"Mr. President … Excellencies …
"I would like to thank Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres and the Colombian Presidency for keeping the humanitarian situation in Sudan high on the Council's agenda. Thank you to Under-Secretary General Rosemary DiCarlo for her briefing.
"I am dismayed that we meet today against the backdrop of a conflict that has now entered its fourth year.
"After more than three years of war, Sudan remains the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
"UNHCR reports there are currently more than 3.5 million refugees and more than 6.5 million internally displaced, since 2023, with many having been displaced multiple times. As the conflict continues to unravel, the spillover of violence and risk of disease across Sudan's borders intensifies and further threatens regional destabilisation.
"And children are paying the highest price.
"Before I speak about the statistics, I would like to tell you about Amina.
"Amina is a midwife in Tawila, North Darfur.
"She was forced to flee her home after violence reached her community. Along the road to safety, she witnessed scenes no one should ever see.
""Many children died on the way," she recalls. "I met a pregnant mother who had four children. She arrived with only the one still inside her."
"Amina lost almost everything and is deeply scarred by what she went through and witnessed.
"Yet today she continues to help mothers deliver babies safely. She provides antenatal and postnatal care, supports safe deliveries, and helps pregnant women and young mothers access the medicines and nutrition they need.
"When asked why she continues, she says simply:
""I still have something to give, even after losing everything."
"Today, millions of children across Sudan are relying on people like Amina to survive.
"Yet even their extraordinary commitment cannot compensate for a conflict that continues to destroy the systems children depend on for life itself.
"Excellencies …
"My greatest immediate concern today is the escalating violence in North Kordofan.
"As fighting intensifies in and around Al Obeid, an estimated 500,000 civilians are at risk. Children are at immediate and growing danger of being killed, injured, displaced, or exposed to other grave violations.
"Over recent weeks, repeated drone strikes and shelling have damaged civilian infrastructure, disrupted supply routes, and threatened essential services that families rely on every day.
"Al Obeid is not only a population centre, hosting a high number of internally displaced people from West and South Kordofan. It is also a critical humanitarian hub. Any further deterioration risks cutting off humanitarian access to Diling and other areas in South Kordofan.
"We have seen this before.
"Last year in Al Fasher, escalating violence trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians amid relentless fighting, severe shortages of food and medicine, and growing protection risks for children. Since April 2024, more than 1,500 grave violations against children were verified in Al Fasher, including the killing and maiming of over 1,300 children, many by explosive weapons and drones, as well as sexual violence, abductions, and recruitment and use by armed groups.
"We must not allow history to repeat itself.
"And while the world's attention is focused on Al Obeid, we must not overlook other areas of continuing humanitarian concern, including other parts of Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur, where insecurity and access constraints continue to drive humanitarian needs and place children at grave risk.
"Excellencies …
"The violence children face in Sudan extends far beyond the battlefield.
"Since the conflict began, the United Nations has verified more than 5,700 grave violations against children.
"More than 5,000 children have been killed or maimed, but the real figure is undoubtedly much higher.
"Children are being killed in their homes. They are being injured while fleeing violence. They are being caught in crossfire, shelling, drone strikes, and attacks using explosive weapons in populated areas. During the first four months of this year, nearly 80 per cent of reported child casualties were linked to drone attacks.
"The proliferation of explosive weapons is leaving a deadly legacy of contamination that will continue to threaten children long after the fighting ends.
"The psychological toll is equally profound.
"Across Sudan, children are growing up surrounded by violence, uncertainty, and loss. Many have been displaced multiple times. Many have witnessed events no child should ever experience.
"Yet children are not only being harmed by the direct effects of conflict. Increasingly, they are suffering from the targeting and collapse of the services they depend on to survive.
"Allow me to illustrate.
"Last year, a strike on energy infrastructure in White Nile State disrupted electricity needed to operate a major water treatment facility.
"Families were left with little choice but to collect untreated water directly from the river. Within weeks, thousands of cholera cases had been reported.
"Children died. Schools closed. Tens of thousands of students lost access to education.
"In Sudan, one attack does not end when the explosion stops.
"A single strike can trigger a chain reaction that deprives children of safe water, healthcare, education, and protection.
"This pattern is repeating itself across the country.
"Health facilities, water systems, schools, marketplaces and other civilian infrastructure continue to be damaged or destroyed.
"Nearly half of Sudan's school buildings can no longer function as classrooms. Today, at least eight million children are out of school.
"For girls, the consequences are particularly severe, increasing the risks of child marriage, sexual violence, and other forms of exploitation.
"Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.
"Nearly 19.5 million people are facing acute hunger.
"Conditions in several locations are already at or near famine thresholds. An estimated 825,000 children under five are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year.
"At the same time, families are increasingly relying on unsafe water sources, heightening the risks of disease outbreaks and creating a vicious cycle of illness and malnutrition that threatens children's survival.
"Excellencies …
"Humanitarian organisations continue to face immense challenges reaching children in need.
"Insecurity, shifting frontlines, bureaucratic impediments, and restrictions on movement continue to constrain humanitarian access.
"Communities across Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile, and other conflict-affected areas remain difficult to reach.
"The approaching rainy season risks making an already difficult situation even worse.
"Yet despite these challenges, UNICEF is staying and delivering.
"Earlier this month, after months of negotiations, UNICEF supported the delivery of lifesaving supplies to Dilling and Kadugli through an inter-agency convoy carrying health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies for nearly 39,000 people. UNICEF was also able to send critical health, nutrition, and WASH supplies, sufficient for the needs of 35,000 people in the town of Um Baru in North Darfur. The supplies arrived days before the town was engulfed in fighting, providing children with a lifeline.
"Across Sudan, more than 400 UNICEF staff continue working alongside partners to reach children wherever access is possible.
"Last year alone, UNICEF and its partners provided protection, education and psychosocial support to 3.5 million children … reached more than 15 million people with safe drinking water … and treated more than 600,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
"But humanitarian action alone cannot keep pace with the scale of this crisis.
"Nor can it substitute for peace.
"Excellencies …
"Allow me to conclude with four urgent requests for this Council.
"First, we need immediate action to prevent further escalation, particularly in and around Al Obeid. Humanitarian corridors to move civilians out to safety are essential, as well as the establishment of child protection services for children who are separated from their families. Children cannot endure - and we cannot allow - another Al Fasher.
"Second, we urge all parties to protect children and the civilian infrastructure they depend upon, in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
"Schools, hospitals, water systems, and humanitarian assets must never be targets. Council members should unanimously call on Member States to refrain from transferring explosive weapons to warring parties that are likely to use them against civilians and civilian objects
"Third, four years into this war, we have yet to see a humanitarian truce. We call on Member States to use all their influence to prevent further escalation, support efforts toward a negotiated solution, and help create the conditions necessary for lasting peace. Council members should call on parties to engage with the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy … and facilitate de-escalation and a negotiated settlement to end this devastating conflict.
"And fourth, we ask this Council to continue pressing all parties to facilitate rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access across conflict lines and through all available entry points. Humanitarian assistance must reach children wherever they are.
"Excellencies …
"The children of Sudan cannot survive on expressions of concern.
"They need protection.
"They need food, water, healthcare, and education.
"They need humanitarian access.
"And above all, they need this war to end.
"Sudan's children have already lost more than three years of their childhood.
"They cannot afford to lose another.
"Thank you."
