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	Violence and delayed implementation of peace agreement threaten peace and stability in Sth Sudan by UNHCR, OHCHR, Save the Children, agencies   Sep. 2022   Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan condemns the latest violence against civilians and calls for immediate cessation of hostilities. (OCHA)   (Juba, 08 September 2022) The Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Ms. Sara Beysolow Nyanti, is deeply concerned by the latest round of violence in Upper Nile State, and its consequences on civilians. Since mid-August, thousands of people have been displaced across many areas of Upper Nile, Jonglei, and Unity states following heavy fighting between armed factions in Tonga town and neighbouring areas in Panyikang County, Upper Nile State. Yesterday, fighting erupted near Adidiang, where several thousands of the displaced had taken refuge, leading to civilian deaths, injuries and further displacement.   “I was in Adidiang a week ago, and I am devastated that the women, children, and elderly people I met have suffered further violence and trauma”, said Ms. Nyanti. Initial reports describe unimaginable scenes of Adidiang set ablaze, humanitarian structures established as recent as two weeks ago destroyed and civilians fleeing the fighting by canoes and boats, leading to several people drowning. According to unconfirmed reports up to 300 people have been killed in the attacks.   “This kind of violence, in an area hosting displaced civilians, in unconscionable”, Ms. Nyanti added. “All parties need to remember their obligations under International Law and ensure civilians are protected, no matter where they are”.   As traumatized civilians start arriving in Malakal, humanitarian partners estimate that up to 5,000 people could arrive in the coming hours and days, seeking protection and assistance at the Protection of Civilians Site (PoC).   “We will continue supporting people in need to the best of our ability” Ms. Nyanti said. “But we need an immediate cessation of hostilities, and a resolution to the conflict. Without peace, civilians will continue to suffer and die under our watch”, she added.   * Some 6.8 million of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan need urgent life-saving assistance and protection in 2022. South Sudan continues to be the most violent context for aid workers, followed by Afghanistan and Syria.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129702 http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/humanitarian-coordinator-south-sudan-condemns-latest-violence-against-civilians-and-calls-immediate-cessation-hostilities http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/un-experts-warn-south-sudans-peace-process-needs-urgent-attention-prevent-violence-escalating http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-calls-access-conflict-affected-communities-upper-nile-and-jonglei-states http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/south-sudan-key-message-update-widespread-emergency-ipc-phase-4-looms-without-scale-food-assistancejuly-2022 http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1133037 http://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/south-sudan   July 2021   UNHCR calls for renewed commitment to South Sudan’s peace, development, and future   UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today joins millions of South Sudanese as they mark 10 years of independence. On 9 July 2011, South Sudan emerged from decades of violence and strife as the world’s youngest nation.   Yet in these 10 years, there has been more war than peace.   Brutal conflict broke out in South Sudan in late 2013, undoing hard-won gains made since independence and ushering in a vicious cycle of inter-communal conflict and a dire humanitarian situation.   Over 2.2 million people were forced to flee to neighboring countries in the region, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda. UNHCR’s most recent report on displacement trends, released last month, placed South Sudan among the top five refugee producing countries globally.   Another 1.6 million have been internally displaced within South Sudan and cut off from education, livelihood, and protection. The internal and refugee displacement make South Sudan the largest displacement crisis in Africa.   Some 7.2 million people or 60 percent of the country’s population are estimated to be acutely food insecure, making the country one of the worst food and nutrition crises globally.   Yet, even with its challenges, South Sudan has opened its doors to generously host 320,000 refugees mainly from Sudan.   Over the past decade, the nation has lurched from hope to strife and back again.   Efforts to implement the national peace process have encouraged some 375,000 South Sudanese refugees to voluntarily return since November 2017. Another 1.6 million IDPs have also returned home.   While UNHCR is not promoting or facilitating refugee returns at this time, we are providing assistance to those that have chosen to return, to help them start afresh.   These are clear signs of people’s belief that South Sudan can return to peace and stability. We, therefore, need to do more to reimagine and recommit efforts towards the country’s peace, development, and future.   