Children bear the brunt in South Sudan refugee crisis

arua (Uganda) — The flood of South Sudanese refugees from the country’s 5-year civil war has been called a children’s crisis.

More than 60 per cent of the well over one million refugees who have poured into neighbouring Uganda are under the age of 18, government and United Nations officials say. More than two million people have fled South Sudan overall.

Amid the fighting, over 75,000 children have found themselves on their own in Uganda and other neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency, separated from their families in the chaos or sent by their parents to relative safety. While many children have reunited with relatives after crossing the border, others are matched by aid workers with foster families in an effort to minimise the disruption in their lives. Without parents, some children are left vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, aid workers say.

Some teenagers find themselves the head of their households, taking care of siblings.

One boy now takes care of his younger brother. “My father was shot in the war,” he said.

“And then my mother, I don’t know where she went.” —