GENEVA - As war continues to ravage Sudan with horrific consequences, local Emergency Response Rooms volunteers continue to risk their lives to deliver life-saving aid across the country, a UN expert said today.
Millions of people have been forced to flee their homes in terror and are either displaced internally or across neighbouring borders, where they are at increased risk of rape and other sexual violence, trafficking, torture and ill-treatment, detention, disappearances and abductions for ransom. In addition to the enduring violence, the people in some parts of Sudan are also faced with famine, with lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation resulting in a significant increase in preventable diseases.
"In the midst of the terror of war and operating in unimaginably difficult circumstances under the constant threat of detention and violence, Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), along with youth and community-led initiatives, have remained committed to delivering life saving assistance to those in need," said Cecilia Bailliet, the Independent Expert on international solidarity.
"Grounded in the Sudanese tradition of nafeer (collective action), the Emergency Response Room volunteers have been vital in ensuring the provision of food, water, medicine and shelter to millions, as they are able to access dangerous, hard-to-reach areas," said the expert.
"While these solidarity networks have been crucial lifelines since the eruption of the war, more must be done by the international community and all relevant actors, to support them, and all parties to the conflict must do more to ensure access to critical humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, medical equipment, or other vital supplies, in line with international humanitarian law," said Bailliet. "The people of Sudan deserve to look to the future with hope, and the international community must not fail them," she added.
