NEW STATISTIC REVEALS WELL UNDER 3% OF HUMANITARIAN
APPEALS FUNDING IS SPENT ON PROTECTING CHILDREN IN WAR1
War Child UK releases hard-hitting video in ambitious attempt to transform
humanitarian system.
War Child UK today launches its most ambitious campaign yet urging reform in the humanitarian
system which currently neglects the needs and rights of children in war.
A shocking new statistic released by the child protection charity reveals that less than 3% of
humanitarian funding is spent on protecting children in war zones, despite them making up more than
50% of the population. The campaign is targeting the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit to
ensure that this unjust disparity is addressed.
The HELP campaign has been launched with a hard-hitting, thought-provoking video, ‘Duty of Care’,
which subverts first-person shooting games by showing the horror of war through the eyes of Nima,
a nine-year-old girl. The scenarios in the gaming-style video, including witnessing the shooting of
a parent, are drawn from real-life testimonies of children in War Child’s projects across Africa and the
Middle East.
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War Child UK statistic calculated from UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service data of funding to protection cluster to the
thirteen countries continuously on the agenda of the UN Security Council for 2010 to 2014 inclusive where children have
been affected by conflict as listed in Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict's
(SRSG-CAAC) annual report. This figure is highly conservative as the ‘Protection Cluster’ includes protection of adults as
well as children and is inclusive of three additional sector areas to child protection (Land, housing and property; Human
Rights and Gender-based violence).
The summit, which will determine the fates of millions of children worldwide, takes place in May 2016.
An initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, it aims to ‘redefine humanitarian action’. It is the
first event of its kind and will bring together governments, humanitarian organisations, people
affected by humanitarian crises and new partners in an attempt to make humanitarian action ‘fit for
the future’.
War Child is calling upon the UK Government to seize this unique opportunity and use its influence
to prevent grave violations occurring against children in conflict emergencies. The new campaign
comes with less than 10 days remaining for inputs into the public consultations to the summit.
War Child UK CEO, Rob Williams OBE said:
“We know that child protection interventions in war save lives. In humanitarian emergencies, tangible
forms of aid take precedence over protection and education which are chronically underfunded. The
truth is, whilst food, water and shelter are daily necessities, they do not keep a child in war safe from
harm.”
2014 was the worst year on record for children affect by conflict and 2015 has seen further
deterioration, being dubbed the ‘year of fear for children’ by UN Envoy for Education, and former UK
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. 2
Williams added:
“The HELP campaign aims to ensure that children are no longer by-passed by the humanitarian system
but put at the centre of what humanitarianism is trying to achieve – saving lives and ensuring a
peaceful return to dignity and self-reliance.”
Notes to editors
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For more information, please contact Gemma Cropper at War Child gemmac@warchild.org.uk
02079169276, 07764 989 343.
War Child’s HELP campaign is seeking large-scale public support in the form of an online
petition. For more information on the HELP campaign go to www.warchild.org.uk/help
For more information on The World Humanitarian Summit, please visit
https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/
London-based agency TOAD and their Creative Directors Guy Davidson and Daniel Clarke
teamed up with Heydon Prowse from The Revolution Will Be Televised, director Daniel
Luchessi and the post production team at H&O and OgilvyOne to create ‘Duty of Care’, the
gaming-style video for War Child’s new HELP campaign.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/may/26/2015-is-year-of-fear-for-childrenworldwide-warns-gordon-brown