Feel it: Right to Protection 

By: Haffiya Elyas

Children in war have the right to special protection under international law, which prohibits their participation in conflict and requires states to protect them from harm and ensure their access to necessities like food, shelter, and medical care. They are entitled to protection as civilians, and international humanitarian law mandates that states take all feasible measures to prevent violations, provide assistance, and hold perpetrators accountable.

The emergency room in the city of Tawila in North Darfur state revealed that 750 children without their parents have arrived from El Fasher. The emergency room pointed out that the displacement operations from El Fasher are still ongoing and have not stopped, and that the majority of displaced people from El Fasher travel more than 50 kilometers on foot.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned that an estimated 130,000 children in El Fasher are at risk of serious human rights violations, amid reports of abductions, killings, mutilation, and sexual violence, stressing that “no child is safe” in the North Darfur capital.

Already trapped for more than 500 days, the children are reportedly further “amid constant shelling, heavy fighting, and severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.”

Sudan has also become the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with more than 4 million children forced from their homes since April 2023, including nearly one million children who have crossed to neighbouring countries, especially to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan. Many refugees and returnees are arriving in areas that were already home to more vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, suffering from multiple emergencies and crises.

Children have many rights to be considered in protection during war, including access to special protection under international law, including preventing attacks against children and basic infrastructure, ending sexual violence and forced recruitment, and ensuring humanitarian access. International conventions, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have binding obligations for states to provide such protection.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that children have the right to protection during armed conflict and obliges States to take all feasible measures to ensure that children under the age of 15 do not participate in war and are not recruited into the armed forces. The Convention also requires States to take all feasible practical measures to protect and care for children affected by conflict, including protecting them from lack of access to shelter, food or medical assistance.

We raise the hands of the Almighty God to provide vital aid in light of the unprecedented levels of hunger, insecurity and humanitarian needs in the country.They face extreme hunger and malnutrition, and are even at risk of starvation.” Save the Children of Sudan