Urgent and strategic action from humanitarian agencies, development partners and peacebuilding actors is needed to help returnees and the communities in which they settle to live in safety and dignity, with greater security and prosperity.   We require financial resources to sustain current aid efforts, respond to future situational changes including supporting sustainable return as well as consolidate development gains.   Development efforts should also be strengthened to improve people’s current living conditions and build future resilience. Enabling people to sustain themselves now, will not only allow them to give back to host communities, but support their eventual return and cement the path to peace.   We believe that areas to which IDPs and refugees are returning can represent pockets of hope, places where people are making peace, and where money spent is money invested in the future of South Sudan. http://bit.ly/3B3MPEV   July 2021   Juba: The world’s newest country, South Sudan, is facing its worst ever hunger crisis as it marks its 10 year anniversary, with 7.2 million people, including millions of children, on the brink of or in famine, Save the Children said today.   The number of people in grave danger of starvation has risen by 50% compared to the same season a decade ago with figures released in 2012 showing 40% of the population was experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity of IPC 3 or higher at that time.   Save the Children is warning this situation will most likely deteriorate in coming months due to ongoing violence, high food prices, climatic shocks, and barriers to humanitarian access, unless urgent national and global action is taken. An estimated 1.4 million children are already suffering from acute malnutrition.   The organisation is calling on the government of South Sudan to curb communal violence and fast track the implementation of the peace deal, to address some of the root causes of the hunger crisis and enable children to look towards a brighter future.   The current total hunger figure includes 2.47 million people at emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC 4) and 31,000 people who facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC 5) or famine-like conditions.   Save the Children is particularly concerned for the wellbeing of some 1.4 million children who are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, the highest figure since 2013.   Malnutrition can cause stunting, impede mental and physical development, increase the risk of developing other illnesses, and ultimately cause death.   The warning comes after Save the Children said last month that more than 5.7 million children under five are on the brink of starvation across the globe, with the world is facing the biggest global hunger crisis of the 21st century.   Mary, 36, is the mother of Aluel, 1, from Akobo county in South Sudan. Aluel has suffered from severe hunger since birth, which has impacted Mary’s mental health. Save the Children is now supporting them both. Mary said:   “I came to Akobo to receive medical services for my child, who has been sick for over a year now. Where we are, we are starving because there was flooding that destroyed our crops and left us hungry and dependent on aid. Now there are no cows because they were raided by neighbouring communities. Even if someone’s child is sick or hungry, there is nothing we can feed them. There is completely nothing.”   Across South Sudan, Save the Children is treating thousands of children with acute malnutrition, with staff reporting increasing numbers of babies arriving at clinics in life-threatening situations. In the past three months alone, Save the Children diagnosed 7,342 infants with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cases, of which 4,219 infants were admitted into hospital for treatment.   Rama Hansraj, Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan, said:   “The birth of a new nation is often a time of hope and joy for many of the people living within it, but sadly this promise is yet to deliver for South Sudan. In so many ways, things have gotten worse for children since the country was formed in 2011. Civil war and climate shocks have all played their part in pushing South Sudan away from where it should be, ten years on.   “South Sudan is not just a story of conflict. It is a story of generations of deliberate displacement of civilians, destruction of livelihoods, and land occupation, compounded by climate shocks like unprecedented flooding and locust plagues, and a story of COVID-19 and its obliteration of already-vulnerable social infrastructure. It’s only by addressing the root causes of this crisis, as well as mitigating the devastating effects of the pandemic, will we be able to prevent a generation succumbing to the immediate and long-term consequences of malnutrition.”   Save the Children is calling on donor governments to fully fund the joint-agency Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan, and invest in social protection schemes and services for children. To truly put an end to hunger in South Sudan, the international community must address the root causes of the acute food insecurity, including finding a sustainable solution to the conflict, tackling global changing climate, and building more resilient communities.   Save the Children has been working with and for children, their families and communities in South Sudan since 1991.   