Childhood under attack in S. Sudan - UNICEF

NEW YORK, Dec 15 (KUNA) -- As South Sudan enters the fifth year of fighting, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that new funding is essential in order to provide critical assistance to children and women in the country.
South Sudan is in the throes of a tragedy for children that affects more than half the child population - victims of malnutrition, disease, forced recruitment, violence and the loss of schooling, a UNICEF report said on Friday.
Years of insecurity and upheaval have had a "staggering impact on children", threatening an entire generation, according to the report "Childhood under Attack." The numbers tell a grim story; almost three million children are severely food insecure; more than one million are acutely malnourished; 2.4 million have been forced from their homes; and two million children out of school, and if the current situation persists, only one in 13 children are likely to finish primary school.
An estimated 900,000 children suffer from psychological distress; more than 19,000 children have been recruited in the ranks of armed forces and armed groups; and more than 2,300 children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in December 2013, with hundreds of incidents of rape and sexual assault against children having been reported.
"No child should ever experience such horrors and deprivations," said Leila Pakkala, UNICEF's Regional Director in Eastern and Southern Africa.
"And yet children in South Sudan are facing them on a daily basis. The children of South Sudan urgently require a peaceful and protective environment. Anything less places children and women at even greater risk of grave violations and abuse," she cautioned.
Getting assistance to those most in need continues to be a challenge in many insecure areas of the country. Humanitarian organisations in South Sudan are looking for the full implementation of a recent Presidential order calling for unrestricted access to those in urgent need of aid. UNICEF has been delivering lifesaving assistance to children across the country since the crisis started in December 2013.
The assistance includes treatment of more than 600,000 children for severe acute malnutrition, vaccination against measles for more than 3.3 million children, the provision of primary healthcare services to more than 3.6 million children, and supporting the access to safe water supply for 1.8 million people.
This has been done despite the huge challenges faced in a country that ranks among the world's most dangerous for aid workers.
Since the conflict started, 95 aid workers have been killed, including 25 killed so far this year. In 2018, UNICEF requires USD 183 million, and currently has a funding gap of 77 percent (or USD 141 million), the report added. (end) asf.gb