Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ms. Ursula Mueller Statement to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in South Sudan

New York, New York 24 January 2018

As delivered

Mr. President,

Thank you for this opportunity to brief the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in South Sudan. Since the briefing provided to the Council on 7 December by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, humanitarian partners launched the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan. Under the plan, humanitarian partners are seeking to assist 6 million people with life-saving aid and protection—that is more than half of the population—even after more than 2 million South Sudanese have already fled the country as refugees. An additional 1.9 million people are displaced within the country.

This highly prioritized humanitarian response plan requires US $1.7 billion. Leveraging new funding in the coming weeks will be critical. Only through timely, adequate funding will the United Nations and humanitarian partners be able to procure and pre-position supplies during the ongoing dry season to ensure that we can prevent an already critical humanitarian situation from worsening.

According to the latest food security analysis, 5.1 million people are currently estimated to be severely food insecure. This is an increase from the October to December period, and is also an increase when compared to this time last year.

Some 1.5 million people are in emergency-level food insecurity, just one step away from famine, and around 20,000 people are already in famine conditions. The next lean season, which begins in March, is likely to see food security worsen, and could see famine conditions spread to several new locations across the country.

Women and children are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and their situation is projected to deteriorate. An estimated 250,000 children will be affected by severe acute malnutrition in 2018, requiring urgent life-saving interventions. This has been underlined by the new Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Holsman Fore, in her recent visit to South Sudan.

These alarming levels of food insecurity and malnutrition are closely linked to people’s inability to plant or harvest due to the ongoing conflict and constraints upon their freedom of movement. Cultivation continues to be severely limited by widespread violence, displacement and destruction of assets.

Last year, the traditionally surplus food producing areas of Greater Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal saw a significant decline, producing 30 to 50 per cent less cereal than in 2016. Continued clashes are of serious concern regarding food production this year.

I am also deeply disturbed by the continued high rates of sexual violence. In 2018, humanitarian partners estimate that 1.8 million women and girls are at risk of gender-based violence. In response to such staggering figures, partners are aiming to scale up support services to reach nearly 400,000 more vulnerable people than last year.

Mr. President,

Since the last briefing, violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses have continued to be perpetrated by both the SPLA and SPLM/A-in-Opposition. Civilians have continued to be killed and be forcibly displaced by clashes between the parties, including in Yei River State and Lasu in Central Equatoria and Northern Liech in Greater Upper Nile. Several thousand people have fled to Ethiopia and Uganda just this month.

The implementation of the Republican Order for the Free, Unimpeded and Unhindered Movement of Humanitarian Assistance Convoys, issued by the President in November last year has been inconsistent, and the humanitarian access situation across South Sudan remains highly complex and unpredictable.

There have been some positive developments, however. Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that for the past month, it has been able to provide consistent primary health care in Greater Baggari, an area south of Wau town that was cut off from assistance by the SPLA for more than a year. In Western Equatoria, a humanitarian convoy delivering assistance to Congolese refugees in Yambio County was completed safely for the first time this month without force protection.

Yet, overall, access challenges have continued to delay and interrupt the humanitarian response. Last month, in Unity state, truck drivers delivering humanitarian supplies by road from Juba reported a total of 66 checkpoints controlled by SPLA and different non-state actors, with some charging fees. This month, in the Upper Nile region, the SPLA and the national security mounted a new roadblock along the Aburoc-Kodok road, demanding payment for commercial and humanitarian vehicles.

I also want to highlight that in December, humanitarian organizations relocated 65 aid workers due to fighting, bringing the total number of relocations for 2017 to over 600.

Mr. President,

Unfortunately, such access challenges follow a long-established pattern. In 2017, at least 28 aid workers were killed in the line of duty, and over 1,100 incidents were reported, which is the highest annual count since the start of the conflict. These incidents included killings, kidnappings, attacks against humanitarian assets and bureaucratic impediments. An example of the latter is the increased fees for work permits for foreign nationals—from $100 to as much as $4000—by South Sudan’s Labour Ministry.

This challenging operating environment is restricting the ongoing dry season pre-positioning of supplies and overall programme delivery. Health, nutrition, food security and the provision of other life-saving assistance and support are regularly interrupted, cutting off hundreds of thousands of people from assistance for extended periods of time.

Obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) remain in effect for as long as the armed conflict lasts. I join the Secretary-General and the African Union Commission Chairperson in calling on the parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access, as is also specified in the 21 December Agreement on a cessation of hostilities.

Mr. President,

Despite the challenges, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners reached more than 5.4 million people in South Sudan last year. Over 5.1 million people received food assistance and emergency livelihoods support. More than 2.5 million people received emergency health kits, and some 900,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women received emergency nutritional assistance. More than 2.1 million people benefitted from water and sanitation programming; nearly 900,000 people were provided vital emergency items, including blankets and mosquito nets; more than 390,000 children benefitted from educational programming; and over 560,000 people received services addressing gender-based violence.

In 2018, humanitarian partners hope to assist even more people to avert a further deterioration in humanitarian conditions. This includes reaching 4 million people with protection services, and 5.5 million with food security and livelihoods support.

Mr. President,

To conclude, I call upon the Security Council members:

• To help mobilize timely investment in the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan, to ensure life-saving assistance reaches those most in need.

• To use their influence to ensure that the parties to conflict comply with all their obligations under International Humanitarian Law.

And in particular

• To ensure that parties to conflict respect and protect civilians, including humanitarian workers, and civilian objects, including humanitarian assets.

• And to ensure that parties to conflict meet their obligation to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief for civilians in need. These obligations were acknowledged and re-committed to in the President’s decree on access and in the Cessation of Hostilities agreement.

Humanitarian workers need to be able to safely deliver aid, when and where it is most needed. The people of South Sudan deserve nothing less.

Thank you.