Sudan Conflict Drives Millions to Displacement; Calls Grow for U.S. Humanitarian Action
The war in Sudan that broke out in April 2023 has left a devastating impact. Thousands are dead in addition to massive destruction in buildings and infrastructure, and experts are warning that famine is on the horizon.
But, this war also forced many to leave their homes seeking refuge. According to updated numbers released by the UN migration agency, the number of internally displaced people has hit 10 million, and more than 2 million other people were driven abroad to neighboring countries. In these new presumed safe havens however, the sudanese refugees’ situations are dire, and many still lack access to basic needs. Some of them are even targeted and deported by the governments of the hosting countries.
Most recently, a group of U.S. congress members sent a letter to President Biden that he establish a humanitarian parole path for the Sudanese, modeled after similar immigration programs already implemented for Ukraine and Afghanistan. This initiative, if adopted, will have a significant impact, and largely contribute to solving this convoluted problem.
Daily news reports expose the harsh situation of the sudanese refugees in all of the countries where they escaped. In Chad for instance, where thousands fled from Darfur to find a haven, the refugee camps are now overcrowded, and the UN agencies started cutting food support, warning that resources will soon expire.
In Eygpt, international rights groups exposed that border guards and the police made arbitrary arrests and held women, men and children in inhumane conditions. They also handcuffed them like criminals without given the right to claim asylum or challenge their deportation.
In Ethiopia, thousands of the sudanese are stranded in a forest amidst fighting between the government troops and rebel groups.
Thus far, the U.S. has been tackling this crisis by multiple approaches, such as providing humanitarian assistance to sudanese people and hosting countries. For instance, in March 2024, Julieta Valls Noyes, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration announced more than $47 million in support to refugees in Chad and South Sudan. This brings the total assistantship to $968 million since FY 2023.
In June 2024, Administrator Samantha Power announced that the United States plans to provide more than $315 million in additional humanitarian assistance through USAID and the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. government also extended the employment authorization documents and temporary protected status for Sudanese currently in the U.S.
The U.S. government can do more by backing the submitted letter by a group of members from congress, led by senators Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Sara Jacobs (D-CA), which addresses the sudanese refugee problem by encouraging the Biden administration to adopt a humanitarian parole program.
The letter cited how such a program would have a huge tangible impact on those refugees and the countries they are in now, helping to end their suffering in addition to protecting them from falling victim to human trafficking and smuggling operations. Members on both sides of the aisle, civil society groups and advocates should follow the lead and push forward this proposal forward.
In 1883, Emma Lazarus, the creative Jewish immigrant poet, published her landmark poem The New Colossus, depicting how the U.S. is widely opening its arms to refugees. The last lines of the text read:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
These genuine and kind words still echo, and now resonate once again, reminding the U.S. to take the lead and fulfill its role in the world, and act boldly, giving its hand to sudanese refugee people.
