UNICEF official calls for attention to humanitarian crisis in Sudan amid civil war News
RomanDeckert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
UNICEF official calls for attention to humanitarian crisis in Sudan amid civil war

Deputy executive director of UNICEF Ted Chaiban on Friday called for more international attention to the “forgotten crisis” in Sudan amid the country’s civil war. In a joint statement with UNHCR assistant high commissioner for operations Raouf Mazou, Chaiban noted the massive displacement and damage caused by the war being fought between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The conflict has been raging since April 2023,  causing the displacement of over 11 million people and pushing 13 million people to extremely serious levels of food insecurity. The conflict first arose following the 2019 ouster of Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir through the joint efforts of the SAF and the RSF. Disagreements on the post-transition government and how power would be shared led to violence, with the RSF, the nation’s most powerful paramilitary group, accused of committing mass atrocities. However, the SAF has also been accused of contributing to severe human rights violations in the country.

According to UNICEF, there has been a collapse of vital infrastructure in Sudan, leading to conditions approaching famine, as well as a lack of access to critical resources and facilities like water, sanitation, and healthcare. As fighting continue, with evidence of war crimes mounting, calls for ending rights violations have gone unheard.

In their joint statement, Chaiban and Mazou said, “As we witness the collapse of vital infrastructure, the international response must intensify immediately to match the overwhelming scale of need.”

In attempts to limit the conflict, the UN Security Council extended an arms embargo on Sudan, while the UN Human Rights Council has renewed the mandate for the Independent Fact-Finding Mission in Sudan.

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