Updated: January 2025
What’s happening in Sudan
The UK Government has a unique opportunity to support the families and children severely impacted by the violent conflict currently taking place in Sudan.
Since conflict broke out in the country’s capital in April 2023, there has been widespread suffering and instability across the country and the broader region, tearing apart millions of children’s lives.
The conflict is marked by widespread and horrifying violations of children’s rights. 17.3 million children are in need of aid - more than the entire populations of London, Paris and Rome combined.
While in 2024 more than 10 million children in Sudan were living within 5km of active conflict zones, representing the highest number of children exposed to deadly violence in the world.
Read on to learn how children are being impacted, before we discuss what the UK Government could and should do to help.
How the war is impacting children
1: The escalating food crisis
Sudan is also facing the world’s largest food crisis, with close to 21.2 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Destruction of key infrastructure, active fighting, and obstruction of humanitarian access are fuelling extreme hunger.
Famine in has been confirmed in two areas: El Fasher in North Darfur and Kadugli in South Kordofan. Another 20 areas are thought to be at imminent risk.
825,000 children are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2026. This is the most extreme form of undernutrition. It leaves children far more vulnerable to preventable diseases and, without treatment, can cause death.
2. Extreme violence
Children are being directly targeted in places they should feel safe. On the morning of 4 December an estimated 116 people, including 65 children, (most of whom were between 4-6 years old) were killed in a series of drone strikes in Kalogi, South Kordofan.
The first strike hit a kindergarten, where children were playing and learning; a second strike then hit parents and community members who had rushed to help. Less than 30 minutes later, a third strike hit a local hospital and nearby civilian neighbourhood that was already overwhelmed with casualties. Some children had to have limbs amputated due to their injuries.
The impact of these injuries will be life-changing: robbing children of their right to play, leaving them with life-long physical and emotional scars, and compromising their mental health and opportunities in the future.
These incidents must not be normalised. They demand global condemnation and action.
“The children of Kalogi were simply playing and learning when their lives were torn apart. Our field teams met with families who lost everything in seconds, their children, their hopes, their future. No community should ever endure such devastation.” Francesco Lanino, Deputy Country Director, Operations and Programmes
3. The world's largest displacement crisis
Today over 12 million people are displaced, approximately 9.5 million internally and 3 million into neighbouring countries, making Sudan the world's largest displacement crisis. More than half of those displaced are children, with many families uprooted multiple times.
This also makes Sudan the largest child displacement crisis in the world with 5 million children displaced. This includes nearly 1 million children who have fled across borders, particularly to Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan. These children have no fixed home, are mostly out of school, and many have been separated from or lost loved ones.
How can the UK Government help?
The UK Government has a critical role to play in leading international action to stop the violence and protect children and their families in Sudan.
The UK is the penholder on Sudan at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which means it is responsible for taking the lead on drafting resolutions and driving diplomatic action. In February, the UK will take up the rotating position of Presidency of the Council, meaning that throughout the month it is responsible for setting the Council’s programme of work and can issue statements on its behalf after securing the support of other members.
Although the UK has demonstrated that it can lead action – through high-level diplomacy at the UNSC and by co-hosting the London Sudan Conference in April last year – its leadership has been inconsistent.
The scale of the conflict requires further action.
The UK must do everything in its power to mobilise international action to stop the violence and make sure those responsible are held to account.
This includes using its position at the UNSC, at the Human Rights Council, and as a member of the UN Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) to consistently raise awareness of, and condemn, grave violations against children and push for their protection and accountability.
The international community was warned that atrocities in El Fasher were likely to occur and not enough was done to stop it. The UK must do more to prevent further atrocities and protect children in Sudan.
The country must use its position to push for stronger international action. Children's lives depend on it.
What Save the Children is doing
Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983. As one of the largest NGOs in the country, we deliver life-saving and long-term support for children and families—covering health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, child protection, food security, and livelihoods.
We support more than 100 fixed health facilities across the country, and we’re also running mobile health clinics in camps for displaced people and providing nutritional supplements for malnourished children.
In November 2025, we delivered the largest aid delivery by a non-governmental organisation since March. It carried enough supplies to keep hundreds of health facilities running for 6-12 months. This will allow hundreds of thousands of children to be treated.
How you can help
1000 days since the conflict escalated, Save the Children UK, together with 11 other UK charities, is calling on the UK Government to take concrete action to end suffering in Sudan.
Sign the petition now to support children in Sudan.
Other things you can do:
- Support humanitarian organisations: Donations to Save the Children and other agencies help deliver food, clean water, healthcare, and protection to children and families.
- Contact your MP: Ask them to tell the UK Government to maintain and increase support for Sudan, ensure humanitarian access, and use diplomatic power to push for peace.
- Speak out: Use your voice on social media to ensure Sudan doesn't slip from public consciousness. Tag @savechildrenuk to amplify our work.
Together, we can ensure children in Sudan receive the support they desperately need and deserve.
