26 Jan 2012

NY / HUMANITARIAN ACTION REPORT ADVANCER

The latest report on Humanitarian Action for Children says the ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa will remain a significant part of UNICEF’s global humanitarian response in the coming year. UNICEF is asking for (USD) $1.28 billion to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children and their families in 25 countries and territories. UNICEF / FILE

Posted at: January 26, 2012 4:25 pm

Duration: 02:53

Available in: SD

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STORY: NY / HUMANITARIAN ACTION REPORT ADVANCER
TRT: 2.53
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 19 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – UNICEF – 11, 13 OCTOBER 2011, DADAAB AND WAJIR, KENYA

1. Tilt up, from child in the village and to huts and a woman standing in front

FILE – UNICEF 23, 24 OCTOBER 2011, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

2. Med shot, women with children in line
3. Close shot, child in mother's arms 
4. Med shot, mother putting child into weighing scale
5. Wide shot, mothers and children sitting at Therapeutic Centre

FILE – UNICEF, DECEMBER 2010, CHAD

6. Close up, emaciated child
7. Tilt down, emaciated child sitting next to his mother in hospital ward
8. Close shot, malnourished child refuses to drink milk offered by his mother

19 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK

SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, Director of Emergency Programmes
"This year it's a continuation of last year in many ways because one third of 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. But also what is looming in the Sahel where there are eight countries where we are preparing for the worst case scenario where there is possibly another famine."

FILE – UNICEF - 21 JULY 2011, DAKAR, SENEGAL

10. Med shot, woman in the millet field, standing on parched earth
11. Pan left to right, woman picking millet in the dry field

FILE – UNICEF - APRIL 2011, LAKE CHAD, CHAD,

12. Med shot, man breaking up soil in the field

FILE – UNICEF - 4 JUNE 2010, MARADI DISTRICT, NIGER

13. Close shot, malnourished child sleeping
14. Close shot, malnourished child

19 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, Director of Emergency Programmes
"These are the populations, the people the countries which are under the radar screen. They're not hitting the news, they're not headlines, but they are situations where people are very vulnerable and they need the support more than ever and there are several countries like these in two or three continents that need sustained support. And that's why were advocating in this report that these countries receive greater attention."

RECENT – UNMISS - 12 JANUARY 2012, PIBOR, SOUTH SUDAN

16. Wide shot, Mi 26 helicopter landing 
17. Med shot, men carrying bags of sorghum inside the aircraft
18. Med shot, men offloading bags of food
19. Wide shot, returnees waiting for food
20. Close up, a child waiting for food
21. Wide shot, men dragging bags of sorghum

19 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Louis-Georges Arsenault, Director of Emergency Programmes:
"If you look at the trend over the last few years it's quite extraordinary because 2010 2011 were amazing years. We thought that we would be able to breathe, but in fact we are seeing is a continuum. UNICEF has raised almost a billion dollars on average over the last two years in humanitarian action, which is unprecedented in terms of what is being called for. But what is unprecedented is not only what is being appealed for, but the resources we have been receiving, because the number of crises are not decreasing."

FILE – UNICEF - 23-24 OCTOBER 2011, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

23. Wide shot, father walking though IDP camp
24. Wide shot, father walking through IDP camp from behind

STORYLINE:

The ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa will remain a significant part of UNICEF's global humanitarian response in the coming year, according to the Humanitarian Action for Children 2012 report, which launched Friday (27 Jan) in Geneva.

In the report, UNICEF asks for US$1.28 billion to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children and their families in 25 countries and territories. This figure represents a 9 per cent decrease from last year's appeal.

The crisis in Somalia and other Horn of Africa countries accounts for one third of the total amount.

UNICEF's funding request reflects serious concern that the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in the region remain threatened because they don't have enough to eat, nearly half of all the funds requested for Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will go to purchasing food and nutrition supplies.

UNICEF's Director of Emergency Programs Louis-Georges Arsenault said that the focus of 2012 will continue to be on the Horn of Africa, but, he said "with much more focus this year on Somalia and the refugee situation in Dadaab in Eastern Kenya."

The report also highlights the needs of children and families displaced by the violence in Cote d'Ivoire and South Sudan.

The funding appeal also addressed so-called 'silent' emergencies, Arsenault said that those were the populations, the people in the countries which are under the radar screen, but they're not hitting the news, they're not headlines, he said adding that, "that's why were advocating in this report that these countries receive greater attention".

The report stressed the critical need for predictable, flexible funding to respond to both major and 'silent' emergencies.

Arsenault said that UNICEF had raised almost a billion dollars on average over the last two years in humanitarian action, But he added that what was unprecedented was not only what was being appealed for, "but the resources we have been receiving, because the number of crises are not decreasing".

This responsiveness will enable UNICEF to fulfil its commitment to, as the report states, "the fullest realization of the rights of all children's in all emergency situations".