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UNICEF warns millions of Sudanese children at risk amid conflict; UN condemns sexual violence reports
Summary
UNICEF reported hundreds of recorded cases of sexual violence against children in Sudan since early 2024 and said those figures likely undercount the true number; the UN called the reported abuses abhorrent and said partners are establishing safe spaces and integrating gender‑based violence services into health clinics.
UNICEF warned that millions of children in Sudan are at risk of sexual and gender‑based violence amid nationwide fighting, and the United Nations characterized the reported attacks as abhorrent violations of international law that must stop.
At the press briefing a UN spokesperson relayed UNICEF’s warning that data compiled by gender‑based‑violence service providers in Sudan showed 221 recorded cases of sexual violence against children since the beginning of 2024 and that those figures likely represent only a fraction of the total number of incidents. The spokesperson said UNICEF described attacks including rape and other sexual assault against children, including infants, and called the abuses potential war crimes.
UNICEF and other partners are working to establish safe spaces offering gender‑based‑violence services integrated with health clinics and to supply medical care for survivors, the spokesperson said. The UN statement joined UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in calling for the violence to stop and for parties to uphold international humanitarian and human‑rights law.
The briefing also addressed a separate security incident in Sudan in which UN personnel and contractors were removed from a convoy by Rapid Support Forces combatants near Abyei (the transcript used a local variant spelling). Fuel trucks were reportedly seized and later some personnel were returned. The UN condemned the incident and reiterated that attacks on UN peacekeepers and personnel may constitute war crimes under international law.
