Home Programs Five-Country Focus Sudan: Internally Displaced in Darfur and Returnees in Southern Sudan

Background: Darfur

The current conflict in Darfur began in February 2003, when two loosely allied rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/SLA), took up arms against the Government of Sudan for neglecting the impoverished region. The government responded by mounting an aerial bombardment campaign and supporting ground attacks by an Arab militia, the Janjaweed.

The Janjaweed militias are accused of committing numerous human rights violations, including mass killing, looting and systematic rape of the non-Arab population, as they burned and destroyed hundreds of so-called rebel villages throughout the region.

According to Reuters AlertNet, more than 300,000 civilians have been killed, an estimated 2.7 million people are internally displaced and an additional 300,000 have fled across the border into Chad.

In March 2009, 13 international aid organizations including the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, Oxfam and CARE, were expelled after an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was issued by the International Criminal Court. These agencies delivered approximately 40 percent of the aid in Darfur.

Background: Southern Sudan

Sudan has been in a state of civil war for all but 14 years since it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1956. The conflict has been drawn primarily along religious and ethnic lines between the predominantly Arab and Muslim government based in the north and the Christians and animists from a variety of ethnic groups in the south.

The war that lasted from 1983 to 2005 resulted in the world’s highest death toll since World War II, with as many as 2 million casualties. More than 4 million people from Southern Sudan were displaced or sought refuge in neighboring countries, mostly in Uganda.

In January 2005, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Reuters AlertNet reports that 2.37 million people have returned home. Ninety percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day, and the maternal mortality is among the highest in the world, at 2,037 per 200,000 births.

The Women’s Refugee Commission in Sudan

The Women's Refugee Commission has looked at many aspects of life for internally displaced people in Darfur and Darfuri refugees in Chad, including education, young people, reproductive health and firewood. Some highlights are:

• We conducted an assessment of the conditions for young displaced people in Darfur in 2008.
• We published a youth and livelihoods assessment in Southern Sudan in 2007.
• Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict released a report, Sudan's Children at a Crossroads: An Urgent Need for Protection, in 2007.
• We conducted an education assessment in Darfur in 2006.
• We undertook initial field research for our “Beyond Firewood” reports in Darfur 2005; we conducted ongoing follow-up field missions for the fuel/firewood Initiative in Darfur in 2006-2007.
• We did a situation analysis and supported international nongovernmental organizations to pilot the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for reproductive health in three states of Darfur in 2005 and 2006.
• We assessed the INEE Minimum Standards on Education in Emergencies in Darfur in 2005 and 2006.
• We looked at education and gender-based violence affecting adolescent girls for Darfur living in refugee camps in Chad in 2005.
• A case study on Sudan was used in the 2004 Global Survey on Education in Emergencies.

Our Current Work

• With the Population Council, we are conducting research and advocacy on education and protection in Darfur. First reports are due out June 2009.
• Darfur is an ongoing field site for our fuel/firewood Initiative. (2008-2009)
• We provided a subgrant to the International Rescue Committee to conduct a livelihoods pilot project in Southern Sudan. (2006 to present)

Future Plans

• Conduct a livelihoods country-level workshop and ongoing mentoring. (2010)
• Conduct a youth assessment in S Sudan (TBD)
• Continue our work with the Population Council on linkages between education and protection in Darfur (TBC)
• Continue our field project for our fuel/firewood Initiative (in conjunction with the World Food Program feasibility study for Task Force SAFE). (2009-2010)
• Planning workshops/trainings in Khartoum and Darfur for national/international UN/NGO staff on IASC Task Force SAFE outputs. (2009)

Reports

• Too Little for Too Few: Meeting the Needs of Youth in Darfur (December 2008)
• Education during Humanitarian Emergencies: The Situation of Displaced Children in Youth in Darfur, Sudan (brief prepared with Population Council) (updated April 2008)
• Fuel-Efficient Stoves: Report from Workshop in Darfur (February 2008)
• From the Ground Up: Education and Livelihoods in Southern Sudan (January 2007)
• Education in Darfur: A Critical Component of Humanitarian Response (December 2006)
• Finding Trees in the Desert: Firewood Collection and Alternatives in Darfur (March 2006)
• Lifesaving Reproductive Health Care in Chad: Ignored and Neglected (August 2004)
• Only Through Peace: Hope for Breaking the Cycle of Famine and War in Sudan (September 1999)

Photo Essays

View our photo essays:

• Gaps in Education for Darfur’s Children and Youth
• From Darfur to Chad
• Sudan in Crisis
• From the Ground Up: Education and Livelihoods in Southern Sudan

Selected Media Coverage

• Sudan's Young Endure 'Unspeakable' Abuse, Reuters, by Evelyn Leopold. April 2007.
• Protect displaced, Ottawa Citizen, letter to the editor. October 2007
• Sexual Violence and Firewood Collection in Darfur, Forced Migration Review, by Erin Patrick. January 2007.
• Re: Chad, The New York Times, letter to the editor, May 2007.
• Re: For Darfur Women, Survival Means Leaving Camp, Risking Rape, The Washington Post, letter to the editor. September 2006.
• Young Darfuris, in Need of Hope, The New York Times, letter to the editor, July 2006.
• Darfur Crisis: Reproductive Health Care Needed, Minnesota Star Tribune, letter to the editor. July 2004.
• Giving Women a Voice. New York Times, letter to the editor, November 2001.

How You Can Take Action

One of our priorities is to advocate for the needs of Iraqi refugee women, children and young people. Help raise awareness and resources for displaced and Darfuri and returnee Sudanese women, children and young people.

Last updated June 2009

See our other Focus on Five countries:

Liberia

Northern Uganda

Jordan

Thai- Burma border