Millions of girls and women living in refugee camps urgently need feminine hygiene products. They also desperately hope for access to clean water, soap and functioning door locks.
At present, roughly 30 million girls and women around the world are living as refugees, and many of them face the same question every month: how will I cope with my period this time?
Taking care of menstrual hygiene in a refugee camp setting is not easy. No proper sanitary pads are available. Or if there are, they are far too expensive to buy, at least in sufficient amounts.
The girls and women living in refugee camps in different parts of the world also have to fear for their safety. Privacy is another real problem in settings where women have to use communal toilets that are rarely even equipped with locks.
Feminine hygiene is difficult to maintain when there is no clean water for washing up. The cultural stigmatization of women as impure during menstruation also makes girls and women feel ashamed of their bodies. At worst, women and girls have to isolate themselves from their community or even their own family during their periods.
Girls attending Yoyo primary school going to classes at Bidibidi refugee settlement.
Youth learn about menstruation in school
”Not having sanitary pads, for example, has a direct impact on girls’ education,” says Project Manager Lilian Musoki from Uganda.
Musoki was involved in organising the distribution of hygiene kits in Bidibidi refugee settlement. Bidibidi has a population of 270,000 people and is one of the world’s largest refugee settlements. A city unto itself, its inhabitants have mainly fled the civil war in Uganda’s northern neighbour South Sudan.
Although menstruation and access to education may seem to have little connection, according to Musoki, they go hand in hand.
“Girls stay out of school every time they have their period. Without proper sanitary pads and school facilities for taking care of their menstrual hygiene in private, girls cannot make the most of their education.”
The problem is that their absence from school cause girls to fall behind in their studies, making it difficult for them to complete their education.
In Bidibidi refugee settlement, proper sanitary towels are hard to come by or they are too expensive for the women and girls living as refugees. That’s why women and girls often make do with whatever is on hand. In practice, it means that they resort to making pads themselves, for example, from pieces of fabric cut from old cloths.
These makeshift pads sometimes leak and lead to odours, causing embarrassment and shame for the girls. This is why the hygiene kits distributed by FCA also contain sanitary pads. A total of 19,850 girls in Bidibidi were able to obtain the FCA hygiene kit in 2019.
On Menstrual Hygiene Day last year, Finn Church Aid distributed 19 850 hygiene kits to girls in Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda.
According to Lilian Musoki, girls often lack menstrual knowledge.
“In our culture, talking openly about menstruation is off-limits, even between mothers and daughters. It is culturally unacceptable”, Musoki says.
Mothers also have their hands full with keeping up with housework and earning a livelihood. In FCA’s projects in refugee settlements, information has been shared, and schools also provide menstrual education.
In school, girls learn the facts about menstruation and how to maintain good hygiene. They can also turn to a designated female teacher if their period starts in the middle of the school day. Musoki says that they can ask the teacher for a sanitary pad so that they can continue with their school day.
Lilian Musoki.
“When the girls get accurate information, the shame associated with menstruation and the changes in their own bodies disappears,” Musoki insists.
For environmental reasons, some of the sanitary pads FCA provides can be washed and reused. Soap bars for washing them are included in the hygiene kits distributed in refugee settlements. Hygiene kits also include panties.
According to Musoki, FCA is providing pads because other products, such as tampons and menstrual cups, would prove too costly for local people. A tampon pack worth three US dollars is a luxury no one can afford.
Safety equals a door with a lock
For menstrual hygiene, girls need to have their own toilets where they can change their sanitary pads in private, without any fear of harassment.
The safe spaces for women and girls have also been vital to girls and women living on the other side of the world in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in the world’s largest refugee camp. There, in partnership with DanChurchAid (DCA), FCA supports safe spaces for the Rohingya women and girls who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh.
In the safe spaces, women and girls can use clean and safe toilets with hand-washing stations and soap. In addition, they get sanitary pads that enable them to participate in the literacy and numeracy lessons offered by FCA and DCA, also during their periods.
Why are the toilets in safe spaces so important? Kaji Shahin Akter who works as the Programme Manager for Gender-Based Violence in Cox’s Bazar, says that the taboos surrounding menstruation expose women to violence.
“Traditionally, Rohingya women have used rags cut from worn-out garments as their sanitary towels. Women need to wash these either early in the morning or late at night, been conditioned by the culture to regard menstruation and menstruating women as polluted,” she says.
Such notions compel women and girls to go to the camp’s water stations after dark, exposing them to sexual or other forms of violence. Even toilets designated for women can be dangerous when inadequately monitored.
In Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee settlement, Finn Church Aid and Dan Church Aid have built safe spaces for women and girls.
Cox’s Bazar Education Programme Manager Margaret Goll from DCA says that even the disposable sanitary pads are problematic. They add to the issue of waste in the massive refugee camp.
