SUDAN - Village Assessment Report Details Needs of Returnees - An IOM report published today highlighting some of the most urgent needs that former Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have to face once they return to their areas of origin in Southern Sudan and Southern Kordofan reveals that access to water is the biggest problem.
An IOM report published today highlighting some of the most urgent needs that former Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have to face once they return to their areas of origin in Southern Sudan and Southern Kordofan reveals that access to water is the biggest problem.
The report, which was compiled in partnership with the Government of National Unity (GoNU), the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the Government of South Sudan (GoSS), the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) and in cooperation with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and partner NGOs, is based on assessments carried out in more than 1,500 villages in the states of Northern and Western Bahr al Ghazal, Warrab, Unity and Southern Kordofan.
Drinking water in particular remains the top priority in all areas of returns with almost of quarter of assessed villages relying on river water as their main water source. Another 60% of villages rely on water fetched from hand pumps and wells but, the report found, maintenance of these pumps is extremely poor leading to 43% of the pumps not working.
Lack of access to health care was rated as the second major concern, with only 20% of the villages having some healthcare facilities but little or no qualified personnel. Throughout the region, 38% of health staff consisted of midwifes or traditional birth attendants, 32% of nurses, 28% medical assistants and only 2% had medical doctors.
HIV/AIDS awareness among the surveyed villages was also found to be low with only 11% of interlocutors in Northern Bahr al Ghazal and Warrab states reporting any knowledge of the disease.
Regarding education, the report found that 52% of surveyed villages had access to education, mostly to basic primary school (72%), with only 2% having access to secondary school. Only 30% of all pupils were female in Southern Sudan.
The overwhelming majority of the population in areas of return lived from farming and livestock rearing, with some supplementing fishing activities.
"This report, which seeks to identify needs at the village level, provides important information on the reintegration needs of the returnees," says Mario Tavolaj, IOM's Chief of Mission in Sudan. "It also represents an important tool for planning medium to long-term recovery in Southern Sudan."
The March 2005 report of the Sudan Joint Assessment Mission estimated that some 4 million people had been displaced from or within Southern Sudan by 20 years of fighting between the northern and southern regions of the country.
An estimated 1.7 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have successfully returned to Southern Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, according to IOM's latest tracking of spontaneous returns report.
This report was funded by the United Nations Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF), the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA/USAID), AusAID International Refugee Fund, the Government of Japan and UNDP's Threat and Risk Mapping Analysis team.
The report is available online at www.iom.imt
For more information, please contact Gerry Waite at IOM Sudan, email: gwaite@iom.int or Alghribawy Mayssa at IOM Khartoum, Tel: +249 183 570 801 to 804, Email: malghribawy@iom.int
ZIMBABWE - Prevention Efforts Continue Apace as Cholera Cases Climb - IOM reached some 160,000 people between 20 December 2008 and 10 January 2009 with cholera prevention messages and free aqua tabs distributed at transportation hubs in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare.
But despite local and international efforts to contain the disease, the number of victims continues to rise. As of 18 January, a total of 44,463 suspected cholera cases and 2,337 deaths were reported.
IOM's response, which is concentrated on mobile and vulnerable populations, particularly in border areas and at transport hubs, includes health hygiene education, aqua tab distribution, delivery of medical supplies and education materials for affected communities, support to more than 20 cholera treatment centres (CTCs), including tents, transport and fuel assistance, non food relief items, and incentives for health care staff and assessment teams.
A new IOM partnership launched 2nd January with Tetra Pak (South Africa) to provide water containers labelled with cholera prevention messages has also seen the distribution of nearly 6,000 1-litre packs.
IOM continues to monitor border areas and remains on standby to assist in the event that any new outbreaks occur. Assessments are ongoing and cholera prevention messages are also being mainstreamed in all IOM programme areas.
IOM water and sanitation specialists are also visiting rural areas to advise people on how to minimize the risks of contracting cholera.
In Chiredzi district, in Zimbabwe's south-eastern Masvingo Province they found people using unprotected open wells that they shared with domestic livestock. Their advice included flushing and cleaning the wells, protecting them with trenches to drain off contaminated water and fencing them off with logs and thorns to keep out the animals.
