Geneva Palais briefing note: Sudan - A crisis of neglect

ATBARA, Sudan/GENEVA 13 August 2024 – “Sudan’s humanitarian crisis for children is, by numbers, the biggest in the world. It is also a crisis of neglect. So many of the countless atrocities upon children in Sudan have gone unreported, often as a result of very limited access.

“On Saturday morning a local boy’s football team was playing at a UNICEF Child-Friendly Space in Khartoum State when a shell hit the football field. Two boys were killed; almost the entire team was injured. I met these children, both in hospital, and at UNICEF’s Child Friendly Space. They are distraught.

“Yesterday I spoke to a senior medical worker who gave an insight into the magnitude of sexual violence during this war. She explained she had direct contact with hundreds of women and girls, some as young as 8, who have been raped. Many were held captive for weeks on end. She also spoke of the distressing number of babies, born after rape, who are being abandoned.

“Thousands of children have been killed or injured in Sudan’s war. Sexual violence and recruitment are increasing. And the situation is even worse where an ongoing humanitarian presence remains denied.

“Five million children have been forced to flee their homes – a staggering average of 10,000 girls and boys displaced every single day – making Sudan the world's largest child displacement crisis. Many of those have had to do so multiple times.

“For more than a year we have been saying Sudan’s children can’t wait. Well, now they are dying. Famine in Zamzam camp is the first determination of famine by the Famine Review Committee in more than seven years and only the third time a famine determination has been made since the monitoring system was created 20 years ago.

“We must be very clear: Without safe and unimpeded access, and the removal of hinderances - particularly cross-border and crossline - this month’s determination of famine in one part of Sudan risks spreading and leading to a catastrophic loss of children’s lives.

“Beyond Zamzam, an additional 13 areas in Sudan are on the brink of famine. They are home to a staggering 143,000 children already suffering the most lethal type of malnutrition. Experts do not give projections for mortality, but the current situation necessitates that governments with influence, and donors, acknowledge the following:

"Without action, tens of thousands of Sudanese children may die over the coming months. Tens of thousands. And that is by no means a worst-case scenario. Any disease outbreak will see mortality skyrocket. Disease is our great fear. If there is a measles outbreak, or diarrhoea or respiratory infections – remembering that in the current living conditions, and with heavy rains and flooding, these diseases spread like wildfire- the terrifying outlook for children in Sudan dramatically worsens.

“Today the children and families of Sudan urgently need:

• unimpeded and safe humanitarian access using all routes, across lines of conflict (particularly Darfur, Khartoum, and Kordofan) and through Sudan’s borders;
• the respect of international humanitarian and human rights law
• a massive scale-up in donor funding so as to prevent the collapse of essential systems by paying frontline workers, providing lifesaving supplies, and maintaining critical infrastructure
• an immediate ceasefire.

“Amid this complex catastrophe for children, UNICEF is staying and delivering. To date, 2024 results include: UNICEF and partners have reached five million children and families with safe drinking water, more than three million people with critical health supplies, and another three million with malnutrition screening. UNICEF continues to move lifesaving nutrition supplies through crossline and cross-border operations sufficient to treat 215,000 severely malnourished children. Imagine what UNICEF and partners can do with more access.

“To end where I started this briefing: the killing of the children playing football. The captain and team’s best player was also one of its youngest. The shrapnel from the shell killed him. When I asked his teammates when they hoped to play again, their response was uniform: “Never”.

“By turning a blind eye to Sudan, and by ignoring immense suffering, the warring parties and the international community continue a dangerous precedent for global apathy towards children.”

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