Latest news with #conflictZones
Forbes
7 days ago
- General
- Forbes
Back To School In Sudan: Hope In A Backpack
With the right tools and support from UNICEF, children in Sudan's Blue Nile State are back in school and back on track. On June 2, 2025, 10-year-old Aden, a pupil of Arabee Aradawiya girls' school in Damazine, Blue Nile State, Sudan, displays the learning materials she received as part of the UNICEF-supported back-to-school campaign. Education is a lifeline for children growing up in conflict zones There's excitement in the air at Arabee Aradawiya girls' school in Damazine, Blue Nile State. More children have recently joined the school thanks to UNICEF-supported back-to-learning campaigns across the state. Enrollment has now reached 500 pupils at Arabee Aradiwiya, including 120 displaced and refugee children. Across Sudan, the education of over 17 million of children has been severely disrupted by the ongoing war. While many families remain displaced, UNICEF and its partners are rallying parents and caregivers to enroll their children so they can get back into learning. Schools not only continue supporting education for millions of children in Sudan, they also serve as safe spaces during the ongoing conflict. 'The campaign is very important because it allows children to continue learning after more than two years away. That's a huge learning loss,' Abdalla Mahamoud Dagot, UNICEF Education Officer. Related: A Perfect Storm for Sudan's Children Watch the video: EMBED At Arabee Aradawiya, girls run, play, share jokes and snacks, and whisper to one another before the bell rings. Classrooms are full — four children per bench, two teachers per lesson. Today is special: the children receive learning materials — schoolbags, pencils, notebooks, erasers, colored pencils, rulers and math sets. Many left everything behind when they had to flee the conflict, and their families cannot afford even basic supplies. 'A child without a pencil is a future without possibilities,' Abdalla Mahamoud Dagot says. Learn more about UNICEF's support for children in Sudan Across the compound, girls beam with excitement, hugging their new backpacks — filled with the tools they need to restart their learning journey and chase their dreams. Ten-year-old Anfal is all smiles. 'Not being able to go to school for a long time really bothered me,' she says. 'Education is very important to us. We must go to school even during the war so we can learn and not lose out for years.' Walaa, a third-grade pupil, missed school deeply. 'What I love most are the colors and the notebooks,' she says. On June 2, 2025, 10-year-old Anfal, a pupil of Arabee Aradawiya girls' school in Damazine, Blue Nile State, Sudan, holds the learning materials she received as part of the UNICEF-supported back-to school campaign. Ten-year-old Aden missed her teachers. Clutching her new geometry set, she looks forward to perfecting her favorite subject, mathematics. 'There's no time to stop education,' she says. 'Education will help us rebuild our country.' Ten-year-old Walaa, right, is excited to be starting a new school year at Arabee Aradawiya girls' school in Damazine, Blue Nile State. Tawasol, displaced from Khartoum, loves art and drawing. With a packet of colored pencils, she is beginning to find joy again — and new friendships in her new school. Renad used a plastic bag to carry her books and pen. Now, with her new backpack, her notebooks are safe and organized. For her, returning to school means more time for learning and precious walks from home to school with friends every morning. Ten-year-old Tawasol is excited to start the new school year with her UNICEF school kit. She loves art and drawing and is looking forward to using her new colored pencils. Empowering teachers, supporting quality learning While more schools are reopening in Sudan, around 40 percent of schools still lack essential teaching materials. As part of the campaign, schools will also receive teacher instructional kits — rulers, compasses, chalk, clocks and notebooks — to enhance lesson delivery and improve learning for displaced and vulnerable children. At Arabee Aradawiya girls' school, displaced children, refugees and children from host communities now learn side by side, fostering social cohesion and healing. With the right tools, they've been given the chance to dream again, their future aspirations now in sight as they remain in the small classrooms. Renad, 10, used to carry her school books and pen in a plastic bag. Education for all: inclusion through learning Headmistress Noor Abdalrahman commended UNICEF for the timely support while highlighting the enormous needs. This girls' school is just one of hundreds of primary schools across the state being reached through enrollment campaigns and learning supplies under the European Union-supported Integration and Mainstreaming of Refugee Children into the Sudanese Education System (IRCSES) initiative. Guided by the principle of leaving no child behind, the initiative will provide safe, inclusive and quality education to more than 170,100 children across all 418 schools in Blue Nile alone — including displaced, refugees and host communities' children. More children in the River Nile and Kassala states will benefit from the same program. Learn more about how UNICEF education initatives changes lives. Your contribution to UNICEF is more important than ever. Please donate today.
