28 Mar 2012

UN / GING

Head of UN humanitarian operations (OCHA) John Ging provides an update on his recent visit to the Sahel where he says the humanitarian situation across the Sahel region continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate and on the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled northern Mali due to fighting between the Tuareg rebels and the Malian army. UNTV

Posted at: March 28, 2012 6:10 pm

Duration: 03:15

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / GING
TRT: 3.15
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE  
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 28 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

28 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, John Ging
3. Close up, hands
4. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"The humanitarian situation in all of the countries of the Sahel region is quite appalling, and I would emphasize, for example, the plight of children as a good example. Last year over 600,000 children under the age of five died and over 200,000 of them died of malnutrition. This should not be happening in this day and age. We are facing an even bigger crisis this year where a million children are vulnerable to severe acute malnutrition."

FILE - 9 FEBRUARY 2012, MAURITANIA

5. Med shot, mother with malnourished baby
6. Close up, malnourished baby

28 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

7. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"The solution to this crisis in the Sahel is not a humanitarian response. The humanitarian response is a contribution to the solution. The solution is development, and it is building livelihoods. We must save lives of course, in the meantime, but we must also work towards building livelihoods that can be resilient in the context within which people are living."

FILE - 21 JANUARY 2012, NIGER

8. Various shots, woman gathering food

FILE - 9 FEBRUARY 2012, MAURITANIA

9. Wide shot, cow herd
10. Tilt up, man tilling ground

28 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

11. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"The new political crisis in Mali has repercussions across the region. First and foremost, we already have 100,000 refugees in the neighbouring countries. It creates even more insecurity and instability and it creates a lot of concern across a region that has a lot of challenges facing it without this new and additional challenge, but we sincerely hope that the situation there will quickly be stabilised."

FILE - MARCH 2012, MALI

12. Med shot, mothers arrive at clinic

FILE - 2 MARCH 2012, SUDAN

13. Various shots, nutritional supplies being unpacked

28 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

14. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"We are not mobilising the level of response to tackle this crisis. Over a million children right now are vulnerable to severe acute malnutrition and again, if we don't mobilise in a much bigger and an effective way, then hundreds of thousands of those children are going to die this year. It's as simple as that."

FILE – 21 JANUARY 2102, NIGER

15. Various shots, grain being distributed

28 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

16. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"We are in a race against time. We have a tremendously effective humanitarian and development effort underway in harmony and concert with the national government plans in the region. This is a very effective response. When one goes out there and sees what's happening on the ground, the problem is it's not big enough. So, we have to get the money now, otherwise we are going to be facing a similar situation that we had in the horn of Africa last year."
17. Pan left, Ging and interviewer

STORYLINE:

The food and nutrition crisis facing countries in West Africa's drought-prone Sahel region has continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate despite commendable early response efforts by governments and international aid agencies, a senior United Nations official said today.

The Director of Operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging, said after returning from a week-long mission to Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania that the humanitarian situation in the Sahel region "is quite appalling."

Ging pointed out that over 200,000 children died of malnutrition in the region last year, something that "should not be happening in this day and age." He emphasised that "we are facing an even bigger crisis this year where a million children are vulnerable to severe acute malnutrition."

More than 15 million people in the Sahel are directly affected by worsening food shortages and malnutrition brought on by the ongoing drought, which has been compounded by conflict and insecurity.

Response plans across the region are less than 40 per cent funded and the crisis is expected to peak in the coming months.

OCHA's Operations Director said that a humanitarian response alone is only "a contribution to the solution" and that in the long-term "the solution is development and it is building livelihoods."

Adding to the problem, an estimated 100,000 refugees fleeing conflict in Mali have sought shelter in neighbouring countries, and tens of thousands of migrant workers have returned from Libya and Côte d'Ivoire, meaning that they can no longer send remittances to their families. A crucial coping mechanism has, therefore, collapsed for poor communities who depended on the remittances, according to OCHA.

Ging said that "the new political crisis in Mali has repercussions across the region" as it "creates even more insecurity and instability."

Earlier this week, the Security Council expressed serious concern over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis there, saying that the presence of armed and terrorist groups, as well as the proliferation of weapons in the area, has exacerbated the problem.

Ging encouraged donor's continued generosity, highlighting the clearly visible and positive lifesaving impact of their funding so far. He underlined the urgent need to accelerate the pace of the response.

The humanitarian official stressed that "if we don't mobilise in a much bigger and an effective way, then hundreds of thousands of those children are going to die this year. It's as simple as that."

He said that "we are in a race against time" to obtain the funds needed to combat the crisis, "otherwise we are going to be facing a similar situation that we had in the Horn of Africa last year."

Close coordination between aid agencies and national governments in the development of response plans in the region is building on international best practice tailored to the specifics of each locality. The response focuses on the effective management of natural resources, particularly water conservation, through maximizing efficient irrigation, expanding cultivation areas, and increasing agricultural output.