“There are many kinds of problems related to menstruation in Cox’s Bazar, actually every problem you can imagine,” Goll says.
Men also need menstrual information
Menstruation puts even further limits to girls’ lives, as many Rohingya girls stop attending school after they get their first period, on average at the age of 14.
“In Rohingya culture, when a girl starts menstruating, she can only spend time with the men and boys of her own family. Many girls are also married off when they start menstruating,” says Goll.
In Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, women and girls have their own safe spaces where they are able to study and get information on menstrual health and hygiene as well as other important issues in their own lives.
Rohingyas believe that a girl or a woman is impure during menstruation and can therefore not participate in normal life. According to Margaret Goll and Kaji Shahin Akter, these attitudes are also addressed. Getting the community’s men involved in the conversations is essential.
”We have provided boys and men not only with information on menstruation but also on positive body image and positive fatherhood. In the beginning, this was difficult, and the men and boys were reluctant to join in because all of us working for the project are women,” says Kaji Shahin Akter.
Eventually, progress was made when religious leaders, such as imams, started taking part in the project.
One way to make menstruation more visible has been the annual World Menstruation Hygiene Day on 28 May.
“It has been a big event in Cox’s Bazar in previous years. This year, however, we may have to limit public gatherings,” says Goll.
Text: Elisa Rimaila
Translation: Ulla Kärki
With the support of FCA, psychotherapist Rowda Olad works in grassroots-level mental health care and participates in the reconciliation work in Somalia.
”In Somalia, people talk about invisible wounds, dhaawac yada qarsoon,” says psychotherapist Rowda Olad and describes how shocked she was to see the state of the entire nation’s mental health when she arrived in Somalia in 2016.
”A young boy was driving the moped taxi, tuktuk, at breakneck speed through central Mogadishu. I asked him to slow down. ’You’re going to get us killed!’ I yelled from the back seat. ’What does it matter if we die,’ the boy replied.”
”I was extremely shocked.”
Rowda says she immediately noticed that especially young men were not only fearless but also very angry. But in fact, almost everybody in Somalia seemed to be suffering from psychological traumas caused by the civil war and the violence, or from post-traumatic symptoms resulting from them.
”There is a lot of crime, as well as disregard for other people’s possessions or lives. Whenever there was an explosion in Mogadishu, people rushed to see what had happened, whereas the natural reaction would be to run away.”
”A person who is not afraid is not psychologically healthy,” says Rowda. “Seeing mutilated humans and bodies or victims of explosions is traumatising, especially to children.”
She witnessed and recorded all this during the first year after she and her family moved back to Somalia in 2016.
Psychological trauma changes a person’s world view and behaviour. In Somalia, aggressive behaviour can be seen often in everyday situations.
”Even during high-level political meetings, people may lose their temper at the drop of a hat.”
As a refugee in the United States
Rowda, who was born in Mogadishu, has her share of war trauma. The civil war began when she was seven years old.
Her siblings and other relatives scattered all over the world. With her uncle’s family, Rowda fled to the state of Ohio in the United States. She went to school and studied, but once she graduated from high school, she could not decide straight away what she wanted to do when she grew up. So, she volunteered to do social work with AmeriCorps. She helped Muslim immigrants, the Somali diaspora, young and old alike – and saw and experienced lots of things that could only be explained by the people’s backgrounds.
She started a volunteer group for young Somali women and became interested in studying to be a psychologist and psychotherapist. She also became fascinated with facets of Somali culture; what causes things? Why do we do this or think like this?
Rowda dreams of establishing a national mental health care system in Somalia. Photo: Kristiina Markkanen
Rowda studied, graduated, and worked as a psychotherapist. When the situation in Somalia began to settle down and the first post-war parliamentary election was held in 2016, even Rowda decided to move back to Somalia.
Rowda got involved in politics and initially worked in regional administration, but mental health care became more and more attractive. She dreams of founding a national mental health system in Somalia, entailing the entire structure, creating the foundations and the missing words for the work.
”For us, a person is either insane, waali, or not insane. There is no in-between, there are no other words. People who become seriously mentally ill are put in the hospital and forgotten there.”
”It is shocking,” she says.
Mental health care step by step
Rowda started her work in Somalia with small steps. She has been engaged in volunteer work and has spoken about mental health to representatives of the Ministry of Health.
”First, my aim has been to open people’s eyes to the role of mental health in people’s behaviour and actions, and from there, I have slowly expanded the idea to the national level.”
Rowda believes it is impossible for reconstruction and national reconciliation work to succeed without dealing with the trauma experienced by families, individuals and entire communities as well.
When people are traumatised, their capacity to function is impaired, which affects things such as their ability to work.
