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Summary
Humanitarian organisations in Sudan face significant dangers both on the ground and online. An analysis of nearly 1,000 comments on Facebook from April to May 2024 shows that misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech (MDH) on social media remains a challenging issue in the Sudanese online space.
Claims of collusion with the RSF, derogatory labelling, and accusations of fueling the conflict have been made towards key international humanitarian organisations operating in Sudan. These hostile comments not only jeopardise the safety of aid workers but also challenge the neutrality and credibility of humanitarian efforts.
Efforts to combat MDH and promote accurate portrayals of humanitarian work are essential for ensuring the safety and efficacy of aid operations in conflict-affected areas like Sudan.
Context
Since April 2023, a civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been raging in Sudan, provoking the death of thousands and the forcible displacement of over 9 million civilians.
According to the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC), in 2023 56 health workers were killed in Sudan, compared to 13 in 2022, while at least 28 were kidnapped. Evidence indicates that health workers were deliberately and systematically attacked, including while working inside hospitals, clinics, or their homes.
The killing of an MSF staff member due to a shell strike in El Fasher city on 25 May 2024 is yet another stark reminder of the deadly dangers humanitarian workers face on a daily basis in war zones in Sudan.
However, health workers and humanitarian organisations do not only face dangers on the ground. In 2023, Insecurity Insight reported how doctors and humanitarian organisations were repeatedly targeted with misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech (MDH) on social media platforms, further endangering their safety.
This brief, which seeks to update these findings by examining whether MDH targeting humanitarian organisations is still a recurrent phenomenon in 2024, suggests that MDH in online spaces remains a significant challenge for aid organisations present in Sudan.