The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on escalation in El Fasher in Sudan and Human Rights chief exchange
“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is horrified by the escalating violence in El-Fasher, in Darfur, where hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces – backed by their respective allied armed groups – are having a deeply devastating toll on civilians,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Friday.
“At least 58 civilians are reported to have been killed and 213 others injured in El-Fasher since fighting dramatically escalated last week and these figures are certainly an underestimate,” she said.
Concerned by the escalation in El-Fasher, the High Commissioner on Tuesday had separate phone calls with Lt-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Commander of the Rapid Support Forces. During these calls, he urged both generals to take action immediately and publicly to de-escalate the situation, Shamdasani explained.
“He also called on them to put aside entrenched positions and take specific, concrete steps to cease hostilities and to ensure the effective protection of civilians – as is their obligation under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and consistent with their commitments under the Jeddah Declaration, agreed in May 2023,” said the spokesperson.
“We warned both commanders that fighting in El-Fasher, where more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people are currently encircled and at imminent risk of famine, would have a catastrophic impact on civilians, and would deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences,” Shamdasani said.
“The High Commissioner reminded the commanders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure strict compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution and to put an end to any ongoing violations, as well as ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by their respective forces and allies,” she added.
He also urged them to redouble efforts towards reaching a negotiated solution, including by promptly resuming ceasefire negotiations, and to facilitate comprehensive access to humanitarian aid in areas under their forces’ respective control.
The High Commissioner had last spoken directly, in person, to the two commanders in November 2022, during an official visit to Sudan.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
In Geneva
Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or
Liz Throssell - + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or
Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org
Tag and share
Twitter @UNHumanRights
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on escalation in El-Fasher in Sudan
TRT: 02:30
SOURCE: UNTV / OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 14 - 17 May 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior shot: Palais des Nations
2. Interior shot: Briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English)—Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is horrified by the escalating violence in El-Fasher, in Darfur, where hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces – backed by their respective allied armed groups – are having a deeply devastating toll on civilians.”
4. Cutaway: briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English)—Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “At least 58 civilians are reported to have been killed and 213 others injured in El-Fasher since fighting dramatically escalated last week, and these figures are certainly an underestimate.”
6. Exteriors: Palais Wilson
7. Interiors: Palais Wilson
8. Various shots: HC speaking on the phone (14/05/24)
9. Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “He also called on them to put aside entrenched positions and take specific, concrete steps to cease hostilities and to ensure the effective protection of civilians – as is their obligation under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and consistent with their commitments under the Jeddah Declaration, agreed in May 2023.”
10. Cutaway: briefing room
11. Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We warned both commanders that fighting in El-Fasher, where more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people are currently encircled and at imminent risk of famine, would have a catastrophic impact on civilians, and would deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences.”
12. Cutaway: briefing room
13. Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The High Commissioner reminded the commanders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure strict compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution and to put an end to any ongoing violations, as well as ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by their respective forces and allies.”
14. Cutaway: briefing room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.