http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/south-sudan-number-people-crisis-levels-hunger-increases-50-10-years http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/10-years-after-south-sudans-independence-more-children-need-urgent-humanitarian http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/ten-years-after-gaining-independence-civilians-south-sudan-still-longing http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/en/?country=SSD http://reliefweb.int/country/ssd   Aug. 2020   Renewed violence and delayed implementation of the peace agreement severely threaten peace and stability in South Sudan, UN experts note.   The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan notes with grave concern the recent escalation in violence in six of the ten states countrywide, as well as throughout the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.   Since June this year, the on-going hostilities in Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Lakes, Unity, Western Bahr el-Ghazal, and Warrap States have resulted in the killing and injury of hundreds of civilians, and the displacement of more than 80,000 others. In the brutality and destruction that has ensued, hundreds of women and children have also been abducted, with women and girls as young as 8 years raped and subjected to multiple forms of sexual and gender-based violence.   In Jonglei, Lakes, and Warrap States, the violence has been characterised by intercommunal strife and revenge killings. Many attacks also involve the South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF) and members of armed opposition groups, including in Central Equatoria. Most recently, on 8 August, at least 75 people were killed and another 76 were injured following bloody clashes between armed youth from the Dinka Luanyjang community and SSPDF Division X soldiers based in Tonj (Warrap).   Sexual and gender-based violence also continues to be a pervasive characteristic of the on-going attacks in South Sudan, including in the Equatorias. Brutal rapes including gang-rapes have been central to the violations committed by armed forces during cattle raids in Warrap and Lakes States.   "The levels of violence and suffering particularly against women, the elderly and children are deeply disturbing, and demonstrate an utter disregard for human life, making the revitalised peace agreement a mockery," said Commission Chair Yasmin Sooka.   "Violence perpetrated by self-defence community militias in Warrap, for example, has displaced hundreds of residents, mainly women and children, from border communities between Rualbet and Awul. They are starving with no access to food and have been forced to scavenge and eat leaves boiled in muddy rain water for their survival.   The violence has also led to heightened levels of severe acute malnutrition among infants and children in the affected population. This at a time when the vast majority of civilians, particularly the 1.6 million internally displaced persons, continue to remain at risk because of COVID-19, and have limited access to basic services. These callous and brutal attacks have the potential to completely unravel the peace agreement," she added.   The Commission remained concerned that the parties to the conflict in South Sudan continue to disregard the call for an immediate global ceasefire made by the UN Secretary General António Guterres on 23 March 2020.   Emblematic of the brutality of localised conflict has been the recent spate of organised clashes in Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area beginning in February 2020, the Commission stated.   "Jonglei State continues to experience unprecedented levels of fighting. Raids in northern Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area have involved armed Murle elements pitted against allied Dinka and Nuer 'White Army' militias," noted Commission Chair Yasmin Sooka. "At least 2,800 houses in the Pieri area of Uror County in Jonglei have been destroyed by armed Murle youth reportedly wearing military uniforms. Many residents throughout the area have already suffered years of food insecurity and were severely hit by abnormally heavy rains and devastating floods late last year, including some of the worst ever recorded in South Sudan which affected at least 11 counties in Jonglei," she added.   Notwithstanding the formation of the Revitalised Government on 22 February 2020, the Commission finds the response to these attacks by Government authorities to be woefully inadequate which President Salva Kiir Mayardit conceded in his 8 July address to the nation on the ninth anniversary of South Sudan's independence, when he announced the launch of a full-scale disarmament campaign to end violence in the country, as well as an "inter and intra communal dialogue" for healing and reconciliation.   President Kiir also recently appointed committees to disarm communities in Warrap and Lakes States, and established another two investigation committees to review incidents of violence in Jonglei and Warrap States.   While the Commission welcomes the President's statement and efforts, it remains concerned at the complete lack of accountability for these incidents. In the absence of systematic investigations, there have been no prosecutions for these violations which have been exacerbated by the slow pace of disarmament, and the continued proliferation of both heavy and light weapons, despite the recently renewed UN arms embargo.   "Over the past 18 months, the Commission has continued to document and gather evidence on how the armed conflict in South Sudan has transformed into a series of localised conflicts, often presented simply as cattle-raiding," noted Commissioner Andrew Clapham. "It is important to clarify, however, that these conflicts are increasingly politicized.   They include instances where cattle keepers are organised in terms of a hierarchy and where they have been provided with light weapons and heavy artillery, including ammunition, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades. Many such groups are therefore operating as organised militias under the command and control of the main parties to the conflict," he continued.   * Access the full statement: http://bit.ly/3aHPl7j Visit the related web page
