The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has called Wednesday on the international community to step-up funding efforts, and to not abandon millions of civilians who bear the brunt of the nine months conflict in Sudan. With nearly 25 million people requiring relief aid, a coordinated and continued humanitarian response is urgently needed to address the mounting needs of the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.
More than 7.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Sudan since fighting began on April 15, 2023, with children representing about half of the people displaced. 6.2 million of those displaced are within Sudan, while 1.5 million others have fled across borders into neighboring South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Central African Republic and Libya.
The scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented. The UN says the country is experiencing a “humanitarian crisis of epic proportions”. Millions of people lack access to protection, food, water, shelter, electricity, education, and health care. Among those in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian support are more than 14 million children. Nearly 18 million people across Sudan are facing acute hunger.
“A ceasefire in Sudan is urgently needed to enable people rebuild their lives with dignity. We must not turn our back on the suffering of millions of people affected by such devastating conflict,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope, following her recent visit to Eastern Chad where she saw first-hand the impact of the conflict on displaced people.
More than 600,000 of those fleeing the violence are in Eastern Chad. Of those, over 136,000 are newly returning Chadians who lived in Sudan but were forced by the conflict to go back to Chad, as well as migrant workers from other countries and their families
“Now, more than ever, we need all possible support to continue providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance and move towards recovery and long-term solutions,” Pope said.
In the past few weeks alone, more than 600,000 people have been displaced by attacks in the town of Wad Madani and parts of Al Jazirah state, Sudan’s main breadbasket region. Many of them have been displaced for at least the second time, after they fled to Wad Madani to escape the violence in Khartoum and now have to flee again.
Also on Wednesday, the UN expert on human rights in Sudan, Radhouane Nouicer, deplored the grim human rights situation in the country as the brutal armed conflict enters its tenth month. In a statement, he urged the leaders of the two warring parties to immediately end the violence, ensure a transition to civilian rule and heed the calls of victims for peace and justice.
“Despite several regional and international mediation initiatives, there is still no peaceful resolution in sight and the people of Sudan continue to bear the brunt of this endless cycle of violence. Every day yields new accounts of human suffering, destruction and displacement,” Nouicer said.
On Thursday, a summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) called by Djibouti President and IGAD Chair Ismail Omar Guelleh will take place in Uganda. The extraordinary heads of state summit will discuss the ongoing conflict in Sudan, but the Sudanese government has withdrawn from the summit.
“As fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces spreads across the country, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are continuing unabated. It is crucial that the leaders of both sides show more political will to put an end to violence and silence the guns,” he said.
Since the beginning of the conflict in April last year, more than 13,000 thousand civilians have been killed and thousands of others injured, according to conservative estimates. Both parties to the conflict have shown complete disregard for international human rights law as well as international humanitarian law (IHL).
“In my regular meetings with Sudanese civil society representatives, I have heard horrific reports of human suffering, including hundreds of suspected cases of enforced disappearance and multiple cases of arbitrary detention by both parties to the conflict. I have also heard deeply disturbing accounts of sexual violence against women and girls, most of them allegedly perpetrated by members of the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militia,” the human rights expert said.
Nouicer denounced the rise in ethnically motivated violence and hate speech, particularly in the Darfur region. In West Darfur, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias have repeatedly attacked and killed members of the African Masalit community. He also expressed alarm at reports of conscription of children and mobilization of civilians into “popular” resistance groups to fight alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
“Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have publicly made commitments to investigate gross violations and abuses committed during the conflict and break the cycle of impunity that is at the root of the ongoing tragedy, but so far, no actions have been taken to prosecute perpetrators, nor findings of investigations made public,” said Nouicer.
“I call on both parties to ensure all violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law are promptly and thoroughly investigated and those found responsible held to account.”
The expert also called on both sides to ensure safe, effective and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilian population.
“Sudan – a most fertile land – is running out of food, and 18 million people are facing acute hunger, but despite the enormous need, delivering aid remains extremely challenging due to ongoing hostilities, persistent insecurity, attacks on humanitarian workers and bureaucratic hurdles,” he said.
“This must not continue. The Government of Sudan, which has the primary responsibility to protect civilians, must take concrete steps to ensure sufficient aid can reach all those in need and facilitate the access of humanitarian convoys to the populations affected by the conflict.”
Nouicer called on the international community to work together and produce a coherent, inclusive, unified and coordinated roadmap to help end the violence engulfing Sudan, and to support a Sudanese national dialogue involving political parties and civilian groups, including women and youth associations, leading to the transfer of power to a transitional civilian-led government.
In a related development, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan announced today that it has begun its work this week, calling on Sudan’s warring parties to end the nation’s armed conflict, uphold their obligations to protect civilians and ensure perpetrators of grave violations and crimes are held to account.
Speaking after several days of talks with officials and civil society organizations, Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, said Thursday that investigations into human rights and international humanitarian law violations were underway.
“Sudanese civil society organizations and other interlocutors have started sharing allegations of ongoing serious violations with us,” Othman said. “These allegations underscore the importance of accountability, the necessity of our investigations, and the vital need for the violence to end immediately.”
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) established the Fact-Finding Mission in October 2023 to investigate all alleged human rights violations in the conflict between the SAF, the RSF and other warring parties since April 15, 2023. In December, the HRC appointed the Mission’s three members, including Othman, Mona Rishmawi, and Joy Ezeil.
An estimated 24.8 million people - nearly one-half of Sudan’s population - will require humanitarian assistance across the country this year, according to the 2024 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). The HRP requests $2.7 billion to assist 14.7 million of the most vulnerable people. Meanwhile, the revised 2023 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan was only 43 percent funded as of January 18, 2024.
Further information
Full text: IOM Chief: International Community Must Not Turn Its Back on World's Largest Displacement in Sudan, IOM press release, published January 17, 2024
https://www.iom.int/news/iom-chief-international-community-must-not-turn-its-back-worlds-largest-displacement-sudan
Full text: UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan begins work, calls on warring parties to end conflict and respect human rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press release, published January 18, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/01/un-fact-finding-mission-sudan-begins-work-calls-warring-parties-end-conflict
Full text: UN human rights expert on Sudan calls for urgent action on dismal human rights situation as conflict enters 10th month, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press release, published January 17, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/01/un-human-rights-expert-sudan-calls-urgent-action-dismal-human-rights