Wednesday, 31 July 2019
UN working ‘intensively’ to stop Ebola in eastern DR Congo, following second case in major border town
A health worker checks a child potentially infected with Ebola being carried on the back of a caregiver at the Ebola Treatment Centre of Beni, North-Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo. (24 March 2019)
31 July 2019
Senior UN officials tasked with controlling the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have responded to Tuesday’s confirmation of a second case of Ebola in Goma, a major trading town in the vast country’s restive east, near the border with neighbouring Rwanda, which resulted in the death of the patient.
On Wednesday, David Gressley, the UN Ebola Emergency Response Coordinator, and Dr. Ibrahima Socé Fall, Assistant Director-General for Emergency Response at the World Health Organization (WHO), released a joint statement announcing that they are “working intensively” to halt any further spread.
Surveillance is being stepped up at all entry and exit points in the area, but more needs to be done to eradicate Ebola, the officials said, calling for a “strong, resilient health system” to avoid a resurgence of the disease in DRC.
The senior officials stated that there is no evidence that the second case in Goma is linked to the first confirmed case. The first concerned a pastor who travelled to Goma from Butembo in North Kivu. The second is a miner who had been working in Ituri. The disease is centred in both provinces.
The reports of the second case of Ebola come a day after the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that it needs to trip its budget to tackle the complex crisis, which is complicated by ongoing conflict, and an outbreak of measles.
On Friday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that, over the next six months, it is planning to scale up and double food assistance to people affected by the disease, in preparation for a potential further escalation of the epidemic.
The WFP support is for 440,000 “Ebola-affected” people in DRC, which includes contacts of victims and their families, as well as confirmed and suspected cases.
Senior UN officials mark one year since Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC
The discovery of this new case comes just ahead of the marking tomorrow, 1 August, of one year since the Government of the DRC declared an outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in North Kivu province. Two weeks ago, it was declared a public health emergency of international concern.
“This latest case in such a dense population center underscores the very real risk of further disease transmission, perhaps beyond the country's borders, and the very urgent need for a strengthened global response and increased donor investment,” said top officials from the WFP, WHO, UNICEF and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In the last year, there have been more than 2,600 confirmed cases, including more than 1,800 deaths in parts of Ituri and North Kivu provinces. Almost one in three ‘cases’ is a child. Every single ‘case’ is someone who has gone through an unimaginable ordeal. More than 770 have survived.
“The disease is relentless and devastating,” said a joint statement from WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, and WFP Executive Director David Beasley.
“The challenges to stopping further transmission are indeed considerable. But none are insurmountable. And none can be an excuse for not getting the job done. The United Nations and partners are continuing to ramp up the response in support of the Government and to further bolster joint action, the UN leaders said.
Efforts carried out by UN and parters to support Government-led response
- Over 170,000 people vaccinated;
- 1,300 people treated with investigational therapies across 14 treatment and transit centres;
- 77 million screenings of national and international travelers;
- 20,000 contacts visited daily to ensure they do not also become sick;
- 3,000 samples tested in 8 laboratories every week;
- More than 10,000 handwashing sites installed in critical locations;
- More than 2,000 community engagement workers operating in affected - areas listening to concerns, gaining trust, and mobilizing local action;
- Over 440,000 patients and contacts provided with food assistance, crucial to limiting movement among people who could spread the disease; and
- Daily meals provided to 25,000 schoolchildren in Ebola-affected areas to help build trust within communities.
Full statement here.
UNICEF must triple budget to combat Ebola outbreak in DR Congo; complex crisis impacting unprecedented number of children
On 6 December 2018, at a UNICEF supported crèche in Beni, in the eastern DRC, Kavira Langa Jemima, an Ebola survivor, bathes 6 month old Josue, who's mother is undergoing treatment for Ebola.
30 July 2019
With an unprecedented number of children affected by the Ebola virus outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday said it would need to triple its budget to tackle the complex crisis, which included intensifying the overall public health response and launching measles vaccinations.
“This Ebola response is far more complex because it is in an active conflict zone,” Jerome Pfaffmann, a UNICEF health specialist, told reporters in Geneva, just back from his third visit to the country.
He underscored that “people in the (eastern Congolese) provinces of North Kivu and Ituri are facing humanitarian and public health crises,” and in addition, half the health facilities in Ituri had been damaged or destroyed over the last two years.
The UNICEF expert said there were 2,671 confirmed cases of Ebola as of 28 July, including more than 700 children, more than half of whom – some 57 per cent – were under five years of age.
“When I left, there were 12 new confirmed cases, five were alive and will have the chance to access treatment, but seven had died in the community. This is bad. Having this number of community deaths means we are not ahead of the epidemic,” he said.
