Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNWOMEN , WFP , WHO
Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.
“With no viable peace in sight, the Sudanese are trapped in a humanitarian crisis of industrial proportions,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. “Two out of three people need aid, that’s 30 million people…This, of course, demands a massive ramp-up of international support. What we see instead is donors pulling back funding across the world.”
The war between rival militaries – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – began on 15 April 2023 after a breakdown in transition to civilian rule, following the overthrow of long-time President Omar al-Bashir. Heavy fighting has levelled towns and cities and claimed tens of thousands of lives. At least 12.4 million people have been uprooted from their homes, including more than 3.3 million refugees.
Since the outset, relief workers and others including the UN human rights office, OHCHR, have repeatedly warned that sexual violence remains pervasive across Sudan.
“One survivor recounted that she was told, ‘We are your men now,’ before RSF fighters raped her in front of her children,” said Li Fung, OHCHR Representative in Sudan, speaking to journalists in Geneva via video link from Nairobi.
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reiterated deep concerns about the 25 million Sudanese facing famine. “Two years of war has turned Sudan into the world's largest hunger catastrophe and famine is spreading,” said Leni Kinzli, WFP Communications Officer for Sudan, also speaking from the Kenyan capital.
In an appeal for funding to support the UN agency’s work, she testified to the value of food assistance for internally displaced people (IDPs): “It means that a father who has been torn from his home in Khartoum can feed his family of four; it means that a mother in an IDP camp in Kassala can cook a simple meal for her young daughters and so that they don't fall into malnutrition.”
Amid reports that the paramilitary RSF paramilitary had taken the key Darfur town of Um Kadadah from the SAF, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned that attacks on healthcare personnel and facilities “are on the rise”.
The past two years have seen 156 confirmed attacks on health “causing more than 300 deaths and over 270 injuries among either patients or healthcare workers”, said Dr Shible Sahbani, WHO Representative in Sudan speaking via video link from Cairo.
Echoing those concerns, UN Women reported that 80 per cent of hospitals in conflict areas are no longer functioning, with maternal deaths rising “alarmingly”.
A full eight in 10 displaced women and girls in Sudan now lack access to clean water, said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women Director in Geneva, highlighting the impact of deep cuts to funding for humanitarian work globally.
“The latest global cuts in humanitarian funding have put critical programmes at risk, with teams forced to make unreasonable choices and refugees being left to resort to harmful strategies to meet their basic needs,” said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Olga Sarrado.
“Inside Sudan, reduced funding will cut access to clean water for at least half a million displaced people, significantly increasing risks of cholera and other waterborne diseases,” she added.
Ends
STORY: Two years of war in Sudan – OCHA, OHCHR, UNHCR, WFP, WHO, UN Women
TRT: 03’05”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 11 APRIL 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Speakers:
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on Palestinians killed seeking food in Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Iran-Israel war: UN rights office concerned over strike on Tehran prison, reported espionage arrests
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday. “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the World Investment Report 2025. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the report.
1
1
1
Edited News
Afghan journalist Zahra Nader fled twice due to Taliban rule, highlighting severe women's rights issues.
1
1
1
Edited News
Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza documents war's impact, gaining global attention but facing personal peril.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
As the Iran-Israel crisis continued into a sixth day, the UN deputy human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif called for urgent talks to end the continuing exchanges of missile attacks between Tehran and Tel-Aviv.