The State of the World's Human Rights; Sudan 2025

All parties to the conflict continued to commit serious violations and abuses of international human rights law, and violations of international humanitarian law, resulting in mass civilian casualties. States continued to supply weapons to parties to the conflict, including in Darfur, in violation of the existing UN Security Council arms embargo. Women and girls were subjected to widespread and systematic conflict-related sexual violence. Impunity persisted for conflict-related violations and abuses. Looting and destruction of civilian property violated economic and social rights. The conflict continued to cause mass displacement of civilians, with many seeking refuge in neighbouring countries where conditions were dire.

Background

The armed conflict that erupted in the capital, Khartoum, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023 continued across the country with a devastating impact on civilians. Despite multiple political processes, fighting continued and intensified throughout the year.

In January and February, the SAF recaptured territory, including Khartoum and Gezira state, from the RSF.

In August the RSF announced the formation of a new parallel government in the city of Nyala, South Darfur, headed by its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and deputized by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North), an armed group that controlled much of the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. The SPLM-North had entered into an alliance with the RSF in February.

Violations of international humanitarian law

Thousands of civilians were killed and injured in direct and indiscriminate attacks by the parties to the conflict, while others were caught in crossfire as both the SAF and RSF frequently used explosive weapons with wide area effects.

The SAF and their allies targeted civilians with reprisal attacks when they recaptured Khartoum and Gezira state in January and February. On 31 January OHCHR, the UN human rights office, reported that at least 17 men and one woman were killed in attacks attributed to SAF-affiliated fighters and militia since the SAF regained control of parts of Khartoum Bahri in late January.

In Gezira state, the SAF and their allies, the Sudan Shield Forces, targeted members of the Kanabi community in reprisal attacks, accusing them of collaborating with the RSF. According to the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan (FFM), between 9 and 12 January, the Sudan Shield Forces attacked several Kanabi villages, including Tayba and Dar al-Salam al-Hideba. They killed civilians, burned homes and looted property and livestock. In Tayba alone, at least 26 individuals, including a child, were killed.

On 11 April the RSF launched a large-scale attack on Zamzam internally displaced people’s camp in North Darfur that lasted at least three days, causing immense harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure.¹ While there was no independently verified death toll, the FFM reported between 300 and 1,500 deaths and over 157 people wounded, most of them women and children. On the first day, RSF fighters attacked a health facility operated by Relief International, killing nine staff members. Two other staff members later died from injuries sustained during the attack. In addition, RSF fighters deliberately set fire to homes, businesses, the market and structures within the compound of the Sheikh Farah school and mosque in Zamzam, destroying and damaging critical civilian infrastructure. They also looted homes, businesses and shops, leaving residents without critical food and non-food items. Health facilities were destroyed and ransacked, depriving civilians of crucial care.

On 26 October the RSF seized control of El Fasher, North Darfur, following an 18-month siege of the city during which it carried out relentless attacks. After the takeover, the RSF carried out mass civilian killings, subjected women and girls to sexual violence and took hostages for ransom.² The prolonged siege and the prevention of humanitarian aid triggered famine in internal displacement camps in the area. Many civilians, including children, remained trapped in the city, in grave danger of further attacks and abuses.

The RSF also escalated attacks in the Kordofan region, including against the town of Bara in North Kordofan in October where they carried out summary killings. On 3 November, a drone strike reportedly killed at least 40 people at a funeral outside El Obeid, a city in North Kordofan. Civilians in the cities of Kadugli in South Kordofan and Babanusa in West Kordofan remained under RSF siege at constant risk of imminent attacks.

Irresponsible arms transfers

In September the UN Security Council extended for another year an arms embargo in place since 2004, which applies only to the Darfur region. It failed to expand the embargo to the rest of Sudan. The existing arms embargo had been poorly implemented, frequently violated and was wholly inadequate to meet the needs of the current crisis.

External actors continued to fuel the conflict, supplying weapons to parties to the conflict. The United Arab Emirates provided advanced Chinese weaponry to the RSF, which the group used in Darfur.

