Sudan Crisis – Trócaire and Dóchas Agencies Join Mary Robinson in Call to Action

Former President joined by Irish development and humanitarian organisations to share an urgent message: A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan. We must act now. There is no time to lose.

‘This is, in effect, a manmade crisis where women’s bodies are the battlefield… We have said never again too often, this time we need to act like we mean it,’ said Trócaire chief executive Caoimhe de Barra at this morning’s Dóchas briefing on the urgent need to scale up a response to the crisis in Sudan.

Dóchas, the Irish Network for International Development and Humanitarian Organisations, convened the meeting to draw attention to what has now become the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Former President of Ireland and Chair of the Elders, Mary Robinson, spoke alongside Caoimhe de Barra and other NGO representatives on the horror of the unfolding crisis in Sudan and the need for a surge in response.

“It is the biggest humanitarian crisis and it gets very little attention. It amounts to a kind of indifference about human beings,” said Mrs Robinson.

The largest humanitarian crisis in the world

In April of last year, conflict erupted between Sudanese military forces and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). After 500 days of fighting in Sudan, the conflict has displaced 10 million people, 20% of the population in what is a vast nation. As conflict in Ukraine has continued, and the catastrophic situation in Gaza has unfolded in the last year, Sudan has moved from the gaze of the world while spiralling into the largest humanitarian crisis on earth.

The Crisis in Numbers

• Almost 25 million people, or 50% of the population, are experiencing acute hunger and are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. (UN OCHA)
• Famine conditions have been declared in one area of North Darfur, and across the country around 755,000 people are at imminent risk of famine. (UN OCHA)
• 6.7 million people, especially women and girls, are currently at risk of gender-based violence. (UN OCHA)
• More than 90% of school-age children (19 million) are not in school. (UNHCR)
• 80% of health facilities are out of service and only 2% of the population have access to adequate healthcare. (UN OCHA)

As the conflict has spread over the last year, severe barriers to humanitarian access have arisen, rapidly exacerbating the suffering of the civilian population, especially in the south of the country where the needs are greatest. The famine declaration is of note as it joins Gaza as the only location in the world with famine ‘conditions’ anywhere in the world since 2017 (in South Sudan).

However, the extremely constrained access situation in Sudan means that there is likely to be other areas experiencing famine conditions in many areas of Sudan. Parts of South Kordofan, where Trócaire is working, have been recently highlighted as at risk of famine by the Famine Review Committee.

Trócaire is responding, but needs are massive

In the Nuba mountains in the south of the country, Trócaire is providing support for 15 rural health centres and 11 nutrition outreach sites. Here, Trócaire and our partners have been responding to the huge surge in displaced persons: over 700,000 people have been displaced into South Kordofan, a region with extremely high rates of hunger and malnutrition already.

Joint agency call for action

Trócaire and its partners response are saving lives and reducing suffering on a very significant scale, but the truth is that this response requires a huge surge in attention, investment and action. That is why Trócaire and other Dóchas humanitarian response agencies gathered in Dublin this morning, along with former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, a longtime humanitarian and climate advocate.

The panel of speakers all called for an end to this conflict that has caused such immense human suffering already. While welcoming the Tánaiste’s commitment to raise the issue of Sudan in his engagement abroad, Trócaire CEO, Caoimhe de Barra, expressed the need for far greater international urgency to respond to the crisis. Drawing attention to the chronic underfunding and international attention that the crisis has received, she directly challenged the supposed inevitability of suffering in the region:

We have witnessed this crisis unfold from an opportunity for democratic reform, to a battle for power with little regard for those in its path. This is a man-made crisis, today, in real-time, forgotten, ignored even.

Responding to a question from former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on the potential for Irish bilateral diplomacy, Caoimhe de Barra said that while the situation was incredibly challenging and sensitive, Ireland had a history of facing up to uncomfortable diplomatic situations, including during its time on the United Nations Security Council.

“Nothing will echo louder now for the people of Sudan than the silencing of the guns and our haste. Help delayed is help denied.”