UNICEF Chief: Whether It’s in Gaza, Sudan or Haiti, the Children Are Suffering So Much
The world's youth are starving, out of school and dying
Whether it’s in Sudan, Gaza or Haiti, children are suffering wherever there’s armed conflict, according to the executive director of UNICEF.
War — and cries of genocide — have returned to Sudan, decades after an earlier bloody conflict in the country in northern Africa.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean nation of Haiti also has been wracked by political violence and death.
And, of course, thousands of young children are among the nearly 35,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since Israel began its military operations there after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
In all cases, children are suffering, said Catherine Russell, director of UNICEF, the United Nations organization tasked with providing humanitarian aid to children worldwide.
“Sudan is terrible for children. It is, as you say, the largest displacement, millions of children are on the move. Almost no children are in school. I think 90 percent of children are out of school,” Russell said Sunday in an appearance on the CBS News program, Face The Nation. “There’s incredible violence, including sexual violence that children are suffering and witnessing. Children are suffering from malnutrition. It’s absolutely a devastating situation, and we all need to pay more attention to it, for sure.”
In Gaza, worry is over the effect on children from Israel’s impending assault on the city of Rafah.
“You know, you mentioned Rafah, I mean, if there’s an incursion into Rafah, that’s unimaginable to imagine what the violence will be like and what how they will suffer,” Russell said. “But whether it’s in Gaza, or in Sudan, or Haiti or so many other places, children are suffering so much.
“And we all talk about children are the future. Well, okay, then we need to protect them. We need to make sure that they are educated and healthy and have some decent future ahead,” she added. “And that’s critical for them and it’s critical for their countries, and it’s critical for all of humanity.”
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