Cabo Delgado: Psychosocial support reaching more than 1,000 children exposed to violence

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Cabo Delgado: Psychosocial support reaching more than 1,000 children exposed to violence

7:28 CAT | 06 Jun 2023

Photo: Twitter / @NorwayAmbMZB

Mozambique is providing psychosocial support to more than 1,000 children exposed to armed violence in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation announced on Monday at the Oslo Conference on Protecting Children in Armed Conflict.

Based on a strategic plan for Cabo Delgado, Veronica Macamo said at an international conference on the Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts, that “programs are under way” including “the identification, monitoring and provision of psychosocial support to more than 1,000 displaced children”, as well as “multiform support to more than 400 child victims of terrorism, through of their identification, reunification and monitoring”.

Other measures in Cabo Delgado include “the construction and equipping of a transit centre for victims of terrorist attacks, including unaccompanied children” and “the creation of community schools in resettlement zones”.

The situation in the north of Mozambique was the focus of Macamo’s speech in Oslo yesterday.

“In Mozambique, terrorist actions precipitated an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the north of the country, in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa, with around 800,000 people internally displaced, including children, some of whom witnessed or were forced to carry out terrorist acts,” Macamo said.

The minister also indicated that “terrorism in Mozambique is forcing and exposing hundreds of thousands of children to transnational organised crime networks and other security risks”.

The head of Mozambican diplomacy expressed the government’s commitment to “making efforts to prevent the violation of children’s rights and protect every Mozambican child, in particular children in areas affected by terrorist actions”.

Norway, together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Red Cross (ICRC) and the non-governmental organisation Save the Children, is hosting the international conference on protecting children in armed conflict, held in Oslo ( 5–6 June 2023).

The event is promoted in partnership with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency for five years with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, which has already displaced one million people (United Nations figure), and cost around 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, as well as destroying a great deal of infrastructure.

Had a great meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, H.E. Verónica Nataniel Macamo Dlhovo, to thank her for the commitment to peace-building and child rights.

Mozambique plays a key role to #ProtectChildrenInConflict – locally and globally. pic.twitter.com/r9pRhQ4W3j

— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) June 5, 2023

Children do not instigate war & conflict. But they suffer most from its consequences.

Thank you FM Macamo for participation at the International Conference in #Oslo today on #ProtectChildrenInConflict #SafeSchoolDeclaration pic.twitter.com/IrOQazsf9g

— Haakon Gram-Johannessen (@NorwayAmbMZB) June 6, 2023

450 participants, 80 states, many commitments to better protect children. The Oslo Conference on Protecting Children in Armed Conflict is coming to a close. But the real test is what happens for children on the ground. #ProtectChildrenInConflict pic.twitter.com/QkRyj4me5n

— Jo Becker (@jobeckerhrw) June 6, 2023

Source: Lusa