On December 11, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, will lead a congressional hearing focused on the civil conflict in Sudan and related human rights abuses against civilians.
Smith highlighted the scale of the crisis: “Since 2023, as many as 18,000 civilian deaths have been committed in Sudan—with estimates as high as 150,000—and more than 10 million people have been displaced as a direct result of the Sudanese Civil War,” he said. “The catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Sudan—which includes the systemic killings, rapes, abductions, detentions, and child soldier recruitments of innocent civilians—demands our attention.”
The hearing is set to take place at 11:00 AM in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building. It will examine atrocity crimes and other human rights violations by the Sudanese government during the ongoing conflict.
Witnesses for the hearing include Vincent D. Spera, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of African Affairs for the U.S. Department of State; Ken Isaacs from Samaritan’s Purse; Tony Perkins from Family Research Council and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; and Nicole Widdersheim from Human Rights Watch.
Chris Smith has represented New Jersey’s 4th district in Congress since 1981 after succeeding Frank Thompson. He was born in Rahway, New Jersey in 1953 and currently resides in Manchester Township. Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from The College of New Jersey in 1975.
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