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http://shr.aaas.org//emerging_issues/darfurcrisis.htm

AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Crisis in Sudan

Resources & Background Reports

Map of Sudan

"The most sacred responsibility of any Government is to protect its people against the kind of crimes that have been committed in Darfur. The international community must hold [Sudan] to that responsibility.... If the Sudanese Government does not have the capacity to protect its population, the international community must be prepared to assist and the Sudanese Government should seek such assistance."

--UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

The Situation At a Glance

The current situation of widespread violence, massive refugee flows, and human rights violations in Darfur, Sudan is a serious human rights and humanitarian issue crisis, with many analysts considering Sudan to be the world's next genocide. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 1.4 million people, out of an estimated population of 6.5 million the Darfur region of Sudan, are internally displaced. This figure may be too conservative as the UN does not have full access to the region. There have been more than 100,000 violent deaths and about 130,000 people have died from malnutrition and disease. More than 230,000 people have fled into neighboring Chad.

The victims are mostly from the black, non-Arab Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit groups. The attacks are largely by a government-supported Arab group of militias known collectively as the "Janjaweed." The government in Khartoum claims ignorance of any violence, but reports indicate that they are complicit in the atrocities. The Janjaweed militias are burning villages and food supplies, murdering civilians, raping woman and girls, and poisoning water sources.

While the conflict in Sudan has been ongoing intermittently for over 20 years, the latest bout of fighting has taken on more serious racial and ethnic overtones. The Khartoum-based government fuels ethnic and racial violence by using the Janjaweed militias as its proxies against Darfur insurgents, who have been engaged in armed struggle since early 2003 in an effort to achieve full respect for human rights and an end to political and economic marginalization in Darfur.

Event: Darfur, Sudan: The Role of Science in a Humanitarian Crisis

AAAS is sponsoring a public discussion on Wednesday October 20, 2004 featuring a keynote address by Andrew Natsios, Administrator of USAID and Juan Mendez, UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide. Further details about the speakers and schedule is available here.

Relevant Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Standards

Links to Civil Society Action and Information

Selected News Articles, Commentaries & Background Reports

Updated 05/01/2006. Please send any corrections or additions to:
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