Berlin 2026: A Turning Point for Sudan – or Another Deferred Hope?

Autor*in:	Nirvana Shawky
Datum:	21. April 2026

The grim statistics of the Sudan crisis are painfully familiar: the civil war in Sudan has left in three years over 13 million displaced, fighting in its breadbasket spread famine conditions in part of the country, and critical civilian infrastructure collapsed. While the scale of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergency is no longer in question, last week’s third International Sudan Conference in Berlin represented a critical attempt to shift global attention from mere situation reporting to meaningful political milestones.

Bringing together over 50 states and international organizations, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) joined the summit with a clear expectation: this must be more than a pledging session. It had to signal that Sudan has not been deprioritized on the global agenda and mark a shift toward actionable protection.

Across the conference, donors recognised the urgency of the crisis, the scale of humanitarian need and widespread violations of international humanitarian law. The UK and Canada, among others, emphasised the need for unimpeded humanitarian access and accountability. Donors announced approximately €1.5 billion in support of the humanitarian response in Sudan and neighbouring countries. The co-host communiqué underscores this focus, recognising the scale of displacement, the systematic targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and the risks of famine.

While emerging consensus on priorities is encouraging, Berlin has yielded far less clarity, and far less ambition, than anticipated. Nowhere is this more evident than on protection of civilians and addressing clearly recognised impunity.

Across DRC’s operations in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan, our teams are witnessing consistent and normalised patterns of violence directly targeting and harming civilians. Indiscriminate shelling, ethnically motivated attacks, conflict-related sexual violence and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure have all become defining features of the conflict. In several areas, siege tactics have deliberately cut off access to food, services and humanitarian aid.

The scale and intensity of the cruelty and abuses have been so widely reported that the conclusion is unavoidable: parties to the conflict are acting with neither fear of consequence nor repercussion from the international community, reflecting a broader erosion of respect for international humanitarian law.

Some donors, led by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, explicitly recognised this culture of impunity at the conference, stating that accountability is essential to any meaningful resolution of the Sudan crisis. These donors emphasised the need for strengthened international justice mechanisms, targeted sanctions against perpetrators and enablers, and support for documentation and accountability processes. These calls are of course welcomed by civil society.

But the conference outcome does little to advance this agenda. The communiqué and outcomes document both remain broad statements of intent and ideals, and fail to outline concrete steps, roadmaps, timelines or mechanisms towards tracking progress on how commitments will translate on the ground. No suggestions have been made to see accountability for continued atrocities, and protection risks will persist.  

For a protection agency like DRC, the consequences of impunity are clear. Civilians are forced to make impossible choices as they face immense risks: remain in areas where threats, fear and violence persist and where services have collapsed, or move along dangerous routes where they risk further violence, exploitation and displacement? Nearly two-thirds of individuals report experiencing protection incidents while fleeing, often along roads, at checkpoints and in displacement sites. Attacks on civilian infrastructure also continue, with hospitals and markets recently targeted in both the east and west of the country, killing dozens of civilians.

Meanwhile, explosive hazards, while often overlooked in high-level discussions, continue to pose a deadly and long-term threat to civilians. In cities like Khartoum, unexploded ordinance has contaminated homes, schools, and roads, and in rural states, agricultural land has also been rendered unsafe, causing immense dangers to civilian life and impacting food security, free movement, and early recovery. Without sustained investment in land clearance and risk education supported by donors like Germany, communities will face ongoing risks across the country well into the next decade.

The launch of the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice reflects growing donor convergence around the view that without concrete action to deter and punish violations, cycles of violence will persist, and humanitarian efforts alone will remain insufficient. The announcement by the EU at the conference of their intention to join the coalition is a welcome development but could not hide that Berlin failed to deliver meaningful action.  

Other issues of the conference also reflect substantial missed opportunities:

Civil Society inclusion

The conference and communiqué rightly recognise the role of Sudanese civil society, including mutual aid groups and Emergency Response Rooms, who have been at the forefront of the response. It acknowledges the risks they face and the indispensable role they play in supporting Sudanese society in some of the hardest to reach areas.