”The productivity of the entire nation, including entrepreneurs and civil servants as well as farmers, remains low.”
Rowda has started her own practice in Somalia, and with the support of FCA among others, has began a form of preliminary mental health care that she calls psychoeducation.
The purpose of the work is to talk about mental health and to provide different population groups with information. Topics include stress, depression, and how to overcome psychological trauma. What is considered ordinary grief and what kind of suffering is bad enough to require treatment.
The work also includes mental health care for prisoners and prison wardens. Inmates in the prisons of Somalia include both petty criminals and former terrorists, and it is important to get them too to commit to the development of Somalia.
A prison in Somalia. Photo: Jari Kivelä
”Even in prison, I provide mental health education for groups, during which we talk about how the human mind works. I also do clinical work, give diagnoses, and offer individual therapy to those who need it. Sometimes I have to refer an inmate exhibiting severe psychological symptoms to hospital treatment.”
Working with inmates, Rowda goes through their identity and the paths that led them to prison. Those who grew up surrounded by war and violence may not have the kind of identity that allows them to see themselves as citizens of an organised society.
”For example, when I ask them who their role models are, they don’t say that as a child they wanted to be a doctor or a teacher, but might reply that they admire their father who was a war hero.”
Rowda says that she will soon start working with the families of inmates as well. This is difficult because many families have moved. However, the Somali culture is very family-oriented, and Rowda believes it is possible for criminals to become rehabilitated into society if they receive strong support from their family and community.
Even therapy is a completely new concept in Somalia. There are only doctors and psychiatrists who work in hospitals and prescribe medication. If a doctor gives a person medicine, the person gets better.
”When I tell a patient I am offering them treatment, they expect medication, not discussion.”
She also hopes that mental health issues become part of reconciliation work. Rowda believes there will be no real peace in Somalia before recognising trauma and overcoming it is taken seriously on the national level.
Text: Kristiina Markkanen
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Rowda Olad visited Finland in June for the National Dialogues Conference for peace work organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Felm, CMI, and Finn Church Aid.
The region of al-Sudd in South Sudan is one of the biggest swamps in the world. The region has offered a refuge for people escaping the war. During the hardest times of the war, people waded through wetlands, risking running into crocodiles and snakes, and ate water lily fruits to stay alive.
OLD FANGAK, SOUTH SUDAN. The little mango trees sprouting promising shoots in Samuel Gony Gori’s pots are a veritable miracle, considering the cracking soil surrounding the 50-year-old farmer’s land, and the unbearable, nearly 40-Celsius heat in Old Fangak in the daytime.
Samuel waters his plants with water from nearby Zeraf River. Working the foot-operated water pump may be hard work, but it keeps his hope of a successful crop alive. The mangoes require care, and without the water pump, farming would be impossible during the dry season.
“In the harvest seasons, I sell a lot of produce at the market, and with my savings, my family can enjoy two good meals a day. My income is even enough to pay for the children’s clothing.”
Fangak is located in the north, near the border with Sudan. The peace negotiated last autumn is a reality here, but the soil is unrelenting and farming is hard. In the south of the country, the region of Equatoria – located on the Equator – is known as the breadbasket of South Sudan, and a saying originating from there goes, “If you throw a seed in the ground, it grows into a giant mango tree.” Nevertheless, farmers have left Equatoria because of the fighting still going on in the region.
Samuel Gony Gory grows mango trees.
Samuel radiates the confidence of a person who has overcome the worst. His family witnessed the painful turns of the South Sudanese civil war. Two years ago, they were in the middle of a famine caused by the fighting in the small town of Bentiu in neighbouring Unity State.
“There was absolutely nothing to eat. First I stopped farming because of the constant gunfire. Then our relatives started to disappear, and we decided to seek shelter here,” recalls Samuel.
The water pump has caught the interest of the youngest in the village.
The swamp region of al-Sudd is one of the biggest in the world. The name is Arabic and means “barrier.” The swamp is so difficult to cross that back in the days when explorers were searching for the source of the White Nile, they got stuck in the wetlands of al-Sudd.
Old Fangak is a former British garrison town whose old buildings were destroyed in the civil war. The population mostly consists of Nuer people, the archrivals of the Dinka people represented by President Salva Kiir.
During the civil war, Old Fangak became a haven for refugees. While in 2013, the population was 5,000, last year the number was up to almost 50,000.
The soldiers did not think it was worth the trouble to brave the swamp, the inner parts of which can only be reached by boat via Zeraf River, an arm of the White Nile, or by plane – that is, unless you are running for your life. Families seeking shelter from fighting and famine have escaped soldiers by treading through the swamp despite crocodiles and poisonous snakes.
