After nearly sixteen months of fighting in Sudan, the country is facing the world’s largest internal displacement. Civilians remain caught in the middle of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Targeting against non-combatants and violence in Darfur continues to cause great concern around the potential for ethnic cleansing. More than eight million people are internally displaced within Sudan, and the war has killed more than 13,000 in the city of El Geneina alone, with the true cost of human lives simply unknown. The reports of war crimes by both parties to the conflict and the deliberate targeting of civilians because of their ethnicity are the stuff of nightmares.
In fits and starts, regional leaders have attempted to mediate between the SAF and RSF but a cease fire remains elusive. With outside actors from the Middle East and beyond supporting, arming, and resupplying different sides, the potential for continued violence and a human rights disaster remains high. Following the launch of Human Rights Watch’s report “The Massalit Will Not Come Home” in May 2024, the Africa Center sits down with HRW’s Executive Director to outline the human rights abuses taking place in Sudan.
The Africa Center has closely followed the evolving political climate in Sudan with the goal of acknowledging Sudan’s geo-strategic importance on the crossroads between the Arab and African worlds. In 2018, the Africa Center created a Sudan taskforce, which has produced leading research and hosted public and private briefings on the situation in the country. Since the breakdown of the democratic transition in October 2021, the Center has ensured Washington remains engaged on the issue by organizing a series of high-level events that bring together policy experts, stakeholders, and peacebuilders following events in east Africa.
Featuring
Tirana Hassan
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
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Tirana Hassan is Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading international human rights organizations, which operates in more than 90 countries and has over 500 staff members.
Tirana is a qualified social worker and lawyer who has spent the past two decades working with individuals and communities pursuing their rights and fighting for justice.
She was a founding member of a refugee legal service during Australia’s refugee crisis in 2000 before working across the globe in international humanitarian operations specializing in child protection and civilian protection in complex emergencies. Tirana has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children, amongst others, across East and West Africa and South and South-East Asia.
Tirana specializes in human rights protection in conflicts and crises. Between 2010-2015, she worked as a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Emergencies Division, where she carried out dozens of investigations in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. She later served as director of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program, where she led teams of investigators and an inter-disciplinary team that advanced innovative research methodologies for human rights investigations and evidence collection. She also served on the organization’s interim executive team. She has authored reports and op-eds for major publications worldwide.
Tirana graduated with honors degrees in both social work and law in Australia and holds a master’s in international human rights law from Oxford University.
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The Africa Center works to promote dynamic geopolitical partnerships with African states and to redirect US and European policy priorities toward strengthening security and bolstering economic growth and prosperity on the continent.
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