Sudan Faces The World’s Largest Child Displacement Crisis

Children in Sudan, a country in Northeast Africa, have been suffering because of a conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) has said, “Sudan is now the largest child displacement crisis in the world.”

UNICEF said that over 200 days of war left a generation of children in Sudan on the brink. UNICEF said in a statement, “Children continue to pay the highest price for a crisis not of their making. Increasingly with their own lives.”

What happened to Sudan’s children?

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund said, “Sudan is now the largest child displacement crisis in the world, with a recorded 3 million children fleeing widespread violence in search of safety, food, shelter and health care—most within Sudan.”

Children in Sudan are bearing the consequences of the war. Hundreds of thousands of children have taken shelter in camps in neighboring countries because of the war.

In a huge blow to children’s rights, continuous violence and hunger have taken an appalling toll on children in Sudan. Most children are living in fear of being killed, injured, recruited or used by armed actors.

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14 million children in Sudan need urgent humanitarian assistance

Around 14 million children in Sudan are in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian assistance. Amid the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, they are living in a state of perpetual fear because of the war between Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. 

Child rights violations continue to spike in Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofans. UNICEF has already received allegations of over 3,100 severe violations of child rights, including the killing and maiming of children.

Around 19 million children in Sudan are unable to attend classes, making it one of the worst education crises in the world.   

Around 7.4 million children in Sudan lack safe drinking water. They are at serious risk of cholera, dengue, measles and malaria. Nearly 700,000 children in Sudan with severe acute malnutrition are at risk of dying without treatment.

Women in Sudan have also been suffering because of the conflict. Plight of Sudan’s women often goes unnoticed. According to the UN, various cases of sexual violence were reported, with the culprits often being identified as members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). They were abducted and held ‘in slave-like conditions’ in the Darfur region. UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell said that some women were also kidnapped.

It is important to end the crisis and ensure the safety of children and women in Sudan.