Dear RJ,
UNHCR estimates that 10-20,000 people fleeing the conflict have crossed Sudan’s western border into Chad, a country that is already home to some 400,000 Sudanese refugees as well as hundreds of thousands more from across the region.
Most refugees in Chad fled fighting in Darfur, a region in western Sudan where a violent conflict in the mid-2000s attracted widespread news coverage as well as a significant response from Jewish communities worldwide.
The world eventually turned its attention elsewhere, but for those affected the situation did not change — most have remained in eastern Chad ever since.
“Chad is truly forgotten,” said Patrick Culver, a HIAS emergency operations manager who just returned from the country. “Nothing is even close to being enough.”
Working with refugees since 2005, HIAS Chad focuses on strengthening community-based protection network, promoting and strengthening peaceful coexistence between refugees and host communities, providing mental health support, implementing gender-based violence prevention and response initiatives, and distributing food and non-food items.
But ensuring that new Sudanese refugees fleeing the current crisis can find the safety and welcome will require more than just careful planning and the efforts of HIAS Chad staff already in the field. It requires the type of sustained global attention — and financial support — that has so far eluded Chad.
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