Thank you, Mr. Chair and esteemed members of the committee, for inviting me to speak about the situation in Sudan. I'm honoured to be here today in my capacity as a director with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and as an adviser to both Doctors Against Racism and Antisemitism and Secure Canada.
Right now, as we gather here today, men, women and children throughout Sudan are wondering if they'll make it, if they can do it again, if they can survive another night, night 933 of what should be described as a genocide, Sudan's second in 20 years.
Indeed, while there are numerous conflict zones around the world that warrant attention and action right now, the situation in Sudan is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis, a civil war that has forced 12 million people from their homes, has led to widespread famine and suffering and has killed as many as 400,000 people by some estimates.
Scenes circulating online show women shielding their children while they're taunted before being killed, mothers hanging from trees with their infants, child soldiers murdering adults, and streets and fields filled with dozens of murdered people while their killers gleefully celebrate on camera. Barbaric sexual violence is widespread, with militants using it not only as a form of terror but also as a reward, a type of compensation.
Sudan right now is hell on earth.
Sadly, many activists continue to focus on theatrics. NGOs seem to spend every waking minute focusing on other areas, and humanitarian organizations are often too busy using their status to launch political campaigns as opposed to carrying out the work they're expected to do. All the while, the people of Sudan are being fed into the maw of war.
Where are the protests, the boycotts, the campus takeovers, the red carpet pins, the ice cream flavours, the lawn signs and the bumper stickers? The silence has been profoundly disturbing. So many people have been killed that one report recently stated, “The pools of blood are so thick, the piles of bodies so exposed, that the ethnic purge...is visible from space.”
They mean that quite literally. Caught between the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned and -supported Sudanese Armed Forces and the Arab supremacist Rapid Support Forces—an outgrowth of the Janjaweed, which carried out similar heinous crimes between 2003 and 2005—the people of Sudan, particularly Black, non-Arab groups, are suffering immensely.
In addition to the unfathomable human toll of this war, the geopolitical ramifications are significant. In collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood—which Canada should quickly move to designate as a terrorist organization—and a loyal following of Islamists, Iran is using this conflict to re-establish a presence in the region and rebuild their network of terror, which has been decimated since October 7.
If they have it their way, Sudan could once again become a hub of Islamic terrorism, a base for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis, to re-establish their footing. Make no mistake: Iran does not care about the human suffering in Sudan any more than they care about the suffering in Gaza.
This isn't just a situation that state actors are looking to exploit. Non-state actors such as ISIS have already called for jihad in Sudan, denouncing both the SAF and RSF as enemies of Islam.
All of this could be hugely important for Canada and Canadians. Going forward, it is imperative that Canada, along with our allies, pursues substantive and concrete measures that can immediately alleviate the suffering and devastation in Sudan. That, of course, must be the primary focus: ending the suffering and holding those responsible to account.
I'll end there. Thank you very much.