UUSC Expresses Grave Concern About Expulsion of Aid Agencies from Sudan

In the wake of the Sudanese government's recent decision to expel international aid organizations, UUSC expresses grave concern about the perilous humanitarian situation in Darfur. The numbers are staggering: the expulsion of 13 such organizations, including CARE, Oxfam Great Britain, and Mercy Corps, places at severe risk the over 2,000,000 civilians in Darfur dependent on them for food, shelter, water, and medical care. According to the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of March 5, 2009, "The impact of closing down the [13] agencies is that 1.1 million people will be without food, 1.5 million without health care, and over 1 million without potable water."

On March 4 and 5, 2009, these groups received letters from the Sudanese government demanding that they immediately cease humanitarian operations and leave the country. The government made these demands on the same day that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some of the aid organizations report that their bank accounts, laptops, and vehicles are already being seized by government security forces.

Approximately 14,000 aid workers have been operating in the three Darfur states, running a complex machinery of aid provision to 4 million people, 2.7 million of whom are in camps for internally displaced people. This aid provides water systems, health clinics, schools, housing for the displaced, and massive food distribution and supplies for families who have lost all of their possessions in the conflict. The aid agencies also employ thousands of Sudanese.

The impact of shutting down an aid infrastructure of this scale is not difficult to predict: large numbers of people will be placed in grave danger. Effects will be particularly severe for the 2.7 million in internally displaced camps who have no other options for food, water, shelter, or medical care. Under international humanitarian law, all people affected by conflict and disaster have a right to access aid, and aid organizations have the right to provide it.

The United Nations, which provides a wide range of services in the camps, and the U.N. peacekeeping force — UNAMID — remain in the country at this time, as the Sudanese government has not requested that they leave. According to a U.N. statement released after the warrant for al-Bashir was issued, "The United Nations will continue to conduct its vital peacekeeping, humanitarian, human rights and development operations and activities in Sudan...The Secretary-General calls on the government of Sudan to continue to cooperate fully with all U.N. entities and their implementing partners, while fulfilling its obligation to ensure the safety and security of the civilian population, U.N. personnel and property, and that of its implementing partners."

UUSC echoes the U.N.'s call for the government of Sudan to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of the displaced people in Darfur now affected by the ban on the international agencies.