UNITED NATIONS, United States, June 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The United Nations
has added Sudan's army and rival paramilitary forces to a blacklist for
harming children in war, as the organization decried a "shocking" rise in
such violations around the world, according to a UN report obtained by AFP
Tuesday.

"In 2023, violence against children in armed conflict reached extreme levels,
with a shocking 21 per cent increase in grave violations," said the report by
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres which is due to be published on Thursday.

The Sudanese army and the rival Rapid Support Forces were added to a UN
blacklist for "the killing and maiming of children, and for attacks on
schools and hospitals."

Sudan has seen "a staggering 480 percent increase in grave violations against
children" against children from 2022 to 2023, the report said.

The RSF was listed for recruiting children and for "rape and other forms of
sexual violence against children," as well as attacks on schools and
hospitals.

"I am appalled by the dramatic increase in grave violations," Guterres wrote
in the report, also noting a rise in ethnically motivated attacks and mass
displacement of children in Sudan.

Covering some 20 conflict zones worldwide, the annual report includes the
killing, injuring, recruitment, kidnapping and sexual violence against
children.

It verified 30,705 "grave violations" committed last year, including during
the war in Gaza.

"The conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory presents an
unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children, with
hostilities leading to an increase in grave violations of 155 per cent," the
report said.

Israel's army and militant group Hamas have both been added to the UN
blacklist for violating children's rights, an addition that was leaked to the
media last week.