Innocent people trapped in conflict are #NotATarget!

Trócaire today launched its Christmas Appeal with an urgent call for the Irish public to support innocent people who are trapped in conflict and facing the threat of starvation.

Approaching the four-month anniversary of the Dahyan air strike in Yemen, which led to the death of 40 children after a Saudi Arabian aircraft bombed a civilian school bus, 

Trócaire staff and volunteers today staged a ‘guerrilla’ protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Dublin to emphasise that innocent children are #NotATarget. 
Trócaire also took their pop-up protests to city-centre locations, St Patrick’s Park and Grafton Street.

Trócaire’s Christmas Appeal will help starving families, who are struggling to survive in war-torn countries, including Yemen.

The UN has warned that Yemen is facing the worst famine the world has seen in a century as the country has been ravaged by a conflict between a Saudi/Emirati-led military alliance and Houthi rebels.

This Sunday marks four months since the August 9th Dahyan attack, which led to the death of over 50 people, including 40 schoolchildren. This strike – led by the Saudi armed forces, with a US-made bomb – was one of the most tragic examples of an ongoing conflict that has left 18 million people facing man-made ‘pre-famine’ conditions.

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With peace talks underway in Sweden between the warring parties, four Irish schoolchildren were present at today’s Trócaire events to emphasise that attacks on innocent children and civilians must cease immediately. It is estimated that one child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen from a preventable disease. 

Trócaire is working with local partners in Yemen to provide emergency water, sanitation and hygiene programmes to over 1,500 families.

Please donate to our Christmas appeal.

In other countries where Trócaire works, war and conflict is also leading to hunger and starvation. In South Sudan, over 4.5 million people have been displaced by the civil war that started five years ago.

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Trócaire has been in South Sudan since 2010, providing assistance to 90,000 people last year, while the development agency also continue to support large refugee camps in Uganda where over 1 million South Sudanese are based.

Trócaire CEO Caoimhe de Barra has called for all parties to bring an end to the conflict in Yemen, while pleading for the Irish public’s support to help families and people devastated by ongoing conflict across the world.

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“Innocent people are paying the price of what can only be deemed as a proxy war in Yemen, which has the backing of a number of western nations,” said De Barra. “Over 8 million people are reliant on food aid just to stay alive. The generosity of the Irish public is helping Trócaire to keep people alive in Yemen, as well as other countries destroyed by war.

“We work in over 20 of the world’s poorest countries, many of which have been ravaged by conflict. Civil war in South Sudan has left millions displaced, hungry and facing horrific abuses in the world’s youngest nation.

“Trócaire asks the Irish public to please support our Christmas Appeal in order to help people trapped in conflict and facing starvation. This Christmas you can help families facing war and starvation in places like South Sudan and Yemen.”
People can donate to Trócaire’s Christmas Appeal at www.trocaire.org/christmas

Please donate to our Christmas appeal.