Arab News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
How protracted conflicts from Gaza to DRC are leaving deep scars on children's lives
LONDON: For children trapped in the world's conflict zones, 2024 was a year of unprecedented suffering. The UN verified 41,370 grave violations against children — a record-shattering 25 percent increase over the previous year — devastating countless young lives. From Gaza to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, children are among the most vulnerable victims of war. The consequences go far beyond immediate physical danger, shaping the course of their lives for years to come. According to the UN Security Council's June 17 report on children and armed conflict, at least 22,495 were maimed, killed, recruited, or denied life-saving aid — robbed of the safety and innocence that should define childhood. 'The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball, but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings, should keep all of us awake at night,' Virginia Gamba, special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said in the report. 'This must serve as a wake-up call. We are at the point of no return.' The report, the most damning since the UN began collecting data in 1996, also noted a surge in children suffering multiple violations. In 2024, some 3,137 children were subjected to overlapping abuses such as abduction, forced recruitment, and sexual violence — up from 2,684 the year before. Months before the report's release, the UN children's fund, UNICEF, warned of a crisis beyond precedent. In December, the agency declared 2024 the worst year in its history for children caught in war. 'By almost every measure, 2024 has been one of the worst years on record for children in conflict in UNICEF's history — both in terms of the number of children affected and the level of impact on their lives,' Catherine Russell, the agency's executive director, said in a statement. These children are more likely to be malnourished, displaced, or out of school than those in peaceful regions — a reality she insisted 'must not be the new normal.' 'We cannot allow a generation of children to become collateral damage to the world's unchecked wars,' Russell added. Beyond the physical toll of conflict, psychological wounds are also profound and enduring, often outlasting conflicts themselves. 'What the recent UN report shows is that children caught in conflict zones are facing unimaginable levels of harm,' Dr. Jeeda Alhakim, a specialist counseling psychologist at City St George's, University of London, told Arab News. 'This kind of violence doesn't end when the event is over. It stays with them.' Alhakim explained that prolonged exposure to danger alters a child's perception of safety and can even reshape their biology. 'When the body is constantly in survival mode, it becomes harder to sleep, concentrate, or feel calm,' she said. Over time, this toxic stress can disrupt brain development, especially in neural regions responsible for memory, decision making, and emotional regulation. 'Trauma doesn't just live in the mind,' Alhakim said. 'It becomes embedded in the nervous system.' (Source: UN, 2024) There are 'disruptions in the brain's stress regulation systems,' she added, 'especially in areas like the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, which are central to managing emotions, remembering things, and making sense of what's happening around them.' She emphasized that trauma is not always visible. 'Some children appear fine on the outside but are struggling internally. Others show signs of distress more openly. It depends on their experiences, the support they have, and what they've lost. 'When children struggle with focus, learning, or emotional outbursts, it's not simply behavioral — it's a sign that their brains are adapting to survive.' Regardless of how it manifests, the consequences are deeply human. 'Many children carry a profound sense of loss — of a parent, a home, or a future they once believed in,' she added. Among the hardest-hit regions, the Palestinian territories ranked highest in the UN's report, with 8,554 verified violations. More than 4,856 occurred in the Gaza Strip alone. The UN confirmed the deaths of 1,259 Palestinian children in Gaza, while it continues to verify reports of another 4,470 killed in 2024. The report also documented 22 cases of Palestinian boys used as human shields in Gaza and five more in the West Bank. Since Israel's military operation in Gaza began in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, children in the Palestinian enclave have faced bombardment, deprivation, and the collapse of essential services. Conditions further deteriorated in March when Israeli forces resumed bombing raids and tightened their blockade, triggering catastrophic levels of displacement and the near-total breakdown of healthcare and education. 'Under our watch, Gaza has become the graveyard of children (and) starving people,' Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, posted on X on July 11. 