A Crisis Normalised

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About the International Refugee Rights Initiative
The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) enhances the rights of those
excluded from state protection as a result of forced displacement, conflict,
discriminatory violence and statelessness. IRRI believes that strengthening the
rights, capacities and democratic participation of these communities—
refugees, the forcibly displaced, the conflict-affected, the stateless and those
suffering violent discrimination on the basis of their political status—is
essential to building just, peaceful and flourishing states and communities.
IRRI redresses the imbalances in power that fuel the violent exclusion of
vulnerable populations from protection through:
• tackling the root causes of exile, statelessness, discriminatory
violence, and conflict through which state protection is lost;
• enhancing the agency and protection of those who are forcibly
displaced or threatened with displacement; and
• promoting the re-building of just and inclusive communities in
which genuine citizenship is forged and displacement and exile
comes to an end.
IRRI grounds its advocacy in regional and international human rights
instruments and strives to make these guarantees effective at the local level.
About the National Human Rights Monitors Organisation
The National Human Rights Monitors Organisation (NHRMO) was founded in
March 2012, with the primary objective of promoting human rights in Sudan.
Working with the support of IRRI, NHRMO has been monitoring human rights
abuses committed against civilians in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States.
Background to the paper
This paper is a collaborative effort between IRRI and NHRMO. Field research
was carried out by NHRMO and an anonymous researcher, who was also the
primary drafter of the report. Lucy Hovil, Olivia Bueno and Andie Lambe of IRRI
gave additional input. The team would like to express their gratitude to all
those who participated in the study, and to Wendy James, Emeritus Professor
of Social Anthropology and Fellow, St Cross College, University of Oxford, for
her helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.
Cover photo: A damaged school bench on burnt grass in a village in southern
Kurmuk County, Blue Nile State, days after the place was bombed (© 2016
anonymous photographer/IRRI).
SEPTEMBER 2016