World Refugee Day (June 20)

On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns of an escalating spiral of humanitarian suffering in Sudan. “The situation in Sudan is getting worse by the day. Every day without safe escape routes means more deaths. The situation in El Fasher is disastrous. If the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces manage to take over the city completely, there will be further ethnically motivated massacres,” stated Sarah Reinke, head of human rights work at the STP. According to estimates by the UN, between 10,000 and 15,000 Masalit were killed in a massacre in the capital of the Sudanese state of West Darfur in June 2023. According to a report by the STP, the massacre is to be seen as a crime of genocide.

“The window of opportunity to influence the situation there is closing further and further. The German Federal Government must finally work towards the establishment of safe escape routes to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and imminent famine. It is especially the people in El Fasher and the entire region of Darfur who need safe routes to leave the contested areas – immediately,” Reinke demanded.

There are currently around 800,000 people in El Fasher, including many refugees. The city is under siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). According to a report, eight humanitarian workers who were distributing food to those in need were killed in an attack by the RSF on June 11. On June 8, one of the last functioning hospitals in El Fasher was attacked by militiamen and has not been in operation since then. Reports confirm that people attempting to leave the city are frequently attacked by marauding groups.

Almost nine million people are on the run in Sudan. 18 million are at acute risk of hunger, including 14 million children. According to estimates, almost every third internally displaced person in Sudan has been forced to flee again. More than fifty percent of the internally displaced persons in Sudan are children. More than two million people have fled to the neighboring countries Chad, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic since the war began in April 2023 – as confirmed by UN organizations and media reports from Sudan.