'Their choice is between two deaths: starvation or being shot at. The most cruel (and) machiavellian scheme to kill, in total impunity.' His remarks followed the killing of 15 people, including nine children and four women, who were waiting in line for nutritional supplements in Deir Al-Balah on July 10. The Israel Defense Forces have consistently denied targeting civilians. The UN has nevertheless kept Israel on its blacklist of parties committing grave violations against children for a second consecutive year. Gaza's ruling Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also remain on the list. Outside the Palestinian territories, other regions also witnessed surging violence. In 2024, the UN recorded more than 4,000 violations in the DRC, some 2,500 in Somalia, nearly 2,500 in Nigeria, and more than 2,200 in Haiti. Among the most alarming trends was a sharp rise in sexual violence. The UN documented a 35 percent increase in such cases last year, with a notable spike in gang rapes, underscoring the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. 'Sexual violence is especially devastating,' Alhakim said. 'It harms children physically, but also emotionally and socially. It can leave them feeling ashamed, isolated, and deeply confused, especially when used deliberately as a weapon of war.' While the UN verified more than 2,000 cases in 2024, the real number is likely far higher. The report stressed that sexual violence remains vastly underreported due to stigma, fear of retaliation, social norms, lack of access to services, and impunity. 'Children are often too afraid or unable to speak out,' said Alhakim. 'In some communities, the stigma surrounding sexual violence adds an extra layer of suffering and silence.' Save the Children revealed in a June report that at least 1,938 children were subjected to catastrophic sexual violence in 2024 — the highest number of verified cases since records began. The figure marks a staggering 50 percent increase since 2020. 'To normalize this level of violence against children is to accept the dismantling of our collective humanity,' Helen Pattinson, CEO of War Child UK, said in a statement. 'The level of alarm is unprecedented. Governments must act immediately to turn the tide of grief, trauma and loss borne by children.' For millions of children growing up under siege, survival alone is no longer enough. What they need is safety, justice, and a chance to dream again. 'No child should have to carry the weight of mass violence,' said Alhakim. 'And yet far too many are.'
CNA
20-06-2025
- CNA
Children in armed conflict: UN reports 25% jump in violations in 2024
A UN report says children in conflict zones fell victim to unprecedented levels of violence last year. Tens of thousands of them were affected by armed conflict, with many of them recruited, maimed, violated or killed in more than 20 countries. In Asia, most cases were recorded in Myanmar.
LBCI
20-06-2025
- LBCI
Violence against children hit 'unprecedented levels' in 2024: UN
The United Nations said Thursday that violence against children in conflict zones reached "unprecedented levels" in 2024, setting a new grim record since monitoring began nearly 30 years ago. "In 2024, violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels, with a staggering 25 percent surge in the number of grave violations in comparison with 2023," according to the annual report from the secretary-general. AFP
The Independent
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Firms led by US military veterans deliver aid in Africa and Gaza, alarming humanitarian groups
Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week's air drop was the latest in a controversial development — private contracting firms led by former U.S. intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world's deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend that could allow governments or combatants to use life-saving aid to control hungry civilian populations and advance war aims. In South Sudan and Gaza, two for-profit U.S. companies led by American national security veterans are delivering aid in operations backed by the South Sudanese and Israeli governments. The American contractors say they're putting their security, logistics and intelligence skills to work in relief operations. Fogbow, the U.S. company that carried out last week's air drops over South Sudan, says it aims to be a 'humanitarian' force. 'We've worked for careers, collectively, in conflict zones. And we know how to essentially make very difficult situations work,' said Fogbow President Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer and former senior defense official in the first Trump administration, speaking on the airport tarmac in Juba, South Sudan's capital. But the U.N. and many leading non-profit groups say U.S. contracting firms are stepping into aid distribution with little transparency or humanitarian experience, and, crucially, without commitment to humanitarian principles of neutrality and operational independence in war zones. 'What we've learned over the years of successes and failures is there's a difference between a logistics operation and a security operation, and a humanitarian operation,' said Scott Paul, a director at Oxfam America. ''Truck and chuck' doesn't help people,' Paul said. 'It puts people at risk.' 