10 children killed in Sudan’s Al Jazirah state violence: UNICEF
October 28, 2024 (NEW YORK) – At least ten children were reportedly killed in escalating violence in Sudan’s Al Jazirah State, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICE) said.
“I am deeply alarmed by the spiralling violence against children and families in Sudan’s Al Jazirah State. Reports of mass killings, widespread sexual violence against women and girls, and the destruction of homes and livelihoods are appalling,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
“In just the past week, at least 124 people were reportedly killed in Al Jazirah – including at least ten children, some as young as ten years old – while at least 43 children were injured,” she added.
Russell said UNICEF also received devastating reports that multiple girls, as young as 13, have been subjected to rape and sexual assault and that children have been detained. In addition, however, more than 9,000 households, including over 45,000 people, were reportedly forced from their homes in Tamboul and its surrounding villages between 20 and 27 October 2024.
“This violence is part of a vast man-made humanitarian catastrophe which has already killed and injured thousands of children, displaced more than 11 million people and left millions more in extreme peril. Sudan is now home to the world’s largest displacement and humanitarian crisis – a crisis that is increasingly impacting the broader region,” she stated.
Meanwhile UNICEF called for an immediate end to the violence, stressing that parties to the conflict must cease the deliberate targeting of civilians and grave violations against children.
They [parties] must also immediately release children who have been detained, it further noted.
“We also call on the parties to uphold international humanitarian law, to protect civilians and civilian objects, and to allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian aid workers. Right now, administrative barriers imposed by parties to the conflict, as well as security conditions, are compromising delivery of the life-saving assistance these children and families so desperately need,” stressed Russell.
She added, “The world cannot stand by while Sudan’s children face unspeakable horrors. We must act now to safeguard their future and uphold their right to safety and peace.”
(ST)