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Seòmar agus comataidhean

Black Lives Matter: Sudan, the “World’s Largest and Most Devastating Humanitarian Crisis”

  • Submitted by: Kenneth Gibson, Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party.
  • Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2025
  • Motion reference: S6M-18532

That the Parliament notes that, while the world’s focus is on Gaza and Ukraine, a bloody civil conflict rages in one of Africa’s poorest countries, Sudan, which it understands has cost at least 150,000 lives since April 2023; condemns the reported atrocities committed in Darfur by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias; recognises credible accounts from Human Rights Watch and other sources documenting systematic terror and violence against civilians on a colossal scale; understands that there are reports from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in March 2025 of mass rape, including the rape and sexual assault of children, with 221 cases recorded in 2024 across nine states of Sudan, of which 16 involved children under five, including four infants who were just one year old, with approximately two thirds of the victims being female; further understands that UNICEF and other UN agencies have highlighted the severe psychological impact of such violence on children, including trauma leading to attempted suicide and self-harm; acknowledges that Sudan is facing what in March 2025 Catherine Russell, head of UNICEF, described to the UN Security Council as the “world’s largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis,” with nearly 25 million people experiencing extreme hunger, over 30 million people, including 16 million children, requiring aid, 1.3 million children living in famine conditions, and 770,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with possibly as many as 522,000 having already died; is appalled by reports that almost nine million people are internally displaced, with over 3.5 million refugees; acknowledges the findings of Human Rights Watch that thousands of Massalit and other non-Arab black civilians were killed in El Geneina in a campaign of ethnic cleansing intended to permanently displace them, estimating between 10,000 and 15,000 people killed, with targeted massacres, rapes, and torture; understands that a subsequent investigation by the International Criminal Court found "reasonable grounds to believe" that both the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces committed war crimes; notes the determination of the United States Government in January 2025 that the RSF and allied militias committed genocide through systematic killings of men and boys, including infants, targeted sexual violence against women and girls, attacks on fleeing civilians, and obstruction of humanitarian aid; understands that the US and other countries have imposed sanctions on RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and Sudanese Armed Forces leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan; expresses solidarity with the victims and survivors of these atrocities, and the severe physical, psychological, and social harm endured, particularly by children, and urges the UK Government and international community to seek a swift resolution to the conflict and ultimately support independent investigations, ensure accountability for perpetrators, and take all necessary measures to prevent further atrocities in Sudan.


Supported by: Karen Adam, Clare Adamson, Colin Beattie, Katy Clark, Bob Doris, Annabelle Ewing, Bill Kidd, Fulton MacGregor, Ben Macpherson, Stuart McMillan, Kevin Stewart, Paul Sweeney, David Torrance, Mercedes Villalba, Elena Whitham, Humza Yousaf