It is a dark step for Sudan, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. But with insufficient funding, lack of access to key regions and the intensification of violence, milestones like this have become the dark standard.
“” It is not hypothetical. It’s an imminent disaster“Said Sheldon Yett, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef)) representative in Sudan.
And it is a disaster that unduly affects women and children, many of whom have been moved several times and do not have access to the most basic services such as drinking water, food and protection.
“Each day, the conflict continues in Sudan, innocent lives are lost, the communities are torn and the trauma continues to haunt generations,” said Radhouane Nouicer, the UN designated expert on human rights in Sudan.
Emotional scar fabric
Children in Sudan are among the most affected by the crisis – 3.2 million children under the age of five should suffer from acute malnutrition over the next year.
During a recent trip Jebel Aulia, a locality in the state of Khartoum which is extremely risky of famine, Mr. Yett was horrified by what he saw.
“” Many children are reduced to the skin and bones“Said Mr. Yett.
However, these children do not only fight malnutrition – some of them have also been moved four or five times, and more than three quarters of Sudanese children are not educated.
“The emotional scar fabric is massive – children do not know where they are going … often feel like foreigners in their own country,” said Yett.
He spoke with a mother to Jebel Aulia whose daughter can be changed forever by violence.
“” Since the start of the war, my daughter has fallen into a state of silence, and I can feel her heart beat with fear“Said a mother.
A gender crisis
Around Sudan, while the crisis of spiral food insecurity, women and girls are the “most hungry face of the crisis”, according to the saving Nkurunziza, the United Nations representative in Sudan.
“With conditions now on thresholds close to famine in several regions of the country, it is not only a food crisis but a gender emergency caused by a failure of sensitive sex action,” said Nkurunziza at a Tuesday press briefing in Geneva.
A recent report In addition, the sexospecific nature of the crisis has returned to the house, revealing that households led by women in Sudan are three times more likely to feel severe insecurity than households led by men.
This is particularly worrying because the death, displacement or forced disappearance of men have left more and more women the only winners of the bread. In total, 75% of households led by women cannot meet basic food needs.
“” The data is unequivocal: households with female head slide more deeply in famineWith fewer adaptation mechanisms, less access to income and obstacles even more systemic than last year, ”says the report.
Nevertheless, Mr. Nkurunziza reminded the international community that women are not only victims but also agents of change in crisis circles.
The organizations led by women are on the front line, providing food in popular soups and supporting displaced families. And yet, they remain excluded from numerous decision -making processes and exposed to industrial risks.
An unchanged landscape of human rights
Food security and displacement are not the only challenges that Sudanese are faced. The situation of human rights is deteriorating rather, according to Mr. Nouicer who visited Sudan to meet the main government officials in July.
“I remain seriously concerned about the fact that civilians in Sudan continue to undergo generalized violations and abuses, in particular extrajudicial murders, sexual violence, forced trips and arbitrary detention,” he said.
He specifically highlighted the unique challenges that women, children and disabled people face when faced with movement and violence.
“The current war has devastated civil lives and transformed daily survival into a constant struggle.”
“Irreversible damage”
Mr. Yett said that during his last trip, he had seen the best and the worst of humanity – the devastating impact of violence and inaction coupled with the fully that peace and action could provide.
“” We are on the point of irreversible damage to a whole generation of childrenNot because we do not have the knowledge or tools to save them, but because we do not collectively manage to act with the urgency and on the scale that this crisis requires, “he said.
The first step is to guarantee access to the Sudan regions like Zamzam which have been cut off from the aid. With the approaching rainy season – and some routes already impassable – it only becomes more difficult.
Mr. Nouicer stressed that even if a ceasefire between rival soldiers at war has occurred, the level of devastation and abuse is so extreme that the future will require more than just peace.
“The path to follow requires more than ceases and peace talks. This requires a supported commitment to justice, responsibility and inclusive governance. »»
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
