Sudan: UN report denounces impunity, urges accountability
Moatinoon
A report issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that the entrenched state of impunity has fueled serious human rights violations and abuses in Sudan as the fighting spreads to other parts of the country and additional armed groups become involved, calling for a broader international effort towards accountability and stopping the flow of weapons.
The report reviewed attacks on densely populated areas, camps for the displaced, health facilities, markets and schools. It documented the implementation of summary executions motivated by ethnicity.
The report also documented a continuing pattern of attacks on health facilities. Between 9 May and 23 June 2024, the UN Human Rights Office documented nine attacks targeting health facilities in the city of El Fasher, most of which were attributed to the Rapid Support Forces.
Acts that may amount to war crimes
The continued and deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as summary executions, sexual violence and other violations and abuses, “underscore the complete failure of both parties to the conflict to respect the rules and principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
The High Commissioner warned that “some of these acts may amount to war crimes and must be promptly and independently investigated, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice.”
The report stressed the need for further investigations to determine whether other serious international crimes, including atrocity crimes, have been committed. The report recommended that the international community should, among other measures, extend the arms embargo and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court – currently limited to Darfur – to all of Sudan.
Conflict-related sexual violence
The report documented some 120 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence between April 2023 and November 2024, involving at least 203 victims, including 162 women and 36 girls.
Reports of sexual violence appear to follow a geographic pattern, with fighting spread across the country and multiple actors allegedly committing these violations, demonstrating the consistent use of sexual violence. However, the report notes that these cases are severely underreported, largely due to stigma, fear of reprisal, and the collapse of medical and judicial institutions.
“The continued use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in Sudan is horrific,” said Türk. “All parties must take urgent steps to end it, hold those responsible to account, and provide redress to survivors.”
The report also details widespread disappearances and general crackdowns on civic space, including the killing of journalists and attacks on human rights defenders. At least 12 journalists were killed, two of them in detention, and 31 others were arbitrarily detained, including four women.
Thousands killed in the past year
The Human Rights Office documented more than 4,200 civilians killed in the context of hostilities last year. The total number of civilian casualties is likely to be much higher, given the significant challenges related to security, access and communications.
In two of the deadliest incidents, at least 141 civilians were killed and more than 200 injured when the Rapid Support Forces attacked the villages of Al-Sariha and Azraq in Al-Jazeera State on 25 October 2024. On 4 October 2024, at least 50 civilians were killed and at least 150 injured in a suspected Sudanese Armed Forces airstrike on a livestock market in El Fasher, North Darfur.
“As fighting for control of Khartoum and El Fasher intensifies, I remain deeply concerned about the protection of civilians, particularly those belonging to groups that have been subject to ongoing discrimination,” said Volker Türk.
The High Commissioner stressed that accountability, regardless of the rank and affiliation of the perpetrators, is crucial to breaking the recurring cycle of violence and impunity in Sudan.
The report is due to be presented to the Human Rights Council on 27 February.
