UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson travels to South Sudan to meet children in a country under threat from global funding cuts

JUBA/NEW YORK, 27 October 2025 - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson visited South Sudan last week to see the impacts of economic shocks, climate change, poverty, and insecurity on children's lives, especially girls, against a backdrop of severe global cuts to official development assistance.

During the six-day visit, Neeson met mothers of children with severe acute malnutrition, and heard stories about the importance of life-saving treatment services. In South Sudan, 2.3 million children are currently at risk of severe malnutrition, with nearly half of those at risk of mortality without immediate treatment. This is an increase of 10.5 per cent from last year, and a figure likely to rise in the coming months. Across the country, funding cuts have already resulted in the closure of 186 nutrition treatment sites, leaving vulnerable mothers and young children without vital services.

"I visited the main referral hospital in the capital Juba and was deeply saddened by seeing so many malnourished children. They are hauntingly quiet when they should be laughing, sleeping when they should be playing, crying when they should be smiling," said Neeson. "With treatment sites closing around the country, I ask myself what will happen to those children?"

UNICEF works across South Sudan to both treat children with severe malnutrition, and prevent it, by improving diets, and providing supplements for pregnant women and children under five.

"In Bor, Jonglei State, I met Ajier, mother of seven-month-old Lual Malek. She came to the nutrition centre after a community volunteer saw that baby Lual was losing weight. He was admitted to the outpatient programme, and after three weeks he is putting on weight again," said Neeson. "It's clear this treatment is working - volunteer mothers in villages and communities are finding and referring mothers whose children need to be in the programme. Ajier and many other mothers I met were very clear: without these programmes, their children would not have survived."

During the visit, Neeson also met young men and women who had been forced into child marriage or recruited into gangs, who shared their stories of poverty and difficult childhoods.

In South Sudan, 50 per cent of girls are at risk of child marriage, and 75 per cent of girls and women will experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. As well as offering comprehensive services to women and girls who are survivors of violence, UNICEF - with assistance from donors - supports youth centres that give children and young people opportunities in creative and vocational skills as a pathway into formal education.

One former gang member, Alaak Kuku, has set up the Young Dreamers Sports Academy that now hosts 2,000 children, both boys and girls, to participate in football, basketball and volleyball games each week.

"I was hugely impressed by Kuku," said Neeson. "Despite experiencing many challenges when he was growing up, with a little support and a lot of dreams and hope, he has built up a fully-fledged sports academy, with UNICEF and donor support. It's a powerful reminder that we should never write off young people, however challenging their situations. Kuku is proof of how much can be achieved with the right support - with benefits not just for himself, but for many other children also living on the streets or in gangs."

In recent months, child protection programmes in South Sudan have seen significant cuts in funding, leaving less than five social workers per 100,000 children, down from 25. More than 500 trained social workers across the country are now out of work, leaving vulnerable children with no support or safety net.

''Liam Neeson's visit comes at a critical time when we desperately need to shine a light and bring attention to the children of this young nation, just 14 years old," said UNICEF Country Representative in South Sudan Noala Skinner. "Against a backdrop of declining foreign assistance which has had a profound impact on services for children here, UNICEF is grateful to the donors and partners that continue to support the children of South Sudan and the programmes we saw this week. Now, more than ever, we need sustained investments for children - through increased domestic resources, continued foreign assistance and access to every child wherever they are."

Neeson's visit comes at a time when many governments around the world are scaling back foreign assistance. UNICEF is warning that these cuts are putting young lives and futures at risk. UNICEF expects a minimum 20 per cent drop in income over the coming four years.

"The world cannot turn its back on children like those I met in South Sudan," said Neeson. "Funding cuts are threatening lifesaving programmes for children across the world. Investing in children so they are healthy, safe and learning makes societies stronger, healthier, more stable and peaceful. Children shouldn't have to fend for themselves. We either stand with them now or watch their future slip away."