Source: Media Global
For decades, the Central African Republic (CAR), a Landlocked Developing Country (LLDC) in Central Africa, has been afflicted with the challenges of endemic poverty, poor health, and weak governance.
Violence Against Women
Since August, renewed violence in the country's northwest region by a military coup led by the Séléka rebel coalition, is forcing families to flee their homes. As a result, hundreds of thousands are internally displaced, and United Nations aid agencies' stock of life-saving supplies are depleting.
On Oct. 29, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued a press release stating that, since September, "an estimated 394,000" are internally displaced and seeking sanctuary at makeshift camps in Bossangoa, capital of Ouham, a prefecture in northwest CAR.
With its partners, UNICEF has been responding to the crisis by delivering emergency supplies including, "plastic sheeting, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry cans, and hygiene kits," however it declares that the growing trend of violence and displacement is more than they were prepared for.
"The crisis started almost three months ago yet there are still glaring gaps in the response put in place (which is dismal compared to the needs), particularly on the side of UN agencies who have clearly not shifted gears in terms of how they approach the crisis across CAR, and particularly in Bossangoa," Heather Pagano, an East and Central Africa Regional Information Officer of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), explains to MediaGlobal News.
Of the emergency aid and shelter supplies, Pagano says that, "every family should receive every item regardless of number of family members."
During the last week of October, UNICEF says that "48 metric tonnes of mosquito nets and emergency provisions for 6,000 families" were flown to south of Bossangoa to Bangui, the capital and largest city of CAR. These supplies were delivered to UNICEF through the support of the support of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, however, "much more is needed," UNICEF says.
The camps, as described by a woman in the Bossangoa displacement camp who did not wish to be named, tells MediaGlobal News that these are "not official camps." She says that, "its something organically formed of people from Bossangoa and neighboring towns seeking sanctuary from, and around the church."
"This is only one area of the country," Lewis Mudge, researcher in the African Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), tells MediaGlobal News. "In most of the country displacement sites or refugee camps simply do not exist, therefore they are not an option. The fact is that the humanitarian situation has been severely hampered by security constraints in a country that is largely overlooked anyway."
Families in the northwest region of CAR are fleeing their homes to escape the Séléka's acts against human rights. The violence imposed by the Séléka include, destruction and looting of property ranging from schools, homes, and churches, sexual violence against women and girls, and deliberate killings of civilians. While the quest for safety and security is comparatively achieved at the makeshift camp in Bossangoa, the living conditions are hardly adequate for survival.
Referring to the Bossangoa camp's conditions, "they are living cramped into an area of 5 hectares (160 hectares would be appropriate for this amount of people), with insufficient water supply (6 liters per person per day) and insufficient sanitation (1 latrine for more than 200 people)," Pagano tells MediaGlobal News. "People keep arriving at the camp but are still afraid to move back to their homes, some only a few hundred meters away. There is not enough shelter, not even enough space for everyone to find a comfortable place for the night."
Bob McCarthy, UNICEF Emergency Coordinator in CAR, warns in the press release that "what life-saving supplies remain may only last a few more weeks at best."
Funding constraints for UNICEF is more than simply the items themselves, it also pertains to how the agency receives the supplies. The woman who wishes to remain nameless from the campsite in Bossangoa tells MediaGlobal News that, "it is very costly to send a cargo plane to deliver aid, and there is a heavy reliance on donors to help mobilize funds."
As the violence, numbers of displaced persons, and needs for emergency supplies continues to rise, Pagano recommends a supplemental kind of increase aimed at scaling up activities to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Bossangoa:
"The presence of more NGO/UN agencies on the ground could facilitate the provision of the humanitarian aid that in a moment of a huge crisis as we are currently facing is badly needed."