Sudan is losing another generation to war, UN Deputy chief warns

More than 1,000 days of war in Sudan have left millions of children out of school, displaced, or exposed to grave violations, United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told Security Council members on 7 August 2026 during an informal Arria-formula meeting on safeguarding education in Sudan, according to UN News. She urged renewed action to end the conflict and to bring Sudan’s children back to learning. Ms. Mohammed warned that the country is losing another generation to war.

The meeting focused on protecting education in Sudan amid a conflict that erupted in April 2023. Ms. Mohammed noted that Sudan has already lost a generation to its earlier wars. She said the depth of harm to children, especially girls, cannot be conveyed in numbers alone. The Deputy Secretary-General framed education as both lifesaving and life-changing.

At least eight million school-aged children remain outside the classroom, with a disproportionate impact on displaced children, particularly those who have fled to other countries. In Darfur, nearly three quarters of schools have been damaged, destroyed, or otherwise rendered non-functional since fighting began. Since 2024, the UN has verified more than 67 attacks on schools across Sudan, alongside over 154 reported instances of military use of schools. More than half of all teachers in Sudan have gone unpaid, yet many continue teaching “against all odds.”

Ms. Mohammed described attacks on schools as “frontal assaults on children’s safety and their dignity,” citing lost protective spaces, peer interaction, school feeding programs, healthcare, and mental health support. “Five children in every six are out of school, and parents will tell you they would rather keep their children at home than send them to a classroom,” she said. She added: “This is a war that men started. But it is being paid for on the backs of women, and on the backs of children who had no say in any of it but suffer most.” This year, the UN and partners have brought more than a million Sudanese children back into some form of learning.

Ms. Mohammed called on Security Council members to do their utmost to end the conflict and create the conditions for peace and learning. She urged action for young Sudanese living through the war today and for future generations. Education, she said, protects children today and lays the foundations for peace, recovery, and stability tomorrow. “Sudan’s children have waited 1,210 days for the war to end,” she stated. “They should not have to wait any longer.”