11/30/2016
Sudan: European Union must change its refugee policy!
Once, Sudan was a transit country for refugees – now, it is a country of origin (Press Release)
In total, at least 245,000 people were forced to flee due to the civil war in Sudan in 2016. Photo: Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID via flickr
In view of the increasing number of refugees from Sudan, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on the EU to rethink its refugee policy. “New information published by the International Migration Organization IOM shows that, in the course of 2016, Sudan has become a country of origin of refugees,” reported Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Africa-expert, in Göttingen on Wednesday. “Now, the EU should really focus on the situation in Sudan itself. More and more people are forced to flee due to the ongoing civil war, because of repression, human rights violations, and impoverishment. From the viewpoint of the EU, Sudan is still mainly a transit country for refugees from Eritrea. The EU is financing elaborate projects as an attempt to curb the migration flows to Europe and to appease and conciliate the Sudanese regime.
According to information of the IOM, a total number of 348,664 refugees and migrants came to Europe by sea between January 1 and November 17, 2016. In Italy, where 171,299 people landed, the Sudanese are now the third largest group of refugees. The number of Sudanese refugees and migrants has increased by 13 percent (from 7,131 to 8,066) while the number of Eritreans and Somalians has fallen by 52 and 32 percent, respectively.
“This development is very worrying. It is necessary to rethink the problem of flight and migration from Sudan – urgently,” said Delius. According to information of the United Nations Humanitarian Aid Coordinator (OCHA), a total number of 205,242 people have left their home villages in Darfur between January 1 and October 31, 2016. This is especially true for Jebel Marra, where the conflict escalated in 2016 – with military offensives and air raids by the Sudanese army and allied militias. More than 20,000 people have fled from the embattled regions of South Kordofan and the Blue Nile.
In total, at least 245,000 people were forced to flee due to the civil war in Sudan in 2016. Further, there are more and more repressive measures against the civilian population in the center of the country and in the capital Khartoum – and the Sudanese authorities are responding to protests with massive persecution and the seizure of newspapers.
Header Photo: Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID via flickr
