Since 2021, when the drought that has brought Somalia’s population to the brink of famine began, 1.1 million people have fled their homes in search of water or food. Nine out of ten displaced people are girls, boys, women and the elderly.
Plan International has warned that, after five seasons without rain, it has reached «an unprecedented emergency in Somalia», which this year alone has caused the displacement of 857,000 people.
Hunger is one of the main drivers of migration and family separation, also in Somalia, where the number of unaccompanied and separated children in 2022 has grown by 81 percent over the previous year.
«Refugee and migrant children and young people face increased risks of violence, exploitation and neglect. In particular, girls suffer discrimination based on their age and gender and are exposed to serious dangers as a result of sexual abuse and gender-based violence, child marriage and teenage and unwanted pregnancies,» stressed Plan International’s Director General, Concha Lopez.
«That is why the rights of girls and young migrant and refugee women must be a top priority in responses to emergencies, such as the one currently affecting Somalia,» she added.
The NGO also recalled that war is a major cause of hunger and migration. The conflict that has ravaged Somalia for more than three decades has already displaced 366,000 people from their homes. This crisis exposes young women and girls to higher levels of insecurity and difficulties in accessing services and resources, including vital humanitarian assistance for their survival, reminds Plan International.
The famine in Somalia is also the biggest hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa in 40 years. Unprecedented levels of food insecurity are affecting Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia. In the latter country, 4.5 million people have been displaced by conflict and drought, which has already devastated the livelihoods of 8 million people.
«Prolonged droughts are one of the many effects of climate change that are driving the heavy migrations in the Horn of Africa. Among the groups most affected by these displacements are young women farmers, who are forced to abandon their crops, thus losing their livelihoods and increasing their vulnerability,» said Rubén Expósito, Plan International’s food security expert.
RED ALERT Food is a right, so Plan International has declared a red alert to address the hunger crisis, which is causing an impact with serious damage and loss of life.
Today the number of people who have been forced to leave their homes around the world exceeds 100 million for the first time in history. Nearly 4 in 10, or 36.5 million people, are children forcibly displaced as a result of conflict and violence.
These figures are an obstacle to global progress, as in 2020 there were already some 281 million international migrants worldwide for work, education, family, conflict or persecution, of whom slightly less than half were women or girls.
Migration and forced displacement have a gender impact, as women and girls increase their role in the household to the detriment of their education, in addition to experiencing more problems of access to food, water, latrines, hygiene products and reproductive health care, as expressed by women and girls displaced as a result of the internal conflict in Somalia.
In addition, conflicts overlap with the effects of climate change and macroeconomic crises resulting from the situation in Ukraine and the consequences of COVID19 , causing a global context of overlapping crises never seen before, which in the last decade has caused more than 2.4 million displacements due to droughts and more than 1.1 million due to extreme temperatures.
In the future, the climate emergency will also condition global migratory movements. The World Bank estimates that, by 2050, climate impacts could force the internal displacement of 143 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America. In Africa alone, drought-related migrants could increase by 22 million by 2059.
PLAN INTERNATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS Plan International has been responding to drought across the Horn of Africa since early 2022 and remains on red alert for famine in eight priority countries, including Somalia. Activities in this country began in 2019 in Hargeisa with the promotion of children’s rights and equality for girls and young women within its humanitarian, protection and development programming.
Plan International’s operations in Somalia/Somaliland are carried out with the involvement of local partners in 6 regions – Maroodi-jeh, Sool, Sanaag in Somaliland, and Bay and Lower Juba in Somalia – and target the prevention of female genital mutilation and abandonment, the promotion of gender equality, hygiene and education, as well as cash and voucher assistance, the distribution of water, food and basic necessities, and sanitation actions.
To mitigate the impact of forced migration, Plan International promotes children’s rights and equality for refugee girls through youth empowerment, addressing inequality and rights violations, as well as ensuring access to education, child protection, food and economic security.
Plan International demands that government and migration policies prioritize the protection and well-being of children, ensuring that human rights and the best interests of all children are upheld.
It also urges States not to force children and their families to return to a country where they may face persecution of any kind and to eliminate restrictive migration policies that deny migrants essential services that put children at risk of violence, exploitation, abuse and poverty.
Finally, it calls on governments to allow children, especially girls, migrants and refugees, access to quality education and health care to develop their potential.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)