The war in Sudan continues to claim lives and exacerbate the humanitarian tragedy, as the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces approaches its third year with no signs of resolution.
Human rights violations are increasing by the day, the most recent occurring in Khartoum last March, after the army regained control of the city, where international reports documented executions and systematic violence against civilians.
Amidst this devastation, Sudan is reeling from an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, with 30 million people suffering from hunger and 15 million internally displaced, according to United Nations statistics.
Sudan’s children are bearing a devastating burden -losing both their present and their future- as schools lie in ruins, dreams are shattered, and the looming specter of hunger and displacement robs them of their innocence.
Despite the scale of the catastrophe, the army, under the leadership of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, continues to reject calls for negotiation or a ceasefire, clinging to a military solution that keeps Sudan teetering on the edge of collapse.
Millions of children were displaced with their families away from their homes to escape the scourge of war and the cycle of violence and killing, but they found another crisis in the lack of food and resources, as the flow of humanitarian aid deteriorated, while violations against children escalated in many areas across the country during the past months of the war, and the Sudanese army was accused of carrying out indiscriminate attacks and shelling that killed many children with their mothers.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement on the situation of Sudanese children in displacement camps, especially in El Fasher and Zamzam camp in North Darfur state. The Sudanese army launched an air strike on a popular market in Darfur state on Monday morning, 24 March, and human rights groups said that more than half of the victims were women and children.
Observers, local human rights groups and international organisations reported that more than 250 people were killed in the Darfur market strike and hundreds were injured and burned.
Sudanese army fighter jets dropped missiles, bombs and barrel bombs on the market, which was crowded with civilians, including children who had gone with their mothers to buy food, according to the New York Times.
In addition to food shortages, 825,000 children in these areas live under constant threat of death due to indiscriminate bombings, escalating violence, and the failure to implement measures that keep the military operations away civilians’ areas.
Violations against children
UNICEF revealed grave violations against children during the recent period, announcing that 110 violations were recorded, and that the percentage of child victims in Sudan increased to 83%, compared to the first quarter of last year.
UNICEF documented the killing of dozens of children in Sudan during the first quarter of this year 2025, due to heavy shelling and airstrikes, stressing that 16% of the total victims were children.
The UNICEF representative in Sudan, Sheldon Yat, spoke about the threat to the lives of about 825,000 children in El Fasher and Zamzam, stressing that death haunts them daily, while they struggle with their families to survive.
The tragedy of children in IDP camps is exacerbated by the fact that they have become an open target for Sudanese army fighter jets, which target markets and residential communities, as was the case in the strike on Tora market in North Darfur state.
Children Displacement
The UNICEF report said that more than 60,000 people were recently displaced in North Darfur over the course of just 6 weeks, in addition to more than 600,000 people displaced between April 2024 and January 2025.
Among the displaced, 300,000 children have been documented to be displaced, requiring food, medicine and care in difficult conditions without the necessary means due to the war, lack of health care, and the lack of a smooth flow of humanitarian aid.
IDP camps face a complete lack of security, commercial goods, food, medicine, nutritional supplements and vitamins for children, as well as vaccines against seasonal diseases and outbreaks of viruses.
The doubling of food prices in the past period has added to the suffering of families looking for all means to provide the necessary food for their children, as the past three months have witnessed continuous price increases.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is widespread, with more than 457,000 children in North Darfur suffering from acute malnutrition, including about 146,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which is the most lethal risk.
Six areas within the state are at risk of famine, and all of them are among the most affected areas due to imposed restrictions, violence, and air attacks on them, and stocks of treatment and food have run out in camps for the displaced, after supply routes were cut off with the military escalation in Sudan and the army’s control over most of the crossings, where it prevents the passage of humanitarian aid to use starvation as a weapon according to international reports, in addition to the targeting of medical and relief teams by the Sudanese army’s aviation.
International organisations have called on the Sudanese government to facilitate the entry of aid to children immediately, while stopping military actions and respecting international and humanitarian law to preserve the lives of civilians in general.
Measles kills children
Due to the absence of the health sector, seasonal diseases and viruses have spread, and measles has become a new danger that haunts children in different areas in Sudan, and medical teams have deployed in some areas, including Dera district, east of Jebel Marra in Central Darfur, in a vaccination campaign to save children from the risks of infection with the measles disease that is rampant in the country.
An official told the ‘Darfur 24’ website that the measles epidemic has spread to large areas in Sudan, especially in eastern Jebel Marra, due to the lack of medical care.
Numerous violations have been recorded over the past months by targeting medical teams, destroying health facilities, and direct strikes that affected the collapse of the health sector infrastructure in Sudan.
However, medical teams are facing a clear crisis, as the number of vaccines they have is not commensurate with the number of children who need to receive vaccines during the current period, limiting the vaccination campaign to very limited areas.
Medical sources in the town of Fina said that last week, a death and seven new cases of measles were recorded in the eastern Jebel Marra region, in addition to dozens of cases in previous weeks.
Some families are forced to travel long distances with their children sick with measles in order to obtain the necessary treatment, in a risky journey that may end when they reach the destination only to discover that it is destroyed or that there is no treatment available.
International and UN organisations in Sudan are calling on the Sudanese government and army to allow all aid to pass to all areas inside the country, to protect civilians and children from diseases and viruses that may lead to catastrophic results in the coming period.
In January, the United States imposed sanctions on Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of blocking the flow of humanitarian aid and using hunger as a weapon in the civil war that has been going on since April 2023.
The US Treasury Department noted that the military has targeted civilian infrastructure -including schools and markets- further fueling a humanitarian crisis that, according to UN reports, has left 30 million people facing hunger.
On February 4, 2025, The Washington Post reported that the suspension of U.S. support had brought food programs for millions of Sudanese to a standstill. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch accused the military of enforcing bureaucratic restrictions that obstruct humanitarian access, further deepening the suffering of the 15 million displaced individuals.
Pressure on neighbouring countries
The influx of Sudanese refugees is placing immense pressure on neighbouring African countries, especially those with fragile infrastructure and limited economic resources. As the conflict in Sudan intensifies and relations between Khartoum and the governments of these countries are strained, the challenges associated with hosting large numbers of displaced people are exacerbated. Countries such as Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia are experiencing internal economic and security crises, making the absorption of refugees an additional burden on their health and education services and food resources. In addition, political tensions between Sudan and its neighbours complicate international relief efforts and increase the risk of regional instability.
Without urgent regional and international cooperation, this humanitarian crisis risks triggering deeper socio-economic upheaval in an already fragile region.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that civilians are paying the highest price as 71% of refugees who arrived in Chad reported that they survived human rights violations in Sudan while fleeing, and families are traumatised after fleeing the horrors and continue to live in fear despite being in relative safety.
The UNHCR added that countries in the region are facing immense challenges and mounting pressure, as national systems struggle to cope with the continued influx of refugees. Chad, in particular, has become a refuge for more than 700,000 Sudanese -mostly women and children- who have been forced to flee their homes since the outbreak of the war, marking the largest refugee influx in the country’s history.
Despite this, the Sudanese military regime has issued threats against Chad and South Sudan -both of which host large numbers of Sudanese refugees- over their calls for an end to the war and for international protection of civilians in Sudan.
