Geneva – Human Rights Council, 30 September 2025
During the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Sudanese Human
Rights Organizations Coalition and its international allies submitted a written statement
(A/HRC/60/NGO/94) exposing the grave and systematic atrocities perpetrated by the
Sudanese Armed Forces and allied militias against civilians. The statement emphasized that
these violations constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, demanding immediate
and decisive international accountability.
The statement underscored that more than 15 million people have been forcibly displaced
since April 2023, while over 30 million civilians face acute food insecurity, half of them
women and children. The coalition stressed that the Sudanese army has deliberately
weaponized starvation as a tool of war, in blatant violation of Article 54 of Additional
Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits attacks against objects indispensable
to civilian survival.
Documented evidence detailed large-scale ethnic massacres in West Darfur, South
Kordofan, and Blue Nile, where communities were systematically targeted based on their
ethnic identity. Independent reports also confirmed the use of chemical weapons and toxic
gases by Sudanese forces in populated areas, causing suffocation, burns, and deaths among
civilians. These acts represent flagrant breaches of the Chemical Weapons Convention and
customary international humanitarian law.
The statement further highlighted the systematic use of sexual violence, including mass
rape, as a weapon of war. Hundreds of women and girls across Darfur, Khartoum, and Al-
Jazira were subjected to sexual assaults, often in front of their families, with the deliberate
intent of terrorizing communities and destroying social cohesion. The coalition stressed that
such acts form part of a state-sanctioned policy of terror.
Equally alarming was the Sudanese army’s reliance on mercenaries and foreign militias,
responsible for extrajudicial killings, looting, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The coalition noted that the use of mercenaries further underscores the army’s disregard for
international law and shifts the burden of accountability directly onto the state.
The deliberate targeting of infrastructure was also emphasized, with more than 45
hospitals and 70 schools destroyed since the outbreak of the conflict. This has deprived
millions of children of education and healthcare, compounding the humanitarian catastrophe.
Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances, with over 2,000 documented cases involving
civilians, journalists, and human rights defenders, have entrenched a climate of fear and
repression.
The coalition warned that these policies pose a direct threat not only to Sudan but to regional
and international peace and security. Refugee flows, arms trafficking, and the
destabilization of neighboring states mirror the precursors of past atrocities in Rwanda and
Bosnia. Silence and inaction, the coalition argued, would amount to complicity.
The statement strongly underscored the role of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
and the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, insisting that
comprehensive documentation and identification of perpetrators is essential to end impunity.
It urged the Human Rights Council and UN member states to provide urgent funding and
broaden the mandate of investigative mechanisms to include the use of chemical weapons
and systemic sexual violence.
In its concluding appeal, the coalition called for:
Referral of the Sudan situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Severe sanctions against senior Sudanese military officials responsible for atrocities.
The creation of a dedicated international protection mechanism to safeguard
civilians and guarantee humanitarian access.
Justice and reparations for victims, particularly survivors of sexual violence,
including psychosocial, medical, and legal support.
The coalition concluded that the crisis in Sudan represents a critical test for the
international system’s ability to protect civilians and uphold human rights. Without
urgent accountability and protection measures, the Sudanese people will continue to face
unimaginable suffering, and the cycle of impunity will persist unchecked.