However, while Sudanese civilian actors were present in Berlin and contributed to discussions, their priorities were largely reflected in parallel processes rather than embedded in the core outcome of the conference. A separate civilian statement articulated a clear vision for a Sudanese-owned political process and urgent humanitarian action, yet these perspectives were not systematically reflected in binding commitments or decision-making structures.

This reflects a broader pattern, of local actors consistently recognised as essential and celebrated for their achievements, yet remaining marginal in terms of direct funding, agenda-setting power, and participation in high-level decision-making. In a crisis where Sudanese organisations are often the first and only responders able to reach affected communities, this disconnect is not sustainable.

Access

Humanitarian access remains one of the most significant obstacles to effective response in Sudan. Operational restrictions, insecurity and bureaucratic impediments continue to limit the ability of humanitarian actors to reach affected populations.

Berlin reaffirmed the importance of safe, rapid and unimpeded access. But once again, the question is not whether this principle is recognised, it is how it will be realised. The conference outcome does not outline new mechanisms to secure access, nor does it commit political or diplomatic pressure to overcome persistent constraints. In the absence of such measures, calls for access risk remaining aspirational. Without sustained and coordinated leverage on parties to the conflict and those who support them, these constraints are unlikely to ease.

Systemic collapse

The crisis is increasingly shaped by the breakdown of systems that sustain civilian life. Access to healthcare, water and sanitation has deteriorated, while the destruction of infrastructure has disrupted markets and livelihoods. The economic consequences of sustained insecurity have left most households unable to meet their basic needs.

Displacement patterns increasingly reflect this reality. According to DRC protection monitoring data, nearly one in five people are now forced to flee due to the collapse of basic services either in their own communities or in those they have been displaced to. This is driving repeated displacement and reinforcing a cycle of vulnerability.

Yet these dimensions of the crisis received limited attention in Berlin’s conference and outcomes. While the communiqué acknowledges humanitarian needs, it does not sufficiently address the protection of civilian infrastructure or the deliberate targeting of systems essential to survival,. As with protection risks and impunity, neither does it outline concrete measures to mitigate these risks.

In recent months, the use of drones and other means to strike civilian infrastructure including hospitals, water systems and schools has intensified, particularly in Darfur and the Kordofans. These attacks deepen the crisis far beyond immediate casualties, undermining the very foundations of civilian resilience. As recognised by WFP in their conference statement, a response that focuses solely on aid delivery, without addressing the destruction of the systems that sustain life, will remain inherently limited.

Funding

The €1.5 billion pledged in Berlin might be significant in a constrained global funding environment. However, the total pledged falls below commitments made a year earlier in Paris, despite a sharp increase in needs and the conference offered limited clarity on how much of this funding is new, how it will be disbursed, and whether it will be flexible enough to meet operational realities on the ground.

Humanitarian actors are being asked to respond to a rapidly evolving, high-risk environment with short-term, fragmented funding. This undermines the ability to plan, to invest in sustained protection efforts, and to reach those most at risk, including populations in hard-to-access areas.

Driving change moving forwards

Berlin has reaffirmed international attention on Sudan at a critical moment, but attention alone will not alter the trajectory of the crisis. To avoid becoming another missed opportunity, the commitments made in Berlin must now be translated into concrete action.

This requires clear benchmarks, timelines and mechanisms to track progress on protection, access and accountability. It demands coordinated diplomatic and legal efforts to enforce respect for international humanitarian law – and the political will to move change.

In Sudan, the cost of inaction are lives lost to violence, hunger and neglect. The international community has the power to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe. Recognition can no longer be considered enough.

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Nirvana Shawky is the Executive Director for Partnerships, Advocacy, Engagement & Resource Mobilisation at the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) since more than two years. She has 26 years of experience in strategic leadership roles in the NGO sector, with a focus on global level advocacy, and partnership development mainly in the Middle East.