Children of Darfur live under a mantle of fear

In Darfur, Sudan and neighboring Chad, thousands of women and children have suffered brutal sexual violence at the hands of lawless militias known as the Janjaweed. DONATE NOW to help UNICEF provide desperately needed medicine, support and care to survivors now living in overcrowded, makeshift refugee camps.

A displaced woman holds her son, who is suffering from severe malnutrition, at a hospital in the Djabal refugee camp in Chad.

For the last five years, Sudan has been a country in crisis. Its region of Darfur has been subjected to tremendous violence. Set off by a rebel raid on the Sudanese military in 2003, the ongoing conflict that has spread across Darfur has affected over four million people. Thousands have been killed. Over one million children have lost their homes and are currently living in refugee camps in Sudan and Chad. The situation in Darfur has been called one of the worst humanitarian crises in history.

Women and children are especially vulnerable. Their homes are burned to the ground, girls and women are abducted and raped, and boys are recruited as child soldiers. Refugees are living in a state of lockdown, unable to return to their homes, go to school, or tend to their fields. The conflict in Darfur has resettled an entire population, and has taken away childhood from a generation of children.

Crisis in Chad

Humanitarian emergencies often know no borders. Over 400,000 Darfur refugees are currently living in displacement camps in neighboring Chad. Meanwhile, Chad is undergoing a refugee crisis of its own. Thousands of Chadian refugees are now fleeing into Cameroon, to escape recent fighting that broke out when rebel forces tried to take over the country's capital. In Cameroon, UNICEF is currently supplying emergency aid like drinking water, blankets, school supplies, and vaccines. Everyone who has been affected by war counts on organizations like UNICEF to help them survive.

UNICEF at work

Since the beginning of the emergency in Sudan, UNICEF has provided essentials like clean water and sanitation, shelter, bed nets, and nutrition and healthcare for children and women. We have immunized over a million children in Darfur against childhood disease. With UNICEF's help, almost 300,000 children are attending school again. UNICEF has helped build classrooms, train teachers, and provide school supplies and uniforms.

Osman, 9, does homework with his brother at their home in the Abu Shouk Camp for displaced people near El Fasher, North Darfur.

In a time of war, girls and women face the additional threat of sexual violence. They are often raped when they leave their camp to collect firewood. To help them, and all children affected by the war, UNICEF has set up Safe Play Centers. Here children can play and interact with other kids, and have a supportive place to talk about the violence and trauma they are experiencing. Girls who are victims of sexual violence are given medical care and counseling. And UNICEF is committed to finding permanent ways to keep children safe.

We are also helping to rescue and re-integrate child soldiers. In UNICEF-supported Transition Centers, former child soldiers receive counseling and go to school, so they can start to reclaim their childhood, while waiting to be safely reunited with their families.

A child's right

The children of Darfur are living under a mantle of fear. Traumatized and homeless, they see little hope for the future. UNICEF believes that every child has the right to survive and thrive, and to have these rights protected. We are working to give children back their childhood and to give them hope for a better future. We are working to heal a lost generation.

You can help UNICEF save the women and children of Chad and Darfur. We have set up a special fund that will go towards providing support and care to the victims of sexual violence in displacement camps in Sudan and Chad. Your donation will help a victimized woman or girl get the treatment she needs so she can begin to reclaim her life.

UNICEF's lifesaving programs are funded entirely by voluntary contributions. DONATE NOW to help give hope to the children of Sudan and Chad.