Catherine Bragg (centre) and Sitta Kai-Kai,
head of WFP (bottom right) with displaced
people living in the bush north of Kabo.

(Bangui/New York, 30 July 2009): United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Catherine Bragg, ended a five-day mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) with a call for improved protection of civilians in the country.

“Despite a general improvement of the situation in some areas, the situation is still very volatile and the displaced population remains traumatised,” said Ms. Bragg. “Fear is very evident amongst the people who had to repeatedly leave their villages and watch their homes and livelihoods being looted, burnt and destroyed,” she added.

She said the absence of the police and the judiciary in some areas has led to human rights violations and a culture of impunity.

Although some displaced people started to return to their places of origin in 2008, hostilities this year caused further displacement and slowed the momentum of return, she noted, expressing hope that efforts by all parties to restore peace and security will help limit displacement and encourage voluntary return of civilians to their homes.

Humanitarian agencies estimate that one million civilians are affected by conflict in the Central
African Republic, including 125,000 who are internally displaced.

Ms. Bragg also deplored the funding shortfall that humanitarian agencies continue to face. Current funding requirements amount to $97 million. Some $48 million of the total required for the humanitarian response remains outstanding.

During her visit, Ms. Bragg met President Francois Bozize and Prime Minister Faustin Archange Touadera. She also visited internally displaced people in the towns of Birao, Kabo and Paoua and had meetings with humanitarian workers in those areas.

Ms. Bragg said humanitarian organisations in some of the areas she visited still had difficulties accessing certain vulnerable groups due to insecurity and the bad state of roads and bridges, particularly during the rainy season.

The Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator urged the national authorities to ensure that humanitarian agencies had unhindered access to all those in need.

The full text of all press releases relating to this visit are available here:

Press release 1 - English (PDF) - 28 kb
Press release 2 - English (PDF) - 28 kb
Final Press release - English (PDF) - 24 kb

By Peter Moszynski, London

This article appears in the 15 November 2008 Edition of BMJ. (BMJ 2008; 337:a2464)

Frédéric Courbet/Merlin/Panos Pictures

An international campaign to support rural health workers in the developing world has been launched “to give people caught up in conflict, disaster, and health system collapse the chance to lead healthy lives.”

The Hands Up for Health Workers campaign (www.handsupforhealthworkers.org), run by the UK medical charity Merlin, aims to ensure that all health workers in the developing world receive a regular wage and that workers in remote and isolated areas receive incentives to stay.

The charity also wants to secure funding to train the additional health workers who are needed to deliver essential health care, and to refresh the skills of existing ones. All health workers should also be able to practise in a safe and secure working environment, it says.

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