Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field
Entries from Fieldnotes tagged with 'children in conflict'
A UNICEF worker killed in Afghanistan
If you follow the news, you likely know about the brutal attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul, Afghanistan just over a month ago. On October 28, Taliban militants staged an early morning raid—they killed guards and scaled a gate to enter a small compound, firing guns and grenades in an assault that lasted nearly two hours. When it was over, eight people were dead and nine wounded. Now, after weeks of genetic testing, UNICEF has confirmed that one of those killed was a UNICEF staff member.
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| © UNICEF/AFGA2009-00945/Shehzad Noorani |
| Afghanistan, 2009: A young girl child standing by a bakery in Dah Afghanan, a poor neighborhood in Kabul. |
Teshome Mendefro Ergete had been working for UNICEF Afghanistan just since September, 2009. Mr. Ergete, an Ethiopian national, was an expert in drilling wells for fresh water. Right now in Afghanistan, 70 percent of the population lacks access to clean, safe drinking water. There's no doubt that Mr. Ergete's work in the country would have had a hugely positive impact.
Protecting children in the DRC
Remaining pockets of violence, millions of Internally Displaced Peoples, massive human rights violations and a lack of basic social services severely hinder the efforts of Gill and other aid workers. “Humanitarian access is limited,” said Gill, “because there is virtually no infrastructure…a wooden bicycle used to transfer goods to market is about as advanced as it gets.” Gill and her colleagues also face a constant security risk and must take daily precautions against attacks—they are not even allowed to walk on the streets.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1226/Kate Holt |
| Children play a game of ‘blind man’s bluff’ with a group leader in a UNICEF-assisted child-friendly space in a camp for the displaced. |
Against all odds, UNICEF has done amazing work for the children and people of the DRC, evident in both in the statistics and in the personal success stories that Gill shared. UNICEF has distributed 5.5 million anti-malaria bed nets, begun an initiative in maternal care/newborn survival, implemented a zero-child soldier advocacy campaign and opened 515 health centers. This year alone, we rescued and rehabilitated 2813 children from the armed services and militias, assisted 9,347 sex violation survivors, placed 35,354 children into child friendly spaces and distributed 155,544 packages with materials for mental and physical care and protection.
UNICEF is also using an innovative new system of faith-based and community initiatives to create peaceful and lasting changes. Representatives work with religious and village leaders to instill in the people basic sanitation practices, such as hand washing, and to reverse harmful traditions (many of which target girls and women) from within the community itself.
Gill spoke of her work as a challenge, but one that offers lots of rewards. “We are in the unique position of being a massive service provider and also an advocate for children,” she said, “And these children need all the help they can get.”
A UNICEF staff member is killed in Pakistan
We're still reeling from the death of UNICEF staff member Perseveranda So. In case you haven't seen the news, So was killed in the massive car bomb explosion that hit the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday. The hotel was acting as home base for many aid workers, including more than 25 staffers from UN agencies. All told, 5 of the 17 people killed in the blast were with UN agencies responding to the region's growing humanitarian crisis.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0671/Marta Ramoneda |
| Pakistan, 2009 On 1 June, a girl attends school in a tent classroom in the Chota Lahore camp in Swabi District, in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). An estimated 877 children are enrolled in the school. UNICEF is helping to provide education support for displaced children in camps and host communities. The Chota Lahore camp is one of many created in the last few weeks to accommodate people fleeing the current conflict. |
We all know that working in volatile countries brings personal risk. Just a few months ago, Kate Horton blogged about the dangers UNICEF field staff often face. And the fact that some die while on the job. But knowing the dangers doesn't make news like this any easier. When colleagues like Perseveranda So—"Persy" to those who knew her—are killed in violent and targeted attacks it feels particularly tragic. And just, well, unfair. Those who are working tirelessly to help save and improve lives should not be felled by those who seek only to destroy lives.
Surge of displacement in Pakistan continues
Only a few days have passed since we last checked in on the growing crisis in Pakistan, but those few days have been enough time to change thousands of lives. In the month of May alone, more people have been displaced in Pakistan than were displaced over 3 years in Darfur.
Since August of last year, conflict between pro-Taliban militants and Pakistan's government forces has seethed in Pakistan’s northwest frontier region. Over the last month, as fighting has intensified, the number of people who have fled their homes has swollen to 2.4 million. That’s the single largest movement of people in Pakistan since the partition that created the country.
Most frightening of all, it’s estimated that 65% of the displaced are children.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0565/Marta Ramoneda |
| Pakistan (May 29, 2009), a displaced girl waits with adults for food during a distribution in the Chota Lahore camp in Swabi District in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The camp is one of the many created in the past few weeks to accommodate people fleeing the current conflict. |
UNICEF is doing its best to blunt the impact of the crisis for these children, but because of the quick timeline and incredible numbers of people, some real challenges exist. Many of the displaced have chosen to stay with friends or relatives, or rent space in host communities, which means distributing resources and keeping track of movement is made a bit harder. It’s estimated that of all the children displaced, only 25% are actually in camps, where agencies like UNICEF can be sure that they are fed, protected from exploitation, and kept healthy in the midst of all the chaos.
