Fighting in Sudan exposes children to abuse and threatens to exacerbate a “desperate” situation

At least nine children have died and humanitarian organizations fear the long-term effects of the current escalation of violence.

27 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Humanitarian organizations have expressed their concern about the effects that the fighting that has been taking place for more than a week in Sudan may have on children, where at least nine children have already died and another 50 have been injured and thousands of people may suffer the worsening of an “already desperate” situation.

The representative in Sudan of the UN Children’s Fund, Mandeep O’Brien, is blunt: “Boys and girls are the most affected by the conflict in Sudan.” “They are dying and their future is being taken away from them,” he said, alluding to the effects of violence on basic services such as education or health care and the lack of protection in a chaotic context.

Even before the current crisis, which pits the Sudanese Army against the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), 8.5 million children needed humanitarian aid, 2.7 million suffered from malnutrition and some seven million did not go to school, as recalls the director of Save the Children in the African country, Arshad Malik, who sees it as “urgent” to guarantee “urgently” access to food, water and medical care. “Their lives are in danger”, he has pointed out in a statement.

In this sense, the head of World Vision, Emmanuel Isch, has warned that “children run the risk of dying or suffering physical and developmental damage if they do not have access to food and nutritional aid.” “Without peace”, he added, “providing food assistance and nutritional support to extremely vulnerable children and their communities becomes much more difficult”.

A third of Sudan’s medical centers have stopped working — according to the World Health Organization — and basic issues such as vaccination campaigns are at risk. In the educational field, around a letter part of the children do not go to class due to the closure of schools, according to what the three organizations have exposed.

UNICEF, World Vision and Save the Children have demanded in a joint statement that the ceasefire be maintained and humanitarian assistance resumed. They also ask for guarantees so that they can receive the basic help they require and that they continue going to class, since every day they spend out of school brings them closer to non-return, especially in the case of girls.

Both these organizations and the UN special representatives for children in armed conflict and violence against children, Virginia Gamba and Najat Maalla M’jid, respectively, have warned of the risk of recruiting minors for armed groups in this type of context, a practice theoretically prohibited by international law.

The two UN representatives agree that “peace continues to be the best solution to stop abuses against children.” “We urge all parties to put peace commitments first and include specific sections on children,” they have proposed in a note. The “full protection” of children is the main objective.