Sudan’s children continue to pay the heaviest price of the civil war that erupted in mid-April 2023. Beyond food shortages and collapsing health care, they are now facing forced recruitment, displacement, and the loss of education on a massive scale.
The Sudanese National Human Rights Observatory released photos and video footage it says document the recruitment of children into the ranks of the Sudanese army and into brigades and militias allied with it. The Observatory singled out the al-Bara bin Malik Brigade, which it describes as the military arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to the Observatory, “the Sudanese army and its allied brigades recruited children in the armed conflict and thrust them into combat operations, in grave violations of children’s rights as well as international humanitarian law.” It is calling for an independent investigation and urgent accountability to end the practice.
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Videos showing minors in combat operations within Sudanese Armed Forces units have spread widely on social media. The clips have heightened concern over alleged army violations throughout the war. These alleged abuses range from field executions of civilians — confirmed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk — to reported use of chemical weapons on at least two occasions, according to the US State Department.
The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies also published findings on continued violations by the Sudanese army against civilians. Its report highlighted abductions and forced recruitment of children, warning that this “steals children’s innocence” and risks further deterioration in the country.
PM News cited the Observatory’s documentation of child recruitment and called for immediate steps to stop children being sent to the frontlines.
Children Pay the Price
Beyond the battlefield, millions of children are being denied classrooms.
The Geneva Global Centre for Education in Emergencies reports that 19 million students missed the 2024–2025 school year in Sudan. UNICEF says 17 million Sudanese children are currently unable to attend school. Of those, 7.9 million live near schools that have reopened but stay home out of fear of attacks, forced recruitment by armed actors including the army, and the absence of security.
ReliefWeb noted in January that Sudanese children have been out of school for more than 500 days. The organization said Sudan is experiencing one of the world’s longest education disruptions, longer than the worst closures during COVID-19.
Save the Children also stated that the emergency has left approximately 17 million children in Sudan unable to access basic education.
PM News reported that ReliefWeb’s data shows Sudan’s school closures now exceed pandemic-era records, leaving a generation at risk of never completing their studies.
The crisis is compounded by how schools are being used. PM News noted that most schools in Khartoum have been closed and repurposed as military sites by the Sudanese army. In other states, displaced families have turned school buildings into shelters.
With classrooms occupied and routes unsafe, children have no safe place to learn. Rights groups warn that without demilitarizing schools and ending child recruitment, Sudan faces long-term consequences — a generation that survives the war but grows up without education or protections.
