Geneva – Human Rights Council, 30 September 2025
On the sidelines of the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Sudanese
Human Rights Organizations Alliance and its international partners presented a
comprehensive report entitled “Documenting War Crimes Committed by the Sudanese Armed
Forces.” The report exposes systematic and large-scale violations committed by the
Sudanese army since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023, underscoring that these crimes
amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law.
The report details catastrophic conditions faced by civilians, including relentless aerial and
artillery bombardments targeting markets, hospitals, and critical infrastructure. It highlights
that more than 11.2 million people have been forcibly displaced, representing nearly one-
fifth of Sudan’s population. Tens of thousands have been killed since the war began,
including an estimated 26,000 civilians in the capital, Khartoum, alone. Meanwhile, the
collapse of the health system has triggered deadly outbreaks of cholera and malaria, amid a
severe economic crisis marked by hyperinflation, famine, and mass unemployment.
According to the report, the Sudanese army has committed field executions, arbitrary
detentions, enforced disappearances, mass looting, indiscriminate destruction of civilian
property, and the deliberate use of prohibited weapons, including cluster munitions and
chemical agents. It also documents horrific incidents in Wad Madani city, where residential
areas and hospitals were bombed, civilians were burned alive or thrown from bridges, and
over 250,000 people were forcibly displaced in large-scale ethnic cleansing operations.
The report makes clear that these atrocities are not random violations but part of a deliberate,
systematic policy directed by Sudan’s military leadership. It directly implicates General
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and other top commanders as those who issued the orders enabling
these crimes, stressing that their accountability is indispensable. Failure to act, the report
warns, will embolden further violations and deepen the culture of impunity in Sudan.
In its conclusions, the Alliance and its partners issued urgent calls for:
Establishing an independent international investigation into the crimes,
Referring the situation in Sudan to the International Criminal Court,
Imposing targeted sanctions on Sudanese military leaders,
Guaranteeing protection for civilians and survivors of sexual violence,
And supporting the rebuilding of health, education, and humanitarian systems while
ensuring assistance for victims.
The event was described as a landmark moment in exposing the scale of atrocities
committed by the Sudanese army, sending a powerful message to the international
community. The Alliance emphasized that Sudan now stands as a decisive test of the global
system’s willingness to protect civilians, defend human rights, and put an end to impunity for
grave international crimes.