Justice for, and in, Sudan

by Paul Fitzpatrick

On Thursday 25 April, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sudan published a chilling but sadly timely report on Sudan entitled Genocide: All over again in Darfur?

It is the result of their inquiry into violence in Darfur since 2020. It endorses the view, held by many Sudanese in Doncaster, that ‘The current situation in Sudan is born out of the failed responses to the atrocities in Darfur over the last 20 years.’

At its launch, David Alton said ‘This is something we should remember every time we dare to think that we can neglect the issue of justice. When you neglect places affected by endemic violence you fail to see the harbingers, such as the half a million additional people displaced in the first six months of last year alone by the continuing conflict in Darfur – and some of whom end up as refugees in small boats. Conflict carries huge consequences.’

Among their recommendations: the Government should mark the 20th anniversary of the internationally recognised start of the Darfur genocide in written and verbal statements and by hosting events to give the space for Sudanese communities to meet and heal together.

This should be linked to a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Department For Education should encourage the creation of ready-made educational materials for schools, covering a wide range of ages, to facilitate the teaching of genocides beyond the Holocaust, particularly in Darfur.

We stand in lamentation and grief alongside the Sudanese community in Doncaster, who weep every time they put bread in their mouths.