Chair Cardin to Secretary Blinken: We Need Bold Action at Upcoming U.N. Meeting on Sudan Crisis

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the United States to press for decisive action on Sudan at the Ministerial-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on December 19. Chair Cardin’s letter emphasized the urgency of protecting Sudanese civilians and advancing multilateral measures to address the country’s deepening humanitarian catastrophe, underscoring that the UNSC must move beyond deliberation to take bold, coordinated steps to alleviate the suffering of Sudanese civilians and curb the escalating violence.

“Sudan is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the continuing conflict is slowly extinguishing the light of hope for tens of millions of Sudanese inside and outside the country,” wrote Chair Cardin. “I write to urge you to take the opportunity to ensure the UNSC moves beyond discussion and begins to pursue more meaningful action to save lives and prevent further atrocities in Sudan.”

“The impunity must end, and the Council and member states must hold accountable those violating the embargo,” continued Chair Cardin. “Proper enforcement alone could have a significant impact on the conflict, including on the types and levels of violence and impact on civilians, and on parties’ willingness to seek a peaceful solution.”

Chair Cardin’s recommendations ahead of the meeting include:

• Prioritizing civilian protection
  
• Enforcing the existing Darfur arms embargo
  
• Extending the embargo to all of Sudan
  
• Holding perpetrators of atrocities accountable
  

Click HERE for a PDF of the Chair Cardin’s letter.

Full text has been provided below:

Dear Secretary Blinken,

I was pleased to learn that the U.S. will convene a Ministerial-level meeting on Sudan on December 19 during the United States’ Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). As you know, Sudan is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the continuing conflict is slowly extinguishing the light of hope for tens of millions of Sudanese inside and outside the country. I write to urge you to take the opportunity to ensure the UNSC moves beyond discussion and begins to pursue more meaningful action to save lives and prevent further atrocities in Sudan.

An updated atrocity determination by you delivered at the UNSC would demonstrate the United States’ continued commitment to deterring further atrocities and pursuing accountability. While the Administration has limited time to execute a strategy, the ministerial offers a chance to present an ambitious, robust template for coordinated, multilateral actions that prioritizes the protection and survival of Sudanese civilians, and which can endure beyond this Administration. In the absence of a cease-fire or any peace support operation in the near to medium-term, we must find other ways to provide immediate support to civilians.  I hope that at the ministerial you will push UNSC Members to agree to the following:

• Provide for Civilian Protection: In addition to a mechanism to provide for physical protection, member states should agree to test localized models of protection developed by local actors, which could include restoring and expanding access to telecommunications necessary for the effective coordination of humanitarian action; supporting early warning measures for communities at risk of attack; facilitating mobile banking transfers; and bolstering documentation efforts and evidence gathering to support both truth-telling and accountability.
  
  
• Support Humanitarian Access and Assistance: Enhance diplomacy to ensure that member states uphold their financial pledges in a timely fashion to allow rapid and robust scale-up of the humanitarian response, including expanding cash transfers to local responders on the front-lines. Encourage the UN to surge the humanitarian response to stave off starvation, meet escalating health needs, including front-line response to survivors of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. Ensure that local, regional and national access agreements are respected and adhered to. 
  
  
• Enforce the existing Darfur arms embargo:  Credible public reports-- including those funded by our own government-- detail continued arms flows to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from external partners abetted by neighboring counties. This provision of arms is a blatant violation of a 20-year arms embargo. The impunity must end, and the Council and member states must hold accountable those violating the embargo. Proper enforcement alone could have a significant impact on the conflict, including on the types and levels of violence and impact on civilians, and on parties’ willingness to seek a peaceful solution. 
  
  
• Build regional and multilateral consensus to extend the embargo to cover all of Sudan: Darfur is not the only point of entry for arms. New weapons and technology have expanded the war to multiple fronts, amplifying the suffering of Sudanese civilians who are now subjected to more aerial bombardments and more firepower, sparing no parts of Sudan.
  
  
• Hold perpetrators of atrocities accountable: The UNSC, bilateral actors and regional organizations all have the necessary authorities and ability to hold perpetrators accountable, through sanctions and other punitive measures, for arms embargo violations, the use of starvation and rape as weapons of war, and other abuses of international humanitarian law.  What is needed is the individual and collective will to exercise these authorities without further hesitation. It is time to put the Sudanese civilians first and consistently deploy all of these mechanisms in a coordinated fashion to stifle and avert the harm being done to them.
  
  

The people of Sudan deserve far more from the international community than it has offered.  In the last weeks of this Administration, I encourage you to take advantage of the international stage provided by the UNSC Presidency to boldly lead actions that will keep the light of hope alive for tens of millions of Sudanese.

###