On 15 April 2024, the European Union, France and Germany co-hosted the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and Neighbouring Countries in Paris. The event aimed at refocusing the attention of the world on the crisis in Sudan and the region, improving access and respect for international humanitarian law and mobilising funds.
One year after the start of the conflict, nearly 25 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance in Sudan, yet humanitarian organisations face various obstacles in delivering assistance which includes denial of access to population in needs, bureaucratic and administrative impediments. These obstacles are clear violations of international humanitarian law and of the parties’ commitments taken in Jeddah to protect civilians and ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
On the margins of the Conference, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) convened an informal meeting to discuss the above access challenges faced by humanitarian workers. As a result, the three co-hosts, together with OCHA, endorsed key “asks” to the parties to the conflict for increased access.
These include:
- calling for safe, rapid, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access through all possible routes
- the facilitation of principled humanitarian assistance as well as
- taking immediate steps to protect civilians and civilian objects.
The full list of asks can be found here.
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