Sudan’s army and warring Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries have been added to the UN’s ‘list of shame’ over child rights violations in conflict, according to the secretary-general’s annual report seen by AFP on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ annual report, due to be officially released on Thursday, lists violations of the rights of children (under 18) in around 20 conflict zones around the world and lists in annex those responsible for these violations, including killed and mutilated children, recruitment, kidnappings or sexual violence.
It focuses in particular on the war that has been waged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy turned rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
Thus, the UN has confirmed 1,721 serious violations against 1,526 children, including 480 killed and 764 injured in 2023.
“I am appalled by the dramatic increase in serious violations, in particular the recruitment and use of children, killings and bodily harm and attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as by the deterioration of the ‘humanitarian access’, writes Antonio Guterres.
“I am very concerned about the escalation of inter-communal violence, including ethnically linked attacks and the mass displacement of children,” he adds.
In this context, the Secretary General decided to add the Sudanese army to the “list of shame”, for its responsibility in the murders and injuries of children, and attacks on schools and hospitals, particularly with weapons. explosives in populated areas.
This is not the first time that the army has been included on this list, after a stint between 2016 and 2018.
As for the FSR, in addition to murders, injuries, and attacks on schools and hospitals, their inclusion on the new list is also due to rape and other sexual violence, as well as the recruitment of several dozen child soldiers.