John Prendergast to Testify at Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing on Sudan

Enough Project Founding Director John Prendergast and other distinguished guests will speak at the March 4th Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Even as Sudan’s conflicts have faded from the international headlines in recent years, many experts believe that the situation in Sudan is deteriorating. A recent UN report indicated that the conflict “threatened to produce levels of violence, chaos, and confusion not seen in Darfur since 2004.” More than a decade after the conflict began in Darfur, over 2.4 million people are displaced internally, with nearly half a million displaced in 2014 alone.  The threat of violence prevents some 370,000 Darfur refugees in Chad from returning to their homes. The fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states has been ongoing since 2011. Relief agencies like Medecins Sans Frontieres report increasingly difficult operating conditions and restrictions imposed by the government. On January 20th of this year, Sudanese forces bombed a hospital in Southern Kordofan operated by MSF for the second time in less than a year, forcing it to suspend operations. Hospitals and villages have also been targeted by air strikes in Darfur. In December 2014, Sudan expelled two top UN officials from the country. New reports also indicate that sexual violence is being used as a weapon in the conflict. Today, the UN estimates that 6.6 million people in Sudan are in need of humanitarian aid. The government in Khartoum has called for a national dialogue with opposition groups, but political repression and ongoing offensives in the conflict zones led opposition groups to suspend participation in January of this year and raise questions about Khartoum’s commitment to reform.

Please join us as experts discuss the ongoing conflict, human rights violations, including gender violence and forced internal displacement, food insecurity, and the related humanitarian needs and challenges in Sudan. Panelists will also provide recommendations on what the United States Congress can do to alleviate human rights abuses and human suffering. Witnesses are:

Panel I

• Catherine A. Wiesner, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration
• Steven Feldstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

Panel II

• Former Representative Tom Andrews, President United to End Genocide
• Jonathan Loeb, Fellow, Africa Division, Human Rights Watch
• John Prendergast, Founding Director, Enough Project

The hearing will be streamed live here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hclive06