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Sudan

Amnesty International researcher talking to women in SudanThe 2 million people driven from their homes in Darfur are still at risk of unlawful killing, displacement, rape, detention, torture, starvation and disease. Darfur is still a conflict zone and its people are traumatised by the losses of the past, they are in fear of the present and unsure of their future.

When we visited Sudan we spoke to hundreds of displaced persons in camps and towns in Darfur as well as in the capital, Khartoum. Their testimonies confirmed the enormous mistrust still felt toward the Sudanese government by those who have been forced out of their villages and remain too afraid to leave their camps without international protection.

The government continues to deny the extent of the killings and rapes and refuses to take responsibility for the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Darfur. To strengthen the human rights situation in Darfur, a comprehensive approach to the situation in the whole of Sudan is needed. Issues that need to be urgently addressed throughout Sudan include:

  • impunity for grave human rights violations
  • the lack of freedom of expression or association
  • harsh conditions of detention
  • unfair trials and an unreformed judiciary
  • human rights violations against women
  • the use of militias to kill and displace civilians
  • arms proliferation

Find out more about human rights concerns in Sudan. Read frequently asked questions

Latest news

Amnesty calls on UN Security Council to ensure arrest of war crime suspects The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb. But the government of Sudan is not cooperating with the Court and has so far not only persistently refused to arrest and surrender the two men - but has even promoted Ahmed Harun to the post of Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs. Read Amnesty's full statement

Urgent Action iconDarfur crisis reaches Sudanese capital Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the Sudanese security forces' crackdown following the incursion into Khartoum, by an armed group. The crackdown has been characterized by serious human rights violations, mostly been targeted at Darfuris.

Crisis response

Young refugees wait for water © EC-ECHO-Peter HoldsworthThe civil war in the Sudanese region of Darfur, and in neighbouring Chad, has created an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Over 300,000 people are believed to have lost their lives since the conflict erupted in February 2003. Around two million civilians have fled from their homes. Some 650,000 are denied access to aid. Amnesty International has issued a 'crisis response' in an attempt to protect the civilian populations of Sudan and Chad. Find out more and take action

Report: Displaced in Darfur

Girl in Kalma Internally Displaced Persons camp, South Darfur, SudanAmnesty International's report, Displaced in Darfur - A generation of anger warns that the security situation for internally displaced people in Darfur is on a knife-edge with a generation of Darfuris now growing up in extreme fear and insecurity in camps awash with weapons - a potentially explosive combination.

The report outlines the current state of insecurity in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur and the potential consequences and possible remedies.

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Sudan: Child offender at risk of execution
16 year old Al-Tayeb Abdel Aziz has been sentenced to death along with 9 others on the basis of a confession reportedly extracted under torture.

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Darfuri refugees testify

Whilst the international community debates how to proceed with peacekeeping, civilians are under daily attack by Janjawid and government troops who are raiding rebel villages. The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is increasing rapidly as yet more civilians are forced to flee their homes, many to IDP camps.

Civilians are effectively prisoners in these camps. In West Darfur, the Janjiwid control the area and frequently attack civilians who try to leave camps and occasionally enter the camps to steal and attack residents. During July and August 2006, Amnesty International researchers went on mission to Chad and recorded the testimonies of some of the survivors and witnesses of the attacks. Find and more and read the testimonies

Latest reports

Read more reports on Sudan

Video Clips and Animation

Child in a refugee camp, © Phillip Cox

Since the escalation of violence in Sudan in 2003, more than one million people have suffered grave human rights abuses. Governments worldwide have knowingly let arms exports go to Sudan, supplying the government and its militias with aircraft and weapons likely to be used to attack civilians. Watch a clip about Amnesty's work in Sudan, and see a photograph slideshow.

Amnesty International delegates have recently returned from a research mission among Sudanese refugees in Chad. Watch a clip showing our work there.

To ensure the dead are not forgotten, we have created an animation showing 3,200 names of people killed in Darfur collated by Amnesty researchers. Watch the animation.

View video testimonies of the Sudan crisis