UNITED NATIONS, United States: The number of major violations against children in Sudan, from killings to abductions, has increased by 1,000 percent following two years of civil war, UNICEF said Monday, calling for increased global awareness.
The United Nations children’s agency said that such incidents — which also include maiming and attacks on schools and hospitals — had previously been confined to a few regions.
But the ongoing nature of the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s army had resulted in their spread to further areas.
“Two years of violence and displacement have shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
“The number of grave violations against children has surged by 1,000 percent in two years,” the statement said.
For example, the number of children killed or maimed has increased drastically from 150 verified cases in 2022 to an estimated 2,776 across 2023 and 2024, according to figures provided to AFP by UNICEF, which are likely underestimates.
Attacks on schools and hospitals have also gone up from 33 verified cases in 2022 to around 181 over the two prior years.
Furthermore, the number of children in need of humanitarian assistance has doubled in two years, from 7.8 million at the beginning of 2023 to more than 15 million today, UNICEF said.
“Sudan is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today, but it is not getting the world’s attention,” Russell said, adding “we cannot abandon the children of Sudan.”
“We have the expertise and the resolve to scale up our support, but we need access and sustained funding,” she said.
The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, first erupted in April 2023.
Since then, the conflict has left tens of thousands dead and displaced 13 million people, according to the UN.
Famine has additionally been declared in at least five locations, including the Zamzam displacement camp in Darfur, where the RSF recently wrested control.
With the arrival of the rainy season and the risk of flooding, the situation in Sudan could worsen further. According to UNICEF, this year’s rainy season could result in 462,000 children suffering severe acute malnutrition.
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