The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
HRC Press Conference: Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan -17 June 2025
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
- Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission
- Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission
- Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, flag alley.
- Wide shot: podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Many Sudanese are dying from hunger and especially those who have been detained and in detention - they are dying and millions affected by absolute hunger is increasing by the day.”
- Medium: Mr. Othman delivering his remarks.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “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.”
- Medium: podium speakers, journalists, photographer.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Now we know the kind of arms that are being used: heavy artillery, modern warfare, drones and in fact, they have escalated.”
- Wide: Control booths, podium speakers, automatic cameras and UN logo reflected in glass window.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – 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.”
- Wide: podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Both sides are committing war crimes, we didn't say that SAF did not commit. We actually think SAF - particularly the bombardment and the shelling - it does indicate war crimes as well as torture.”
- Wide: TV screens showing speaker, photographer.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We spoke about, crimes against humanity, particularly in the context of persecution of certain ethnic groups. This continues, this continues.”
- Medium shot: podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “The attack on these humanitarian workers and human rights defenders is really crippling the delivery of aid in a lot of these, in a lot of these communities, 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 and so on.”
- Medium: journalist.
- Medium: photographer.
- Medium: journalist.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC , OHCHR
Mariana Katzarova discusses human rights in Russia as a UN Special Rapporteur.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IOM , OHCHR , UN WOMEN , UNFPA , UNHCR , UNOPS , WHO
UN Geneva briefing: Yemen crisis worsens, urgent aid needed across multiple sectors.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Press conference on the latest report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Victims Still Waiting: A Global Briefing on Transitional Justice Around the World
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WMO , OCHA , WHO , UNICEF , UN WOMEN , OHCHR , IOM , UNHCR
Update on Ebola from WHO and OCHA, update on the situation of children with the beginning of school in Ukraine from UNICEF, UN Women on the impact of the settlers and restrictions on women and girls in West Bank, OHCHR on the recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, IOM and UNHCR on the new wave of displacement in Yemen
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Update on the human rights situation in Belarus by the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC , OHCHR
Update on the human rights situation in Syria by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic