UK Christian Entity, Civil Rights Groups Want Sudan Situation Listed “full-fledged agenda item” at Planned EU Meeting

In their estimates, “12.9 million People have fled their homes, including 8.9 million internally displaced people (53% are children), while some 3.8 million others are refugees in neighbouring countries, many living in dire conditions.”

CSW and partners lament that those still in Sudan face killings, summary executions, injury, rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and other forms of sexual violence, torture, enforced disappearances, and widespread looting.

The partners that also include the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Front Line Defenders (FLD), and Human Rights Watch (HRW) say that all the atrocities committed against civilians in Sudan “amount to war crimes some of which may also amount to crimes against humanity.”

CSW and partners further explain that children have not been spared as they are “caught in the crossfire of aerial bombardments and shelling, resulting in numerous casualties and impacting severely on their safety, education, and well-being.”

“Since the start of the war, access to independent and reliable information has been under pressure as journalists are targeted by both parties with (death) threats, violence, and attacks,” they say, adding that “media infrastructure, including offices and equipment, has been looted, burned, and deliberately destroyed.”

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They lament that “ethnically motivated killing, forced displacement, and sexual violence by both parties have re-emerged, raising alarming parallels to the Darfur crisis of 2003-2005, when mass atrocities were committed against ethnic communities.”

The civil rights groups express fear that the resurgence of these tactics heightens the risk of a return to the darkest days of Sudan’s wars “when systematic ethnic cleansing and war crimes devastated entire communities.”

They further report in the letter to the EU foreign ministers that “parties to the conflict have repeatedly deliberately blocked and/or looted humanitarian aid, and targeted emergency responders, again victimizing the survivors.”

“Human rights defenders (HRDs), particularly those working on good governance initiatives, peace-building, documentation of human rights violations, and sexual and gender-based violence have been singled out by both warring parties and targeted,” they say.

In the letter also written in collaboration with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SHRM), Sudanese Organization for Researches and Development, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and REDRESS, the groups say that diplomatic efforts have failed to bring a change in the behaviour of the warring parties or end the violations.

“The United States government’s recent decision to suspend foreign aid only amplifies the urgency for robust and timely diplomatic action, life-saving assistance, and a renewed commitment to accountability for Sudan’s civilian population, victims of human rights violations, and civil society organizations working on the ground,” CSW and partners say.

CSW and partners want the EU to condemn violations committed by all warring parties, and to urge those involved in the violent conflict to “immediately cease all forms of violence and attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

They also want the EU to lobby the warring parties to “cease targeted attacks and harassment of Sudanese activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society and to end the deliberate obstruction of aid, all attacks on humanitarian and health workers, including members of the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs).”

CSW and partners urge the EU to double action in handling Sudan’s situation by using all instruments at the member States’ disposal to urgently respond to serious human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the country and to hold perpetrators to account.

They urge the EU to “issue Council conclusions laying out the EU and member States’ strategy to deliver concretely on their commitments on human rights, humanitarian law, justice, accountability, and protection of civilians in Sudan and to make it clear to those responsible that they will be held accountable for the grave violations committed.”

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Increasing emergency funding for the humanitarian response in Sudan as well as in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, including local responders and human rights defenders is also among the recommendations CSW and partners are making to the EU ahead of the April 14 EU’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting.

They also want the EU to “ensure sufficient support to education in emergencies and lend specific support for the protection, care, and treatment and support mechanisms for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.