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Massive forced civilian displacements, violence, and unmet medical needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan, along with neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe, came under the spotlight in MSF's annual report on humanitarian crises released last week. This week has seen an escalation in a number of emergency situations around the world. Below are some updates on the developments in Gaza, DR Congo, Zimbabwe and elsewhere, and their impact on children. The latest news on these crises will be posted on CRIN here during the coming week. [RAMALLAH, 29 December 2008] – Latest media and NGO reports suggest that the death toll in Gaza since the attacks commenced on Saturday has risen to at least 310, and that the number of people injured could be as high as 1,400, of which 180 are in a critical condition. Present indications are that 30 children have been killed and 150 injured, many critically. To make matters worse the Gaza-based organisation Al-Mezan reports that the first strike "coincided with the change in schools' shifts when tens of thousands of schoolchildren were on their way from or to school" [Al-Mezan, 28 December 2008]. This fact should reasonably have been known to those who planned and carried out the attack. In a further sign of Israel’s reckless disregard for its obligations as Occupying Power and the requirements of the laws of war, seven students from an UNRWA school died in an Israeli air strike while they were waiting for a bus to take them home. Although official Israeli spokespersons have repeatedly stated during the course of the last two days that the airstrikes are targeting Hamas infrastructure, current estimates are that many civilians have been killed and injured. Further, there is no suggestion that the policemen that were targeted are those responsible for firing rockets into Israel. The latest attack on Gaza must be viewed in context. Israel imposed a harsh blockade on Gaza in June 2007 precipitating a humanitarian disaster. The stranglehold on the population of 1.5 million was further tightened on 5 November 2008. The situation has since deteriorated to the point where UNRWA is no longer able to distribute food in Gaza to 750,000 refugees. Further, Israel previously launched a devastating full scale military offensive into Gaza in February and March 2008, in an operation the Israeli authorities code-named ‘Warm Winter’. That operation killed 120 people, including 33 children. Under well established principles of international law, Israel is not permitted to collectively punish the entire civilian population for the actions of a few militants. Further, it is a well established principle of international law that any military response must be proportionate. Since January 2008, around four Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza, two of those deaths occurring after Israel launched its most recent attack on Saturday. It is not in question that the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israeli civilian areas is illegal. However, during the same period, approximately 700 Gazans have been killed in Israeli attacks, a ratio of 175:1. Read the full story here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19284&flag=news [Source: Defence for Children International - Palestine] For more information, contact: More information:
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19284 DR Congo: Humanitarian crisis update [29 December 2008] - A series of attacks carried by Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels between 25 and 27 December resulted in the death of at least 189 people in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the abduction of at least 20 children reports the United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). Meanwhile, a second round of UN-mediated talks between the Congolese Government and the rebel group ‘Congrès pour la defense du people’ (CNDP) concluded on 21 December with no solution in sight for an end to the widespread violence that has displaced some 250,000 people in Eastern Congo since the resumption of hostilities on 28 August. In a joint statement released yesterday, the United Nations and African Union mediators indicated that “CNDP refused to sign a joint declaration of hostilities with the government of the DRC….Furthermore, the CNDP has declined to recommit itself to its own existing unilateral cease-fire.” The peace talks, led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, are scheduled to resume on 7 January. Yesterday, the UN Security Council decided unanimously to extend the deployment of the United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) until 31 December 2009 with a force of up to 19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers, 391 police personnel and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. This follows an earlier decision by the Security Council to strengthen the Mission with 3,000 additional peacekeepers. Read the full report here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19293&flag=news [Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - UN OCHA] Further information Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19293 Zimbabwe: Child malnutrition on the rise as emergency aid pipeline falters Chronic, long-term malnutrition in Binga district is also up by around 50 per cent. 31.2 per cent of children under five are underweight from chronic malnutrition compared with 20.9 per cent in October 2007. Lynn Walker, Programmes Director for Save the Children in Zimbabwe, said: “In areas where we work some children are wasting away from lack of food. Compared with last year the indications are that things are significantly worse. “Food aid for Zimbabwe goes through the World Food Programme and agencies like Save the Children, straight to the people who desperately need it,” said Lynn Walker. “There is no excuse for failing to provide this food. The innocent people of Zimbabwe should not be made to suffer for a political situation that is out of their control.” Around five million people are in need of food aid in Zimbabwe, about half the country’s entire population. [Source: Save the Children UK] Visit: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/41_7290.htm Elsewhere, months of heavy rains in Colombia have caused widespread flooding, affecting nearly one million people and destroying thousands of hectares of crops, according to government figures. UNICEF is calling for urgent life saving assistance and psychosocial support to help children overcome the emotional impact of the emergency. Read more here. In Afghanistan yesterday, a remote-controlled roadside bomb went off in Taliban former stronghold Kandahar of southern Afghanistan Monday morning, killing one child and wounding 21 others, an official said. Read more here. Further information
Gaza: Over 300 killed and 1,400 injured
Defence for Children International - Palestine Section
PO Box 55201, Jerusalem, Israel
Tel: +972 2 242 7530; Fax: +972 2 242 7018
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.dci-pal.org
New figures from Binga district indicate that 7.6 per cent of children aged between six months and five years are suffering from acute malnutrition, up from 4.5 per cent in October last year. Save the Children said the new statistics reflect growing concern that emergency supplies into Zimbabwe are faltering because not enough food is being donated by the international community.