São Paulo – The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) requested US$ 1.28 billion worth of donations to provide assistance to 50 million children affected by conflict and natural disasters in 25 different countries. The bulk of funds should go to Africa. Nearly one third of the amount should be allocated to Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa. The request was placed last Friday (27th) in Geneva, Switzerland, during the launch of the Unicef Humanitarian Action for Children Report 2012. The information was supplied by Unicef itself and UN Radio.
“While much of the world’s attention focuses on the humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa, we must not forget those in the many long-standing emergencies around the globe, the silent emergencies,” said the Unicef deputy executive director Rima Salah.
She claimed that children also need aid in places such as Cote D’Ivoire, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Pakistan and Haiti.
According to Unicef, 1.5 million people, half of them children, have left their homes since June 2011. According to the report, protests in the Arab countries throughout 2011 have also caused the children’s humanitarian needs to increase, most of all in Yemen.
In Pakistan, five million people were affected by the floods, and in Cote D’Ivoire, many children were left homeless due to conflict stemming from the elections. In Haiti, children remain homeless due to the earthquake that hit the country in 2010.
According to Unicef, the sum required in 2012 is 9% lower than in 2011. Still, the situation is serious in some places. “The focus of 2012 will continue to be on the Horn of Africa, but with much more focus this year on Somalia and the refugee situation in Dadaab in Eastern Kenya,” warned the Unicef Emergency Programmes director, Louis-Georges Arsenault.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