	Protecting civilians affected by conflict-induced hunger by Jan Egeland Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council   Briefing to the United Nations Security Council on protecting civilians affected by conflict-induced hunger:   I wish to thank you for this opportunity to speak about conflict-induced hunger and what Security Council members can do to follow up on their commitment to 'break the vicious cycle between armed conflict and food insecurity' as expressed in resolution 2417 (2018).   The importance and urgency of global food needs has been well presented by my colleagues from FAO and WFP. I will therefore concentrate on the need for help from the Security Council with our field-based obstacles to reach the hungry in war.   In my 40 years of humanitarian work there has never been as many, more than 70 million, displaced by horrific violence and conflict. Linked to more, longer and crueler conflicts we see mounting hunger caused by political violence and violent extremism.   Conflict forces families to flee their homes, their farms, their fields and their livelihoods, and become dependent on the generosity of host-communities who themselves are often in a precarious situation.   To make this storm even worse climate change is also hitting the displaced and their hosts, which in turn deepens hunger and further displacement.   Perhaps nowhere else is this vicious cycle clearer than in central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin in Africa. I witnessed this first-hand when I visited Burkina Faso earlier this year, just before the coronavirus pandemic. Nowhere else in the world have we seen such a tenfold increase in forced displacement in just a year from 70,000 to 750,000.   In the small northern town of Barsalogho, the population had increased manifold due to continuous brutal attacks throughout the region by different armed groups.   Most of the families were single mother-led. Men were targeted by extremist violence, and fathers and husbands were dead or had fled further away. These women and children were suffering alone and unprotected. We were only a couple of aid groups present in this large area, and we are overstretched and underfunded. There are no public services nor any law and order in sight.   Most families had gotten some basic shelter. But they were in acute need of everything else: food, water, sanitation and education. A family of 7 or 8 shared 20 litres of water per day.   How can you avoid the coronavirus with a thousand huts next to each other, with ten people in each small shelter and 3 litres of water for drinking, food and hygiene per person per day? There was no school as teachers had fled the targeted violence against education. Food insecurity has increased threefold.   The emergency in Northern Burkina Faso is not unique. We see the same food and basic relief crisis across the Sahel from Mali to Lake Chad. There is an overreliance on counter-terrorist military responses. Too little is done to address such root causes of violence as massive unemployment, lack of education, abject poverty, lack of good governance and lack of hope for the large generation of young people. And if we go beyond the Sahel to Syria, Yemen, DRC or Somalia, we see the same need for a real reboot.   So what should be done? Having consulted with many field colleagues let me focus on five asks:   We need safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all populations in need.   As frontline humanitarian agencies, you must help us to reach all communities in need in conflict areas. States have an obligation to facilitate impartial humanitarian aid according to humanitarian law. Yet, when we try to reach children, women and men - all civilians - with lifesaving relief, we face every day and in multiple conflict settings obstacles, roadblocks and prohibitions. Both assertive governments and non-state armed groups are blatantly denying civilians access to relief.   We would urge the Security Council to avoid politicizing access to aid, and rather by default enable us as frontline humanitarian actors to provide relief wherever and whenever there are unmet needs - across frontlines, across borders, across political, religious and ethnic lines. Women, children, the elderly and the disabled must get aid always and everywhere. UN Security Council resolution 2165 for cross-border relief in Syria is an example of the type of mechanisms needed.   