In the deepest parts of the swamp, adults carried children on their shoulders.
“The worst part of the journey was hunger,” says Samuel. His family survived the journey that took a month by eating the fruits of water lilies.
“It’s hard to say whether it was hunger or bullets that killed them.”
“Many people who fled at the same time as we did had been starving for so long that their strength had ran out. We were forced to leave people behind as the soldiers found us time after time,” recalls Samuel.
“It’s hard to say whether it was hunger or bullets that killed them.”
In June 2017, the UN declared that the famine was over, but since then, the situation has only gotten worse.
In February 2019, the UN estimated that over six million people live in acute food shortage. That is more than half of the South Sudanese population. About 1.5 million are on the brink of famine.
“Peace is a prerequisite for any improvement in the situation,” says Moses Habib, humanitarian coordinator for FCA. The peace deal has raised optimism, but the people who left their homes are still too afraid to return.
At the same time, international aid is decreasing at an alarming rate.
“Initiating self-sufficient food production takes time. Food aid is still vital so that people have the energy to think further ahead than until the meal for the next day,” says Habib.
Nyarom Jiech Chuol is a single mother with seven children.
In the midmorning, the Zeraf River’s boat traffic flows towards the market in downtown Old Fangak.
Canoes are carved from coconut tree trunks. The precious fish are shielded from the sun with grass. Fish is cheaper than meat, and the catch does not always reach the market before being sold.
Mother of seven, Nyarom Jiech Chuol, buys a bunch of tilapia at the market for about two euros.
“I provide for my children by collecting firewood and I sleep through the night in peace, without gunfire,” says Nyarom. She ran from the fighting in Bentium that led to famine.
FCA has assisted 1,000 farmers and 500 fishermen in the Old Fangak area by providing seeds, water pumps, nets, hooks, and education. In addition, 1,000 families have received cash assistance.
FCA also supports 30 schools in Fangak, with over 16,000 pupils.
The huts made out of waterproof tarpaulins and bamboo represent the population of the region. Many internally displaced persons use the tarpaulins given out by aid organisations, while the locals have roofs made of grass or tin.
The repercussions of the war can be seen at the market. In wait of the next crop, the selection of vegetables on offer is nonexistent. Onions cost half a euro a piece. Before the war, one euro was enough to feed a family for a day, now the prices are tenfold. Food production is insufficient, inflation is out of control, and imported food is expensive.
Nyarom has received cash assistance from FCA in every three months. The assistance of about 50 euros brings variety to her children’s diet. Nyarom says that she saw with her own eyes where the food shortage began.
“It started when we had to leave our cultivations and our livestock. Both cattle and people were burned alive in their clay huts,” she says.
Elizabeth Gal is a dedicated farmer.
Because of how isolated it is, Old Fangak depends on the goods delivered from capital Juba via the Nile. Before the peace deal in September, the goods often did not make it past the checkpoints along the way.
Now, the route is easier to travel. However, there is still too little food because of the fighting still going on in Equatoria.
According to Habib, improving the situation in Equatoria is crucial. At present, over one million people have fled the region and crossed the border to Uganda, and the parties who did not sign the peace deal continue to fight.
“Without peace, people won’t return to their crops, and without food, there is no steady foundation for peace,” says Habib.
Nevertheless, the Nile deliveries have provided farmers with more seeds and tools. Next to Samuel’s crops, 43-year-old Elizabeth Gal waits for a new hose for her water pump.
The furrows in her plot of land are as straight as a pin, but the field is completely dry and cracked because the hose is too short to reach the field from the river.
“As long as I have the seeds and tools, I can do anything,” she assures us.
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Text: Erik Nyström
Photos: Patrick Meinhardt
A two-year project funded by the EU promotes human rights of prisoners in Margibi, Bong, Nimba and Lofa counties in Liberia.
The project “Strengthening the Human Rights of Prisoners within Correctional Facilities and at Grassroots Level in Liberia” is jointly implemented by Serving Humanity for Empowerment and Development (SHED) and the Rural Human Rights Activists Program (RHRAP) in partnership with Finn Church Aid (FCA).
The project addresses some of the many challenges that are still faced within the justice system in Liberia. The objective of the project is to protect detainees whose rights are at risk of being violated through illegal arrests, prolonged detention, inhuman detention practices, sexual and gender-based violence and no access to legal counselling and representation. Prisoners’ rights are promoted by strengthening the capacities of justice actors and promoting adherence to national and international standards for prisoners.
Hans Lambrecht.
“The initiative will further increase legal assistance for vulnerable detainees; strengthen dialogue, cohesion building and information sharing between stakeholders. It aims to improve attitudes and practices through awareness raising and advocacy on issues regarding vulnerable detainees’ rights, both on national and international levels,” stated Dr. Hans Lambrecht, the Head of the Cooperation Section for Governance and Education at the Delegation of the European Union to Liberia, at the project launch ceremony Kakata Prison in Margibi County in mid-April.
