Blueprint Details Urgent Measures to Protect Civilians as Sudan's Brutal War Rages On

Read the full paper here. 

October 23, 2024 - Today, PAEMA (Preventing And Ending Mass Atrocities) released a blueprint to put Sudan on a path to peace. Nineteen months into the war, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and their allies continue to violate international humanitarian law by attacking and targeting civilians and critical civilian infrastructure.

The Sudan war, fueled in large part by external backers, has led to mass displacement across borders. This is a threat to not only Sudan’s population, but also to international peace and security. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and other key stakeholders such as the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) must act now to protect civilians across Sudan.

PAEMA's plan calls for an independent and impartial physical protection presence mandated to protect civilians, with authorization to use force when necessary to protect civilians. It also calls for solutions to end the telecommunication blackout and unhindered humanitarian access across the country. Money pledged by governments last April must be released in order to fund what should be a major aid operation in response to the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. The plan also calls for an early warning system to be set up, connecting satellite monitoring with teams of local monitors.

PAEMA’s Executive Director Lauren Fortgang said: “Everyone in Sudan has the right to protection, but the vast majority have been denied this basic human right. These recommendations are realistic, necessary measures the international community should adopt in order to protect Sudanese civilians and stem the devastating death toll. There is too much at stake. We're giving stakeholders to this conflict a path to peace and we strongly urge them to take it."

PAEMA stresses that the international community should not wait for a nationwide ceasefire in Sudan before taking action to protect civilians. Indeed, it is the lack of a cessation of hostilities and the serious violations of the laws of war that requires protection of civilians.

The warring parties have repeatedly failed to respect any ceasefire agreements but diplomatic engagement with the SAF and RSF continues to be the priority of international stakeholders. Conditions for civilians are rapidly deteriorating, requiring an urgent and nuanced approach in order to save lives. More than 11 million people have been displaced since the start of the war last April. At least 25.6 million people are facing acute food insecurity and famine has been declared in areas of North Darfur. With conflict escalating, urgent action is needed to prevent the further targeting of civilians, attacks against critical civilian infrastructure, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.

“Continuing to unilaterally pursue a diplomatic track after after 19 months of attrition is a staggering failure to protect the people of Sudan, who have been abandoned despite facing mass rape, massacres, and their villages and crops burned to the ground. This conflict will only end through peace talks, but Sudanese civilian lives cannot be accepted as the cost of Burhan and Hemedti refusing to engage in peace talks in good-faith. The UN Security Council must take action today to protect civilians in Sudan” said PAEMA’s Sudan Specialist and Senior Adviser, Shayna Lewis.

PAEMA's proposals for the protection of civilians should be considered as tools to prevent further atrocities in Sudan. They follow the recommendation of the UN Independent Fact Finding Mission (FFM) for “the deployment of an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians in Sudan”. 

Additional recommendations include:

  • An independent assessment for the restoration of telecom networks and support for civilian access to the internet through the provision of satellite internet via community access hubs in each of Sudan’s 18 states;

  • Support for Sudanese civil society documentation for accountability and advocacy purposes through financial, material, and capacity-building support;

  • Development of early warning and early action systems that pair satellite monitoring with the expertise of local monitors/documenters. 

  • Conducting a concept of operations for the deployment of international independent localized physical protection presences to conflict hotspots with authorization to use force to protect civilians;

  • Ensuring that localized protection presences develop and maintain strong relationships with local actors, including traditional and religious leaders and Sudanese civil society to proactively de-escalate conflict and defuse tensions;

  • Development of a PoC plan for Sudanese refugee populations in neighbouring countries;

  • Donors urgently release their pledges from the April 2024 pledging conference; and immediately scale up funding, including to the local humanitarian response such as the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and other grassroots initiatives;

  • Working with local humanitarian actors to ensure that any expansion of assistance builds on the achievements of the local humanitarian response;

  • Engaging diplomatically for the reopening of Sudan’s international border crossings and regional airports. Humanitarian corridors are also required to ensure that this assistance can be safely distributed to target populations, including across different areas of belligerent control;

  • The UNSC and AU PSC should carefully consider the use of safe zones in Sudan.

Recommendations in the paper were developed through dialogue with international experts and Sudanese civil society, which has consistently advocated for the protection of civilians (PoC) since the outbreak of the war and must continue to be engaged as stakeholders. The adoption of these recommendations would enable Sudanese civilians, who have been deprived of their rights throughout this war, to more fully exercise them, in accordance with the 2024 UN Agenda for Protection. None of the recommendations are contingent on a nationwide ceasefire.

“The protection of civilians in Sudan goes hand in hand with the internationally-brokered peace talks and the AU inclusive Sudanese dialogue. Without a comprehensive approach on Sudan that includes a civil-society inclusive peace process, protection of civilians approaches will only treat the symptoms of the protection crisis without addressing the root causes and symptoms of harm to Sudanese civilians. And let's be clear,  these options are not a menu, but  a comprehensive approach that tackles the protection crisis in an integrated way with each solution supporting the others as vital components that will contribute to the prevention of further atrocities in Sudan,” Lewis added.

Read the full paper here. 

For further information, contact Shayna Lewis, Senior Advisor and Sudan Specialist at slewis@paema.ngo
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PAEMA is dedicated to preventing and ending mass atrocities by amplifying the integral role of community centered solutions. We help local communities in our areas of focus to establish and sustain relationships to drive structural and policy change.