We need stronger humanitarian diplomacy to promote humanitarian access   Missions deployed by the UN Security Council, as well as your bilateral diplomatic missions, must give priority to humanitarian diplomacy with parties and actors that can eliminate access challenges and ensure we can reach people with food and other assistance. Access challenges are nearly always manmade. Your intervention can enable lifesaving food and other aid.   From 2016 to end 2018, I chaired a Humanitarian Task Force on access in Syria with some 25 influential UN member states. The task force was set up after horrific reports of children starving to death in besieged towns in Syria. Within 72 hours of the creation of the task force, convoys were rolling into several besieged areas that had not received any food or other relief for many months.   Humanitarian diplomacy by States and the UN system was a key factor in enabling this. States with influence over the parties to conflict have a particular responsibility in this regard.   When many besieged areas were again denied food and hunger took hold, it was primarily because the pressure on the parties by States was waning. A criminal military logic won over compassion and humanitarian law.   We must strengthen the instrument of deconfliction with parties to armed conflicts.   Deconflicting by informing parties of protected humanitarian and medical sites, is a key tool to enable food, medical relief and humanitarian assistance to reach civilians without being attacked. The protection of neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian relief is a basic tenant of humanitarian law. To attack medical and humanitarian sites are war crimes.   When military commanders are informed of when, where and what will be supplied of food and other relief items, they have an obligation to ensure the safety and security of a relief convoy for the entire operation.   In many conflicts and with many parties this has worked. But too often the parties, their sponsors and the humanitarian system fail to get deconfliction effectively organised and respected. We have often seen convoys get through to places of hunger and hopelessness after having been successfully deconflicted with multiple governmental armed forces and non-state armed groups.   In other places we have seen deconflicted convoys, hospitals, schools, camps, and humanitarian offices and warehouses attacked and bombed.   Deconfliction and humanitarian diplomacy can work even in the cruellest of wars, but the information provided must always be verified and accurate, and most importantly there must be accountability for attacks on protected sites.   States must work to ensure respect for international humanitarian law among their own armed forces, and among those they support and can influence.   Standard exemptions for humanitarian aid, including food and agricultural products, must be included in counter-terrorism laws and sanctions regimes.   Humanitarian work, access, supply, procurement, visas and movements in conflict zones are increasingly affected by counter-terror legislation, measures and sanctions regimes.   A well known example is the drought-related food crisis that became a famine in south-central Somalia in 2011 and where sanctions imposed on Al-Shabaab greatly complicated the response to the famine. It delayed donor funding and caused widespread risk aversion among humanitarian organizations who believed they could not respond in these areas owing to the legal risks. Exemptions were introduced too late, and too many died.   Today, in many of the conflict areas where NRC's 15,000 humanitarian workers struggle to get food and other relief to civilians in the crossfire, we are delayed or restrained by the lack of clear cut exemptions for provision of humanitarian aid in all sanctions regimes and counter-terrorism measures.   In a similar vein, the many current Covid-19 restrictions put in place by States should also always include provisions that allow coronavirus-safe humanitarian assistance to continue, for example by designating humanitarian workers as essential personnel just like medical personnel. Otherwise, the current health crisis may provoke a food crisis with even graver consequences for vulnerable populations.   Monitoring, reporting and accountability mechanisms must be strengthened.   The starvation of civilians in warfare and the denial of humanitarian relief are grave violations of humanitarian law for which perpetrators must be held to account. The recent amendment of the Rome Statute expanding the war crime of deliberate starvation to situations of non-international armed conflicts is a welcome step. States parties should ratify or accept this amendment to ensure it enters into force.   There must be consequences when men with guns and power prevent children and families from accessing food through harvests or aid, and hunger is the consequence.   The Security Council must ensure investigations and accountability through a mechanism to monitor and report on humanitarian access and starvation crimes. Only then will generals, commanders and politicians think twice before they deny civilians food.   Starving civilians is a war crime and will never achieve legitimate military objectives. We urge the Security Council to renew its commitment to break the vicious cycle of conflict and food insecurity, and consider the five points I have listed.   http://www.nrc.no/resources/briefing-notes/briefing-on-protecting-civilians-affected-by-conflict-induced-hunger/ Visit the related web page
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