicated that 1,001,000 people will be displayed displaced in 2023.
Does it take?
Into account.
The refugees who leave the country and those displaced inside the country?
Or is it 640,000 people?
Who leave the country in.
2023 and the rest will be internal refugee.
Because in the.
Document.
It's not very clear who is.
Who and who?
He has 1,100,000 people.
Thank you.
No, thank you for your question.
So out of the more than one 1,000,000 people, we expect to leave the country in the coming six months if the situation continues, we have about 640,000 refugees.
These are Sudanese who are leaving their countries and individuals who are leaving Sudan and seeking asylum in another country.
These are people who were refugees in Sudan.
In addition to that, we have about 204,000 people who were refugees in Sudan and are going to go back to their country of origin.
And those from South Sudan are the are the largest number and you have also some migrant returnees.
These are individuals who where migrants in, in in Sudan and are going back to their countries of origin.
And we have about 51,000 people of other nationalities not from the region and who are going to leave the the country now and going back to their places of origin.
So that's what forms the total of a bit more than than 1,000,000 individuals.
Thank you, Mr Mizzou.
We actually, Isabel, if you can indulge us, we'll go to Jamie 1st and then we'll come back to you, Isabel.
Jamie of AP, Associated Press.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rolanda.
Good morning.
My question is for Mr Registeringham, given that some of the belligerents have taken to invading hospitals and taken over other civilian infrastructure, how concerned are you that the delivery of humanitarian aid might be jeopardised when or might even be pilfered and and how difficult is that a message that you need to be giving to?
I mean, how difficult is does that make it for you to make your pitch to donors on the idea that in such a hot conflict that that the humanitarian aid might just not reach the people that it needs to get to or might be pilfered?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Thanks very much, Jamie for that question.
Yes, at the beginning of the conflict, yes, exactly where as you, as you mentioned health facilities were occupied and that as I mentioned, about 60% of them in the affected areas were rendered out of action As for various, for various reasons during the conflict.
We have also had some stockpiles looted.
As I mentioned, Iowa officers have also been ransacked.
But this, the, the Jeddah commitment, the declaration commitment by the parties specifically talks about ensuring that civilian and, and, and civilian infrastructure, civilian populations and installations such as utilities, water, water, electricity, etcetera, are to be protected.
And so they, we are now seeing in some cases the, the pullback from some of these locations.
So we, we would obviously insist that the, the commitment, the declaration commitment is adhered to by all the parties, ensure that all the, all the local armed actors on the ground are also aware of their commitments to this.
But we also see as a result increased expansion of humanitarian assistance.
So that's proof that we are indeed scaling up, but we do, we do need to do much more with more resources as well.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sir.
Over back to Isabel.
FA, Spanish food agency.
Go ahead, Isabel.
Go ahead, Isabel.
Yes, thank you.
Yes.
From the answer that I got from my of my previous question, I, I, it's not clear to me if the access of humanitarian aid is better today than last week and if the parties are honouring their commitments.
Thank you.
If you can answer, please clarify this.
Yes.
So as I as I mentioned, Isabel, who has just recently shipped tonnes of medical assistance to Al Jazeera State, which is just S southeast of of Khartoum.
UNICEF has begun operations.
They have begun and operations have improved since last week.
But this is something we need to see a much bigger improvement and a much bigger scale up.
Access is important, security is important, but also funding and resources are important.
The capacity is there to provide assistance.
We have the partnerships that have been, that we have developed a lot of several years, good, good, strong and non governmental organisations as well.
We do need resources and and obviously we need to ensure that the declaration of commitment is adhered to throughout the country.
Thank you.
Thank you for that clarification.
We have a question back in the room to Musa of Almaydin, if we could and the MIC to Musa.
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Merci, Monsieur Merci, and thank you very much.
I think we don't have any other questions, so I'd like to just thank you both very much for joining us ahead of this very important day.
I should mention that Jens did send you a link to where you could follow the meeting to launch this joint appeal.
And of course, do consult the document that we shared with you beforehand.
So once again, thank you so very much and good luck today.
Have a good day.