'We don't want to replace any entity' Fogbow took journalists up in a cargo plane to watch their team drop 16 tons of beans, corn and salt for South Sudan's Upper Nile state town of Nasir. Residents fled homes there after fighting erupted in March between the government and opposition groups. Mulroy acknowledged the controversy over Fogbow's aid drops, which he said were paid for by the South Sudanese government. But, he maintained: 'We don't want to replace any entity' in aid work. Shared roots in Gaza and U.S. intelligence Fogbow was in the spotlight last year for its proposal to use barges to bring aid to Gaza, where Israeli restrictions were blocking overland deliveries. The United States focused instead on a U.S. military effort to land aid via a temporary pier. Since then, Fogbow has carried out aid drops in Sudan and South Sudan, east African nations where wars have created some of the world's gravest humanitarian crises. Fogbow says ex-humanitarian officials are also involved, including former U.N. World Food Program head David Beasley, who is a senior adviser. Operating in Gaza, meanwhile, Safe Reach Solutions, led by a former CIA officer and other retired U.S. security officers, has partnered with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed nonprofit that Israel says is the linchpin of a new aid system to wrest control from the U.N., which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas, and other humanitarian groups. Starting in late May, the American-led operation in Gaza has distributed food at fixed sites in southern Gaza, in line with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stated plan to use aid to concentrate the territory's more than 2 million people in the south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas elsewhere. Aid workers fear it's a step toward another of Netanyahu's public goals, removing Palestinians from Gaza in 'voluntary' migrations. Since then, several hundred Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in near daily shootings as they tried to reach aid sites, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly fire heavy barrages toward the crowds in an attempt to control them. The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It says it fired warning shots in several instances, and fired directly at a few 'suspects' who ignored warnings and approached its forces. It's unclear who is funding the new operation in Gaza. No donor has come forward, and the U.S. says it's not funding it. In response to criticism over its Gaza aid deliveries, Safe Reach Solutions said it has former aid workers on its team with 'decades of experience in the world's most complex environments' who bring "expertise to the table, along with logisticians and other experts.' South Sudan's people ask: Who's gett ing our aid drops? Last week's air drop over South Sudan went without incident, despite fighting nearby. A white cross marked the drop zone. Only a few people could be seen. Fogbow contractors said there were more newly returned townspeople on previous drops. Fogbow acknowledges glitches in mastering aid drops, including one last year in Sudan's South Kordofan region that ended up with too-thinly-wrapped grain sacks split open on the ground. After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has struggled to emerge from a civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people. Rights groups say its government is one of the world's most corrupt, and until now has invested little in quelling the dire humanitarian crisis. South Sudan said it engaged Fogbow for air drops partly because of the Trump administration's deep cuts in U.S. Agency for International Development funding. Humanitarian Minister Albino Akol Atak said the drops will expand to help people in need throughout the country. But two South Sudanese groups question the government's motives. 'We don't want to see a humanitarian space being abused by military actors ... under the cover of a food drop," said Edmund Yakani, head of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a local civil society group. Asked about suspicions the aid drops were helping South Sudan's military aims, Fogbow's Mulroy said the group has worked with the U.N. World Food Program to make sure 'this aid is going to civilians.' 'If it wasn't going to civilians, we would hope that we would get that feedback, and we would cease and desist,' Mulroy said. In a statement, WFP country director Mary-Ellen McGroarty said: 'WFP is not involved in the planning, targeting or distribution of food air-dropped' by Fogbow on behalf of South Sudan's government, citing humanitarian principles. A 'business-driven model' Longtime humanitarian leaders and analysts are troubled by what they see as a teaming up of warring governments and for-profit contractors in aid distribution. When one side in a conflict decides where and how aid is handed out, and who gets it, 'it will always result in some communities getting preferential treatment,' said Jan Egeland, executive director of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Sometimes, that set-up will advance strategic aims, as with Netanyahu's plans to move Gaza's civilians south, Egeland said. The involvement of soldiers and security workers, he added, can make it too 'intimidating' for some in need to even try to get aid. Until now, Western donors always understood those risks, Egeland said. But pointing to the Trump administration's backing of the new aid system in Gaza, he asked: 'Why does the U.S. ... want to support what they have resisted with every other war zone for two generations?' Mark Millar, who has advised the U.N. and Britain on humanitarian matters in South Sudan and elsewhere, said involving private military contractors risks undermining the distinction between humanitarian assistance and armed conflict. Private military contractors 'have even less sympathy for a humanitarian perspective that complicates their business-driven model," he said. 'And once let loose, they seem to be even less accountable.' ___ Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. ___ The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
