At least 160 children were killed and 85 others wounded in Sudan between January and March of this year, as the country’s conflict enters its third year, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported.
According to the organization’s report, picked up by media outlets on Wednesday, the figures mark a 50% rise compared to the same period in 2025.
The heaviest toll was recorded in Darfur and Kordofan, where relentless violence “has pushed local communities to the edge of the collapse.” UNICEF added that three years of conflict have led to the displacement of 5 million children, often multiple times over.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell stated that for three years, children across Sudan have been killed, injured and displaced on a massive scale.
Their homes, schools and hospitals have been relentlessly targeted, she said , adding that there is no justification for violence against children and that it represents a profound failure to uphold their most basic rights.
In the most affected areas, ongoing attacks continue to destroy homes, schools, markets and hospitals.
The new means increasingly used in warfare are characterized by the severity of their harm, particularly as 78% of injuries among children resulted from drone attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, according to the report.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, the United Nations has verified more than 5,700 grave violations against children throughout Sudan, affecting at least 5,100 children, with Darfur and Kordofan registering the highest number of child casualties, said the report.