“It is unprecedented to have such a [high] proportion of affected children,” Mr. Pfaffmann continued, adding that both provinces were also facing a measles outbreak.
So far, UNICEF has vaccinated more than 40,000 children against measles, but a massive scale-up was needed to protect them from various health risks.
With all this in mind, UNICEF planned to carry out a new strategic response plan to address acute humanitarian and social needs.
“UNICEF will need to triple its budget to respond to this crisis,” said Mr. Pfaffmann, stressing that “we need desperately the international community to back us up.”
This budget would include about $70 million for epidemic control activities, $30 million to build community capacities in at-risk areas, and another $70 million to deliver essential services.
Meanwhile, the UN agency was continuing operations with “colleagues and communities on the ground who are fighting the outbreak tirelessly.”
Just two days away from the one-year milestone of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in the DRC, the UNICEF expert said it was critical to make the investment to keep the epidemic under control.
“This is a wake-up call. There must not be a second-year milestone,” Mr. Pfaffmann declared, stressing that community mobilization was critical to curbing the spread of the disease because “they are capable of best doing the things that matter.”
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Tuesday’s Daily Brief: Children in armed conflict, Ebola in DR Congo, human rights in Bahrain, and two International Days
A young girl looks through a paneless window frame near Kabul, in Afghanistan, 2013. Civlilians in Afghanistan have borne the brunt of an almost 20 years of conflict.
30 July 2019
Our main stories today cover: A new report on children and armed conflict, a day to combat human trafficking; funds needed to fight Ebola in DR Congo; UN rights office condemns the execution of two Bahraini citizens; and International Day of Friendship
New UN report shows record numbers of children killed, maimed in conflict
A new UN report has found that 2018 was the worst year on record for children caught up in armed conflict; the year saw the highest number killed or hurt since the United Nations began monitoring the violation.
In the 20 conflict situations monitored in the 2018 edition of the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, released Tuesday, more than 12,000 children were killed or maimed over that year.
A “disheartened” Secretary-General António Guterres said that he was “particularly appalled” by the unprecedented numbers of grave violations committed against children.
Children continued to be used in combat, particularly in Somalia, Nigeria and Syria: some 7,000 have been drawn into frontline fighting roles around the world during 2018. They also continued to be abducted, to be used in hostilities or for sexual violence: more than half of the 2,500 reported cases were in Somalia.
Read about it here.
Conflict, climate change among factors that increase ‘desperation that enables human trafficking to flourish’, says UN chief
To mark the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed that “human trafficking is a heinous crime that affects every region of the world” – especially women and children.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), some 72 per cent of detected victims are women and girls, and the percentage of child victims has more than doubled from 2004 to 2016.
“Most detected victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation; victims are also trafficked for forced labour, recruitment as child soldiers and other forms of exploitation and abuse”, Mr. Guterres said in his message on the Day, marked annually on 30 July.
Here’s our story.
UNICEF budget must triple to fight DRC Ebola outbreak
Updating the press on the deadly Ebola outbreak in the north-east region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jerome Pfaffmann, a Health Specialist for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the agency would have to triple its budget to respond to the crisis.
The spokesperson underlined the complexity of the outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which are facing a public health emergency and a humanitarian crisis at the same time – including conflict and a major measles outbreak.
UNICEF has already vaccinated more than 40,000 children against measles and plans to put in place a programme to address acute humanitarian and social needs.
Execution of Bahrainis condemned by UN human rights office, amid allegations of unfair trial
The execution of two Bahraini citizens on Friday has been strongly condemned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement released on Tuesday.
The executions took place despite concerns of Michelle Bachelet, the UN rights chief, that the men’s confessions were obtained under torture, and that they were denied due process and guarantees of a fair trial.
The two men were tried in a mass hearing with 58 other defendants and convicted on charges of terrorism.
A UN spokesperson said the High Commissioner is “very concerned” about the fate of other detainees at risk of imminent execution on death row in Bahrain and has called on the Bahraini Government to halt all pending executions.
Spread some kindness, on International Day of Friendship
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is encouraging us all to brighten someone’s day, and spread a bit of kindness, on the UN’s International Day of Friendship.
The call is part of UNICEF’s campaign to end violence in and around schools where, worldwide, around half of all students aged between 13 and 15, have reported experiencing some form of violence.
The campaign includes a short video featuring K-pop superstars BTS singing their hit single “Answer: Love Myself”, showing young people confronting school violence.
Listen to or download our audio News in Brief for 30 July on SoundCloud:
‘Do something’; UN relief chief urges Security Council action to stop the Syrian carnage unfolding ‘in front of your eyes’
Families spend the night in a makeshift camp in Atmah village near the Turkish border with nothing more than blankets and bedsheets hung from olive trees to protect them for the elements, after hostilities in northern Hama, southern Idlib and western Aleppo governorates in Syria continued unabated. (June 2019)
30 July 2019
Bombing and shelling in Syria for more than 90 days by the Government and Russia have led to “carnage in the so-called de-escalation zone” of Idlib, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Tuesday, in his seventh update since the “current onslaught” began.
