22 July 2015- The sanctity of life should be paramount and everything should be done to protect civilians from risk and fear of death from violence in South Sudan, the UN top humanitarian official said in Juba today.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien was speaking at an UNMISS protection-of-civilians (PoC site), accompanied by Eugene Owusu, the new Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan.

"The (PoC site) is carrying many more people than it was originally designed for,” said the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. “People are doing their best to be both resilient and to support each other but they need a lot of support from the outside world with people who are here to give great humanitarian action and effect.”

Mr. O’Brien will be in the country from 22 to 25 July to see first-hand the humanitarian consequences of the conflict and efforts by aid organizations to respond to escalating needs.

During the four-day visit, he is expected to meet communities affected by the conflict, senior Government officials, humanitarian partners and the diplomatic community, to discuss the crisis and ways of strengthening the humanitarian operation.

Soon after his arrival yesterday, he met with women representatives at the PoC site, who he described as those who so often “have to carry the greatest burden when these terrible challenges happen in order to survive and to provide for their children”.

“I have been able to learn from them what it is like to have to escape from violence in order to come to a place of safety where we do everything we can to help them survive and to be able to build back their lives," said Mr. O’Brien.

Visiting an International Medical Corps clinic, which treats internally displaced persons for different conditions including cholera, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator noted that management of the disease was being done “in a way which is very disciplined”.

Asked by journalists about recent human rights reports of grave violations and abuses, Mr. O’Brien said it was vital to understand and record the abuses and called for accountability.

"We must do everything we can to bring back that hope and that promise that includes the respect for each other, and living under international humanitarian law and living under the rule of law, so everybody can feel both protected and have the same opportunities as everybody else to be able to build their lives,” he said.