The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Sudan: One of largest protection crises, says UN refugee agency
The displacement crisis prompted by ongoing conflict in Sudan continues unabated with nearly six million people forced out of their homes and women and children making up nearly nine in 10 of those uprooted, the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.
“This is one of the largest protection crises that we are faced with today,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes. “Inside Sudan itself there are a lot of people in urban settings that are affected equally and who do not have the resources to leave.”
In a related development, the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday voted to set up a high-level probe “to investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged human rights violations” in Sudan.
In accordance with the resolution, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan is mandated to investigate violations of international humanitarian law, including those committed against refugees, and related crimes caused by the ongoing conflict.
In an appeal for a cessation of hostilities, the UNHCR official urged Sudan’s opposing militaries “to have a peace process that will help our brothers and sisters who have been obliged to flee their countries to go back to their countries”.
As a result of the conflict that erupted in mid-April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other armed groups in mid-April, the UN agency described how families had faced harrowing journeys and become separated while on the move, amid increasing reports of gender-based violence. Malnourishment among children is now described as a major crisis, along with disease outbreaks.
“I have seen and I have witnessed the level of human rights violations that have happened within Sudan so that what we hear from people who have crossed the borders is really heartbreaking and that’s the protection crisis that we are faced with and it has been ongoing for the past six months,” said UNHCR’s Mr. Balde.
The regional ramifications of the Sudanese emergency are deep, particularly in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR). Both nations are grappling with the influx of refugees fleeing the devastating conflict in Sudan, bringing with them stories of despair, loss, and continued vulnerability.
“In my long career as a humanitarian worker what I have seen in Chad with this new emergency with such a rapid and vast displacement of people is the first time,” said Abdouraouf Gnon Konde, UNHCR’s Regional Bureau Director for West and Central Africa.
According to Mr. Konde, there are over 420,000 new refugees in Chad and near 19,000 in CAR. To put this in perspective, “Chad has hosted more refugees in these mere five months than it has in the past 20 years becoming now undeniably the epicentre of this crisis”.
“In Chad we estimate probably that by the end of the year we will reach unfortunately the number of 600,000 Sudanese refugees who will have just arrived following what’s happening in Sudan,” added Mr. Konde.
The UNHCR official described a recent visit to Chad where testimonies from refugee victims of gender-based violence had been “particularly chilling”, involving sexual assault, rape and forced prostitution.
In response to the emergency in Chad, UNHCR has relocated 42 per cent of refugees away from high-risk border areas, with a focus on protecting the high percentage of vulnerable women and children.
Egypt continues to be the primary host country of Sudanese refugees, with hundreds arriving daily, said Ayman Gharaibeh, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “We have received over 300,000 Sudanese since the crisis erupted,” he said. “For those who don’t know: in Egypt already pre-crisis there are six million Sudanese. Egypt has been really the safety zone throughout the decades of Sudan turbulent years. A place of safety, for some people almost home.”
-ends-
STORY: Sudan: Displacement update - UNHCR
TRT: 2 min 45s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 11 October 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva
- Wide shot: speakers at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes, and Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation: “This is one of the largest protection crises that we are faced with today. Nearly six month and nearly 6 million people are affected who are leaving. And I would say inside Sudan itself there are a lot of people in urban settings that are affected equally and who do not have the resources to leave.”
- Close up, UNHCR spokesperson taking a photo
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes, and Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation: “I have seen and I have witnessed the level of human rights violations that have happened within Sudan so that what we hear from people who have crossed the borders is really heartbreaking and that’s the protection crisis that we are faced with and it has been ongoing for the past six months.”
- Wide shot: speakers and attendees at the press conference, screens with speaker
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Abdouraouf Gnon Konde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for West and Central Africa: “In my long career as a humanitarian worker what I have seen in Chad with this new emergency with such a rapid and vast displacement of people is the first time.”
- Wide shot, camera operators in control room
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Abdouraouf Gnon Konde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for West and Central Africa: “In Chad we estimate probably that by the end of the year we will reach unfortunately the number of 600,000 Sudanese refugees who will have just arrived following what’s happening in Sudan.”
- Medium shot: speaker at the press conference on podium filmed from behind
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Ayman Y. Gharaibeh, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the Middle East and North Africa: “ We have received over 300,000 Sudanese since the crisis erupted. For those who don’t know: in Egypt already pre-crisis there is 6 million Sudanese. Egypt has been really the safety zone throughout the decades of Sudan turbulent years. A place of safety, for some people almost home.”
- Medium shot: attendees at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes, and Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation: “We need this to end, we need to have a cessation of hostilities, we need to have a peace process that will help our brothers and sisters who have been obliged to flee their countries to go back to their countries”.
- Medium shot: speakers at the podium
- Medium shot: operator in control room
- Wide shot, attendees in press room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OCHA , WHO , UNHCR , IFRC , ILO , UNCTAD
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Trade and Development.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | ITU , OSE , UNIFIL , UNICEF , OHCHR , WHO , FAO
Rolando Gómez of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and the International Telecommunication Union.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OCHA , WHO
UN Geneva briefing: Ukraine's humanitarian crisis deepens, with 12,000 dead and 3.6M displaced.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.