NEWS

Despite three decades of pledges and some progress, the 30^th UN climate summit takes place against a backdrop of catastrophic climate disasters that are forcing millions of children from their homes, disrupting their education, and causing hunger and threats to their health and safety.

• Stop the War on Children: Security for Whom? shows 2024 saw record-highs both in exposure to conflict and grave violations committed against children.
• It warns that violence against children is rising far faster than the spread of conflict, and that while global security spending is soaring, children have never been less safe

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday, with the epicentre in Samangan province, an hour from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Severe shaking was also felt in the capital, Kabul, with tremors reported as far away as Pakistan. The tremors caused panic and terror for children and their families, forcing them to run from their homes in provinces across northern Afghanistan where temperatures are dropping as winter sets in.

After walking for four days to escape the escalating violence in El Fasher, mothers arriving in Tawila in desperate need of aid recounted harrowing journeys, telling Save the Children how they were attacked by armed men on motorbikes and some robbed along the way.

“This cannot become the new normal under a ceasefire. A lasting ceasefire must mean safety, relief, and recovery for children not continued suffering. It must be fully respected and upheld."

The landmark declaration, which was published today, is the first by ASEAN, the regional organisation of Southeast Asian nations, to recognise the right to a ‘safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment’ as a human right for present and future generations.  

Nearly two-thirds of South Sudanese children surveyed aged between 5 and 17 years are engaged in the worst form of child labour, with rates soaring to as high as 90% in the worst hit regions, according to a new report by the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare.

Save the Children analysed casualty reports from the Sudan Doctor’s Network - a group of medical professionals tracking the war –in October and found at least 115 civilians were killed and a further 102 injured in six attacks on the besieged town. Among these casualties were 17 children killed, and 22 children injured.