6 June 2024 – War through children’s eyes – when will the world’s most neglected genocide end for the Sudanese survivors?
By Judith Hayman
Over the last twenty years the people of Darfur, Sudan, have suffered the worst genocidal atrocities on the planet. – 600,000 have been killed and nine million people have been displaced – yet the world seems neither to know nor care about the tragedy.
G2G marked Refugee Week by highlighting the ethnic cleansing in Darfur with refugee and human rights organisations HIAS+JCORE, Waging Peace, and René Cassin.
Maddy Crowther of Waging Peace said ‘Sudan does not make the news.’ She revealed the ongoing atrocities taking place today in El Fasher, capital of Northern Darfur, by militiamen of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and its allies. She spoke of many hundreds of thousands of people’s lives being at risk in the city if the world did not take action. She warned: ‘The situation bears all the hallmarks of a genocide.’
G2G’s Vivienne Cato, who hosted the event, explained: ‘As the children of refugees we feel it is our duty to highlight the plight of Darfur. Genocide is a live issue in Darfur.’ From 2003 to 2008 there were 300,000 civilian deaths in Darfur and 2.7 million displaced civilians, making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Sonja Miley of Waging Peace spoke of her work raising the profile of the continued atrocities in Sudan. Shockingly she revealed that black Africans in Darfur are subjected to beheadings and rape by Arab militia solely because of their different skin tone.
Children who saw their parents being murdered in front of them now have their drawings exhibited at the Weiner Holocaust Library in London to raise awareness. Zeinab, who was too scared to reveal her surname, is one of hundreds of thousands of black Africans displaced by ethnic cleansing by the Arab militia. Zeinab has been in the UK for fifteen years and she wants people to see the children’s drawings of the genocide they have witnessed and learn the truth.
Zeinab explained: ‘Sudan is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at the moment. There are 25 million people in urgent need of humanitarian aid. Zeinab spoke of people sleeping on the ground in refugee camps in Chad lacking food and water. All the refugees in these camps have lost loved ones in the conflict. Harrowingly she spoke of a three-year-old boy shot by militiamen while being cuddled by his mother – just because he was a boy.
HIAS+JCORE is a Jewish humanitarian organisation that is working with governments to provide life-saving aid to thousands of refugees from Darfur who have crossed the border into Chad. Monim Haroon was born in Darfur and fled the genocide in 2006. He is now advocacy manager at HIAS Israel. He said: ‘The situation is getting worse by the day. It is dire in Darfur and there are no talks and limited international attention to Sudan. Chad refugees and the situation in Sudan are not a priority for the UN.’
Mia Hasenson-Gross, executive director of René Cassin – the Jewish voice for human rights – said: ‘As Jews we have not to be silent in response to human rights violations.’