Entrenched impunity is fueling gross human rights violations and abuses in Sudan as fighting spreads to more parts and involves additional armed actors, a report by the UN Human Rights Office has found.
The report has called for a broader international effort towards accountability and to stem the flow of arms.
The report, who findings area available online, details attacks on densely populated areas, as well as IDP camps, health facilities, markets, and schools. It also documents ethnically motivated summary executions.
Between May 9 and 23 June 23, 2024, the UN Human Rights Office documented nine attacks, targeting healthcare facilities in El Fasher city, mostly attributed to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“The continued and deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as summary executions, sexual violence and other violations and abuses, underscore the utter failure by both parties to respect the rules and principles of international humanitarian and human rights law,” the report quotes UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, saying.
“Some of these acts may amount to war crimes. They must be investigated promptly and independently, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice,” he is further quoted.
The report also notes that further investigation is required to establish whether other serious international crimes, including atrocity crimes, have been committed.
It recommends that the international community should, among other measures, expand the arms embargo and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to cover the whole of Sudan. They currently cover only Darfur.
Some 120 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence were documented from April 2023 to November 2024, affecting at least 203 victims, including 162 women and 36 girls. Reports appeared to follow a geographical pattern as the fighting spread across the country, with a multiplicity of actors allegedly perpetrating these violations, illustrating the consistent use of sexual violence. However, cases remained vastly under-reported, in large part due to stigma, fear of reprisals, and the collapse of medical and judicial institutions.
“The persistent use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in Sudan is deeply shocking. Urgent steps must be taken by the parties to put an end to it, to hold those responsible to account and provide redress for survivors,” said Türk.
The report also details widespread disappearances and a generalized crackdown on civic space, including killings of journalists and attacks on human rights defenders. At least 12 journalists were killed, two of them while in detention, and 31 were arbitrarily detained, including four women.
Since April 2023, when the conflict began, it has triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis, and an unprecedented food security situation, with half the population facing acute food insecurity and with famine conditions confirmed in at least five locations. The conflict has also undermined the rights to health and education, with 70 to 80 per cent of health facilities rendered non-functional and over 90 per cent of school-age children left with no access to formal education.
In all, throughout 2024, the Office documented more than 4,200 civilian killings in the context of hostilities.
In two of the deadliest incidents, at least 141 civilians were killed and more than 200 others injured when the RSF attacked the villages of Al-Seriha and Azraq in Al Jazirah State on October 4, 2024. On October 25, 2024, at least 50 civilians were killed and at least 150 injured in a suspected Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) airstrike on a livestock market in El Fasher, North Darfur.
The UN Human Rights Chief stressed that accountability, regardless of the rank and affiliation of the perpetrators, is critical to breaking the recurring cycle of violence and impunity in Sudan.
The report is due to be presented to the Human Rights Council on February 27.