Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Uganda + 1 more

World Vision Uganda: West Nile Refugee Response Situation Report 8 (25 May 2017)

Attachments

KEY MESSAGES HUMANITARIAN SITUATION OVERVIEW

  • Every day thousands of frightened refugees fleeing terrible violence in South Sudan arrive in Uganda in desperate need of food, water and basic survival supplies.

  • Thousands of separated children arrive without their parents, who have been lost or killed. World Vision is helping to identify, protect and find caring guardians for these extremely vulnerable children.

  • The scale of crisis is overwhelming Uganda which as one of the world’s most generous nations is hosting 900,000 South Sudanese refugees. An international appeal for $673mhas only raised $103m so food rations have been cut and other emergency interventions cannot be provided.

  • Peace in South Sudan is desperately needed if this refugee crisis is to end. Leaders with influence in and outside of the country are urged to act, advocate and pray for peace and an end to the violence children face.

  • World Vision has hundreds of staff supporting the aid response. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been assisted. With funding we can do much more to help men, women and children who have nothing.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION OVERVIEW

  • Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have sought refuge in Uganda, the majority of whom cross the northwestern border or transit through the Democratic Republic of Congo. The current influx of refugees from South Sudan started in mid-2016 after an outbreak of violence in Juba spread to Greater Equatoria, which borders Uganda. In the first two months of 2017, over 116,000 refugees have arrived, at a rate of around 2,000 people a day.

  • Between January and April this year, more than 238,000 South Sudanese arrived in Uganda compared to just over 29,000 during the same period in 2016. Of those, 65% are under 18 and 86 percent are women and children. Some of the women are reportedly victims of widespread sexual violence in South Sudan.

  • Every day, World Vision is registering more than 100 separated and unaccompanied minors at Imvepi refugee settlement. The majority of these children saw their parents being killed while others lost touch with their families once fighting broke out. Some of them walk for more than a week to get to Uganda, with nothing to eat.

  • The newly-opened Palorinya settlement in Moyo District is already at full capacity and a new settlement, Imvempi in Arua, was opened in February. There are 1.25 million refugees and asylum seekers as of 1st April 2017.

  • Bidibidi settlement, which is now the largest refugee settlement in Africa, is home to over 157,000 children from South Sudan who have arrived since the 2016 July crisis. Other new South Sudanese refugee arrivals are settled in Paloriny (148,381), Rhino (86,770), Imvepi (55,778) and Lamwo (5,738).