PORT SUDAN, Sudan, 26 June 2024 – Children across Sudan are continuing to pay a devastating price for the conflict that has ravaged the country, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned, following a visit to Port Sudan. More than half of the country’s 24 million children – some 14 million – are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and almost all of Sudan’s children are not in school.
Reports of serious rights violations against children continue at an alarming rate, with more than 3,800 children reportedly killed or injured since the escalation in April 2023. In North Darfur, more than 400 children have reportedly been killed and maimed in the recent escalation in the fighting in and around El Fasher, while the continued use of explosive weapons in populated areas is creating further risks for children and families. Civilians are trapped in the fighting and less than a week ago the Saudi Maternity Hospital, the remaining functioning hospital providing maternal and paediatric services in El Fasher, was shelled.
More than 400 children reportedly killed or injured in Sudan’s El Fasher in past seven weeks while hunger continues to haunt the country’s children……..