“This project will enhance the knowledge of law enforcement representatives including police, and correction officers, legal practitioners as well as enlighten community leaders to the rule of law and international human rights standards,” Dr. Hans Lambrecht emphasized.
Kutaka Devine Togbah, Director of Human Rights Division from the Ministry of Justice in Liberia, stressed the need to work together to improve the human rights situation in Liberian prisons and pledged the ministry’s support and full collaboration to the successful implementation of the project.
The project is continuation to a project “Providing Access to Justice and Gender Sensitive Legal Awareness at Grassroots Level in Liberia” implemented in 2017-2018 that the European Union Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) also funded.
“The new initiative will address some specific gaps that emerged through the previous project, such as setting up and supporting fast track systems to speed up hearings for pre-trial detainees, setting-up prison libraries and improving prison record systems”, explained the SHED Project Manager Godo E. Kolubah.
SHED, formerly Finn Church Aid (FCA) Liberia, is a Liberian organization established as a national office following the departure of FCA after ten (10) years of work in Liberia. SHED is a rights-based organization working on human rights, peace building, education, water and sanitation and livelihoods programs in Liberia.
RHRAP is a local human rights organizations with over 15 years of experience working on the promotion and protection of human rights and rule of law in Liberia.
Delegation of the European Union to Liberia
Liberia’s review on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was scheduled for March 2018. The human rights platform of the Liberian Civil Society Organizations’ prepared a “shadow” report in response to the list of issues that were raised based on the first report of the Liberian state to the Committee.
Rural Human Rights Activist Programme (RHRAP) and the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) contributed to the CSO report, concentrating on issues regarding the criminal justice system of Liberia.
In 2009, only about 10 per cent of the 800 detained in Liberian prisons had been convicted of a crime, and were held in extended pre-trial detention in overcrowded jails and centres that lacked sanitation and health care. From June 2009, Liberia has taken measures to improve the situation, including the Magistrates Sitting Program implemented in the Monrovia Central Prison and all magistrate courts in Montserrado, as well as the three capital cities in Bong, Nimba, and Lofa counties, the report states.
However, the prisons in Liberia continue to be overcrowded and people are detained for long periods without access to justice.
The report of the CSO’s recommends upscaling the work of the Magistrates Sitting Program to all prisons and places of detention to speed up trials of pre-trial detainees, providing adequate resources for prosecutors and judicial officers to undertake effective prosecution, case management and adhere to criminal procedures, and strengthening the National Legal Aid Scheme. It also recommends speedy hearing of cases by the courts, and ensuring the use of probation and parole services.
Furthermore, the CSO report calls for the Supreme Court to mandate or ensure the introduction of fast track hearing at prison facilities in other counties. The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the court’s system should be legalized to work towards addressing overcrowding in prison facilities. Finally, the Judiciary should deploy more public defenders in the counties.
Other key aspects of the report range from lack of political will and the removal of the provision in Domestic Violence Law that placed ban on female genital mutation practice in Liberia, and other sexual and gender based violence related issues, among others.
Grassroots efforts for improving access to justice in Liberia
RHRAP and AFELL, in collaboration with the Finn Church Aid (FCA), are currently implementing the project “Providing access to justice and gender sensitive legal awareness at grassroots level” in Lofa, Nimba and Bong Counties, with funding from the European Union (EU).
The two years programme is aimed at contributing to improving the Criminal Justice System (CJS) of Liberia and protecting the fundamental human rights and dignity of community residents.
In 2017, RHRAP & AFELL in collaboration with FCA provided trainings for correction officers, police officers, traditional, religious and community leaders, inmates (pre-trial detainees) and judges. The programme has a special focus on women and youth, and provides free legal representation for pre-trial detainees within the Gbarnga, Voinjama, and Sanniquille prisons.
Liberia needs to comply with its human rights obligations
Liberia ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2004. Liberia’s initial report on the implementation of the ICCPR was due in 2005. After 11 years of delay, Liberia submitted its first report in November 2016. The review on Liberia at the ICCPR that was scheduled for March, was postponed to July of this year 2018, resulting from the government absence.
It was a disappointment to the civil society organisations. However, CSO representatives plan to collectively engage government actors to comply with all obligations in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This will contribute to Liberia being placed inline with the international community concerning the promotion and protection of fundamental rights of citizens as provided for by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The project “Providing Access to Justice and Gender Sensitive Legal Awareness at Grassroots Level” contributes to enhance the rule of law and the respect of the fundamental human rights of the most vulnerable prisoners in Liberia, most often women and youth.
