‘Most children do not attend school’: network in North Darfur camp

A child protection network in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced people near El Fasher in North Darfur said there is a large number of children who do not attend school in the camp.The network indicated that “40 per cent of the camp’s total population of 117,540 consists of children, and most of them do not attend school”, an employee of the network in Zamzam told Radio Dabanga.The department of child protection of Unamid met with the local network on Tuesday morning to discuss the situation of children in the camp, and also possible violations against children.“The amount of violations against children is little,” the employee reported. The organisations agreed that the biggest problem in the camp is the lack of education for the children. As a result, they announced to conduct a survey on street children in Zamzam, and to identify the causes of their displacement, amongst both boys and girls.Unamid and the child protection network have condemned the detention and trials against Sudanese children before military courts and ordinary courts.“Humanitarian organisations working in the field of children should put pressure on the government not to arrest and prosecute children in front of military courts, as this is a violation of the Sudanese Children’s Act”, the activist concluded. File photo: A group of students enters to their classroom in a school in Nifasha camp, North Darfur (Albert Gonzalez Farran / Unamid) Related: ‘900 homeless, 750 street kids in North Darfur’s El Fasher’: State (10 September 2013)