In my last update on Darfur, I expressed skepticism regarding the United Nations’ assessment that the situation in Sudan had significantly improved. I detailed some of the violence that continues to pepper the region, including some skirmishes between returnees and new settlers stemming from competition for land. The U.N., Government of Sudan, and mainstream media have been pushing the narrative that thousands upon thousands of Darfuri refugees are voluntarily and eagerly coming home after living in camps in neighboring Chad for nearly 15 years. However, our partners — who are intimately familiar with the situation on the ground, but whose names we cannot use due to security concerns — speak a very different truth. Returns are unwanted, involuntary, poorly planned and potentially dangerous.
According to our sources working in the refugee camps in Chad, very, very few Darfuris are going home. Of the 320,000 refugees still living in 13 camps along the Chad-Sudan border, only about 1,000 have gone back to Darfur. Some have returned under duress. Others have gone as part of a public relations campaign to show the world that voluntary returns are in fact underway and going smoothly.
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Despite the fact that returns are occurring on a much smaller scale and slower pace than has been reported, U.N. and government stakeholders are acting as if a vast wave of returns is imminent and the camps are winding down. This is very far from the truth. When asked by our partners working in the camps, the majority of Darfuris say they do not want to go back. Nevertheless, they are beginning to be, essentially, pushed out, their own desires both neglected and immaterial.
Almost all humanitarian aid agencies have left. Rations have been cut to preposterous amounts, with many refugees now struggling to survive with no food assistance. Schools for Darfuri children born into the camps now teach only the Chadian curriculum in the children’s non-native tongue of French, which is perverse if the end goal is to return the refugee population to Darfur. As the world buys into the narrative that the refugees from Darfur are a case-closed, a vast population of vulnerable people is essentially being abandoned.
Reports of regular and smooth returns are being used to justify the cutting and exiting of humanitarian aid. With nearly 70 million people displaced around the globe, there are not enough resources to meet the needs of all refugee populations; but even so, the Darfuri situation is being subjected to a “spin” that is troubling. Entities meant to be allies of refugees are perpetuating a narrative that is not only false but also dangerous, according to renowned Sudan expert and journalist Eric Reeves.
Jewish World Watch and our on-the-ground partners have been working with the Darfuris since they fled to Chad escaping genocide on their native soil in Sudan. In many ways, this particular population is the foundation of our work to prevent future mass atrocities and support survivors in their recovery. However, the misinformation that the camps are emptying as thousands return to a more stable Darfur created a convincing false narrative, even for JWW. We considered moving our focus away from the camps to returnee reintegration and peacebuilding back in Darfur. And we were not alone in having these notions. It took quite a lot of digging and many conversations with people in the field to get a true, fuller picture of the current status of this refugee population.
Camp administrators and other stakeholders are manipulating refugees to get them to leave or punishing them through the deprivation of assistance if they fail to cooperate. Those with vested interests in speeding up returns and clearing the camps are allegedly planting agents to convince refugees to leave or to foment violence that prohibits the few organizations that remain engaged from doing their jobs. Government officials from both sides — Chad and Sudan — are allegedly colluding to rush this extremely complicated transition, making any returns that do occur more forced than voluntary.
The truth is, there are no credible mechanisms in place to facilitate the refugees’ reintegration into life back in Darfur. Several of the families who have returned have reached out to their friends and relatives back in the camps, warning them not to buy into the rhetoric and to stay where they are. The Government of Sudan and refugee agencies have failed to undertake the preparations necessary to bring home and assimilate such a large population. There are no resources waiting for them once they go back. Their land has been taken by new settlers. No one is there to ease them back to life in their homeland.
According to Radio Dabanga, the insecurity plaguing Darfur’s 3-million displaced people is rampant: from roaming militiamen and an abundance of weapons — which were not found or collected during the government’s disarmament campaign last year — to the danger of running into armed new settlers staking claim to their home areas when they try to return.
Skeikh Abdelrazig Yousef, spokesman for the Darfur Displaced General Coordination, called the current voluntary return projects initiated by the Sudanese Government akin to “intimidation.” “They want the people living in the camps to forcibly return to their villages so as to obliterate the marks of displacement,” he said.
In light of the marked disparity between the propaganda and the on-the-ground realities of Darfuri refugee returns, JWW remains as committed to the Darfuri refugees in Chad as we have ever been. We will continue to advocate for their rights, amplify their voices, and contribute to meeting their mounting needs as best we can. The international community must not turn away from the Darfuris in Chad.
International law prohibits forcible return under the principle of nonrefoulment– a rule of customary international law that is also codified in the Refugee Convention and is violated in situations where stakeholders put so much direct or indirect pressure on individuals that they have little or no option but to return to a country where they face serious risk of harm.
That’s precisely what is in danger of happening here. While not all Darfuris face the risks of persecution, torture, or ill-treatment once they cross the border, others truly do fear for their lives. The international community cannot allow for life in the camps to become so unlivable for the Darfuris that they will be placed in the impossible position of having to return and potentially face myriad dangers rather than remain.
It is very unfortunate that 15 years since it began, the aftermath of the Darfur genocide still requires the world’s attention. It is very unfortunate that several other genocides have sprung up in the interim, including those perpetrated against the Yazidi and Rohingya peoples. However, the only way to guarantee future genocides is to abandon those whose lives have been shaped by genocide and its effects. We must stay engaged with the Darfuris until they are truly ready to leave … or perhaps decide to stay or go elsewhere. Return must be their choice. At JWW, we will continue our work to empower Darfuris with sustainable livelihood skills and to help foster civil society and leadership within the camps—interventions that will be transferable and impactful no matter where the Darfuris decide to build their lives.