Save the Children outlines the “Vulnerabilities Created and Exacerbated by the Covid-19 Pandemic” before the House of Commons Standing Committee

Toronto, December 3, 2020– Today Rachel Logel Carmichael, Head of Humanitarian Affairs and Taryn Russell, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children Canada spoke before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAEE) in response to the committees study on, “Vulnerabilities Created And Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Save the Children’s comments and recommendations to the committee come from experience working to address children’s needs and rights in humanitarian and development settings for more than 100 years.  Every year, Save the Children responds to close to 80 emergencies across 114 countries, including in Canada where Save the Children supports Indigenous community-led emergency response. This year, Save the Children launched its largest ever response due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Logel Carmichael illustrated the devastation through a story of a young child in Yemen, receiving treatment for severe malnutrition. The impact of the war and pandemic has caused this child’s mother to struggle to feed her family because of loss in household income combined with the increased price of food, water and basic items related to high transport costs due to border closures. Logel Carmichael made it clear that countries such as Yemen already were in states of despair with 25% of the population suffering from malnutrition prior to the pandemic and the UN has raised alarms on the risk of famine.

Logel Carmichael went on to note relevant points:

• The combination of Covid-19, conflict and climate change has drastically increased risks for children
• An estimated 10 million children will never return to school
• There has been a one-third reduction in progress toward ending GBV by 2030 and an additional 2.5 million girls are at risk of child marriage by 2025
• Funding alone is not enough. Active conflict significantly weakens countries’ abilities to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing violence is hindering the battle against the outbreak, whilst pushing millions to the brink of conflict-induced famine

The COVID 19 pandemic has brought on a child’s rights crisis and the immediate need for Canada to be involved in the eradication of this humanitarian issue. Logel Carmichael and Russell shared 3 major recommendations on behalf of Save the Children Canada:

1. Canada’s humanitarian response should be scaled up, timely and targeted to where it is needed the most.
2. Canada should scale up urgently needed flexible funding for neglected response areas including child protection programming and gender based violence prevention, mitigation and response. This should include mental health, psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health services and information for child survivors of violence.
3. Canada should support efforts for a global education emergency plan. This plan should ensure all children continue to learn while schools are closed through inclusive distance learning, that every child is supported to return to school when it’s safe to do so and that governments and donors invest in education now so we can build better education systems for the future.