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European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
South Sudan
© FinnChurchAid/Maria de la Guardia, 2019
South Sudan

Introduction

9 million people, 72% of South Sudan’s population, require humanitarian assistance in 2024. 

7.1 million people are expected to experience severe food insecurity between April and July 2024, with thousands living in famine-like conditions. Undernutrition remains at critical levels for 1.65 million children. 

The Sudan conflict is generating an unprecedented wave of returns and arrivals (768,000 as of 25/07/2024), in addition to the 300,000 refugees already in the country. 

The EU remains committed to providing life-saving needs-based humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable.

What are the needs?

Elections are currently scheduled for December 2024. However, the security situation is not improving, with increased inter-communal violence resulting in civilian casualties, new displacements, and a very insecure environment for aid workers. Compounded with the consequences of climate change, macro-economic shocks, and the consequences of the war in Sudan, South Sudan is sinking further into the worst humanitarian crisis since independence.

More than 4 million people, or over 1/3 of the population, are displaced. This includes 2.2 million internally displaced and nearly 2.3 million who are living as refugees in neighboring countries.

South Sudan is hosting more than 460,000 refugees, including over 183,000 who have arrived since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, and nearly 585,000 South Sudanese who have returned from Sudan since April 2023.

View of the Renk transit centre in South Sudan, hosting Sudanese refugees
View of the Renk transit centre in South Sudan, hosting Sudanese refugees.
© European Union, 2023 (photographer: Olivier Beucher)

9 million people (54% of them children) will require humanitarian assistance in 2024, including over 8 million people estimated to become severely food insecure at the peak of the lean season between July and September. It is estimated that more than 1.6 million children will suffer from acute malnutrition during the same period. 

Health indicators are among the worst in the world, with 6.3 million people having limited access to essential healthcare services. Epidemic outbreaks, water-borne and endemic diseases are reported, particularly in sites for the internally displaced and congested settlements.

Beyond the huge logistical challenges, humanitarian actors operate in a volatile and complex  environment. Repeated acts of violence d against humanitarian workers and lootings of humanitarian assets negatively affect access and delivery of humanitarian aid.

Map South Sudan

How are we helping?

In 2024, the EU allocated €100.6 million for humanitarian actions covering the response to displacements, violence, and the consequences of the Sudan crisis across South Sudan. 

This includes €4 million to support static and mobile interventions for education in emergencies, focusing on primary education for newly displaced and out-of-school children.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are at a record high across the country. The EU is helping to reduce excess mortality and morbidity through emergency food assistance and nutrition interventions, including in hard-to-reach areas. 

Hands of children and adults taking food from a plate and bowls in the middle.
A South Sudanese mother and her children share a meal after receiving cash and cereals from the EU’s partner the World Food Programme
© WFP, 2023

In addition, EU humanitarian funds help address critical humanitarian needs through emergency lifesaving activities, particularly when facing new shocks, using integrated multi-sector approaches and mobile outreach teams. The opportunity to provide cash assistance is also supported.

EU-funded humanitarian projects also provide humanitarian protection assistance to communities affected by violence in the country, new displacement, and/or climate change.

The EU also supports the humanitarian response to the consequences of the Sudan crisis in border areas (camp management, onward transportation) and in the most vulnerable communities affected by the large number of returns.

The EU continues to strongly support principled humanitarian assistance and advocate for the protection of humanitarian workers and their safe and sustained access to all parts of the country.

Last updated: 26/07/2024

Facts & figures

9 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024 (OCHA)

8-9 million people estimated to require emergency food aid between July and September 2024 (FEWS NET Jun 2024 – Jan 2025)

Over 2.2 million people internally displaced (OCHA)

Around 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries (UNHCR)

EU humanitarian funding:
€100.6 million in 2024
Close to €1.2 billion since 2011