Dina Mahmoud (Khartoum, London)
Regional and international organizations concerned with child protection have warned of the escalation of risks facing children in Sudan, while 100 hospitals have stopped working in Khartoum due to the ongoing crisis for the fourth month in a row.
The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces forced more than a million children to flee their homes with their families, along with killing and wounding thousands of others, in addition to the exposure of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese children to violations, according to estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund. UNICEF.
The continuation of the fighting also deprives millions of young people of access to basic services, especially education, food and health care, after the continuation of the battles in populated areas forced schools, care homes, medical facilities and shops to close their doors, both as a result of the destruction that occurred. or as a result of looting and looting.
Experts have warned that the current crisis leads to many Sudanese children becoming vulnerable to exploitation in various ways, and at the same time increasing the number of those living without their parents, which greatly exceeds the number of those who suffered from this before the outbreak of the crisis. It is estimated that at that time, they represented between 3 and 5% of the displaced children inside the country. Among the risks facing unaccompanied children, whose exact numbers are not yet available, are kidnapping and becoming victims of human trafficking gangs, in addition to exposure to assaults and violence of all kinds.
International experts have warned of the future consequences of the violations that Sudanese children are exposed to, in the midst of the current battles, which bring back to mind the crimes the Darfur region witnessed during the first decade of this century. They pointed out that the reports prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, regarding the disastrous consequences of the fighting in Sudan on the humanitarian situation, reveal that the young people there are subjected to all kinds of violations, especially since they represent the weakest segment of society, in light of the current circumstances. .
And the UNICEF organization concerned with protecting children has previously announced that the data available to it show that the battles in Sudan, during the first hundred days of them, resulted in the killing of more than 430 children, and the wounding of no less than 2,025 others, in a country that needs nearly 14 million children, to humanitarian support. In a related context, Sudanese Minister of Health Haitham Ibrahim confirmed that only about 30 hospitals out of 130 are still operating in Khartoum State, amid complex circumstances and great difficulties. Ibrahim added, in press statements, that the states that were most affected by the crisis are Khartoum and Darfur, explaining that the state of Khartoum was directly and greatly affected by health.
#million #children #displaced #crisis #Sudan