According to European Union Ambassador Christian Bader, who leads the EU delegation to South Sudan, too many humanitarian aid workers are sacrificing their lives in the world’s youngest nation and that deserves recognition.
“When providing life-saving services to the people of South Sudan, too many humanitarian workers have no alternatives but to risk their own life.” Read part of the EU Statement released on Wednesday, November 12, 2020.
“Protecting humanitarian workers is primarily a responsibility of the Government, but many development partners can and should contribute.” Amb. Bader continued.
In its statement the EU Delegation underscores that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was expected that at least 6.5 million people in South Sudan, which is more than half of the population, would face acute food insecurity in 2020, and that all the population would be extremely vulnerable to risks and shocks.
“Today COVID-19 and the floods have increased the needs and are overstretching the capacities of the humanitarian workers in an already complex situation.” EU Delegation explains.
“In these challenging circumstances, humanitarian workers are often the sole lifeline for the people of South Sudan.” They added.
The has therefore committed another 2M € for EU Trust Fund for Africa, 2M € for ECHO and 500,000 € for the WFP and that will bring into South Sudan 65 tons of personal protective equipment for frontline workers.
The degelation further added that the EU Delegation & ECHO office in South Sudan coordinated their support to ensure that the humanitarian workers will be better protected from the virus and better equipped to fulfil their life-saving mission.
“No effort should be spared to protect the humanitarian workers not only from the virus, but also from violence.” The statement concludes.
