The Darfur Humanitarian Crisis: Causes, Human Rights Violations, and Role of NGOs

This paper discusses the causes of the Darfur crisis, including ethnicity, oil, and desertification, and the resulting human rights violations. It also explores the role of NGOs in providing aid to the victims of the conflict. The complexity of the region and the challenges faced by humanitarian aid providers are also highlighted.

Running head: THE DARFUR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
THE DARFUR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1
THE DARFUR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The present paper attempts to outline the chief reasons behind the Darfur Crisis and the
extent of the violation of human rights. Further, the paper also tries to explain the role of the
NGOs working during the crisis.
Prior to learning about the crisis, it is important to know about Darfur. Darfur is a small
region located in Western Sudan in the African continent. The region is surrounded by the
Marrah Mountains and entire eastern part is covered with sandy soils and hills of sandstone.
Central Darfur, East Darfur, North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur are the five federal
states (Origins.osu.edu, 2018).
Experts have identified three chief reasons for the Darfur conflict and the resulting crisis
– ethnicity, oil and desertification (Youtube.com). Due to multifarious ethnic population in
Sudan, conflicts occurring from ethnicity are a common incident. Sudan is home to ethnically
black and Arab and religiously Muslim and Christian population, which causes extreme tension
in the region. The second reason is oil that South Sudan is abound with oil refineries and wells
while the North Sudan has the port from where exports take place. Now, the people in Khartoum,
the epicenter of the crisis have the hold over the payments that come in and thus they exert
power over the South Sudanese. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983 in which the
South came out victorious against the North (Youtube.com). The revenues began to enter South
Sudan now and the infrastructure started bettering but in West Darfur people started to question
the government on its neglect of the region. This was largely due to their ethnically black and
religiously Muslim majority in the region. Owing to the growing neglect of the region, the
people started rebellion that resulted in the Darfur crisis in 2003 that is continuing even today
(Youtube.com). The government, when unable to control the rebels, took help from China, the
largest importer of oil, to help them. With advanced weaponry supplied by China, the

2
THE DARFUR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
government began its worst ever atrocity on its own people. It even instigated the Arab herders
of the region to kill and rape their own people. The third reason for the crisis thus is
desertification. It refers to the fight for supremacy of the deserts between the Arab herders and
the black Muslims.
The perpetrators, mainly the Sudanese government, involved in the Darfur conflict have
massively violated all forms of human rights. The right to live, the most important of all human
rights, has been largely violated in the conflict (Ohchr.org). Other than that, rape, displacement
of thousands of civilians violates the rights articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and in the Sudanese culture and constitution.
Several international and national NGOs are providing consistent aid to the Darfur
victims amidst the conflict. Apart from the African Union and United Nations, numerous
humanitarian NGOs in Sudan have relentlessly worked to help the Darfur people
(Abdulrahman). However, owing to the complexity of the region, humanitarian help has been
difficult to provide. Experts have found that national NGOs have struggled to respond to the
complex challenges presented by the region while the international NGOs have been unable to
monitor and check the situation due to lack of cooperation and eviction of staff members.

3
THE DARFUR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
References:
Abdulrahman, Badreldin Mohamed Ahmed. "NGOs and peace building in Darfur: A socio-
economic analysis." International Academic Journal of Economics and Finance 1.3 (2014): 10-
16.
Ohchr.org. "OHCHR | Human Rights Violations Entrench Displacement In Darfur". Ohchr.Org,
2018,
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/HRviolationsentrenchdisplacementinDarfur.aspx.
Accessed 3 Sept 2018
Origins.osu.edu (2018). 'The World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis': Understanding the Darfur
Conflict | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. [online] Origins.osu.edu. Available
at: http://origins.osu.edu/article/worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis-understanding-darfur-conflict
[Accessed 3 Sep. 2018].
Youtube.com. "Darfur In 10 Minutes: An Overview Of The Conflict In Sudan". Youtube, 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USLDoIiFzzg. Accessed 3 Sept 2018.