When Will It Be Enough? Humanitarian Organizations Call for Urgent Action from World Leaders as Sudan Faces Unprecedented Starvation and Violence

September 23, 2024

Ahead of the Ministerial Meeting on Sudan at this year’s UN General Assembly (UNGA), members of the Sudan NGO Forum call on the international community to increase pressure on conflict parties to facilitate immediate humanitarian access through all possible cross-border and cross-line routes; establish mechanisms to protect civilians and essential infrastructure from indiscriminate attacks; and increase funding and initiatives to support communities’ responding at scale to this crisis. 

Sudan is experiencing a man-made starvation crisis of historic proportions, largely driven by the actions and decisions of the conflict parties, in violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). As of August 2024, over 25 million people across Sudan are facing severe acute food insecurity, and at least 755,000 people facing catastrophic (IPC Phase 5) levels of hunger could die in the coming months without urgent and decisive action from the international community. Over 10 million people have fled their homes since the conflict broke out in April 2023, making Sudan the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, affecting more than 5 million children, and over 2 million people, who have crossed into neighboring countries. 

While famine has been confirmed in Zamzam camp in North Darfur, the Famine Review Committee affirms that thousands more people are likely experiencing similar conditions in 13 other areas at risk of famine, including Darfur, Kordofan, Al Jazirah and Khartoum. Humanitarian organizations' experience already shows that children are dying every single day due to malnutrition, with some health facilities reporting five daily deaths. 

The crisis is primarily the result of systematic and indiscriminate attacks by all conflict parties on civilians, particularly local responders delivering assistance in the hardest to reach areas. Hospitals, schools, markets, telecommunications, water and irrigation systems and other infrastructure essential to people's survival have also been targeted, as documented by the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan. 

In El Fasher, the largest city in the Darfur region, civilians have been living under siege since May 2024, with the UN Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide warning that indicators of genocide could exist. This past week has seen a further escalation of hostilities, including shelling and aerial bombardment, putting the lives of over 1.5 million civilians at risk. 

The conflict's impact is exacerbated by ongoing severe restrictions on civilian access to life-saving supplies such as food, cash, medicine, water and fuel. Despite commitments to the contrary by parties to the conflict, restrictions on civilian movement and limitations on the movement of essential humanitarian supplies and personnel across borders and lines of conflict, are preventing humanitarian aid from being delivered at scale. Between August and September 2024, nearly 7 million people could not access humanitarian assistance due to access constraints, including arbitrary denials. Many communities in the states of South Kordofan, Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, Central Darfur and Blue Nile are being completely cut off from aid. 

As delegates meet at UNGA this week, Member States should urgently act on the findings of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan and take tangible steps to protect civilians from the impacts of the conflict, safeguard access to principled humanitarian assistance, at a scale which meets their urgent needs and ensure accountability for violations of IHL. NGOs urge UN Member States engaging on Sudan at UNGA to: 

Secure unhindered and unimpeded humanitarian access: 

• Apply increased diplomatic pressure on conflict parties—and their backers—to: lift all constraints to aid delivery; facilitate the critical work of humanitarian organizations, including local organizations and mutual aid groups; increase all feasible cross-border and cross-line entry points; and publicly condemn denials of humanitarian access by all parties. 

• Pressure the conflict parties to cease the deliberate targeting of aid workers, including local organizations and other community-based mutual aid groups. 

Ensure the protection of civilians: 

• Spotlight violations against civilians, including grave violations against women and children, committed by the warring parties as well as their backers. Call on conflict parties to immediately cease all actions that endanger civilians and civilian objects and infrastructure, especially those essential to food production and distribution. 

• In response to the UNSG’s anticipated report to the UN Security Council on options to protect civilians, take immediate steps to resource and operationalize key recommendations. 

• Mandate and resource a dedicated neutral and independent body to champion, lead, and coordinate Protection of Civilians (PoC) efforts, with a primary focus on supporting local level PoC initiatives. 

• Recognize, endorse and support localized conflict Early Warning Systems and conflict monitoring to facilitate conflict mediation and de-escalation. 

Strengthen diplomacy on conflict-induced hunger: 

• The UN Security Council, UN leadership, and member states should engage in proactive diplomacy to highlight and condemn the use of hunger as a weapon of war in Sudan, as per Resolution 2417 and the G7 Famine Prevention Compact 

• Considering escalating food insecurity, increase the frequency of briefings in the UNSC on conflict-induced hunger in Sudan and mandate the monitoring of the risk of the use of starvation as a tactic of war. This could be supported by a cross-sector reporting mechanism documenting instances of IHL violations leading to hunger, including denials of humanitarian assistance. 

Increase flexible funding for all humanitarian action in Sudan: 

• Immediately and significantly increase funding to the Sudan humanitarian response to scale up multisectoral humanitarian assistance; including flexible and direct funding to local actors, including women and youth-led organizations, who are best placed to help communities in dire need. 

The Sudan NGO Forum is the coordination and representation body for the international non-governmental organization (INGO) community in Sudan. The Forum is currently comprised of 70 members and observer members providing humanitarian and development assistance and peacebuilding interventions across all 18 states of Sudan.

 

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