“As hostilities have expanded in reach and intensity over the past year, the lives and hopes of so many Sudanese have been uprooted and caught in a mire of death, deprivation and suffering,” said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
“Two years of this brutal and senseless conflict must be a wake-up call to the parties to lay down their weapons and for the international community to act,” she told reporters at the UN biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
Shamdasani explained that the conflict in Sudan is not merely a power struggle, but is significantly influenced by economic and business interests of national and international actors, in key sectors such as gold and agricultural commodities.
She added that the Proliferation of arms and continued weapons supplies, including to the western Darfur region, where a UN Security Council arms embargo is in place, are compounding the fighting, enabling violations of international law and undermining peace efforts. “All those involved in facilitating the transfer of arms and military material to Darfur must stop, in compliance with the embargo. We call, again, for the arms embargo to be expanded to cover the whole of Sudan.”
The conflict, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has been marked by complete disregard for the laws of war and for international human rights law from the outset, with the parties regularly attacking populated areas and critical civilian infrastructure, such as healthcare facilities, water stations and power plants, perpetrating serious human rights violations and abuses, and obstructing humanitarian aid, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement.
Joining from Nairobi, UN Human Rights head of the Sudan office Li Fung said there were “growing concerns about the hostilities escalating and expanding to new areas, including in Kordofan, Blue Nile and Northern State, and the devastating impact for the civilian population who have already endured two years of conflict”.
“Retaliatory attacks and summary killings of people suspected of collaborating with opposing forces remain a serious concern,” Fung told the reporters. “Such attacks – which are often ethnically-motivated – have continued unabated, fanned by hate speech and incitement to violence, particularly on social media.”
She said her team travelled recently to to eastern Chad and gathered over 160 testimonies from men, women, boys and girls who had fled conflict and violence in North and West Darfur. “Victims and witnesses recounted to us ethnically targeted attacks by the RSF on villages in North and West Darfur, based on the ethnicity of the inhabitants, and extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and torture.”
“The accounts of sexual violence – and patterns of rape and gang rape – were particularly horrific,” Fung said. “Numerous survivors of violence in West Darfur in 2023 had only been able to flee recently, as they had been held by the RSF in conditions amounting to sexual slavery.”
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
Ravina Shamdasani: +41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan: +41 22 917 4232 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org
Seif Magango: +41 79 752 0488 / seif.magango@un.org
Tag and share – Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, and UN Human Rights head of Sudan office Li Fung on the consequences of the ongoing conflict
TRT: 02:40
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 11 April 2025 – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND AND NAIROBI, KENYA
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , WHO
Two years of Gaza-Israel war bring ‘indescribable’ pain: UN humanitarians
Two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, UN humanitarians on Tuesday reiterated calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering, as talks on a US-driven peace plan continued in Egypt.
1
1
1
Edited News
Syria prison survivor seeks justice for the missing with UN backing.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned that three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for Ukrainian civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and shelters.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , ICRC
Quadcopter victims, terror and death: 30 minutes in a Gaza hospital
UN aid teams on Friday highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday delivered his oral update to the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session on the human rights situation in Haiti.
The High Commissioner welcomed Wednesday’s decision of the UN Security Council to strengthen the Multinational Security Support mission by transitioning to the Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, stating it is a strong signal of international support for the Haitian people.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: As world waits for US peace plan news, UN aid teams stress need for ceasefire
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
The ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza City continues to overwhelm the war-torn enclave’s medical professionals, with four more hospitals forced to shut down this month alone, the UN World Health Organization said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
A UN Human Rights report released today details the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained since Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine in 2022.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Sudan war: Life-saving cholera vaccination campaign begins in Darfur
Amid the devastating war in Sudan, UN aid teams are overcoming major obstacles to curb a cholera outbreak claiming lives across the country, with young children particularly at risk.
2
1
2
Edited News , B-roll | UN WOMEN
Women and girls still reeling from Afghanistan's recent deadly earthquake face even greater suffering rebuilding their lives and livelihoods without much more help from the international community, UN Women said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Rising civilian casualties, growing ethnic violence and the grim humanitarian situation in Sudan underscore how the crisis there is deepening, according to a UN Human rights report published today.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
United Nations agencies staff demonstrates on Place des Nations in Geneva to denounce the killing of their colleagues in Gaza.