Mr. Chair, I rise to express Canada's deep concern about the serious humanitarian crisis in South Sudan and to discuss how our development and international humanitarian assistance efforts are responding to and adapting to the crisis.
For anyone who has been following the situation in South Sudan, it is heartrending. While the media have predominantly portrayed the crisis as the outbreak of tensions between President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president, Riek Machar, it is also fueled by ethnic tensions and driven by broader political motivations. The resulting conflict has left between 10,000 and 40,000 people dead and has displaced more than one million. Almost a quarter of these people have taken refuge in neighbouring countries, straining their resources and threatening to destabilize the region. Apart from the gravity and tragedy of the situation, South Sudan is a case in point about how daunting a task it is to build a new nation left fragile from decades of civil war and, therefore, how much care we need to take to continue to support South Sudan's journey to peace, stability, and prosperity.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war. The war left terrible scars. An estimated 90% of South Sudan's people live below the poverty line, and up to 40% of the population is considered food insecure. The child mortality rate is high, and the maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world. With the war over, a government in place ready to work with donor countries, and a resource-rich country with vast potential, South Sudan had every possibility of a bright future ahead of it. However, the country is still undeniably fragile. The war left many issues with Sudan unresolved, while South Sudan remained highly militarized and prone to intertribal conflict. Youth are vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups, while women remain subject to gender-based violence. In a society that already ceded them little control over their resources and few opportunities for advancement, they cannot realize their full potential and contribute to the stability of their families and communities.
The governance of the nation also remains weak. Apart from the current political divisions, the nascent government of South Sudan lacks capacity to promote economic growth, develop infrastructure, provide security, and deliver services such as health and education. Likewise, mechanisms to support good governance that we take for granted here in Canada are weak in South Sudan. Some 975 civil society organizations operate in South Sudan, and their capacity is limited, as is that of the private sector, which is held back by a lack of foreign investment and infrastructure, limited access to financing, and the basic skills of literacy and numeracy in the population.
While I say that the situation is dire, it is not without hope, and that is why Canada remains a player in South Sudan. Canada has remained committed to South Sudan's development as a new country. In the face of the considerable challenge of the current situation in that country, Canada's fundamental position has not changed, as South Sudan still represents tremendous potential for growth and stability, and its people are still just as deserving of safety, security, prosperity, and the ability to contribute to their communities.
Canada is following the current crisis closely and is determining how best to deliver our international development assistance in response to the evolving situation. For the present, it is true that conflict has interrupted some bilateral projects unavoidably, but many Canadian initiatives continue to operate. We also continue to work toward helping the people of South Sudan, both to meet the current crisis and to promote long-term development through partner organizations active in the field.
To address immediate humanitarian needs, Canada has provided nearly $25 million in response to appeals this year from the United Nations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and Canadian non-governmental organizations. These organizations were present in South Sudan before the current conflict and, as they have considerable reach throughout the country, it makes sense to focus our humanitarian assistance funding through them.
Together, these organizations are providing emergency food assistance, water, sanitation and hygiene, emergency medical care, emergency nutritional support, protection services, and shelter to vulnerable populations.
Canada will continue to closely monitor the situation and assess how best to support the evolving situation. Of particular concern are the more than one million people displaced by conflict both within South Sudan and as refugees in neighbouring countries. The upcoming rainy season will make the current humanitarian situation even worse, as roads become impassable and humanitarian organizations must resort to costly air drops of food to reach the most vulnerable.
Food insecurity remains another principal concern of our humanitarian assistance, though this has also been a perennial challenge in the country, even before the present situation. Before the conflict, more than 1 million South Sudanese were at risk of severe food insecurity this year. As a result of the crisis, now 3.7 million are at risk.
A second area of great hardship and great opportunity is maternal, newborn, and child health. Health indicators for women and children in South Sudan are among the worst in the world. South Sudan is one of Canada's priority Muskoka initiative countries. Accordingly, Canada is and will remain one of its top donors in maternal, newborn, and child health. Canada has taken a leadership role in addressing the health challenges faced by women, newborns, and children in the world's poorest countries, including South Sudan. Our G8 Muskoka initiative on maternal, newborn, and child health will save the lives of 1.3 million children and newborns, as well as more than 60,000 young mothers.
Canada will hold a summit that will provide civil society and the private sector, along with global and Canadian leaders in health, the opportunity to come together and build a consensus on where to focus efforts to maximize results for those in need. Canada has been given high praise for its leadership in this important area. All Canadians can be proud of our government's record in this important area.
Rosemary McCarney, coordinator for the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, said:
Canada came out of the gate when MDG 4 and 5 were the worst performing MDGs and Canada said we're going to do something about that, and get our G8 partners onto it, and kept going.
David Morley of UNICEF Canada recently praised our efforts. He said that “the Government of Canada [is] a global leader in maternal, newborn and child health”.
Even the Toronto Star gave the Prime Minister credit in a recent editorial, declaring:
Canada's contribution is almost twice what we might normally have been expected to provide.
It thanked our government for our ambitious leadership.
The third thrust of Canada's development program in South Sudan is governance. While the Government of South Sudan has made progress in recent years, for example, by holding a national constitutional review and passing key legislation to govern areas such as elections and financial accountability, many public institutions lack the systems and skills needed to carry out their core functions, deliver basic services, and fight corruption.
The current crisis has made it especially clear that broad participation of all South Sudanese in the country's future, one that encompasses an inclusive peace agreement and a comprehensive reconciliation process addressing the grievances that drive conflict, is necessary for long-term stability.
Of course, even if the current conflict were resolved in the near future, much more work would remain to be done. Canada recognizes the inherent risks and is working with our partners conscientiously and methodically to minimize them, work around them, and continually reassess them.
The South Sudan situation is dynamic, and our response must be correspondingly flexible, adapting the modalities and partners we work through to remain realistic in our expectations of future progress.
Above all, we must stay engaged to ensure that development gains are not lost. What will not change, however, is Canada's recognition of South Sudan as a viable development partner whose people deserve and have a friend in Canada.
