Memorandum from UK Committee for UNICEF
1. Introduction
Coverage of the emergency in southern Sudan in the
media and parliament has largely concentrated on the "big
picture" of the needs of the whole population and the resources
and access available. The work of the UK Committee for UNICEF
is to raise awareness of the threats to and to raise funds for
children in this emergency, who have special needs beyond those
of the rest of the population. The special food, such as UNIMIX,
oral rehydration salts and vaccines and medicines which are prescribed
for children are delivered not by air drops, but direct to specialist
staff in partner organisations on the ground. The work of protection
and supplies for children is coordinated with that of adults through
Operation Lifeline Sudan. However, as the UK Committee for UNICEF,
we can only comment on our personal observations of the work done
for children in southern Sudan and on our role in education, advocacy
and fundraising in the UK. Similarly, although conflict is the
major cause of the present crisis in southern Sudan, we are not
experts on the political situation.
UNICEF structure and funding
UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, was founded
in 1946 and is the only UN agency devoted exclusively to children.
It began as an emergency fund—the E of UNICEF—and
while its mandate was extended in 1953 to cover the long-term
needs of children throughout the developing world, UNICEF has
never turned its back on children in critical circumstances and
danger. It works in 161 countries and territories with governments,
non-governmental organisations, civil society and the private
sector to advance children's rights to survival, protection, development
and participation. Its largest area of expenditure is child health;
other major areas of work are water supply and sanitation, nutrition,
education, children in need of special protection. early childhood
care and promotion of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It receives no money direct from the United Nations, but appeals
directly to governments and the private sector for voluntary contributions.
Total income in 1997 was £557 million—66
per cent from governments and 34 per cent from private support,
primarily through its 37 National Committees in industrialised
countries. The UK Government is the sixth largest government donor
to UNICEF overall—for 1997 the contribution was £21.54
million.
The 36 member Executive Board of UNICEF is made up
of government representatives. It establishes policies, reviews
programmes and approves budgets. The UK Government is currently
an active and constructive member of the Board.
The UK Committee for UNICEF (The UK Committee)
The UK Committee is a registered charity with its
own Board of Trustees.
It is an independent organisation which exists to
support the work of UNICEF and operates under a recognition agreement
with the United Nations Children's Fund. The UK Committee liaises
with UNICEF headquarters in New York, the office for Europe in
Geneva and with field representatives throughout the world.
The UK Committee is one of the 37 National Committees
for UNICEF, whose role is to
— promote the rights of children as set
out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
— support development education in schools;
— raise support for UNICEF's long-term
development and emergency programmes among the public;
— share information about UNICEF's work
with the British Government and parliamentarians, with non-governmental
organisations, with the media and the public.
Our President is Lady Howe, Chairman of the Broadcasting
Standards Commission; the Chairman is Sir John Waite, a former
Court of Appeal Judge; the Vice-Chairman is Peter Unwin CMG, a
former Ambassador and Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth;
the Treasurer is Andrew Hind, Financial and Commercial Director
at the BBC World Service, formerly Deputy Director of Action Aid
and of Barnardos. The Executive Director, Robert D. Smith CMG,
is one of the most experienced development agency directors in
the UK. The Committee's income from government, corporate donors
and private donors for 1997-98 was £11.4 million.
2. The UK committee campaign on children in conflict
The UK Committee has become increasingly concerned
about the needs of children in conflict situations and protracted
emergencies. For example, we have seen UNICEF's expenditures on
emergencies rise from 8 per cent a decade ago to 24 per cent now.
On 26 March the Committee launched a campaign with its publication
of Children in Conflict—a child rights emergency with parliamentary
and fundraising objectives. The launch attracted major media interest,
nationally and internationally. and the parliamentary launch drew
widespread interest from both Houses and across the parties. The
parliamentary objectives focus on an agenda for action covering
legislation, humanitarian policy and diplomatic activity needed
to protect children in conflict. The fundraising objectives relate
to specific funds needed for programmes to protect children in
situations of conflict. As part of this work we have organised
a series of visits—to Sudan, Burundi, Mozambique and Sri
Lanka.
3. UNICEF's work in emergencies
UNICEF has a continuous field presence in 161 countries
and territories. Therefore it is invariably in a country before
during and after an emergency. In each country it works on a programme,
agreed with the government concerned and involving a wide variety
of local partners, which focuses on basic health, water, nutrition,
education, child protection and advocacy. As stated above, UNICEF
raises over 30 per cent of its income from private sources; of
this income, some 75 per cent is for development programmes.