The project is implemented in Lofa, Bong and Nimba counties in Liberia in 2017–2018. It’s funded by the European Union – The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
Delegation of the European Union to Liberia
Project Fact Page
In South Sudan, the price of food claims people’s lives as well as guns. Hunger staggers society, with people only focused on where to get their next meal.
When you throw a seed in the ground, it grows into a giant mango tree.
This is a saying from South Sudanese Equatoria, the breadbasket of the country. The soil is so fertile that crops grown in the region have fed millions of South Sudanese people. Practically all of South Sudan is a perfect seedbed for produce such as rice, corn, millet, sugar cane, and fruits.
However, war has driven three quarters of the region’s population out of their homes, and vast cultivated areas stand abandoned, says Marie Makweri, who worked in South Sudan for three years as Finn Church Aid’s (FCA) peace coordinator.
The dramatic consequences are seen in the availability and prices of food products. People are lucky to have even one meal a day. Anyone knows that hunger makes a person ill-tempered. Hunger makes the prolonged conflict even worse.
”People in South Sudan say that there are more weapons than food, which is a dangerous combination. A person with no food to feed oneself or one’s family thinks of all the ways in the world to get food,” says Makweri.
5 million people still on the brink of famine
In February 2017, UN declared a famine in Unity State, located in the middle of South Sudan. About 100,000 people were in danger of starving to death. The declaration was followed by an extensive humanitarian operation, during which food ration packages were dropped in the region from World Food Program (WFP) helicopters. FCA contributed to the food aid from its disaster fund.
In June, the famine was officially over, but the daily life of the South Sudanese people did not improve in any significant way. For famine to be declared, the situation has to meet clearly defined criteria. First, a fifth of households must suffer from an extreme lack of food, and a third of the population must be acutely malnourished. In addition, people die at a certain rate – the definition of famine calls for two victims per day for every 10,000 inhabitants.
Famine is equivalent to the highest category on a UN scale of 1 to 5 measuring food security. The current situation does not meet the criteria. On the other hand, 1.5 million people live in a state of emergency (stage 4) and 3.6 million in acute food shortage (stage 3). In other words, there are 5 million South Sudanese people on the brink of famine.
”When you’re there observing the situation, it makes no real difference if people are at stage 4 or 5. The food situation remains extremely difficult”, says Makweri.
Food prices increased tenfold
FCA supports peace and food security
FCA supports peace processes, education and opportunities for subsistence in South Sudan. FCA trainings teach skills such as baking and handling food and dairy products, which improves food production.
Since last fall, FCA has carried out a food security project with 100,000 euros from a disaster collection. The project involves farming training for 500 farmers, and participants in the training are provided with seeds and tools.
The South Sudan food crisis is the result of a prolonged conflict. The conflict began as a power struggle between president Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar. The rivalry turned into war with ethnic battle lines. Kiir represents the Dinka tribe, the biggest tribe in South Sudan, and Machar is from the Nuer tribe, the second biggest.
The conflict is rooted in a dispute over resources after South Sudan gained independence in 2011 – land ownership, water, and oil. Kiir accused Machar of an attempted coup and dismissed him. There are other tribes in South Sudan as well, coaxed into alliance or played against each other. In the autumn of 2016, UN issued a warning of a possible genocide.
Fear has had catastrophic repercussions on food production. Farmers are too afraid to sow or harvest their crops. Food deliveries have become difficult, and prices at marketplaces have risen sky-high. After the fighting that started in July 2016, the price of a 3,5-kilo sack of maize meal in the capital Juba rose from 5,5 euros to 60 euros. The price is equivalent to a month’s average wages in South Sudan.
Even the prices of basic vegetables, such as tomatoes, have increased tenfold, and further from the capital, prices are even higher. Tea, sugar, and meat are luxury products that have become completely nonexistent.
The effects are seen on the street, says Makweri, who lived in Juba up until the turn of the year. Shopkeepers cannot afford to buy expensive food products and sell them at a profit, so many grocery stores have closed. Even bigger marketplaces have less items to sell, and fewer and fewer vendors selling them.
”Ordinary people can’t afford food,” says Makweri.
Food aid keeps people sane
In her work, Makweri has seen people’s preoccupation with food. Motivating them to participate in peace processes takes patience when their foremost concern is where to get the next meal for their family.
”People find it hard to even think about the next day, let alone the long-term effects of peace. They’re thinking about the next minute that they might as well use to get food.”
On the other hand, the food situation will not improve in any significant way until the conflict ends. South Sudan has all the prerequisites for self-sufficient food production, provided that peace can be achieved in the country. Food aid supported by the international community is keeping the negotiations alive.
