UNICEF warns over 800K children face escalating violence and famine in Sudan News
Henry Wilkins/VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
UNICEF warns over 800K children face escalating violence and famine in Sudan

UNICEF warned on Wednesday that approximately 825,000 children are trapped by escalating violence and severe food shortages in Sudan’s North Darfur region. The UN agency called for their urgent protection as well as immediate humanitarian access. The dire warning comes as clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensify.

UNICEF noted that the children remain cut off from food, clean water and humanitarian assistance, with conditions on the ground deteriorating rapidly. UNICEF representative for Sudan, Sheldon Yett, said:

An estimated 825,000 children are trapped in a growing catastrophe in and around Al Fasher. With these numbers reflecting only verified incidents, it is likely the true toll is far higher, with children in a daily struggle to survive. Death is a constant threat for children, whether due to the fighting around them or the collapse of the vital services they rely on to survive.

Other international humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders have also raised similar alarms. This comes just days after the UN Human Rights office condemned the escalating violence and civilian suffering and also after the UN warned that the humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues to worsen. Human Rights Watch similarly issued a report late last year detailing allegations of widespread human rights abuses in Sudan.

The conflict, which began in April 2023 has been intensifying in recent months and spread to the capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, with both sides engaged in near-daily strikes and counterstrikes. The situation has since deteriorated rapidly, with UNICEF stating that over 70 children have been killed and injured in 2025 alone. The ongoing conflict has also resulted in the collapse of essential services, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk voicing shock at the civilian casualties.

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