Conflict in Sudan is world’s largest displacement crisis

ABOUT 19 MILLION SUDANESE CHILDREN are awaiting schools to re-open. For children, education is about more than the right to learn. Schools can protect children from the physical dangers around them – including abuse, exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups. Should the conflict result in schools remaining closed, this will have devastating impacts on children’s development and psychosocial well-being. Read more.

News and Press Release 

Source OCHA 

Posted 2 Nov 2023 

Originally published 2 Nov 2023

Sudan: Humanitarian Key Messages (November 2023)

● More than six months since fighting erupted on 15 April, Sudan is experiencing a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Civilians are paying the price of the ongoing fighting. About half of the population – 24.7 million people, including 14 million children – needs humanitarian aid and protection assistance.
About 5.8 million people are displaced inside Sudan or have fled to neighbouring countries, half of whom are children. Women make up 69 per cent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), including those in war zones, and data from Chad indicates that 90 per cent of the refugees crossing the borders are women and girls. Similarly in Egypt, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has recorded that most of the registered households upon crossing the borders were female-headed ones. The conflict – and surging hunger, disease and displacement – threatens to consume the entire country. It is time to silence the guns.

● Millions of people – especially in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – lack access to food, water, shelter, electricity, education, health care and nutrition. As the humanitarian situation deteriorates, the communities’ coping capacity has weakened. Hunger and malnutrition were already at record levels before the fighting, now, an estimated 20.3 million people – 42 per cent of the population – face acute food insecurity. Of these, 6.3 million people are at emergency levels of hunger, only one step away from famine. Over 18 million people lack access to improved sanitation and around 8 million people practice open defecation. About 3.5 million children under five years are acutely malnourished, of whom 700,000 suffer from severe acute malnourishment and are at 11 times higher risk of death compared with their healthy peers. This adds to the burden of care on women and girls and exposes them to multiple risks in the context of the armed conflict.

● Parties to the conflict must put an end to harming civilians and respect international humanitarian law, as agreed under the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan. The parties must allow civilians safe passage. People fleeing conflict – especially women, children and those with special needs – must be able to do so safely. Attacks on hospitals, schools and other essential civilian infrastructure must stop. Access to critical items and services must be guaranteed. All health facilities occupied by parties to the conflict must be vacated. De-escalation, dialogue and a cessation of hostilities are essential to resolve the crisis.

● The spread and escalation of fighting is deeply concerning, especially as the conflict reaches new areas. Hostilities have started to spill over into Aj Jazirah State, Sudan’s breadbasket, which could have grave consequences for the harvest season and agricultural productivity. Shortages of critical inputs like seeds and fertilizers coupled with erratic weather patterns threaten both planting and harvesting. A below average harvest in the coming months would push more people into hunger and others into more severe levels of hunger.

● Protection remains an urgent priority, with an increasing number of reports of sexual and genderbased violence, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and grave violations of human and children’s rights. Parties to the conflict should not use rape as a weapon of war and those accused of it should be held accountable. As inter-communal tensions mount, the ability to access protection services and support systems reduces. Civilians are at risk of explosive hazards, though the extent and level of new contamination is unknown. Parties to the conflict must protect civilians, including children, from grave violations of their rights.

● The war in Sudan is now the world’s largest displacement crisis. As more refugees flee across Sudan’s borders, host communities in neighbouring countries are struggling. A protracted conflict in Sudan could tip the entire region into a humanitarian catastrophe. Humanitarian partners are working closely with governments in neighbouring countries to respond. New arrivals need protection and assistance.
Moreover, host communities in remote border areas, where services and infrastructure are scarce or non-existent, were already suffering due to climate shocks and food scarcity.

● Outbreaks of diseases pose a growing threat, particularly in overcrowded shelter sites and sites with poor water, sanitation and hygiene. Sudan is already facing outbreaks of cholera, dengue, measles, and malaria. Even in relatively safe locations hosting displaced populations, living conditions are deteriorating. Displacement sites have been flooded during the rainy season, raising the risk of further spread of deadly diseases. Partners must step up to contain ongoing disease outbreaks and mitigate the risks of potential outbreaks. Projections based on Johns Hopkins’ Lives Saved Tool modelling indicate that at least 10,000 children under five years may die by the end of 2023 due to an increase in food insecurity, and disruptions to essential services.

● About 19 million children are awaiting schools to re-open. For children, education is about more than the right to learn. Schools can protect children from the physical dangers around them – including abuse, exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups. Schools serve as centres for multiple services. Children can be reached with life-saving information, food, water, immunizations, healthcare, and hygiene supplies. Teachers and other education personnel can support children’s mental health, providing children with stability and structure to help them cope with the trauma they experience every day and referring children for any necessary additional support. Should the conflict result in schools remaining closed, this will have devastating impacts on children’s development and psychosocial well-being.

● Humanitarians continue to face immense obstacles to assist people in need. Bureaucratic and administrative impediments must be lifted so that aid workers can move supplies more swiftly. Visas, travel permits, and other procedures required to move staff and assistance inside the country delay the delivery of assistance. Looting and attacks against humanitarian personnel, facilities and supplies further compromise the ability of partners to deliver aid and services. The parties to the conflict must adhere to international humanitarian law and guarantee unhindered access for humanitarian personnel and supplies. Aid convoys face threats, roadblocks, restrictions and bureaucratic impediments, while intensified airstrikes and shelling in Khartoum make safe access almost impossible.

● Despite the challenges, humanitarian agencies in Sudan have made strides in accessing people across Sudan, including in hard-to-reach areas. Through both crossline and cross-border movements, convoys have reached East Darfur, North Darfur, South Darfur, West Darfur, North Kordofan states, Jabal Awlia in Khartoum, and other areas. More than 3.7 million people have received lifesaving food, emergency shelter, health, nutrition, protection, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and other assistance since 15 April. An estimated 5.2 million people received livelihood assistance. Aid must be scaled up and sustained to reach more people in desperate need. To expand assistance to people in hard-to-reach areas, innovative approaches to working with communities are critical.

● Additional resources are urgently required to support a humanitarian response that was already significantly underfunded prior to the current conflict. Humanitarian actors require US$2.6 billion to provide life-saving multi-cluster assistance and protection services to 18.1 million people through the end of this year. So far, only 33.6 per cent has been received. Additional funds are urgently needed to meet immense needs, including critical funding to national NGOs on the frontlines of the response.

Disclaimer

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/

View full story and map: https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-humanitarian-key-messages-november-2023

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Infographic: Sudan Key Figures (1 November 2023)

Source OCHA 

Posted 2 Nov 2023 

Originally published 2 Nov 2023

Download Infographic(PDF | 518.65 KB)

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