The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
HRC60 Press Conference: Report of the Sudan Fact-Finding Mission - 09 September 2025
Sudan’s people tortured and killed in ‘slaughterhouses’, rights probe says
A high-level independent rights probe into the Sudan crisis on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that they had been “deliberately targeted, displaced and starved”.
Shortly after presenting a mandated report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, insisted that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had carried out atrocity crimes.
Among the testimonies gathered for the report, survivors from RSF detention sites described the locations as “slaughterhouses”.
In one notorious RSF facility, dozens of detainees died between June and October this year after being tortured, denied food and medical care, the independent rights expert said.
Equally, in SAF-run detention facilities, “civilians were also subjected to torture, including electric shock, sexualized abuse and they were held in cells so overcrowded that some prisoners had to sleep standing,” he added.
In addition, girls as young as 12 were forced into marriage, “sometimes under the threat of death to their families”, the fact-finding mission chair continued. “Men and boys were also subjected to sexualized torture and such acts are rooted in racism, prejudice and impunity and they devastate entire communities.”
Highlighting the lack of diplomatic solutions to the conflict which began in April 2023, and its massive impact of the war on civilians, report co-author Mona Rishmawi insisted that “everybody knows you cannot rape, you cannot loot, you cannot destroy property. You cannot starve people…But if there is no accountability, of course they will continue doing it.”
Extermination goal
Asked why the report had decided not to describe what has been happening in Sudan as genocide, Ms. Rishmawi replied that the evidence “basically looks at more or less the same kind of violations as genocide”.
She added: “You kill, [you provide] no food, no water, you don't allow food production. You don't allow access to food, to markets and so on; and you don't allow access to humanitarian aid. So, what you do want is to kill the population, so, it's very clear. So, the effect of this is really the crime against humanity…of extermination.”
Hunger crisis
The fact-finding mission which was created by the Human Rights Council in October 2023 highlighted the devastating humanitarian emergency that has resulted from the war.
“In displacement camps such Zamzam and Abu Shouk, witnesses describe children dying of hunger and dehydration in the streets, including people eating animal food,” said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission.
Addressing the Human Rights Council earlier in the day, fact-finding mission chair Mr. Othman insisted that the war was “destroying not only lives but also the means of survival”, with hospitals, markets, water and electricity systems – and even humanitarian convoys - systematically attacked.
“Markets, the backbone of food access, have been repeatedly bombed,” he said, adding that in October 2024, SAF airstrikes on El Koma market killed at least 45 civilians. “Two months later, Kabkabiya market was struck, killing more than 100. In March this year, SAF bombed Tora market during peak hours, killing and injuring hundreds.”
The mission report underscored how the RSF had also shelled markets, pillaged entire areas and destroyed Zamzam camp’s market. RSF drone strikes hit the Merowe Dam and water towers, leaving communities without drinking water, while “one mother told us she lost all four of her children to thirst while fleeing”, said Mr. Othman, who like the other two members of the panel is an independent human rights expert and not employed by the United Nations.
ends
STORY: Sudan Fact-Finding Mission
TRT: 2’33”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 9 SEPTEMBER 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, podium speakers, UN Geneva Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Even if it's not written in black and white in law, everybody knows you cannot rape, you cannot loot, you cannot destroy property. You cannot starve people. These are basic, moral, ethical and legal impediments. But if there is no accountability, of course they will continue doing it.”
- Wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “In displacement camps such Zamzam and Abu Shouk, witnesses describe children dying of hunger and dehydration in the streets, including people eating animal food.”
- Medium, podium speakers, TV screens showing speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “You kill, no food, no water, you don't allow food production. You don't allow access to food, to markets and so on; and you don't allow access to humanitarian aid. So, what you do want is to kill the population, so, it's very clear. So the effect of this is really the crime against humanity…of extermination.”
- Wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Survivors from RSF detention sites describe them as slaughterhouses. In one notorious facility, dozens of detainees died between June and October this year due to torture, malnutrition and lack of medical care.”
- Wide, UN Geneva Press room, journalists, participants.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “In SAF-run detention facilities, civilians were also subjected to torture, including electric shock, sexualized abuse and they were held in cells so overcrowded that some prisoners had to sleep standing.”
- Medium-wide, panel speakers, TV screens, participants, journalists.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Girls as young as 12 were forced into marriage, sometimes under the threat of death to their families. Men and boys were also subjected to sexualized torture and such acts are rooted in racism, prejudice and impunity and they devastate entire communities.”
- Medium, journalist.
- Medium, photographer.
- Medium, journalists.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNHCR , IOM , FAO , WHO , OCHA , UNICEF
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
As fighting spreads across Sudan in a dangerous new escalation, "people are scared, people are fleeing their homes," the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Friday, noting that more than 50,000 people have fled attacks and violence since late October in Kordofan region alone.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Volker Türk the UN Human Rights High Commissioner made the following remarks during and Oral update tothe Human Rights Council intersessional meeting on Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
New flu variant is surging, but vaccination still our best bet - WHO
Amid an early start to the Northern Hemisphere influenza season a new variant of the virus is rapidly gaining ground - but vaccination remains the “most effective defence”, the UN health agency said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WFP , WHO
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Office at Geneva, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNOG
Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, gave a year-end briefing to the Geneva press corps.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WFP , UNHCR , WHO , IOM , UNFPA
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations Population Fund.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
In Sudan, deep concerns persist for the many tens of thousands of people believed to still be trapped in the city of El Fasher in the Darfur region, but UN aid agencies believe they may soon get access to the embattled city.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Human rights are underfunded, under attack and undermined worldwide, but activism is still powerful, undeterred and mobilising, says UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Human Rights Day press conference
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Human Rights Day Press Conference by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNICEF , UN WOMEN , UNHCR , UNFPA , UNDP , UNIS
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, and UN Women.