Children's special needs
The central role of UNICEF in an emergency is to
act as an advocate for children, for child protection and care.
In terms of service delivery, children have special needs; for
instance where there is a food shortage. During our visits to
southern Sudan we have seen that food for the whole population
is dropped by WFP from Hercules aeroplanes. The supplies for children
and women and to support the range of programme activities carried
out by the consortium members, have to be delivered and distributed
differently. Our understanding of the practicalities of dealing
with the special needs of children is as follows:
— UNICEF commissions both freight and small
passenger aircraft which land and deliver for example special
food for malnourished children and medicines and vaccines to nutritionists
and health workers. At present because of the increased needs
and the urgency of meeting those needs before the rainy season
sets in, UNICEF is flying four Buffalo airplanes continuously
rather than one Buffalo 100 hours per month.
— Food shortages hit children early and
the severely malnourished need to be fed special food prescribed
by nutritionists, after they have been weighed and their weight-for-height
charted. OLS policy guidelines recommend that children below 80
per cent weight-for-height be admitted to supplementary feeding
programmes, and children below 70 per cent weight-for height be
admitted to therapeutic feeding programmes.
— Food alone will not save a sick child
and in order to avoid dehydration, children suffering from diarrhoeal
diseases need to be administered oral rehydration salts. Malnourished
children are more prone to diseases and therefore medicines and
vaccines against killer diseases such as measles need to be supplied.
— Water borne diseases are a particular
problem in southern Sudan where less than 20 per cent of the population
have safe water. So providing water and sanitation is essential.
UN Water, under UNlCEF's leadership, has coordinated the water
supply to feeding centres and centres where large numbers of displaced
people have gathered.
— The poor crop, the drought and the displacement
of civilians by war has meant that families are without food.
UNlCEF has been delivering seeds and tools to enable families
to plant for the harvest due in September-October. By 15 June,
UNICEF had transported over 1,000 Mts of seeds and tools to south
Sudan, including over 700 Mts to Bahr el Ghazal. This represents
over 1,000 flying hours in a Buffalo. The UK Committee saw deliveries
of seeds provided by UNICEF (funding from USAID and ECHO) and
NGOs, including MSF-Holland, SCF-UK, World Vision.
Development in an emergency
Even in an emergency UNlCEF's programme includes
development. In its several visits to Sudan since 1981 the UK
Committee has seen UNICEF perform five roles:
Advocacy—Emphasising
the basic humanitarian obligation to protect children against
the effects of war and to stop targeting children, for example
recruiting child soldiers. Linking humanitarian principles with
traditional Sudanese values which clearly seek to protect children
and civilians in crisis. The Humanitarian Principles programme,
which has been pioneered by UNICEF, is a unique and innovatory
attempt to deal with the issues of ensuring that humanitarian
assistance goes to the targeted beneficiary civilian population,
and that civilians are protected. UNICEF/OLS, together with its
counterparts, the humanitarian wing of the southern Sudanese rebel
movements, launched the initiative in late 1994 for the promotion
of humanitarian principles.
Assessment—We have
received regular assessments from the programme in Sudan on the
threats to children and the programmes needed to address these.
Care and essential social services—Over
the years the UK Committee has supported financially UNICEF's
work on immunisation, providing potable water and sanitation,
nutrition of malnourished children, seeds and tools for cultivation
and household food security. We have visited education projects
and looked at the basic education kits, teacher training and provision
of school uniform schemes implemented by UNICEF and partners in
southern Sudan. We applied for and obtained financial support
from the UK grant giving body Charity Projects for a pastoralists
programme, training local vets to inoculate cattle against rinderpest.
Protection—UNICEF
and its partners implement the protection programmes for unaccompanied
children, demobilised child soldiers and workshops on humanitarian
principles, which links the rights of children to traditional
Sudanese values, carried out by UNICEF and its partners. We have
recently channelled a major grant for one of the landmine awareness
programmes recommended by a recent UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs mission to southern Sudan.
Building capacity—We
have witnessed work on sustainability, building local capacity
and development as far as it is possible given the emergency nature
of the work. In particular we have noted work with the local counterparts.
Children in Conflict and the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child
The UN Convention, now ratified by almost all countries
in the world, makes specific reference to protections which need
to be afforded to children caught in armed conflicts.
Article 38
1. States Parties undertake to respect and to
ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian applicable
to them it armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.
2. States Parties shall take all feasible measures
to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years
do not take a direct part in hostilities.
