High profile figures including actors Joanne Froggatt and Will Poulter, footballer and UNHCR supporter Lucy Bronze, and musician Cat Burns have joined Sudanese activists, civil society groups and charities in demanding that the UK Government takes urgent action to address the rapidly worsening situation in Sudan – currently the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
In the open letter delivered to 10 Downing Street today, the group calls on the Prime Minister to provide additional emergency funding and for the Government to increase its international efforts to secure a ceasefire in Sudan, where over 25 million people - almost half the population of England - are now facing starvation.
The letter and full list of signatories is below:
Dear Prime Minister,
Following over two years of violent conflict, Sudan is now the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with half of the country's population – a staggering 24.6 million people - already facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
Together with a coalition of Sudanese civil-society and UK aid organisations, we are calling for rapid and scaled-up action from the UK Government to help save lives before it is too late.
The conflict has had a horrifying impact on children’s lives, with a staggering 16 million children now in dire need of support. These children have witnessed and been subject to brutal violence, have lost loved ones, have fled their homes and been forced to say goodbye to their schools and communities.
Women and girls are especially vulnerable in this crisis. Harrowing reports of gender-based violence have surged, millions of women and girls face an increased risk of exploitation and starvation, and girls are more likely to never return to school.
Against the backdrop of global aid cuts, including those announced by the UK Government, it is critical that world leaders do not turn their backs on Sudan. Despite the UK’s efforts in hosting the London Sudan Conference in April, there has been a worrying lack of international progress on the crisis over recent months. Urgent action is needed now to end this violence and prevent massive loss of life.
We therefore urge the UK Government to step up its efforts by:
Increasing international pressure and effective mediation to secure an immediate ceasefire to end the violence, with the UK championing the inclusive participation of Sudanese civil society (including women and young people) in all peace processes.
Renewing and expanding efforts to ensure all parties adhere to and are accountable to international humanitarian law, and facilitating unfettered humanitarian access, so that aid agencies and local responders can reach all those in need.
Announcing additional emergency funding for the Sudan crisis to help save lives, providing funding that has been promised so it reaches people who need it in the coming weeks, and urging other governments to scale-up their humanitarian efforts.
Dramatically scaling up UK aid to mutual aid groups in Sudan and first responders (including women-led, youth-led and faith-led groups) and increasing aid for girls and women affected by the crisis.
Time is quickly running out. Increasing violence, starvation and disease are killing more and more children every day.
The UK Government must do all it can to help save lives before it is too late.
Yours sincerely,
Adjoa Andoh – actor
Alex Macqueen – actor and CAFOD Ambassador
Basma Khalifa – director
Ben Bailey-Smith – actor and comedian
Bobby Seagull – TV broadcaster and CAFOD supporter
Candice Carty-Williams – showrunner and author
Carrie Grant – broadcaster
Cat Burns - singer-songwriter
Dame Harriet Walter – actor
Daryl McCormack – actor
David Grant – broadcaster
Delia Smith CH CBE – TV cook, author, Life President NCFC and CAFOD Ambassador
George Mpanga 'George the Poet' - Spoken Word Artist and Podcaster
Jermone Flynn – actor
Joanne Froggatt – actor
Ken Hom CBE – chef, author and TV presenter
Lucy Bronze – footballer and UNHCR high-profile supporter
Misan Harriman – photographer and Save the Children ambassador
Peter Gabriel – singer-songwriter, musician
Ramla Ali - professional boxer
Rick Stein CBE – chef, restaurateur, cookery author and TV presenter
Sabrina Elba – model and entrepreneur
Sir Steve McQueen – TV and film director
Vee Kativhu – girls' education activist and author
Yomi Adegoke – journalist and author
Will Poulter – actor
Additional signatories
Abdallah Idriss Abu Garda – Chairman, Darfur Diaspora Association
Alec Thurnham – Coordinator Sudan Social Development Organisation UK
Alison Wallace – CEO, SOS Children’s Villages UK
David Thomson – CEO, All We Can
Dr Christine Allen – Executive Director, CAFOD
Dr Eva Khair – Founder, #Women4Sudan Campaign
Dr Husam El-mugamar – Founder, Sudan’s Doctors for Human Rights
Dr Sara Ibrahim Abdelgalil – General Secretary, Governance Programming Overseas (GPO); NHS Pediatrician
Freddy Mutanguha - CEO, Aegis Trust
Flora Alexander - Executive Director, International Rescue Committee UK
George Graham – Chief Executive, Humanity & Inclusion UK
Helen McEachern – CEO, CARE International UK
Helen Pattinson – CEO, War Child UK
Jean-Michel Grand – Executive Director, Action Against Hunger UK
Josie Naughton – CEO, Choose Love
Lutz Oette - Professor of International Human Rights Law, Co-director, SOAS Centre for Human Rights Law
Mariana Goetz – Director, Rights for Peace
Moazzam Malik - CEO, Save the Children UK
Patrick Watt - CEO, Christian Aid
Peter Marsden – CEO, Concordis International
Rose Caldwell – CEO, Plan International UK
Raakhi Shah – CEO, The Circle
Sandra Golding – CEO, Adventist Development and Relief Agency UK (ADRA-UK)
Sara Bowcutt – Managing Director, Women for Women International UK
Sarah Roberts – CEO, Practical Action
Scot Bower – CEO, CSW UK (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
Sonja Milley and Maddy Crowther – Co-Executive Directors, Waging Peace
Susana Klien - CEO, Saferworld
Tufail Hussain - Director, Islamic Relief UK
Zeinab Badawi – Co Founder and Chair, Humanitarian Action for Sudan (HAS)