Refugee boy at Imvepi in Uganda. PICTURE: Kristy Allen-Shirley/World Vision.
World Vision has expressed alarm at the “staggering” number of unaccompanied children crossing into Uganda from South Sudan, saying it has documented more than 9,000 cases over the past 10 months.
In Uganda last week, Tim Costello, World Vision Australia chief advocate, said children travelling alone were extremely vulnerable to abuse and violence.
“There is no sadder evidence of the extent of violence and hunger in South Sudan than the sight of children crossing borders without parents or family,” he said.
“They have been shot at, they have seen their parents killed, they are hungry, they are dressed in rags, and too often they have been abused along the way. It is horrific and heartbreaking.”
South Sudan, where there is an ongoing conflict and where famine has been officially declared in the country’s north, is the location of what has been described as “the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis” with more than 1.8 million refugees, including a million children, fleeing into neighbouring countries including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. Almost 900,000 people have fled into Uganda alone and that figure is soon expected to pass a million.
World Vision said it has documented some 6,057 unaccompanied minors and separated children from South Sudan at the Bidi Bidi refugee camp – the world’s largest refugee settlement and home to some 270,000 people – in northern Uganda since July last year and 3,098 at the Imvepi camp.
Gilbert Kamanga, national director at World Vision Uganda, said the organisation was registering more than 100 separated and unaccompanied children a day at the Imvepi camp.
“The majority of these children saw their parents being killed, while others lost touch with their families once fighting broke out,” he said. “Some of them walk for more than a week to get to Uganda, with nothing to eat. This is one of the worst forms of violence against children. It must stop. Peace needs to prevail in South Sudan.”
As well as identifying unaccompanied children at the two camps, World Vision has worked with partner agencies to arrange interim foster care support for more than 2,500 unaccompanied minors and has helped more than 1,000 separated children reunite with relatives.
World Vision Uganda has appealed for $20 million to meet the needs of almost 900,000 refugess and additional new arrivals over the next year.
For more, see worldvision.com.au/eastafrica.
