Mass atrocities: ‘Sudan has fallen over the edge’

More than 50 human rights and humanitarian organisations yesterday in an open letter sounded the alarm about Sudan, “where a disaster is unfolding before our eyes”. They warn that “with fighting continuing across the country, brutal sexual violence rising, widespread deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and journalists and human rights defenders being silenced, the country is no longer at the precipice of mass atrocities – it has fallen over the edge”.

The signatories to the open letter lament that since April, when open hostilities broke out in Sudan’s capital, “more than five million people have been forced to flee their homes and hundreds of thousands of others may soon be forced to join them. Many are now living in camps with limited access to humanitarian assistance, few educational opportunities for their children, and almost no psychosocial support to help them cope with their traumatic experiences”.

They highlight that within Sudan, over 20 million people, 42 percent of Sudan’s population, now face acute food insecurity and six million are just a step away from famine. At least 498 children have died from hunger. Clinics and doctors have come under fire throughout the country, putting 80 percent of the country’s major hospitals out of service.

Hate speech

“Hate speech, especially language urging the targeting of communities based on the color of their skin, is always alarming. But with an increasingly fractured social fabric, some fighters targeting civilians based on their ethnicity, and accounts from sexual violence survivors in Darfur who heard their rapists tell them that we hope you bear “our” babies – we fear the worst.

“Twenty years after the horrors of Darfur shocked our conscience, we are failing to meet the moment. Thus far, mediation efforts have not deterred Sudan’s warring parties from continuing to commit egregious abuses. We urge a more unified approach that better represents the voices and perspectives of Sudan’s civilians, including women, youth, and representatives from the historically marginalised ‘periphery’.

“We are committed to working together to urge more aid for, more solidarity with, and greater attention to the needs of Sudan’s civilians. The United Nations humanitarian appeal remains woefully underfunded – at about 25 percent of what is needed – and Sudan’s warring parties continue to undermine efforts to deliver aid safely. Donors should step up humanitarian funding, both for local and international organisations who are providing indispensable assistance in Sudan and neighbouring countries.

“The costs of inaction are mounting. The UN Security Council should move from talk to action and begin negotiations to pass a resolution that challenges the climate of impunity, reiterates that international law requires providing safe, unhindered humanitarian access, and redirects international efforts to better protect Sudan’s most vulnerable. The consequences of not acting are too grave to imagine.”

Signatories (listed alphabetically):

1. Act for Sudan, Eric Cohen, Co-Founder
2. African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, Mossaad Mohamed Ali, Executive Director
3. Africans for the Horn of Africa, Stella Ndirangu, Coordinator
4. Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, Secretary General
5. Association of Sudanese-American Professors in America (ASAPA), Beckry Abdel-Magid, Secretary
6. Atrocities Watch, Dismas Nkunda, CEO
7. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Bahey El Din Hassan, Director
8. Carter Center, Paige Alexander, CEO
9. Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), Udo Jude Ilo, Executive Director
10. Center for Peace Building and Democracy in Liberia (CEPEBUD-Liberia), Florence N. Flomo, Executive Director
11. Committee to Protect Journalists, Jodie Ginsberg, President
12. Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights, Carol Cohn, Director
13. Darfur Diaspora Association Group in the United Kingdom, Abdallah Idriss, Director
14. Darfur Women Action Group, Niemat Ahmadi, Founder and President
15. DefendDefenders, Hassan Shire, Executive Director
16. EG Justice, Tutu Alicante, Executive Director
17. Freedom House, Michael J. Abramowitz, President
18. Genocide Alert, Gregor Hoffman, Chairman
19. George W. Bush Institute, David Kramer, Executive Director
20. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Savita Pawnday, Executive Director
21. Global Survivors Fund, Dennis Mukwege, President
22. GOAL, Siobhán Walsh, CEO
23. HIAS, Mark Hetfield, President & CEO
24. HUDO Centre, Bushra Gamar, Executive Director
25. Human Rights Watch, Tirana Hassan, Executive Director
26. iACT, Sara-Christine Dallain, Executive Director
27. Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University, Kerry Whigham, Co-Director
28. InterAction, Anne Lynam Goddard, Interim President and CEO
29. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Eleonore Morel, CEO
30. International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, President & CEO
31. Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, Felice Gaer, Director
32. Legal Action Worldwide, Antonia Mulvey, Founder and Executive Director
33. MADRE, Yifat Susskind, Executive Director
34. Mercy Corps, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer
35. Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University, Kyle Matthews, Executive Director
36. Never Again Coalition, Lauren Fortgang, Director
37. No Business with Genocide, Simon Billenness, Director
38. Nobel Women’s Initiative, Maria Butler, Executive Director
39. Nonviolent Peaceforce, Tiffany Easthom, Executive Director
40. Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, Secretary General
41. Open Society Foundations, Mark Malloch-Brown, President
42. OutRight International, Maria Sjödin, Executive Director
43. Physicians for Human Rights, Saman Zia-Zarifi, Executive Director
44. Plan International, Stephen Omollo, CEO
45. Project Expedite Justice, Cynthia Tai, Executive Director
46. Public International Law & Policy Group, Paul R. Williams, President
47. Refugees International, Jeremy Konyndyk, President
48. Regional Centre for Training and Development of Civil Society, Mutaal Girshab, Director General
49. Society for Threatened Peoples, Roman Kühn, Director
50. Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker, Suliman Baldo, Executive Director
51. Sudan Unlimited, Esther Sprague, Founder and Director
52. Sudanese American Public Affairs Association, Fareed Zein, Board Chairman
53. The Sentry, John Prendergast, Co-Founder
54. Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC), Aymen Tabir, Executive Director
55. US-Educated Sudanese Association (USESA), Samah Salman, President
56. Vital Voices, Alyse Nelson, President & CEO
57. World Federalist Movement Canada, Alexandre MacIsaac, Executive Director
58. World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy (WFM/IGP), Amy Oloo, Consulting Executive Director