The Issue
Sudan has been at war for most of its history. The civil war between North and South lasted over twenty years, cost about 2 million human lives and forced 4 million people to flee their homes. It ended in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

A major component of this Peace Agreement is a referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011 that will determine whether South Sudan stays with or separates from the North. Whatever the outcome, it will be a major turning point for the country.

Although the Peace Agreement ended the worst of the fighting between North and South Sudan, conflict continues in the South. In 2009, conflict resulted in the deaths of 2,500 people and forced 350,000 people to flee from their homes.

Sudan faces great challenges in meeting children’s most basic, daily needs. Each year, 670,000 children under the age of five die from preventable diseases and one out of every seven children will die before their fifth birthday. Of all children enrolled, only two per cent finish primary school. Also, the ongoing violence and conflict puts children at great risk of additional harm. Many children have become separated from their families. Conflict and separation make children vulnerable to exploitation, whether sexual exploitation, or being forced to do dangerous work or to fight in armed forces.

To address these serious threats and challenges to children and their families, the international community must remain a partner of the Government of Southern Sudan long after the referendum.

What World Vision is Doing
World Vision has been working in Southern Sudan since 1989. Currently, we are assisting children and communities with access to health care, clean water and sanitation, food assistance, promotion of agriculture and by supporting local peace building initiatives. We also help those who’ve been forced to flee their homes or affected by conflict or natural disasters.

In addition, from its offices around the world, World Vision brings the situation of Sudan to the attention of governments. We ask for Southern Sudanese children to be protected, cared for and supported in their development. We also ask for people in power—governments in Sudan and other governments providing assistance—to work towards lasting peace and development in Sudan. In Canada, World Vision speaks directly to the Canadian government and also joins with other concerned organizations to offer recommendations for what our government can do to make a difference.

We are requesting more support to building peace in South Sudan. Specifically, we are asking that the Canadian government, other governments and humanitarian organizations:

• help Sudanese people get equitable access to work and economic opportunities—to prevent fighting over land, cattle, water and food;

• strengthen and give authority to traditional, community-level Sudanese systems for resolving disputes and building peace, where appropriate;

• the Canadian government, other donors, and humanitarian organizations must ensure that all aid projects are careful not to create conflicts, nor to make existing conflicts worse, and that wherever possible, their projects actually contribute to building peace in Sudan;

• the Canadian government and other donors should provide resources and support to help all levels of government in Southern Sudan to build their ability to prevent conflict or quickly stop conflicts from growing;

• neighbouring countries must come together to help Southern Sudan negotiate a complete withdrawal of the violent rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), from Sudan and from elsewhere in the region;

World Vision also makes recommendations for how to protect, care for and support the development of children in South Sudan. These include:

• ensuring that children have safe places to play, as well as food, shelter, clean water, health care and education facilities;

• identifying and ensuring that vulnerable children have the proper registration and documents so that they can access basic services like health care and education;

• given that so many children are living in the middle of conflict and humanitarian crises, a high priority must be placed on funding activities that keep children safe, and that help them to live healthy, happy, active lives in their communities;

• implementing a strong family tracing and reunification process to ensure that separated children can reunite with their families and not be recruited into armies or militias;

• the Government of South Sudan, the UN Mission in Sudan, and donors should give proper attention to supporting disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes for child soldiers, so that those children can leave armed forces, give up their weapons safely, and be helped to re-enter society;

• the Government of South Sudan and donors must make education a top priority for investment; the education system must allow children who have missed out on schooling to re-join easily and safely; peace building initiatives should be included in all schools;

• the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan must ensure that providers of humanitarian assistance can access all parts of the country, especially the most hard-hit communities;

• the Canadian government and other donor governments must help ensure that enough aid is provided to communities hit by emergencies.

What You Can Do
Read more about the situation in South Sudan and World Vision’s work there.

Support World Vision’s work with children and families affected by emergencies. Become a Crisis Child Partner and help children facing problems like hunger, disasters, HIV and AIDS and exploitation.

Help address the causes of child poverty and its impacts by joining World Vision’s Justice Network.