UN expert calls for more support to Emergency Response Rooms

[John Ashworth]

Sudan: UN expert calls for more support to Emergency Response Rooms volunteers

26 February 2026
UN

GENEVA – As war continues to ravage Sudan with horrific consequences,
local Emergency Response Rooms volunteers continue to risk their lives
to deliver life-saving aid across the country, a UN expert said today.

Millions of people have been forced to flee their homes in terror and
are either displaced internally or across neighbouring borders, where
they are at increased risk of rape and other sexual violence,
trafficking, torture and ill-treatment, detention, disappearances and
abductions for ransom. In addition to the enduring violence, the
people in some parts of Sudan are also faced with famine, with lack of
access to safe water and adequate sanitation resulting in a
significant increase in preventable diseases.

“In the midst of the terror of war and operating in unimaginably
difficult circumstances under the constant threat of detention and
violence, Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), along with youth and
community-led initiatives, have remained committed to delivering life
saving assistance to those in need,” said Cecilia Bailliet, the
Independent Expert on international solidarity.

“Grounded in the Sudanese tradition of nafeer (collective action), the
Emergency Response Room volunteers have been vital in ensuring the
provision of food, water, medicine and shelter to millions, as they
are able to access dangerous, hard-to-reach areas,” said the expert.

“While these solidarity networks have been crucial lifelines since the
eruption of the war, more must be done by the international community
and all relevant actors, to support them, and all parties to the
conflict must do more to ensure access to critical humanitarian aid,
including food, medicine, medical equipment, or other vital supplies,
in line with international humanitarian law,” said Bailliet. “The
people of Sudan deserve to look to the future with hope, and the
international community must not fail them,” she added.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/sudan-un-expert-calls-more-support-emergency-response-rooms-volunteers

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