About 7,600 children fleeing homes daily in Sudan: aid agency
November 27, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – About 7,600 children in Sudan are fleeing their homes daily, seven months after conflict broke out in the country, an analysis from an aid agency shows.
The conflict, Save the Children said, has now displaced one eighth of children in war-torn Sudan.
According to the agency, dozens of displaced children have sought urgent care as the result of horrific sexual violence, life-changing injuries and severe psychological distress due to the war.
Sudan is reportedly now the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with 3 million children from a population of about 23 million children, having fled violence since mid-April 2023 to seek shelter in camps, schools, displacement centres or in crowded homes with relatives.
Over 5 million people, the agency said, have been displaced within Sudan since the conflict began, with an additional 1.3 million people seeking safety and protection in neighbouring nations.
“We are seeing abhorrent levels of violence in Sudan. The human rights violations are severe, widespread, and ongoing – and yet the crisis is being entirely ignored. There is a prevailing climate of impunity. Children are being forced to flee, sometimes in the middle of the night to arrive at crowded gathering sites, where infectious diseases can spread easily,” said Arif Noor, Save the Children’s Country Director in Sudan.
He added, “Despite the magnitude of the needs, the necessary political and financial attention is not there. The Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) remains to be one third funded. This is despite Sudan having nearly 25 million people in desperate need of the basics – food, shelter, protection.
According to Save the Children, the most recent data showed that an estimated 350,000 children were displaced between the start of October and 15 November, including some children who had already been displaced but were forced to seek safety for a second or a third time.
Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is providing life-saving aid and children protection services together with national and international partners. Since the conflict broke out, the agency has reached 220,000 people, including 120,000 children and is operating medical and nutrition centres to provide food and other items for displaced families.
(ST)