KHARTOUM

More than four decades of armed conflict in the South of the country have caused colossal damage to Sudan’s human, social, and natural resources, its governance, and economy resulting 4 million displaced Southern Sudanese. Approximately two million IDPs reside in and around Khartoum city in four official camps and in some 30 squatter settlements in living conditions that fall short of international human rights standards and are perhaps even more dire than Darfur.

The humanitarian situation in IDPs camps and settlements in and around Khartoum is demonstrative of key protection and assistance gaps. To compound the problem, the practice of demolition and relocation in Khartoum IDP camps and squatter areas has accelerated since 2004. Lack of adequate protection monitoring, intervention and advocacy on behalf of the IDPs in and around Khartoum continue to exacerbate protection gaps. Notwithstanding the fact that return conditions, from a security and a sustainability perspective, are not ideal in many return areas in the south, IDPs in the North and within Southern Sudan have been for sometime spontaneously returning to their places of origin. Many such spontaneous returns have encountered protection, security and other humanitarian obstacles en route to the extent that humanitarian actors have been forced to intervene in certain cases to fill critical gaps, including of a security and protection nature (life-saving interventions).

In 2006, UNHCR approached INTERSOS to undertake a protection monitoring exercise at the IDP camps in Khartoum. The presence of INTERSOS in the IDP camps in Khartoum is strictly linked to INTERSOS’ presence in South Sudan. In the three camps in Khartoum, INTERSOS strives to improve the protection situation by setting up adequate return oriented monitoring mechanisms and by gathering and systematizing accurate and reliable information on protection issues. Special attention is paid to assist most vulnerable groups such as women, children, disabled and elderly and other individuals/groups of concern.

Key sectors of INTERSOS’ work in the refugee camps of Khartoum include:

• Capacity of local community networks identified, local leaders/representatives and other key in order to strengthen skills and knowledge on protection issues and on basic human rights.
• Establishment and the implementation of adequate and effective protection monitoring mechanisms
• Involvement and Awareness of civil society.
• Facilitating “go and see visits” organized by IDP communities in coordination with UNHCR.