“On 26 July, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) identified at least 450 civilians who have been killed since late April – including more than a hundred in the last two weeks alone”, Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs reminded Council members.
Many hundreds more have been injured, over 440,000 displaced and dozens of civilians killed or injured by shelling of the Security Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the non-State armed groups associated with them.
He recounted the story of a surgeon at Idlib Central Hospital who said that while he lives at the top of the building, the patients are in the lower floors and basement, because that is where it is safest.
Days before speaking to the doctor, “a bomb landing 50 meters away blew out all the glass and windows of his room”, Mr. Lowcock relayed.
“A day or so before that, another bomb had hit a gynecological facility 200 metres away”, he said, explaining that the hospital is in a deconflicted area, which was established through a Memorandum of Understanding between Russia and Turkey to separate pro-Government forces and militant opposition fighters.
Tracking information
Mr. Lowcock responded to a series of questions posed by the Council on 18 July, beginning with how OHCHR gets it information.
In addition to direct or verified sources, which are “triangulated, reviewed and confirmed”, he informed the members that “our teams on the ground tell us what they see” – as do partners.
“Testimony comes from those closest to the source, who are assessed by the UN as credible”, he continued. “We use imagery, including satellite imagery, or geotagged and time stamped pictures of medical facilities, that have been analyzed and assessed by the UN”.
The humanitarian chief added: “We see videos, of explosions, destroyed buildings, scorched bodies and screaming children”.
And there are other sources, including media, humanitarian partners and UN agencies like the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
“Then of course there is the testimony of the people of Idlib themselves”, he asserted. “I spoke yesterday by video link to two groups of displaced people in different parts of Idlib”, who said they “are being bombed every day by the Russians and the regime”.
When asked what they needed, the response was clear: “We just want the bombing to stop” because “we are afraid” and “just want to live in peace.”
Mr. Lowcock maintained that many of the millions of children aged eight to 12 had been “forced to flee with their families”.
“I asked if any of them go to school”, he said. “No. It’s not safe. They hit our schools”, was the response.
“We all know exactly what has been happening for the last three months” in Idlib, the humanitarian chief underscored. “There is no shortage of information”.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock updates the Security Council on the situation in Syria. (30 July 2019), by UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Deconfliction system
Mr. Lowcock then told the Council that through the deconfliction system, humanitarian agencies provide OCHA with information to identify “static civilian locations or humanitarian movements”, whose coordinates are then shared with International Coalition Forces, Turkey and Russia.
Whether that information is being used to protect civilian facilities or to target them is “an extremely important question”, he stressed, adding his conclusion that currently, “deconfliction is not proving effective in helping to protect those who utilize the system”.
“I have asked my team to meet again with the humanitarian organizations who would like their activities to be deconflicted to update them on the current situation and determine again whether we should continue to provide information to the parties on new sites or humanitarian movements”, he stated.
Healthcare facilities
Turning to a 16 July letter saying that terrorist groups took over 119 mostly-unnamed hospitals in Idlib, therefore, they can no longer be considered healthcare centres or even civilian objects, the humanitarian chief negated the claims, as well as another accusation in the letter stating that there is no ambulance network left in the province.
His fourth point on whether the UN would pass information about attacks on civilians and civilian objects to the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism and Commission of Inquiry, he said “the answer is yes, we will do that, subject only to the proviso that those giving us sensitive information consent to it being passed on”.
Humanitarian work
The OCHA head spoke at length about the important humanitarian work being carried out and the needs that lie ahead.
“Some recent reports have claimed that UN humanitarian assistance reaches only those in areas not controlled by the Government”, he argued. “That is untrue”.
Most UN assistance goes to Government-controlled areas.
“Significant gaps in access still remain”, he said, noting his concern for 24,000 people in Rukban and calling “again” for access to reach them.
Significant gaps in access still remain – UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
“I also call on all Member States to de-escalate growing tensions along the borders in the northeast and avoid any actions that may cause further displacement, casualties and suffering.
And on Idlib, he enlightened the Council that this month, “cross-border aid aims to reach some 1.2 million people”, adding that “in the current circumstances, there is no other way to provide adequate support to the three million civilians who are in the area”.
“You in this Security Council have ignored all the previous pleas you have heard”, Mr. Lowcock spelled out. “You know what is happening and you have done nothing for 90 days as the carnage continues in front of your eyes”.
“Are you going to…do something about it?”, asked the UN humanitarian chief.
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