PREAMBLE
UNICEF is working with government and remaining non-government partners to address immediate gaps in provision of life-saving services, following the suspension of 16 non-governmental organizations by the Government of Sudan.
This immediate response is designed to ensure that the most urgent needs of the affected populations can be met, over the next three months.
In the context of humanitarian and development work in Sudan, three months is a very short time period; the impact of the absence of critical NGO partners, and the resulting loss of key capacities, will continue to be felt well beyond this period - for example in vital nutritional surveillance programmes in Darfur during the annual hunger gap, in ensuring sustainable water treatment and testing during the rainy season, and in the overall quality of service delivery - all areas where the suspended NGOs played an irreplaceable role.
In the interim, UNICEF will strive to ensure that basic services are met wherever possible, but does not have the capacity or resources to implement all the programmes that would have been provided by the suspended organizations.
1. ISSUES FOR CHILDREN
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan on 4 March 2009, citing charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Government of Sudan has dismissed the charges and expressed no intention of presenting President al-Bashir for trial.
Following the ICC announcement, the government revoked licenses of 13 international NGOs - OXFAM, CARE, MSF-Holland, Mercy Corps, Save the Children (UK), the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites, CHF International, Save the Children (US), MSF-France and Padco - requesting these NGOs to immediately cease operations in the north of Sudan, to hand over assets and for international staff to leave the country. Activities of three national NGOs were also suspended. So far NGOs working in Southern Sudan have not yet been significantly affected by these decisions.
Reaction by the government towards aid agencies had been expected and had been addressed in UNICEF's contingency planning, but the extreme scale of the government response had not been anticipated. Most of the NGOs whose licences have been revoked are key implementing partners of UNICEF in the north of Sudan. The biggest impact will be in Darfur, where a major humanitarian crisis is ongoing with 2.7 million people displaced, for whom these NGOs have been providing life-saving humanitarian services especially in WASH, Health and Nutrition. The expulsion of these NGOs makes it likely that there will be a reduction in the humanitarian workforce in Darfur by about 40 per cent. As a result, life-saving services for an estimated up to 1.5 million people are feared to be interrupted.
The impact will be also felt in non-Darfur states - South Kordofan, Red Sea, Blue Nile and Kassala States and Abyei, due to their political sensitivities and the low capacity of the government sector, which have strongly relied on NGOs for vital services as well as development activities. The suspension of activities of the NGOs will seriously affect reconstruction efforts in Abyei urgently needed to stabilise the region following the conflict in 2008. In southern Blue Nile, NGOs were providing vital services for recent returnees, filling the gaps in government capacity.
Disrupted health/nutrition services and general food distribution are feared to exacerbate malnutrition levels among children and many malnourished children may not have access to nutrition and health services during the approaching hunger gap season, which starts in April. The annual floods season starts in May, and preparedness activities to prevent/minimize cholera/Acute Watery Diarrhoea outbreaks and response capacity will be severely hampered with the departure of the key NGOs. For many children the school year starts in April, as such a small window exists to maintain continued education for the affected children.
The UN agencies reaffirmed in a statement on March 8, 2009 of "their commitment to do everything possible to cover the most pressing and critical gaps caused by this suspension during the coming days" adding that "neither this commitment nor remaining capacity on the ground is sufficient to meet the humanitarian needs in the long run," and urged the government to reconsider the decision. UNICEF has undertaken a rapid impact assessment to identify temporary stop-gap measures for life-saving services, and in line with a UN Country Team decision, joint assessments with the government have started but it may take some time for a final consensus on the gaps and strategies to be reached. Interim measures could include government or remaining NGO partners taking over some key services, including provision of water and sanitation facilities, health service delivery and nutrition programmes. However, a number of areas are not accessible by the government and capacity of both the government and remaining NGOs are insufficient to continue filling the gaps in a long-run.