3. States Parties shall refrain from recruiting
any person who has not attained the age of 15 years into their
armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained
the age of 15 years but who have not attained the age of 18 years,
States Parties shall endeavour to give priority to those who are
oldest.
4. In accordance with their obligations under
international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population
in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures
to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by
an armed conflict.
Article 39
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures
to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration
of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse;
torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration
shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect
and dignity of the child.
UNICEF is specifically named as having a role to
support, through technical advice or assistance, the implementation
of the Convention. This not only legitimises, but requires UNICEF's
intervention in areas where it has special competence.
4. Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS)
Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) was set up in April
1989 following a famine in southern Sudan the result of drought
and civil war—which killed an estimated 250,000 people in
1988. Its mandate, negotiated with the Government of Sudan and
the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is to deliver humanitarian
assistance to all civilians in need, regardless of their location.
It is still the only humanitarian relief programme which operates
cross border into a war zone with the agreement of the sovereign
government and other parties to the conflict. OLS operates on
four basic principles—neutrality, impartiality, transparency
and accountability. Frequent UN-led negotiations centre on improving
access and modalities of delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Southern Sudan has been plagued by war for three
of the last four decades. The war is one of the world's longest,
unresolved conflicts. More than a million people are estimated
to have died since 1983, and more than four million have been
displaced by fighting and famine. Despite the continuing conflict,
OLS has succeeded in maintaining the confidence of the warring
parties and access to vulnerable populations.
In 1998, OLS is reaching an estimated four million
people with essential relief and rehabilitation services, including
food, basic health care, safe water, measures to improve household
food security, emergency relief and shelter, basic education and
special care for war-affected children. Without these services
many more people would undoubtedly suffer and many would die as
a result of food shortages or preventable diseases.
OLS is on the cutting edge of initiatives to improve
the delivery of humanitarian relief in complex emergencies. It
is a model of cooperation between the UN and non-government agencies~
with more than 40 organisations cooperating under the OLS consortium.
Nothing comparable has existed in any other country.
Since 1994, OLS has also been working to address
the root causes of civilian suffering through promoting awareness
of, and adherence to, humanitarian principles, as contained in
the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child (1989). For the first time in any conflict, the leaders
of all the main Sudanese warring factions have signed their commitment
to abide by these internationally accepted humanitarian principles.
An intensive education campaign has taken the message to those
in southern Sudan best equipped to protect the rights of civilians:
community leaders, civil and military authorities, traditional
chiefs, Sudanese NGOs, teachers and church groups.
OLS reports under the UN system. OLS operationally
is headed by UNCERO (United Nations Coordinator for Emergency
Relief Operations), Khartoum. It comprises of the northern sector,
operating from Khartoum and servicing mainly, but not exclusively,
government-held areas, and the southern sector, based in Nairobi
servicing mainly, but not exclusively, rebel-held areas. The southern
sector of OLS is headed by the southern sector Coordinator, who
is also UNICEF's Chief of Operations.
The OLS southern sector is a consortium with UNICEF
as the lead agency. The consortium is made up of two UN agencies
(UNICEF and WFP) and international and Sudanese NGOs. UNICEF's
responsibilities as lead agency include:
1. Negotiating access with the rebel movements, and
supporting the UNCERO in his access negotiations with the Government
of Sudan.
2. Coordinating and supporting the overall programme.
3. Providing funding for the common airbridge used
by NGOs.
4. Providing the security system for international
staff of 11 OLS agencies.
5. Providing a radio communications system and managing
the OLS forward staging base in Lokichokio, northern Kenya.
In addition to the lead agency role, UNICEF also
supports programmes for children and women within its mandate.
In the northern sector, UNICEF contributes as a member of OLS
to programmes mostly in the government-held areas, including those
of southern Sudan.
5. The UK committee's history of concern for Sudan
The UK Committee for UNICEF has a particular link
to Sudan. The UK Committee has provided rolling support for UNlCEFs
development work in the country in health, clean water and sanitation
and education, as well as emergency contributions since 1981.
This is the most sustained programme of funding support we have
given to any country. The total contributions made to March 1997
amounted to £3,900,000.
