Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 7 October 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade

Humanitarian Crisis in South Sudan: International Committee of Red Cross

10:00 am

Mr. Franz Rauchenstein:

The educational system is very bad; there are 10% of children attending primary school. Secondary school attendance is absolutely marginal, so education must be addressed very soon. In conflict areas, schooling is for the time being very rudimentary. The country is in an economic crisis and there is a very blatant black market, with the value of the local currency decreasing, which makes it very difficult for enterprises to import, buy dollars and make the economy advance. We are in a sequence where people are leaving the country and are not interested in working there. This could of course be turned around but for the time being, that is not the case.