Today’s announcement of $500,000 to UNICEF is addressing the humanitarian needs of women and children affected by conflict on Mindanao island in the Philippines.
Canada is supporting UNICEF’s operations that are improving the health, well-being and protection of children, women and their families by providing:
- safe drinking water, latrines and hygiene kits to 15,000 people, including 8,400 children;
- nutrition interventions, including breastfeeding support and micronutrient supplementation, to an estimated 8,400 children under the age of five and 6,600 pregnant and lactating women; and
- emergency education services and psychosocial support for more than 10,000 schoolchildren.
Canada’s additional support in Mindanao
In 2014, Canada has contributed to additional humanitarian efforts underway in Mindanao by theInternational Organization of Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to support conflict-affected families, particularly women and children.
Canada’s contributions are supporting IOM’s efforts to improve the coordination and management of camps for more than 25,000 internally displaced people in 10 evacuation centres and 4 temporary shelters, as well as improving conditions at temporary shelters by providing privacy partitions for approximately 4,000 families in evacuation centres.
Canada is also supporting UNHCR’s operations in Mindanao to provide protection services (such as monitoring, legal assistance, civil documentation) for approximately 67,000 conflict-affected people in southern Philippines, appropriate support to survivors of sexual violence in conflict-affected areas of southern Philippines, and technical assistance to support the Government of the Philippines to fulfill its commitments as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.
Canada’s role in responding to humanitarian crises
Canada helps save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain the dignity of people in developing countries affected by conflict, natural disasters, and situations of food insecurity requiring a humanitarian response by providing funding to support the appropriate, timely, and effective response of multilateral, international and Canadian humanitarian agencies.