Sexual and gender-based violence

Parties to the conflict, particularly the RSF, subjected women and girls to widespread and systematic conflict-related sexual violence in Khartoum, and in towns and villages in the states of Gezira, and north and south Darfur. Sexual violence was used in a strategic manner to humiliate, punish, assert control, inflict fear and displace women and their communities.

In addition to rape, gang-rape and sexual slavery, RSF fighters subjected women and girls to other forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.³

Survivors of sexual violence suffered physical injuries and psychological trauma. Some developed health conditions, including kidney pains, irregular periods and walking difficulties. Some of them developed occasional memory loss.

Survivors of sexual violence had no access to post-rape care services and could not report violations to authorities. Ongoing fighting made it difficult for them to access health facilities and the police, as did the fear of stigmatization and reprisals.

The FFM reported that the SAF also committed sexual violence, including rape, sexual harassment and sexualized torture against women and men, particularly during detention in White Nile, Blue Nile, Khartoum and the Northern state.

Economic and social rights

Approximately 24.6 million people, half of Sudan’s population, experienced acute food insecurity. Famine conditions were confirmed in various parts of the country, and millions were at risk of starvation. Aid cuts, including those by the US government, exacerbated food shortages.

Meanwhile, disruptions to food supply chains and agricultural production, as well as administrative challenges and delays in delivering aid, contributed to widespread hunger and malnutrition.

In North Darfur, including in El Fasher, and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk internally displaced people’s camps, the situation was particularly dire. The RSF cut off all critical food and water supplies. Basic food items, including oil, lentils, sugar and water, were also scarce and unaffordable, leading to malnourishment, dehydration and death, particularly among children.

The FFM reported that large-scale looting and destruction of infrastructure essential for civilian survival, mainly by the RSF and its allies, affected non-Arab communities, particularly in the Darfur region. The livelihoods of these communities were undermined as was civilian infrastructure, including shelters, food and water sources, health systems, water stations, and public offices and facilities.

Internally displaced people’s rights

The escalating conflict proved increasingly devastating for civilians. According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, the conflict caused the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis. As of December, nearly 12 million people had been forcibly displaced since the beginning of the conflict in 2023; 7.8 million of them were inside Sudan and more than 4 million were in neighbouring countries living in dire conditions.

Right to truth, justice and reparation

Impunity persisted for crimes under international law and conflict-related violations and abuses.

On 6 October, Trial Chamber I of the ICC convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as “Ali Kushayb”, a principal leader of the Janjaweed militia, of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur between August 2003 and March 2004. On 9 December he was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. However, four other suspects, against whom ICC arrest warrants had been issued, including former president Omar al-Bashir, were yet to be arrested and handed over to the ICC for trial.

Also in October, the UN Human Rights Council extended the FFM’s mandate for the second time. In September the FFM released its second report, which found that the SAF and RSF had committed war crimes and that the RSF had also committed crimes against humanity. It made recommendations to protect civilians, including lifting sieges, particularly on El Fasher and on towns in North and South Kordofan, and ensuring unhindered humanitarian access. It also gave recommendations for accountability and access to justice for victims, including the expansion of the ICC’s jurisdiction and support for the establishment of an independent and impartial judicial mechanism for Sudan.

In October, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights published the first report of its joint Fact-Finding Mission on the situation in Sudan, which found that the SAF and RSF had committed serious human rights violations, including attacks on civilians, ethnic based killings, torture and sexual violence. It recommended the deployment of an AU peacekeeping mission to Sudan and the establishment of an accountability mechanism with a mandate to prosecute grave violations.

1. Sudan: “A Refuge Destroyed”: RSF Violations in Darfur’s Zamzam Camp for Internally Displaced Persons, 2 December ↩︎
2. “Sudan: El Fasher survivors tell of deliberate RSF killings and sexual violence – new testimony”, 25 November ↩︎
3. Sudan: “They Raped All of Us”: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Sudan, 10 April ↩︎

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