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25 July 2024 (New York) – The number of children killed, injured or facing other grave violations in Sudan reached a record high in 2023 as a devastating conflict paralysed the State, the UN Secretary-General said in a report calling for urgent global action to address the escalating crisis.
The report submitted to the Security Council on the situation of children and armed conflict in Sudan covers the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023.
The report focuses on the impact of the conflict on children in Sudan, highlighting trends and patterns of grave violations such as the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, attacks on schools, hospitals and protected persons associated with schools and/or hospitals, abduction of children and denial of humanitarian access.
According to the UN report, at least 1,721 serious violations against children occurred in 2023, a significant increase from the 306 recorded in 2022.
The annual report on children and armed conflict also documents that more than 480 children have been killed, 764 have been maimed, and more than 200 have been recruited into the conflict.
The report states that at least 114 girls were raped or subjected to sexual violence.
The figures in the latest UN report are reportedly the highest recorded in the country since 2006, when the UN began systematically collecting information on six grave violations committed against children in the conflict.
The report further highlights trends and patterns of grave violations against children by all parties to the conflict in Sudan and details progress made since the previous report to end and prevent such violations.
The report also contains information on progress and challenges in engaging with parties to the conflict and in the implementation of the action plan and road map.
However, it stressed that while the United Nations has a responsibility to verify all reported grave violations, these figures are likely to be only a fraction of the true number of grave violations committed against children in Sudan over the past year due to ongoing violence in Sudan and the lack of access for monitors.
The report notes that since the conflict broke out in Sudan in mid-April 2023, children and their families have suffered increasing violence, hunger and displacement.
More than 4 million children have been forced to flee their homes, and worsening food shortages have left an estimated 5 million people, mostly children, malnourished.
The Secretary-General expressed concern about the alarming increase in serious violations since the outbreak of the conflict, in particular recruitment and use, killing and maiming, sexual violence and attacks on schools and hospitals.
“I urge all parties, in particular the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, to cease and prevent serious violations and to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” he said, calling on all parties to immediately commit to a lasting ceasefire.
The report calls on all parties to immediately take all necessary prevention and mitigation actions to avoid and reduce harm and better protect children during military operations, including by avoiding the use of explosive devices that kill or injure children and the use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas.
The Secretary-General’s report expresses concern about the increase in the recruitment and use of children and urges all parties to immediately and unconditionally release all children and hand them over to civilian child protection agencies in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
The report states that the Sudanese authorities must be held accountable for serious violations of children’s rights, bring perpetrators to justice and provide redress to victims.
(English stone)
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