”The message of the South Sudanese people is unanimous: the food aid should under no circumstances be discontinued. It keeps people alive and sane, and literally gives the strength to believe in peace.”
Text: Erik Nyström
Read more about about Finn Church Aid’s work in South Sudan here.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) has provided prisons with desk phones in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties in Liberia and trained 90 community, religious and traditional representatives on access to justices.
Monrovia.
The phones promote the rights of inmates, enhances their access to lawyers and enables them to contact their families free-of-charge.
“These phones bring relief to us, as we often lend our personal phones to inmates to contact their families”, noted the Bong County Superintendent Bendu Kollie.
Presenting the phones to prison superintendents in the three counties, the implementing partners Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) and Rural Human Rights Activists Programme (RHRAP) and FCA representatives stressed the need for prison officials to ensure that inmates have adequate access to the phones in order to contact their lawyers and families. AFELL will continue to provide legal representations for prolong pre-trial detainees. The organisations also admonished prison authorities to maintain call log for inmates.
“Legal representation for prolong pre-detainees and their subsequent release will help to reduce over crowdedness of prison facilities”, said UNMIL Prison Supervisor in Lofa, Henry Tambabe.
Lofa County.
RHRAP and AFELL, in collaboration with FCA, conducted trainings on access to justice for 90 community leaders and religious and traditional representatives in Bong, Nimba and Lofa.
The trainings, facilitated by legal practitioners including stipendiary magistrates, focused
on access to justice such as criminal justice, rights of pre-trial detainees, role of the police, courts and corrections as well as sexual and gender-based violence with emphasis on the Rape Law.
Some of the participants asserted that the training enlightened them about their basic rights under the law, and allowed them to raise questions with magistrates and defence counsels on issues that confront them in their communities.
Bong County.
The training sessions ended with mobilising county stakeholders and re-establishing county level coordination dialogue on human rights and rule of law with county level meetings taking place and attended by the police, corrections officers, religious and community representatives as well as court officers and civil society organisations working on human rights.
The project “Providing Access to Justice and Gender Sensitive Legal Awareness at Grassroots Level” contributes to enhance the rule of law and the respect of the fundamental human rights of the most vulnerable prisoners in Liberia, most often women and youth.
The project is implemented in Lofa, Bong and Nimba counties in Liberia in 2017–2018. It’s funded by the European Union – The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
Delegation of the European Union to Liberia
Project Fact Page
A vehicle belonging to a national non-governmental organisation fell into a deadly ambush on its way to Pibor in South Sudan on Saturday 25th of March. The incident is a grave attack against aid workers causing calls for investigation.
Six staff members of the South Sudanese humanitarian aid agency GREDO were reportedly killed when their vehicle fell into an ambush last Saturday. The incident occurred in the early morning hours on the road leading from the capital Juba to Pibor town, which is approximately 250 kilometres away.
The aid workers were traveling in a convoy when the attack happened. The bodies of the aid workers were found on the road by the convoy members who reached the area after some time.
GREDO has been a partner to Finn Church Aid in South Sudan since 2016. Together the two organisations have supported sports for peace activities for the youth in Pibor and its neighbouring counties with the aim of increasing peaceful co-existence and unity among them.
“I’m aghast and infuriated by the despicable murder of six courageous humanitarian colleagues”, says Pio Ding, FCA’s Country Director from Juba.
“This is particularly tragic at a time when humanitarian needs have reached unprecedented levels. It is entirely unacceptable that those who are trying to help are being attacked and killed. We urge the authorities to investigate and bring the killer to justice.”
The convoy, which included several vehicles and trucks, was transporting items belonging to a number of humanitarian organisations. Among these items were school construction materials for FCA, intended to be used to build new schools in Pibor, and in neighbouring Gumruk town.
FCA has implemented quality education projects in the area since 2016.
One of the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers
This incident brings the total number of aid workers killed in South Sudan to 79, counting from the beginning of the conflict in December 2013. Attacks against humanitarian workers and their premises have been on a dramatic rise in the past couple of months. This illustrates the deteriorating situation in war-torn South Sudan.
FCA’s presence in South Sudan, one of the most fragile states in the world, stretches back to 2010 when it established its country office in Juba. In 2017 FCA implements projects in the states of Jonglei, Central Equatoria and Lakes.
Open conflict, insecurity and a failing economy are making it increasingly difficult for aid workers to deliver desperately needed lifesaving assistance to the most affected communities.
The killing of aid workers will further hinder the provision of humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering of the South Sudanese people.
“The appaling trend of attacks and intimidation against aid workers and assets remain a feature of the operating environment. This has to stop immediately and perpetrators must be brought into account”, says Ding.
In February, famine was declared in parts of South Sudan, where the lives of 100 000 people are now threatened. A further 5 million are considered to be at the brink of starvation.