Children on the run in Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Lately we've been focused on the crises in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The two quite different countries have something big in common at present—in both places children are suffering terribly as a result of very adult conflicts. Fierce fighting between government forces and militants has forced scores children and families to desperately flee their homes in search of safety.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0508/Antonia Paradela |
| Pakistan, 2009: Children wait with their families to register at the Jalala Camp for the displaced in Mardan District in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), one of three camps created in the last week to accommodate people fleeing the current conflict. |
In Pakistan, more than 1 million people have been displaced by the violence. Over half of those are children. Imagine what it's like being a child caught up (or running from) armed conflict. Adults you look up to are acting panicked. You hear guns being fired, bombs exploding nearby. You may see people wounded and contorted in pain. You may even see people you love killed.
A girl struggles to survive conflict and cholera
Last December, as fighting increased in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and thousands of children continued to flee the ravages of war, Mungwiko landed at the Virunga Hospital in Goma—the capital of North Kivu Province. She was safe from such horrors as torture, rape and child conscription, but not from the conflict’s deadly diseases.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1315/Olivier Asselin |
| Mungwiko sits on a bed at a cholera treatment centre at Virunga Hospital in Goma, capital of North Kivu Province, DRC. |
Mungwiko came to Virunga Hospital with cholera, a lethal disease usually contracted by drinking contaminated water. Mungwiko was the second of eight siblings to have contracted the illness. As she sat on her bed in the hospital’s cholera treatment center, she received oral rehydration solutions¬—provided by UNICEF¬—to combat her fierce dehydration.
Known as “the disease of the displaced,” cholera thrives on the dislocation of people and dearth of basic services that accompany long-term conflict, such as the DRC’s rebel war. During October and November, escalating hostilities in North Kivu forced some 100,000 people to leave their homes. The number of displaced people since the collapse of the Goma peace accords last August is now estimated at 250,000, mostly women and children. Some landed at one of the 60,000 camps in the Kibati area, north of Goma. Others—including thousands of children—fled across the borders to Uganda and Rwanda, where they faced recruitment or re-recruitment into armed militias.
A desperate limbo: Iraqi refugees in Syria
After spending a year in Iraq, I left in the spring of 2004 when the level of violence—kidnappings, car bombings, killings—ratcheted up so quickly and so brutally that I could no longer live there in safety.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2007-0738/Shehzad Noorani |
| Amna, 7, lights candles at her home in the Saide Zainab neighbourhood of Damascus, the Syrian capital. She, her parents and three siblings are Iraqi refugees displaced by conflict. They are struggling to survive in a one-bedroom apartment. |
Not surprisingly, millions of Iraqis also fled the terrifying daily violence that swept through the country. They made their way—in family cars stuffed with belongings—to neighboring Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic which mostly accepted these refugees. But, having reached the safety of these countries, the vast majority of Iraqis found themselves badly stuck; paying high rents with little in the way of job prospects that might counteract the speedy drainage of their life savings.
The problem for many of these refugees is that, though they left Iraq with high hopes of immigrating to countries in the West, those countries turned out to be fairly lukewarm about having them. And so for every Iraqi allowed into, say, the U.S. or Canada or Italy, there are thousands (tens of thousands?) whose requests for visas are politely denied.
Always on the side of children
We're very relieved by the news of the Gaza cease-fire. As is the case with all violent conflicts, children have been suffering the consequences of thoroughly adult problems. UNICEF's mission to help children is vital in times like these. And we're not hampered by being on one side, or on another side—we are simply and always on the side of children.
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| © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0016/Iyad El Baba |
| Gaza, 2009: On 12 January, a girl waits on a curb with empty water containers in the southern city of Rafah. Approximately 500,000 people have no access to running water. Water and sanitation services have partially collapsed due to considerable damage to the networks, difficulties faced to make repairs and lack of fuel for power. UNICEF is working with partners to distribute supplies, including family water kits. |
As I write, UNICEF is delivering six truckloads of emergency supplies and equipment to Gaza. With water and sanitation systems in the Gaza Strip badly damaged by fighting, UNICEF is worried about outbreaks of water-related diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera. So, working with our partners, UNICEF has already distributed more than 66,000 bottles of water, and emergency water and sanitation supplies for some 30,000 people.
Fighting also upended normal food supply lines, and many children are going hungry. UNICEF is rushing to distribute 7,500 cartons of high-energy biscuits—enough to feed 80,000 children for three months. We're also sending in much-needed health kits, obstetric surgical kits, midwifery kits, resuscitation kits, first aid kits and surgical instruments.
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