The resolution had suggested several solutions which could address some of the humanitarian crisis plaguing Sudan.
Two Sudanese women drag food aid from ICRC across a barren land after an airdrop.
Yang Zhihe
09 June 2022
The HRC just passed a resolution which would serve to address Sudan’s dire food situation amid the turmoil occurring in Sudan and suggest long-lasting and effective solutions to this issue.
The resolution was conceived after three days of discussion between members of the United Nations Human Rights Council after a letter sent to the council president on behalf of 48 countries to discuss the situation in Sudan.
In 1989, Omar al-Bashir took power through a military coup during a conflict between North and South Sudan, marking the start of his 30-year reign.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) claims that during his reign Mr Bashir had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, leading to an arrest warrant and international travel ban.
In 2019, after months of widespread protest calling for the resignation of Mr Bashir, the Sudanese Military deposed Mr Bashir in a coup d'etat and instated a three-month state of emergency.
Following this, a transitional military government was formed. However, with intervention from the African Union, both the civilian and military factions reached an agreement to share the power.
Yet, rising food prices and hyperinflation left many civilians dissatisfied with the government which caused people to take to the streets.
During protests, security forces frequently violently crack down on them, leaving 99 dead, 5000 injured and many others arbitrarily arrested. In the Soba region alone, at least 105 people are held without due process.
This leaves the council with two major issues to tackle. Firstly, the food crisis and secondly repeated incidents of human rights violations.
Both of these issues have real and serious consequences, with the lives of 48 million people at stake. 18 million of which are likely to face food insecurity in 2022.
Despite having the funding of 207 million dollars, humanitarian efforts are seriously hampered through recent revelations.
Such revelations include rising global food prices and the imposition of fees by Sudan on humanitarian organisations, this would increase the operating cost of these humanitarian organisations, decreasing the total amount of aid able to be provided.
Continued violence and displacement across the Dafur region, may dissuade more aid organisations from providing aid for security reasons, which would negatively impact the affected communities.
However, the recently passed resolution proposes several new solutions to address some of these new revelations.
The resolution proposes improvements in food production and distribution through “conducting more research into the situation in Sudan” as well as farming methods and educating the farmers on maximising profits and efficiency of crops.
Despite this, the key issue of Sudan’s violent crackdown on protestors and regional violence was not addressed in the resolution.
As a delegate pointed out, the resolution “did not address (the) root problem” and this may result in “the humanitarian crisis occurring again.”
This was perhaps due to the limitation of the Human Rights Council being a council that makes recommendations on rights violations and secondly to respect Sudan’s sovereignty.
When questioned, there seemed to be a consensus among delegates that “whether the problem is solved is up to Sudan to implement the solution” and that “some action is better than inaction”.