Geneva \u2013 Human Rights Council, 30 September 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the sidelines of the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Sudanese
Human Rights Organizations Alliance held a high-level international side event during which
it presented a comprehensive report entitled \u201cHealthcare Under Fire.\u201d The report documents
grave violations and atrocities committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied
militias against the health sector from the outbreak of the conflict on 15 April 2023 through
30 February 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report, more than 80% of hospitals and medical facilities have been
rendered non-operational due to indiscriminate aerial and artillery bombardments. It recorded
615 airstrikes on health facilities and 227 drone and artillery attacks. Furthermore, 149
medical facilities were occupied and converted into military bases. Ambulances and medical
personnel were systematically targeted, with 390 direct attacks documented, resulting in the
killing of 148 health workers, injuries to 97 others, and the arrest or abduction of 137 doctors
and nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report stressed that these systematic assaults extended beyond destroying healthcare
infrastructure to include looting of 197 medical warehouses and the deliberate obstruction of
humanitarian aid, depriving millions of civilians of essential medicine and food. As a result,
more than 30 million people are now facing acute food insecurity and lack of healthcare
access, half of whom are women and children\u2014placing Sudan among the worst humanitarian
crises globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings revealed that the Sudanese army deliberately pursued tactics to collapse the
healthcare system as a weapon of war, targeting hospitals serving civilians while bombing
markets and water sources. These practices, the report underlined, are not incidental breaches
but a coordinated policy led by the military leadership to subjugate the civilian
population\u2014amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Evidence presented in the report also pointed to the use of Iranian-made drones and foreign-
supplied weapons, including internationally prohibited chemical weapons deployed in Darfur
and Blue Nile states. Such actions, the report emphasized, constitute a grave violation of
international humanitarian law and a direct threat to regional and international peace and
security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report placed direct responsibility on senior military leaders, including Abdel Fattah al-
Burhan and other top commanders, for issuing the orders that led to these crimes. It warned
that the absence of international accountability only emboldens the army to continue its
violations and entrenches impunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the conclusion of the side event, the Sudanese Human Rights Organizations Alliance
called on the international community and the Human Rights Council to take urgent action,
including:
\uf0b7 Referring the situation in Sudan to the International Criminal Court,
\uf0b7 Ensuring immediate and unhindered humanitarian access,
\uf0b7 Supporting the reconstruction of the health sector and guaranteeing protection for
health workers,
\uf0b7 Imposing targeted sanctions on military leaders responsible for atrocities.
Participants described the report as one of the most comprehensive and damning accounts of
systematic crimes against Sudan\u2019s healthcare system, underscoring that the health of the
Sudanese people is no longer only a humanitarian concern but a matter of justice, dignity, and
the fundamental right to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n