Press Centre 2006/08/10: Emergencies and Disasters

Children Pay the Price of War

Ankara, 10 August 2006

Dear Friends of UNICEF,

Once again we are witnessing how children pay the price of war. Of those who have lost their lives or have been wounded since the commencement of hostilities in the Lebanon, more than one in three are children.

Working with highly trained staff in the Lebanon since 1948, UNICEF is best placed to evaluate the situation of children who have been driven from the safety of their homes -- the numbers of whom have now exceeded 400,000. More than ever, these children need our help today and I am kindly inviting you to help them.

UNICEF has been continuously dispatching supplies of special nutritional food items, clean water equipment kits, water purification tablets, water tanks, hygiene products, medical supplies and essential drugs to the region by aircraft from the Supply Depot in Copenhagen. Together with our partners, we began a measles immunisation campaign in Beirut on the 1st of August. Vitamin A supplements are being distributed in tandem with vaccinations.

This is just the beginning of our relief efforts in the region. You can follow UNICEF’s work for children in the Middle East through detailed reports on UNICEF’s worldwide web site and also the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF web site.

I would like to remind you that UNICEF relies exclusively on voluntary contributions from donors to fund our activities for children. With my deepest gratitude and warm regards,

Alanor Olalı
General Director
Turkish National Committee for UNICEF

Notes by UNICEF Emergency Relief Programmes Director, Dan Toole, on his recent visit to the Middle East

Of the more than 900,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began on 12 July, an estimated 45 per cent are children. Humanitarian access to many of them remains a major challenge for UNICEF and its partners.

The situation is grave and deteriorating rather rapidly, said UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes Dan Toole, who visited the Middle East earlier this week.

Children are cut off. Families are cut off. Many, many people are without assistance, without food, without water.

Mr. Toole also echoed UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman’s 30 July statement supporting a cessation of hostilities. He went on to describe a ‘desperate situation’ in which more than 250 children are thought to have been killed and many more are at risk -- not only of violence but also of illness and disease.

Inside Lebanon we have a relatively healthy population, but it can quickly change, particularly when people live in tight surroundings and crowded places. So health is a key intervention.

From vaccines to volleyballs

To help ensure child health under these difficult circumstances, 18,000 children between 9 months and 15 years of age will receive the measles vaccine during the campaign in Beirut this week. Another 55,000 will be targeted in a nationwide campaign next week. Health workers will also give out vitamin A supplements to boost children’s immunity.

At the same time, there is an urgent need for safe drinking water in the conflict zone. As the lead UN agency for water and sanitation in Lebanon, UNICEF is providing water bladders and water trucking capacity. So far, 48 water tanks have been delivered to the Beirut area.

UNICEF is also providing recreation kits for children so their psychosocial needs can be assessed in the midst of continuing hostilities.

One of the best things we can do is give them recreational materials, games, toys, footballs, volleyballs, etcetera, said Mr. Toole.

When they start to play, we can see which children are distressed or frightened and which children may need more specific attention or counselling. It’s a process of separating out those children and providing them with the support they need.

Dangers of supply transport

The conflict is making the delivery of humanitarian relief difficult and dangerous, and there is little access to hard-hit areas in southern Lebanon, according to Mr. Toole.

Each convoy has to be approved by the Israeli Defense Force so that we can get down to those areas in safety without being attacked ourselves, which takes time,” he said. “Yesterday, for example, we had two of our convoys cancelled at the last minute and only got one convoy down to the south. So it is very difficult to get supplies to the people who need them.

Mr. Toole added that UNICEF is appealing to donor countries for financial support:

So far we have a lot of promises of funding and very little cash. We can’t buy supplies with promises. We need that cash quickly so that we can move forward and supply the south with equipment, training and personnel that are needed to help children.

UNICEF relies exclusively on the voluntary contributions of donors -- governments, institutions, the private sector and individual volunteers -- to support our work. All of us at the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF are awaiting your response to Dan Toole’s call for support.

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