IOM is an active member of the UN Health and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) clusters coordinated by WHO and UNICEF respectively. IOM has been designated as the lead agency for cholera response in the border areas of Manicaland, Mashonaland West and Matabeleland North.
IOM is also working closely with its NGO partners in the areas of disease surveillance and reporting, case management, food, water, and health and hygiene promotion.
IOM's cholera response activities have received funding and in-kind support from Sweden (SIDA), Austrialia (AusAid), AmeriCares and Tetra Pak (South Africa.)
For more information please contact Erin Forster at IOM Harare, Tel: +263 912 572 315. Email: efoster@iom.int
NICARAGUA - Video News Release on Human Trafficking in Nicaragua - A new IOM video is available to broadcasters today highlighting the challenges of combating human trafficking in Nicaragua and in helping victims to recover and reintegrate post-rescue.
The Central American country is mainly a country of origin for women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labour, both within the country and across borders. Women and young girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation primarily to El Salvador with smaller numbers trafficked to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Spain and the United States.
Internal trafficking comprises mainly of children trafficked for forced labour in construction, agriculture, fishing, and domestic servitude.
However, images of a police raid on an illegal massage parlour in the capital, Managua, and available in the IOM video, reveal that women and minors are also victims of internal trafficking for sexual exploitation. Nevertheless, Nicaraguan special crimes police say they have little idea of the true scale of this problem.
"The moment we close one of those illegal massage houses, another one pops up somewhere in the city," states Deputy Commissioner Felipe Ruiz Mercado, of Nicaragua's National Police Special Crimes Unit.
Police also explain that it is difficult to bring traffickers to justice as victims are often very young and too afraid to testify against their captors.
"The traffickers are usually very powerful and rich," says Monica Moreno Sequeira, Special Investigator of the National Police.
Between January and November 2007, Nicaragua's National Police apprehended 43 suspected traffickers and achieved convictions in only two cases. One woman, convicted of trafficking women to Spain, is serving a nine-year sentence.
IOM, which provides vital assistance to many Nicaraguan victims of trafficking from Chinandega, a poor agricultural area northwest of the capital, Managua, has compiled some shocking facts based on the experiences of those the Organization is helping.
- 70% of victims are between 13 and 19 years of age
- 86% were trafficked for sexual exploitation
- 50% of victims live in female headed households
- 100% of the victims reported experiencing family violence
- 90% had endured rape or other abuse prior to becoming a victim
- 70% were trafficked to El Salvador, 15% to Costa Rica, 10% to Guatemala and 5% to Honduras
- 80% of the victims were treated for Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- 90% reported using drugs and/or alcohol while in captivity
- 80% were recruited by friends or acquaintances; 10% by family members
The IOM project, the only one in Central America and which focuses on the reintegration of victims of trafficking, is working with local authorities and civil society in Chinandega to strengthen the local support network so that victims returning home can receive the medical and psychosocial assistance needed.
Brenda de Trinidad, IOM Counter Trafficking Focal Point in Nicaragua, says many of the young women return home in a very fragile psychological state.
"In spite of being in the mud, fallen, isolated, humiliated and almost dead, we need to help them stand up, make the right decisions, help their children and find ways to prevent this from happening again," she says.
A 16 year-old girl who had been trafficked for sexual exploitation told IOM: "I had to stay there, take drugs, be with men. I felt so bad, so bad in my heart. A girl who was there, I think she had been there so long, she was haunted and had lost her will to live."
De Trinidad says one of the things that hurt victims most is feeling that they have nothing, including a job.
Funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), a key component of the IOM project is to provide victims with vocational training to help them get jobs and start new lives.
For more information please contact Niurka Pineiro, Tel: + 1 202 255 88666, email: npineiro@iom.int or Berta Fernandez, IOM Nicaragua, Tel: + 505 278 95 69, email: bfernandez@iom.int
The script and video which is available in natural sound with soundbites in Spanish, can be downloaded from the IOM website http://194.162.230.14/iom/downloadB.asp?Clip_ID=1233
