Target: Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Goal: Extend helping hand to young refugees of Sudan conflict.
It has been called the world’s worst child displacement crisis, depriving more than 14 million youth of schooling, homes, and stability. An international humanitarian conference was recently convened to address it. And despite a crisis in Sudan that is taking an inordinate toll on its youngest citizens, humanitarian aid is sorely lacking.
The raging war that has gripped the African nation for over a year is largely missing from international news accounts. A fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral garnered about five times the amount of donations as the charity organization Save the Children in Sudan has received. And the response from international leaders is even more lacking, mostly consisting of sanctions that do nothing to help—and sometimes cause further harm to—the individuals in immediate crisis. Aid blockages and the sputtering push for a sustained ceasefire have only compounded the suffering.
Sign the petition below to demand world leaders replace hollow words with decisive action in confronting one of the planet’s preeminent humanitarian crises.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Commissioner Grandi,
While the world focuses on other conflict zones, tens of millions of human beings in Sudan—including 14 million children—are experiencing what a recent international humanitarian conference referenced as the worst displacement crisis on the planet. Aid organizations have referred to the dire circumstances as “the brink of famine” and have described the especially harmful environment for youth in the following terms: “these children are losing their families; they increasingly can’t access food and water, and they haven’t been able to go to school for a year.”
Thus far, the humanitarian conference yielded pledges and commitments from a few influential nations and resulted in yet more sanctions. Calls for the lifting of aid access restriction, for a ceasefire, and for more robust financial assistance pledges have largely gone unanswered, however. Please commit more attention and resources to helping the people of Sudan.
Invest in efforts that could relieve the suffering of this war-torn nation. No person in need should be forgotten or left behind.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Shelagh Murphy
157 Signatures