One year ago, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for the Sudan pursuant to its resolution 54/2. The mission was initially mandated to investigate and determine for the duration of one year the facts, circumstances, and root causes of alleged human rights violations, abuses, and breaches of international humanitarian law, including crimes against refugees, related to the armed conflict that began on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and other warring parties.
At the conclusion of its 57th session, the HRC voted in favor of extending the mandate of the FFM for another year. The move signaled growing recognition of the need for justice and accountability to counter impunity in Sudan. Several African countries including South Africa and Ghana switched their position in support of the investigation.
Sudan continues to reject the mandate of the mission, however. This stance presents obstacles to conducting field visits by the mission which opts for alternative methods to collect evidence for its investigation.
The mission issued its first report on 6 September in the 57th HRC Session based on investigations conducted between January and August 2024 in Chad, Kenya, and Uganda. The mission sought to visit Sudan but was not able to do so. The report found both the SAF and the RSF, as well as their respective allies, to be responsible for large-scale systematic violations, including indiscriminate and direct attacks carried out through airstrikes and the shelling of civilians, schools, hospitals, communication networks, and vital water and electricity supplies. The report also found reasonable grounds to believe that RSF and its allied militias committed the additional war crimes of rape, sexual slavery, and pillage, as well as ordering the displacement of the civilian population and the recruitment of children below 15 in hostilities.
As of July, an estimated 19,000 people have been killed and more than 33,000 have been injured. Slightly over half of the population are now on the brink of famine, as 25.6 million people face acute hunger conditions. More than 8.5 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger, while more than 755,000 people are in catastrophic conditions in Greater Darfur, South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Aj Jazirah, and Khartoum. Most recently, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC) declared famine conditions (IPC 5) affecting communities in North Darfur State, notably in Zamzam camp near the state capital Al Fasher as of June and July 2024. These conditions are likely to persist during the coming months.
In a press conference after her recent visit to Sudan, United Nations Population Fund Arab States Regional Director Laila Baker put special emphasis on the dire situation women and girls continue to face amid harsh conditions in crowded shelters. Cases of rape and widespread sexual violence have been reported by many women and girls. Additionally, 18,000 pregnant women are prone to die because of famine.
The risk of famine and disease has been exacerbated by the devastating impact of the conflict on civilian infrastructure, which destroyed more than 75 percent of health facilities, in addition to power, water, and sanitation infrastructures in conflict areas. An outbreak of Cholera was officially declared on 12 August 2024 as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), with 2,895 cases reported and 112 associated deaths between 22 July and 1 September.
As the conflict ensues, Sudan’s displacement crisis has been described as the largest in the world, with the total number of people who fled their homes since mid-April 2023 estimated at 10.3 million. This includes about 8 million people internally displaced and another 2.3 million who crossed into neighboring countries. Climate conditions including heavy flooding have worsened the crisis with at least 124,600 people displaced since June.
The humanitarian response has been hampered due to access impediments and shortages in funding. Humanitarian workers are themselves vulnerable to being killed, injured or displaced. At least 22 aid workers – all of them Sudanese nationals – have been killed while on duty and at least 34 aid workers have been wounded or injured since the start of the conflict. Despite these obstacles, humanitarian partners including the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have launched the Famine Prevention Plan (FPP) in April and continue to provide healthcare and nutrition supplies for affected communities including in Port Sudan.
Sudan bears the primary responsibility for preventing violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, and must provide remedies and reparations for victims, according to the fact-finding mission’s report. The mission reported that current domestic legal and judicial mechanisms in place in both SAF and RSF controlled areas lack the required independence and fair trial guarantees to ensure effective accountability. Furthermore, there is a lack of willingness to investigate and prosecute all those responsible on an equal basis and a lack of trust in the domestic justice system including fear of reprisals as reported by victims.
The mission first and foremost recommended enforcing a sustainable ceasefire to halt violence and facilitate humanitarian aid delivery. It also called for the deployment of an independent and impartial force to protect civilians, urging states to comply with the arms embargo on Darfur, and extend it to the entire country. Additionally, the mission advocated for expanding the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to encompass the whole of Sudan, not just Darfur, and proposed the creation of a separate international judicial mechanism to investigate crimes beyond the ICC's scope. Finally, it emphasized the need for redress and accountability through a truth-seeking process, as well as mechanisms for reparations and support for victims.
As Africa’s third largest country with a humanitarian crisis that risks having spill-over effects on neighboring countries, UN efforts to facilitate negotiations between Sudan’s warring parties as well as sustaining the investigation into grave human rights violations through the mission in Sudan remain essential.