The UK Committee has been concerned at the continued
under funding of UNlCEF's programmes in southern Sudan. UNlCEF's
programmes only received 42 per cent of the requested funding
in 1997. The UK Committee was also concerned about the findings
of the OLS Annual Needs Assessment in October 1997. The Assessment
found that needs in south Sudan were set to increase by 25 per
cent in 1998, and that 1998 was likely to be the most difficult
year for south Sudan since 1993. Bahr el Ghazal was cited as the
most vulnerable area. This warning was repeated to donors and
to the international community through the media at the launch
of the UN Consolidated Appeal for Sudan in February 1998.
At the end of January 1998 fighting took place in
Northern Bahr el Ghazal region, particularly around the towns
of Wau, Aweil and Gogrial. An estimated 100,000 people were displaced.
On 2 February 1998 we received notice of an emergency appeal issued
by UNICEF to donor governments for £1.2 million to ensure
adequate levels of emergency preparedness and response to be able
to react immediately. Existing available stocks of supplies were
used to respond immediately and two relief flights were sent to
the area.
On 4 February the Government of Sudan suspended flights
to Bahr el Ghazal and that flight ban had a serious impact, not
only on the war affected population but also on the hundreds of
thousands of women and children living in Bahr el Ghazal, one
of the most deprived areas of the south which was already experiencing
a severe food deficit. With little or no medicines on the ground
wounded civilians had little or no chance of receiving medical
care. Cases of diarrhoeal diseases had already been reported among
children on the move and a current polio immunisation campaign
was badly affected.
In March two UK Committee for UNICEF staff members
visited southern Sudan with two supports. They reported that the
malnourishment of children in Bahr el Ghazal was severe, and that
the flight ban together with the lack of airplanes and flying
hours meant that the situation was deteriorating. In addition
they visited areas not affected by the ban such as Western Equatoria
where extensive mining by both sides meant that fertile soil was
unable to be cultivated and a major donation was given to a mine
awareness project.
Although the flight ban was lifted on 31 March, when
the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF UK visited at the end
of April with Lord Deedes the situation was worsening. Two months
of flight suspensions put extreme pressure on traditional coping
mechanisms and many people had already sold or eaten their cattle,
used up their reserve stores of food and were forced to survive
only on wild foods. Malnutrition rates, especially among children,
were already alarmingly high and more airplanes and flights were
urgently requested. The UNICEF appeal was only 21 per cent funded
(end April figure) and the staff at the Lokichokio airbase had
only five Mts tonnes of UNIMIX (the special food for malnourished
children) left. Emergency kits of bedding, cooking pots and watercans
for displaced children and families were nearly exhausted. Seeds
and tools for planting were being delivered but we saw children
and mothers picking up the raw seeds spilt from sacks and eating
them. We visited Panthou in Bahr el Ghazal where a nutritional
assessment carried out in January showed the whole community had
been displaced and lost livestock and short term crops. It said
that due to the drought, residents of Panthou would face up to
a 55 per cent nutritional deficit until the harvest in September
1998. Since that assessment fighting had led to further displacement.
Although the OLS standard is to provide supplementary
feeding for children who are below 80 per cent weight for height
we visited a feeding centre where lack of capacity meant that
only children less than 70 per cent weight for height were being
fed. We spoke to mothers who were using one malnourished infants
rations to feed up to four other children and saw progress charts
OD malnourished children who were not putting on weight because
the food was being shared between the whole family.
ln addition we saw the long term work of UNICEF.
In education in Western Equatoria we visited a school where children
with no desks, no seats, no chalk, no books were being taught
by volunteer teachers. UNICEF and partner NGOs were providing
school in a box, slates, chalk, books and working on a viable
curriculum. The children exhibited a solid determination to learn.
Capacity building was very apparent as at each location and in
each activity (both in the rebel-held areas and during a later
visit in May in the government areas) partner NGOs "counterparts"
were participating in or leading the projects.
The humanitarian principles work of UNICEF and in
particular the importance of the ground rules was brought home
to us in Western Equatoria. An attempt by armed soldiers to board
our truck was stopped when our counterparts explained that their
commander would enforce the ground rules that stated that no armed
men could be carried on board a UNICEF truck on humanitarian work.
Subsequently the Deputy Executive Director accompanied
Oona King MP to the northern sector of OLS in May. There the importance
of essential services was clear. For example in Bentiu in Unity
State UNIMIX for malnourished children was being administered
carefully but there was no clean water and therefore it was mixed
with water that could carry diarrhoeal and water borne diseases.
We saw the effect of the armed conflict on children
everywhere we visited. The ownership of cattle that defines the
wealth of a Dinka or Nuer has always been the reason for cattle
raids by one group against the other in southern Sudan. However
the arming of militia on both sides means that these raids are
now carried out by people armed with AK47s. We met a father widowed
after such a raid, caring for his only remaining son who had been
shot in the back by militia during a cattle raid.
