Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He has been very active in his role since being appointed and I commend him on all that he has done.

As the ethnic conflicts continue in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, the rest of the world has been faced with the question - should we involve ourselves in these crises? I believe we should get involved in any way we can in order to alleviate the human suffering that is going on. Ongoing crises, especially in lesser-developed countries, have a tendency to result in a mass of refugees, food shortages and health concerns. A number of years ago I travelled to the Benishangul-Gamuz region of Ethiopia as part of an Oireachtas delegation and spoke to a number of refugees there who had crossed the Sudanese border into Ethiopia. There were 5,000 such refugees living in camps in the area. They told me that they had crossed the border a number of times during their lives and that it was an ongoing crisis. These countries have divided governments, they lack basic infrastructure and are incapable of responding appropriately to the needs of their people. All three have the potential to become failed states and it is the responsibility of better-off countries to respond with humanitarian aid.

In Syria over 9 million people have been affected within the country's borders since the start of the conflict in March 2011. That figure includes the 6.5 million people who have been displaced, 2.5 million of whom are now in areas deemed hard to reach by international relief organisations, which is of the utmost concern. An additional 2 million people have fled Syria to seek refuge in the neighbouring states of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

In South Sudan approximately 688,000 people have been displaced as a result of the ongoing conflict, which has heightened since December. We read about it constantly in the newspapers. A total of 76,000 of these people are taking refuge at UN bases located throughout the country while 86,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries. I had the benefit of visiting one of the refugee camps in Ethiopia to see first-hand what was going on. Most of these 86,000 people have fled to Uganda. Since 2011 almost 3,000 people have been found dead and 200,000 have been displaced.

Delivering humanitarian aid to South Sudan has been particularly difficult because of insecurity, harassment of relief organisations and government-imposed restrictions limiting the activities of humanitarian groups. In the Central African Republic 12,000 members of the population are refugees from other fighting states, primarily Sudan, South Sudan and the Congo. An estimated 2.2 million people in a population of 4.6 million are in desperate need of life-saving emergency assistance. A total of 1.3 million people are considered food-insecure, which is an alarming figure. People have been forced from their villages by the fighting and into close quarters with poor sanitary conditions. This has resulted in a recent outbreak of measles, and it will be only the start. I am mindful of the fact that much of our aid should be targeted at certain areas and provision should be made for this when it is donated so that it reaches those who need it most. Citizens of all these states suffer from starvation, dehydration, illness and a lack of shelter. Because of the ethnic nature of the conflict it is also likely that acts of extreme discrimination and illegal violence are committed between struggling groups. These are commonly in the form of illegally detaining prisoners and using means of torture during interrogation.

In addition to the aforementioned issues facing these states, gender-based violence and child abuse have increased incredibly since the start of the conflicts. Historically this has been the norm during times of war, but on top of the increased violence, women and children are among the most vulnerable of the population in these conflicts. In Syria, not only have instances of rape and kidnapping become more frequent, but Syrians are also taking part in the practice of child marriage. This issue primarily affects young women and girls and has a detrimental impact not only on their lives but also on those of their families. Parents have resorted to engaging in this practice because they see it as a form of bartering and a necessity to survive. These young girls often additionally suffer from rape by their new older husbands and become very young mothers. In many cases this endangers their own health because of the inefficient systems in the country.

In some areas of South Sudan up to 80% of displaced people are women and children. In this more conservative patriarchal society, men are sent out to war or murder as a by-product of conflict between ethnic groups, and when killed they leave their women and children behind to fend for themselves, but they are often very ill-equipped. These women have no jobs, income or means of supporting their families. In the Central African Republic it is difficult to tell whether instances of rape have increased because the country has been engaged in conflict of one kind or another over the past 50 years. These rates remain high. Approximately half the population of the Central African Republic are children and the government has resorted to the recruitment of child soldiers to the military forces, which is very alarming. In addition to this violation of human rights, 50% of schools have closed and 70% of students do not attend school for fear of violence. Women and children in the Central African Republic face kidnapping, torture, sexual violence and other ill-treatment on a daily basis.

The incredible number of refugees produced by each of the countries we are discussing creates humanitarian crises within the respective state borders and also places a huge strain on the resources of neighbouring countries taking in refugees, which creates even more widespread need. Ireland has taken steps to participate in humanitarian relief missions in these nations and I commend the Minister of State, the Tánaiste and the Department on donating to the UN and other channels and keeping this going at a time when it is very difficult to do so. If we can do more we should do so.

Many organisations have been established specifically to assist women and children, such as UNICEF and the Women's Refugee Commission. The WRC conducts investigations on the ground and makes recommendations to the UN Refugee Agency on how its services work for women and children in the area. Organisations such as the Office of Transition Initiatives focus more on policy change. I call on the Department to link up with some of these organisations - perhaps it already has - and engage in detailed talks on the situation for women and children in each of these areas. The primary purpose of these organisations is to increase the role of women in government and civil society and encourage the participation of women in the political process. Until women are part of the political discussion in these countries, significant change affecting their livelihoods and those of their children for the better will not be made. For this reason I ask the Minister of State to carefully consider the need to apportion funding specifically to gender-based organisations and civil society or to make provision for it when sending aid money to a particular country.