Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Sudan’s war is intensifying while people are still starving, rights probe warns
Heavy fighting in Sudan continues to escalate as a “direct result” of the continued flow of arms into the country meaning that the war is far from over, top independent human rights investigators said on Tuesday.
In an update on the emergency in the northeast African nation, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan highlighted the increased use of heavy weaponry in populated areas - and a sharp rise in sexual violence.
“Many Sudanese are dying from hunger and especially those who have been detained and in detention - they are dying and millions affected,” said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission.
“In terms of international responsibility, we urge all States to respect and enforce the arms embargo of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556,” she added.
Humanitarian relief continues to be weaponized and hospitals and medical facilities remain under siege, warned the investigators, whose mandate was established by the Human Rights Council in October 2023.
“There is a direct link between the flow of arms in Sudan, armed hostilities and the resulting violence amounting to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission. “We know the kind of arms that are being used: heavy artillery, modern warfare, drones and in fact, they have escalated.”
“The scale of human suffering continues to deepen,” Mr. Othman continued. “The fragmentation of governance, the militarization of society, and the involvement of foreign actors are fuelling an ever-deadlier crisis.”
Fellow investigator Mona Rishmawi insisted that testimonies gathered pointed to “both sides” continuing to commit war crimes – a reference to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which turned on each other in April 2023, following a breakdown in transition to civilian rule.
Around El Fasher, for instance, civilians have been “assaulted, detained and killed while villages have been attacked, burned and looted” by the RSF. During one RSF attack from 10 to 13 April, more than 100 civilians were reportedly killed, while a SAF bombing in Al Koma killed at least 15 civilians.
In areas recaptured by the SAF, such as Khartoum, Gezira, and Sennar, the fact-finding mission documented widespread retaliation between late 2024 and mid-2025.
“Individuals perceived to have supported the RSF — including human rights defenders, medical workers, and aid personnel — have faced arbitrary arrest, torture, and in some cases, execution,” the investigators maintained. “The RSF, too, has carried out reprisals, killing 30 civilians in Omdurman’s Al-Salha neighborhood on 27 April,” they noted.
Now into its third year, the war has killed tens of thousands of civilians so far, displacing over 13 million Sudanese and subjecting many more to sexual violence, looting and the destruction of homes, health facilities, markets and other infrastructure.
Crimes against humanity continue, “particularly in the context of persecution of certain ethnic groups”, Ms. Rishmawi insisted.
To explain how humanitarian relief has been weaponized, the mission noted that the SAF had imposed “bureaucratic restrictions, while the RSF has looted convoys and blocked aid entirely”.
The result of these actions has been to drive famine, “especially in Darfur”, said the investigators, who are respected human rights experts and not UN staff .
Condemning the bombing of a UN aid convoy in Al Koma en route to El Fasher on 2 June that killed five staff, the fact-finding mission added that the RSF had shelled the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher a dozen times.
In May, an RSF drone strike on Obeid International Hospital in North Kordofan also killed six civilians and shut down one of the region’s last functioning clinics.
Such attacks are “crippling” the delivery of aid in a lot of these communities,” said Mona Rishmawi. “It has impact on starvation, it has an impact on famine, it has an impact on access to basic things like food, like the kitchens that they actually organize.”
In their latest update to the Human Rights Council, the investigators documented a sharp rise in sexual and gender-based violence, with women and girls subjected to rape, gang rape, abduction, sexual slavery and forced marriage, mostly in RSF-controlled displacement camps.
ends
STORY: Sudan Fact Finding Mission update
TRT: 2’36”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 17 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Speakers
SHOTLIST
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
Press Conferences | UN WOMEN , UNHCR , UNICEF
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UN Women, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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
Press Conferences | WFP , UN WOMEN , UNEP , UNCTAD , WMO
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Parliamentary Union, the World Food Programme, UN Women, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Trade and Development, and the World Meteorological Organization.
1
2
1
Press Conferences | UNOG , IPU
Press briefing by Mr Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, ahead of the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament
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
Press Conferences | IOM , UNHCR , UNDP , WHO , OCHA
Michele Zaccheo of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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
Press Conferences | IPU , UNRWA , WHO , OCHA
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the International Parliamentary Union.
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.