Hearings & Briefings

Refugees and IDPs in Sudan – The Crisis Continues

Hearing Thursday, September 30, 2010 2:30 PM Room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building

This hearing will take place at 2:30 PM on 9/30/2010, in Room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The hearing is open to members of Congress, congressional staff, the media and the interested public.

Thursday, September 30, 2010
2:30 PM
Room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building
Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees in Sudan. According to the latest U.N. estimates, a total of around 4.4 million IDPs and some 200,000 refugees -- mostly from Eritrea and the Congo (DRC) -- remain in the country.

Since independence, Sudan has been ravaged by two civil wars between the North and the South (1955 --1972; 1983 – 2005), until a fragile Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005 between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) settled the conflict. A six-year interim period followed, and as stipulated in the CPA, Sudan held national and regional elections in April. A referendum on Southern self-determination is scheduled for January 2011.

During the peace negotiations, conflict erupted in the Western region of Darfur in 2003, which the U.S. declared a genocide on September 9, 2004. From its beginning, the conflict in Darfur between the Sudanese military colluding with pro-Arab Janjaweed militia, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), was characterized by ethnic cleansing and extraordinarily cruel use of force, including mass rape, mass killings, targeting of civilians and deliberate starvation. In 2007, the U.N. sent a peacekeeping force, UNAMID. Despite a recent cease fire agreement between the JEM and the Sudanese government, the security situation remains highly precarious.

The various conflicts had a devastating impact on the country, with over 2 million deaths in the last two decades in Southern Sudan, an estimated 450,000 deaths in Darfur, and a total displaced population of over 4 million people. Insecurity has prevented people from returning home, cultivating their lands, and rebuilding their communities. Many are dependent on the U.N. and NGOs for their most basic humanitarian needs, such as medical assistance, accommodation, education, food and water. Poverty, gender-based violence, child abductions and human trafficking remain causes of serious concern.
Panel 1

• Eric P. Schwartz, Assistant Secretary – Bureau of Refugees, Population, Migration, U.S. Department of State

Panel 2

• Vincent Cochetel, Regional Representative, UNHCR

• Michel Gabaudan, President, Refugees International

• Thon Chol, Former Executive Director, Sudanese Community of Western Michigan and Unaccompanied Sudanese Refugee Minor

• Elizabeth Anok Kuch, Board Member of the Lost Boys & Girls of Sudan National Network and Former Unaccompanied Refugee Minor

If you have any questions, please contact 202-225-3599.

James P. McGovern, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC

Frank R. Wolf, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC

 

Contact the Commission

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
2170 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
United States of America

+1-202-225-3599
TLHRC@mail.house.gov

Accessibility

The Commission seeks to make its events, meetings and hearings accessible to persons with disabilities.

If you are in need of special accommodations, please call (202) 225-3599 at least four business days in advance or whenever practicable.

Questions with regard to special accommodations in general (including availability of Commission materials in alternative formats and assistive listening devices, sign language interpretation, etc.) may be directed to the Commission.

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