The launch of the appeal
While the UK Committee was liaising closely with
the field we were also in touch with other Committees about the
UNICEF appeal. On 20 April the Netherlands Committee launched
an appeal with nine other NGOs (the equivalent of the DEC). Five
days later the UK Committee for UNICEF which had received many
queries from the press and the public about southern Sudan placed
an advertisement in the press, appealing for funds.
During a telephone conference on 27 April between
the Executive Director in London and the Deputy Executive Director
at the OLS supply base in Lokichokio, and with the support of
the UK Committee's Trustees, it was decided to launch a major
appeal. There was a great deal of public interest in the appeal
which was covered on the 1pm, 6pm and 9pm news on 28 April. We
continued to bring the situation in southern Sudan to the attention
of government and parliamentarians—on 30 April Lord Deedes
and the UK Committee briefed the Secretary of State on the situation
in southern Sudan, on 14 May we arranged for the coordinator of
OLS to brief MPs in the House of Commons and in May we accompanied
Oona King MP to visit UNICEF supported projects in northern Sudan.
In June 1998 the UK Committee continues to fundraise
on the basis that 2.2 million people are at risk. Approximately
30 per cent of children in Bahr el Ghazal, and 25 per cent in
Western Upper Nile (Unity state) are malnourished. Seeds have
been distributed and planted in some areas. In other areas, local
community leaders are saying that the rains are not right and
are holding off planting. The rains are late and may not come
at all, and this would be disastrous. Not only would the harvest
suffer (people depend for about 40 per cent of their needs on
the harvest), but also pasture would not replenish. nor would
the wild foods nor the fish, which people also eat. According
to FEWS (Famine Early Warning System of USAID),
The onset of rains, expected from mid-March onwards,
was delayed by up to a month in many areas. Areas to the east
of the Nile in Upper Nile, Jonglei and parts of Eastern Equatoria
have remained unseasonably dry, both during May and since the
start of the rains. Elsewhere, the rains have been erratic with
localised heavy rains interspersed with dry spells. Consequently,
vegetable growth has remained below the seasonal average in most
areas.
Therefore the UK Committee for UNICEF is preparing
to continue to fundraise for a long-running emergency. In the
last two days we have received reports of a worsening situation
in southern Sudan. The World Food Programme are now characterising
the situation as a famine and the UNICEF programme in southern
Sudan is severely strained because of the cost of additional flights.
Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)
The UK Committee for UNICEF is not a member of the
DEC Consortium, despite its close relationship with many of the
agencies concerned in terms of co-ordinated action in the field
and mutual assistance and co-operation in delivering assistance
to children. In the UK we act together with several member agencies
in education and advocacy activities on issues affecting children's
lives—on landmines, on debt, on children's rights, for example.
The Executive Director contacted the Secretary of
the DEC on Tuesday, 28 April in the wake of the visit to the southern
sector of Sudan by Lord Deedes to inform the DEC of the action
the UK Committee was taking~and to share information on UNICEF's
perception of the needs of children as compared with those of
the population at large. Funding requirements and fundraising
plans and the editorial coverage being given in the press and
on television were also discussed. The DEC indicated that there
were divided views among its members and that a decision had been
taken not to mount any joint appeal for the time being.
The friendly exchange of information has continued.
We spoke again on Wednesday, 20 May. On the eve of the launch
of the DEC Appeal for Sudan, indicating that UNICEF was hoping
to arrange a further visit, this time to government-held areas
via Khartoum, with Oona King MP. The DEC shared the outline of
their appeal plans.
—And DFID
In a similar way the UK Committee for UNICEF tries
to liaise with the field and with DFID. A close liaison is essential
in emergencies and we were in contact with the Government, other
NGOs and civil servants for example.
The field visit by Oona King MP and the Deputy Executive
Director of UNICEF UK was confirmed in the course of a meeting
between a delegation of MPs accompanied by UNICEF's Executive
Director in the UK and the Secretary of State on 20 May to talk
about UNlCEF's Children in Conflict Campaign.
Frequent telephone and face-to-face contact with
the Africa, Greater Horn and Co-ordination Department at DFID
has been maintained throughout recent weeks in relation to the
visit by Lord Deedes, that by Oona King MP. and over the three
separate Government contributions to UNlCEF's work of £100,000
each during March, April and May 1998.
