51% of Sudan’s displaced people are children: UNHCR

July 20, 2024 (PORT SUDAN) – Children in Sudan account for about 51 percent of the displaced people, making the war-torn nation one of the world’s largest child displacement crises, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.

As of mid-June 2024, it revealed, more than 8.6 million persons were forcibly displaced, including 1.9 million who have fled to Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda.

Also of concern is the fact that children face a wide range of protection risks at every stage of their displacement – before, during, and after their flight.

Such risks, UNHCR noted, include grave violations of children’s rights, restricted access to safety, separation from families, gender-based violence, psychosocial distress, immigration detention, trafficking, and limited access to child protection services, including along the route to safety.

Displaced parents, older siblings, and families face a multitude of protection risks that impact the well-being of children, including lack of access to protection and basic services, abuse, harassment, and exploitation.

There are reports of increasing incidents of child trafficking in Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, particularly involving youth aged between 19 and 27 years old from Khartoum, West and Central Darfur, Blue and White Nile States.

Most of them are enroute to the Gulf States, Europe, and other destinations.

In South Sudan, 56 percent of Sudanese refugees are under the age of 18. Many of them have witnessed or experienced violent events, including attacks and sexual assaults.

Additionally, many children reportedly travel or arrive at border crossing points unaccompanied and too often arrive weak and malnourished.

In Uganda, 43 percent of the 40,268 registered individuals by the government are children of whom 37 percent are children at risk.

Many of these children have reportedly witnessed and experienced violence, including bombing, looting, and occupation of their homes, hospitals, playgrounds, and schools.

Since the onset of the Sudan conflict and as of 27 June 2024, UNHCR Egypt has provided registration appointments to 631,424 persons forced to flee Sudan, of which 325,140 (51%) individuals have been fully registered.

UNHCR and partners have reportedly identified 18,196 children at risk, including 7,485 unaccompanied and separated children.

Meanwhile in Chad, with increased ethnic conflicts, the number of new arrivals from Sudan has tripled since the beginning of the year with children representing 54 percent of the total registered refugee population.

UNHCR, in collaboration with the Government of Chad, has reportedly identified over 10,479 children at risk, including 3,154 unaccompanied and separated children.

Although the government is currently relocating refugees from the borders to refugee sites, access to refugee camps and provision of child protection and other services remains a challenge.

With the dry season looming, armed group activities and associated protection risks remain prevalent, and lack of access to the new Sudanese refugee arrivals, especially in the South-East, remains a significant challenge for humanitarian actors.

The horrors of conflicts like Sudan’s most certainly creates a detrimental and long-lasting impact on the mental health of children unless they receive the urgent support they need.

(ST)