OPINION

By Jennifer R. Farmer
Word in Black

There appears to be a shocking disregard for the suffering of people in one of the largest countries in the continent of Africa: Sudan.

Over the past two years, more than 150,000 people have died during the conflict in Sudan. An additional 12 million people have been forced from their homes. We know what this means.

Nabaa Ahmed, 3, an injured Sudanese who fled el-Fasher city, after Sudan’s paramilitary forces killed hundreds of people in the western Darfur region, receives medical care at a camp in Tawila, Sudan, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abaker)

The cost of conflict

In times of war and instability, women and children are more likely to be displaced and more likely to suffer from gender-based violence. That is true in all regions; it is also a reality in Sudan.

For over 24 months, the people of Sudan have been ravaged by massacres, sexual violence, ethnic cleansing, and famine. More than 24 million people in the country of more than 50 million people are struggling with food insecurity. The United Nations now characterizes Sudan as one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. But where is the collective outrage? Where are the calls for mass action?

Harrowing as the data may be, it doesn’t begin to capture the devastation of the Massalit people and non-Arab communities. To say the people of Sudan are living a nightmare would be too tepid a characterization. They are being torn apart — community by community, and neighbor by neighbor.

The unimaginable suffering of children

It is, however, the heartache of its youngest victims that leaves me speechless. As early as March 2024, or 18 months ago, UNICEF reported that armed men were raping and sexually assaulting children, some as young as 1. Only God knows the horrors these babies and others have experienced since that report.

What is more, as a society, we tend to talk openly about sexual violence when the victim is female. However, one-third of child victims in Sudan were boys as of March 2024, according to UNICEF. Can you imagine the shame, isolation, and utter pain these children and their families must be experiencing? Young victims have been so traumatized that some have attempted to end their lives.

How does one begin to process sexual violation and mass death when one can barely walk or talk? How does one begin to heal when every exhale lives suspended in the air. What solace is available for the hurting — be they infants or elders — when help seems like a forlorn dream?

While the United States has noted that the people of Darfur are likely experiencing a genocide, the Sudanese deserve so much more. They need sustained action and attention that could give them a chance for recovery, recompense and repair.

It’s important to remember that healthy adults pride themselves on being able to care for themselves and the young. Where does one draw strength when a community is unable to fulfill such basic mandates as to shield young people from harm?

In the same way that I mourn for the children and people of Gaza, I weep for the children and people of Sudan. They are innocent, yet trapped in a nightmare of others’ making.

When the world looks away

Unfortunately, in the face of dastardly acts, much of the world remains silent. Sudan has been called the “forgotten war,” and for good reason.

In the United States, we like to talk about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), complex trauma, and the dangers of excessive screen time. We lament the trail of pain that follows children exposed to two or more adverse experiences. There isn’t a category sufficient to detail the trauma that engulfs this community. UNICEF notes that children victimized by sexual violence can suffer “significant psychological trauma, forced isolation or family rejection due to social stigma, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, serious injury and other complications.”

It’s time to wake up from sleep and distraction, and attune to what is happening in Sudan. We may not know their names, but we can never forget that they exist.

Anti-Black disregard for human suffering

As I try to understand the sheer disregard for human suffering, I keep wondering if the world is disconnected because of the hue of the victims. Does anti-Blackness cause the international community — including Western media — to turn the other way? Are persons kissed by the sun less worthy of concern and intervention? God forbid.

If Black lives indeed matter, they must matter everywhere. If all lives matter, all lives must matter at all times and in all places.

Humanity isn’t defined by geographical boundaries. Children don’t cease to matter because they are separated from us by continents or large bodies of water. The people of Sudan deserve to know peace. This can only happen if the world engages in this conflict as if it were occurring in our own backyards.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.

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This article was originally published by WordinBlack.com.