Finances
On 19 February the UN launched the 1998 Consolidated
inter-agency Appeal for Sudan requesting £67 million to implement
humanitarian projects in the country during the year. UNICEF's
component was £20.725 million. This was the minimum amount
that UNICEF required to fulfil its lead agency role and to carry
out programmes for women and children. The UK Government was the
first to respond pledging £4 million to the UN appeal. Subsequently
£300,000 of this sum has been allocated to UNICEF programmes.
We understand that a further sum is being allocated to UNICEF
programmes in the next week. As of end May 1998, funding had been
received for 42 per cent of the total UNlCEF-part of the appeal
Readers' response to The Express UNICEF Appeal in
the last weeks have totalled over £350,000. In addition the
UK Committee has raised a further £2,065,000 from supporters—a
total of £2.4 million the largest amount ever raised by the
Committee from a single appeal.
6. Fundraising in emergencies
Images of development
We accept the arguments set out in Development with
a Human Face (Clarendon Press 1997) written by one present and
one former UNICEF employee that the negative image of development
is partly due to the presentation of fundraising appeals in the
past as emotive images of failure. In our fundraising work we
use positive images of development and tell of the progress that
has been achieved eg in global immunisation, child survival, access
to health care and safe water. Care needs to be taken not to destroy
public confidence in development and the successes of development.
Even in an emergency images used should respect the
dignity of the victims of disasters and highlight their capacity
and aspirations. In the case of Sudan we have highlighted the
courage and endurance of both mothers and unaccompanied children.
Aspirations that have been highlighted have ranged from the need
for southern Sudanese to have seeds and tools to plant a crop
to the longer term hopes of girls for a safe home and education.
The images used in our advertising are vetted by
a staff member with an MA specialising in images in development.
We have staff discussions and training on images in development.
We avoid using pictures of extreme malnourishment as are sometimes
shown in the media, not because they are untrue. but because they
show such a small part of the truth as to be misleading. Such
images can reinforce stereotypes and deny people their dignity.
ln our work on development education in some 6,000
schools we run sessions on images of development in order to try
and disperse some of the stereotypes in children's minds. In addition.
we train our speakers to use language which does not reinforce
negative stereotypes.
Use of public fundraising appeals in emergencies
A pubic fundraising appeal is not the automatic response
of the UK Committee to an emergency. In the case of Sudan we watched
the situation deteriorate over six months before launching an
appeal. However, sometimes the needs of the children and their
families affected by an emergency require a public appeal to raise
necessary resources. In addition our donors and supporters wish
to help UNICEF's programmes at such times of clear undeniable
humanitarian need. A political solution is the only long term
solution which will protect the children of Sudan to survive and
develop. While the international community focuses on the need
for political solutions and access, from time to-time the immediate
needs of children cry out for urgent attention.
We have not found any evidence of compassion fatigue
during either of our most recent public appeals—for North
Korea (August 1997) and Sudan (April to June 1998).
Coordination
The UK Committee for UNICEF works closely with UNICEF,
with the UK Government, with parliamentarians, the DEC, and other
UK voluntary organisations in its advocacy and fundraising. Consultation
is critical in this respect and we keep in close touch with all
parties as the emergency progresses.
7. Conclusion
There are several lessons to be learnt by the UK
Committee for UNICEF from our work on the Sudan emergency.
Communication
The situation in Sudan has been fast moving. Statements
such as "we have resources" or "access is the best
that we have ever had" are relative and relate to a humanitarian
and political situation that is rapidly moving. Definitions of
words such as famine and resources are often very different.
Timing
It seems to us unfortunate that the UN system of
appeals means that an early warning in October. translates to
a draft appeal in December and an actual appeal as late as February.
Whilst we are aware of the importance to ensure coordination and
avoid duplication it is also clear that February was rather too
late to be asking for resources as the crisis was unfolding.
Emergency appeals
As a development agency we are clear about the importance
of showing the positive side of development—the decline
in infant mortality and the rise of immunisation for example.
However there are circumstances where areas beyond any one agency's
control result in a severe emergency. On such occasions NGOs,
field staff and IGOs, hopefully working together, need to appeal
to ensure that resources are made available—and fast.
Complex emergencies
In these often fast moving situations a variety of
political and natural causes mean that children are put in danger.
An effective response to complex emergencies necessitates a well
thought out political strategy but also a carefully coordinated
approach by agencies in the field and by donor fundraisers and
advocates in countries. Coordination and communication in the
industrialised countries can always be improved.
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