by As the brutal conflict in Sudan hits 100-days, Unicef has received reports of a staggering 2,500 severe violations of children’s rights — an average of at least one an hour. As these are just the numbers reported to Unicef sources, the true figure is likely to be far higher, and a grim reminder of the day-to-day impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable, in a country where almost 14 million children need humanitarian support.
“The scale of the impact that this conflict has had on children in Sudan in the past 100 days is almost beyond comprehension,” said Ted Chaiban, Unicef Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, who is in Sudan this week. “Parents and grandparents who lived through previous cycles of violence are now having to watch their children and grandchildren experience similar horrific experiences. Each and every day, children are being killed, injured, abducted, and seeing the schools, hospitals and the vital infrastructure and life-saving supplies they rely on damaged, destroyed or looted.”
At least 435 children have been reported killed in the conflict, and at least 2,025 children injured.
In addition to those killed and injured, Unicef has received alarming reports of escalating attacks against health facilities in parts of Sudan. An estimated 68 per cent of hospitals in the worst-affected areas have had to suspend service and at least 17 hospitals have reportedly been bombed. Several more hospitals are believed to have been turned into military bases, and there have been repeated reports of ambulances coming under attack.
Families uprooted
Over three months into the conflict, millions of families have been uprooted from their homes by the violence. Before the crisis, nearly 3.8 million people were internally displaced in Sudan, 1.9 million of whom were children. 1.7 million additional children have been driven from their homes and are now on the move within Sudan and crossing its borders, vulnerable to hunger, disease, violence, and separation from their families. Reports of abductions, recruitment of children into armed groups, ethnically targeted violence, and gender-based violence against women and girls are also on the rise, with 4.2 million women and girls at risk of Gender-Based Violence.
Restricted movement remains a key obstacle to delivering much needed aid to those in desperate need. Combined with the destruction and looting of critical supplies and facilities, this has left at least 690,000 children exposed to severe acute malnutrition and 1.7 million children under the age of one risk missing critical vaccinations, raising the risk of disease outbreaks.
Even before conflict erupted in Sudan three months ago, malnutrition rates among children under five years were on the rise. Three million under five children suffered from acute malnutrition, of whom 612,000 were severely malnourished. But as the fighting continues, tens of thousands of families on the move now find themselves at particular risk of food shortages and poor nutrition. This has resulted into an increase in the overall estimates of acute malnutrition among under five children to 3.4 million, of whom 690,000 are severely malnourished.
“The past 100 days have shown that — as in any conflict — the direct and indirect impacts for children and families are devastating, and without concerted action, including the commitment of the parties to the conflict to stop the fighting and uphold international law, severe violations of children’s rights will only worsen,” said Chaiban.
Source: Unicef
