{"id":90052,"date":"2017-03-24T07:30:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T05:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/joint-statement-on-behalf-of-the-government-of-uganda-and-unhcr-breaking-point-imminent-government-of-uganda-unhcr-say-help-for-south-sudan-refugee-inflow-urgently-needed\/"},"modified":"2017-03-24T07:30:11","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T05:30:11","slug":"joint-statement-on-behalf-of-the-government-of-uganda-and-unhcr-breaking-point-imminent-government-of-uganda-unhcr-say-help-for-south-sudan-refugee-inflow-urgently-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/joint-statement-on-behalf-of-the-government-of-uganda-and-unhcr-breaking-point-imminent-government-of-uganda-unhcr-say-help-for-south-sudan-refugee-inflow-urgently-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint statement on behalf of the Government of Uganda and UNHCR: \u2018Breaking Point\u2019 imminent: Government of Uganda, UNHCR say help for South Sudan refugee inflow urgently needed"},"content":{"rendered":"

APO News from Africa:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joint statement on behalf of the Government of Uganda and UNHCR: \u2018Breaking Point\u2019 imminent: Government of Uganda, UNHCR say help for South Sudan refugee inflow urgently needed<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The Government of Uganda and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today jointly appealed to the international community for urgent and massive support for the thousands of South Sudan refugees who continue to arrive to Uganda every day, fleeing brutal conflict, compounded by the limited availability of food. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Uganda currently hosts more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees. Among them are some 572,000 new arrivals who have poured into Uganda in desperate need of safety and help since 8 July 2016. With present rates of arrival, that figure will surpass a million before mid- 2017. This year alone, more than 172,000 South Sudanese refugees have fled to Uganda, with new arrivals in March averaging more than 2,800 daily.<\/p>\n

“Uganda has continued to maintain open borders,” said Rt. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister of Uganda. “But this unprecedented mass influx is placing enormous strain on our public services and local infrastructure. We continue to welcome our neighbours in their time of need but we urgently need the international community to assist as the situation is becoming increasingly critical.”<\/p>\n

“We are at breaking point. Uganda cannot handle Africa’s largest refugee crisis alone,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “The lack of international attention to the suffering of the South Sudanese people is failing some of the most vulnerable people in the world when they most desperately need our help.”<\/p>\n

Chronic and severe underfunding has reached a point where critical life-saving help risks becoming dangerously compromised. Transit and reception facilities are rapidly becoming overwhelmed. Significant challenges are being faced in providing refugees with adequate food rations, health and educational services, and sufficient clean water; a dire situation further compounded by the onset of heavy rains. Currently, UNHCR urgently needs more than a quarter of a billion US dollars to support South Sudanese refugees in Uganda in 2017.<\/p>\n

Uganda’s approach to dealing with refugees has long been among the most progressive anywhere on the African continent. Upon receiving refugee status, refugees are provided with small areas of land in settlements integrated within the local host community; a pioneering approach that enhances social cohesion and allows both refugees and host communities to live together peacefully. In Uganda’s Mid and South-West, land for these settlements is provided by Government. In northern Uganda, where the vast majority of South Sudanese refugees are being hosted, the land has been donated by the local host community, an outstanding display of generosity towards people fleeing war and conflict.<\/p>\n

As a result Uganda was chosen as a role model for pioneering a comprehensive approach to refugee protection that complements humanitarian responses with targeted development action, benefiting both refugees and the communities hosting them. This was adopted as part of the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants at the UN General Assembly last year, and is now also being rolled out in other displacement crises – offering hope to millions of refugees worldwide. However, in the face of severe underfunding and the fastest-growing refugee emergency in the world, Uganda’s ability to realise a model that allows refugees to thrive now risks being jeopardized – and the future of the new comprehensive refugee response framework thrown into question.  <\/p>\n

Distributed by APO on behalf of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).<\/i><\/p>\n

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Source:<\/strong> APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa<\/a><\/small>
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Central African Republic: Armed Groups Using Schools<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Armed groups in the Central African Republic have occupied, looted, and damaged school buildings, preventing children from getting an education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
 <\/p>\n

The 39-page report, “No Class: When Armed Groups Use Schools in the Central African Republic,” documents how armed groups, and even soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSCA, have used school buildings as bases or barracks, or based their forces near school grounds. The government and the peacekeeping mission should increase protection for students and schools in areas of the country affected by armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

“Children have lost years of education in many parts of the Central African Republic because armed groups have failed to treat schools as places of learning and sanctuary for children,” said Lewis Mudge, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “The government and the UN can do more to ensure that fighters stay away from classrooms, and that children can safely go to school.”<\/p>\n

The report is released five days before the Second International Safe Schools Conference, hosted by the Argentine government in Buenos Aires. The conference will highlight the global problem of attacks on students, teachers, and schools, as well as the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment endorsed by the Central African Republic and 59 other countries.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 40 people for the report, including school-age children, parents, teachers, and armed group commanders in the provinces of Lobaye, Nana-Mambéré, Nana-Grébizi, Ouham-Pendé, Ouham, and Ouaka.<\/p>\n

“It is not normal for a child to lose this much time, it has blocked my future,” said an 18-year-old man in Ouaka province who had lost four years of schooling because fighters for the Seleka, one side in the country’s ongoing conflict, have occupied his school. “I wanted to be a doctor, but that is impossible without school.”<\/p>\n

The Central African Republic has been in crisis since late 2012, when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels opened a military campaign against the government. The Seleka seized the capital, Bangui, in March 2013, in a period marked by widespread human rights abuse. In mid-2013, Christian and animist anti-balaka militia organized to fight the Seleka. The anti-balaka have also committed widespread abuse, especially in western parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Violence by armed groups and attacks on civilians have risen sharply since October 2016, particularly in the center of the country. Fighting between two Seleka factions in the Ouaka and Haute-Kotto provinces has led to increased attacks on civilians and displaced tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n

The Seleka are responsible for eight of the cases documented in the report, but anti-balaka fighters have also occupied and damaged schools. In two cases, UN peacekeepers used a school as a base, in violation of UN regulations, but the forces left both schools after Human Rights Watch informed UN officials.<\/p>\n

The use of schools by armed forces deteriorates, damages, and destroys the country’s already insufficient and poor-quality education infrastructure. Fighters who occupy schools frequently burn furniture and books for cooking fuel. In one case Human Rights Watch documented, an anti-balaka fighter struck a teacher on the head with a knife when the teacher tried to stop him from burning a desk.<\/p>\n

Even after fighters have vacated a school, their proximity to school grounds can frighten students and teachers into staying away. “The Seleka are just next to the school and the parents are too scared to send their kids,” a teacher from Nana-Grébizi province said. “The Seleka think it is normal to be based in schools.”<\/p>\n

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated in November 2016 that 2,336 schools across the country were operational but that at least 461 were not. The key reasons schools are closed, the UN said, are insecurity, a lack of teachers, displacement caused by fighting, the destruction of school property, or the occupation of schools by armed groups.<\/p>\n

The Central African Republic signed the Safe Schools Declaration in June 2015, committing itself to protect schools from attack and military use. This important step spurred MINUSCA to begin clearing schools that were occupied by militias. The UN mission made progress in 2016, but was undermined when peacekeeping forces themselves used schools as bases and barracks.<\/p>\n

“By endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration, the government demonstrated the value it places on education for the development and stability of the country,” Mudge said. “Armed groups and UN peacekeepers should respect the declaration’s call to protect schools and help children get the education they want and deserve.”<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).<\/i><\/p>\n

Media files<\/b>
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Source:<\/strong> APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa<\/a><\/small>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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