The conflict, which began from a rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, is now in its fourth year, and it has led to the death of thousands and to the displacement of millions.
We have all heard it when the alleged perpetrator of a crime says “I want to make a phone call”. It seems the right thing to say when you have been accused of a crime and you need help from your parents, guardian or a lawyer. We have all got used to hearing these same words used in countless TV shows that we take it for granted.
Finn Church Aid and its partners the Rural Human Rights Activist Program (RHRAP) and the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) are embarking on a two year human rights project. The project is funded by the European Union, and it aims to monitor human rights violations in Liberian prisons and engage in proactive dialogue with authorities. As part of a comprehensive referral system, prisoners are given access to a telephone so that they can talk to their families, and those with issues of wrongful imprisonment can have access to lawyers.
That’s right access to a phone, a simple basic right!
Finn Church Aid and its partners will train Liberian police, prison guards, judges, lawyers and wardens and key people from communities on international human rights and prisoners’ rights standards. Beside the possibility to access phone privileges in the three target national prisons, prisoners will also enjoy pro bono legal assistance from selected lawyers to review their cases of incarceration.
Liberia in the past has gone through a brutal civil war and the latest Ebola epidemic has created a disorder of documentation of who is in prison and why. This practical and systematic project will give the Liberian authorities an overview if due process of incarceration has been followed.
The steps of incarceration should follow six basic steps. Complaint – arrest – court appearance – incarceration pre-trial – trial – release or detention.
According to RHRAP and AFELL, detainees have not been charged, have never seen a court, and have been put straight to jail by someone with power. Others have been on pre-trial detention for years without hope of seeing a court in the near future. This project will address the issue through a comprehensive approach, engaging the right people and institutions in finding long-lasting solutions.
The second part of the project is to strengthen the organisational capacities of partners to maximise their chances for international funding in the future and carry out quality work according to international standards.
Hoslo Jiwa
Country Director Liberia, Finn Church Aid
The project “Providing Access to Justice and Gender Sensitive Legal Awareness at Grassroots Level” contributes to enhance the rule of law and the respect of the fundamental human rights of the most vulnerable prisoners in Liberia, most often women and youth.
The project is implemented in Lofa, Bong and Nimba counties in Liberia in 2017–2018. It’s funded by the European Union – The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
Delegation of the European Union to Liberia
EIDHR: The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights
Project Fact Page
Today the international community discussed the humanitarian crisis in Syria in Helsinki. In the Supporting Syrians conference, UN and partners launched the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) for 2017-2018. Education and employment of youth cannot be stressed enough.
Unemployment rates of youth in Syria and the neighboring countries are very high and a lack of future perspectives for youth is a fuel for instability, noted the recent Arab Human Development Report by UNDP. There are 2.7 million adolescents in Syria in need of assistance.
“It’s very welcome that both education and economic opportunities are included in the plan. However, more attention must be paid to linking these two aspects of the response to each other. We cannot invest too much in education and youth employment”, says Tomi Järvinen, Director of International Programme at Finn Church Aid.
Syrian children and youth have the right to quality education and livelihoods. Therefore, they should be provided for uninterrupted educational paths including secondary, vocational and higher education.
To achieve that, teacher training needs extra support. Dialogue with the private sector needs to be continued to ensure the relevance of the education for labor market needs. In addition, vocational and entrepreneurial training as well as funding for start-up entrepreneurs must be increased. In the same time, bureaucratic barriers hindering their aspirations have to be deconstructed. Children and youth in vulnerable situations also need psycho-social support.
“It is crucial to support employment of both Syrian refugees and host community youth at the risk of marginalization”, stresses Järvinen.
”Employment will also enable a flexible return home for refugees. They may have been able to save money maintain their working ability and possibly learn new skills.”
”It seems that both donors and Syrians are seeking new ways to earn a living, organise education and create jobs. Glimpses of hope are also in the air. Donors have also taken into account that we can learn from the survival mechanisms of the local communities.”
The education of Syrian children and youth cannot wait until the conflict ends; that the parties will be able to negotiate peace and Syrians will start the reconstruction. 40 per cent of adolescent children and youth are unable to go to school this winter, and the longer they wait the harder it is to go back – if not impossible.
Finn Church Aid supports Syrian refugees at refugee camps and surrounding host communities in Jordan. We provide youth and young adults with English and IT training as well as various professional skills training. We also provide young adults with recreational activities, such as sports and a circus school, which are intended to promote the psychosocial wellbeing of these young people who find themselves in a difficult situation.
In Syria we support food aid and education for internally displaced people through our partner International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC).
For further information:
Tomi Järvinen, Director of International Programme, Finn Church Aid, tel. +358 40 641 8209