A top United Nations Human Rights official has issued a strong warning that civilians are at the receiving end of human rights violations and abuses by all parties involved in the conflict in Sudan.
Nada Al-Nashif, UN Deputy Human Rights Chief told the Human Rights Council in Geneva told a media conference on Tuesday: “Over sixteen months on, the conflict in Sudan continues to spiral out of control. Civilians bear the brunt of hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and respective allied armed movements and militias, conducted with total disregard for international law,” she said.
Al Nashif said since the High Commissioner’s update in March, the conflict has escalated further, adding that declarations by the warring parties of commitments to protect civilians remain empty, with violations continuing unabated.
The UN human rights office and the Designated Expert continue to document violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses by all parties to the conflict.
“Indiscriminate attacks and the use of weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas have resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, destruction of vital infrastructure – including hospitals, schools and markets – and decimation of sources of livelihoods,” Al-Nashif said.
Since May, El Fasher in North Darfur has been ravaged by heavy fighting: targeting of medical facilities has deprived the population of health services. From June to August, we documented over 864 civilian deaths in attacks on residential areas across Sudan.
“Our Office is particularly alarmed by the use, since the beginning of the conflict, of sexual violence as a weapon of war. We have documented 97 incidents involving 172 victims, predominantly women and girls – which is a gross under-representation of the reality. Responsibility for 81 per cent of incidents was attributed to men in RSF uniform and affiliated armed men, we also received credible reports of sexual violence attributed to SAF troops and allied armed movements,” the deputy high commissioner said.
Nada Al-Nashif again urged the parties to issue and enforce strict command orders to prohibit and punish sexual violence, and to take other effective steps to prevent it.
“I am deeply troubled by ethnically motivated attacks and hate speech. Our Office documented multiple testimonies recounting summary executions, sexual violence and forced displacement perpetrated by the RSF and allied Arab militia, notably targeting the Masalit community in West Darfur. Ethnically motivated violence, harassment and arrests were also documented in Darfur and Al-Jazirah,” she said.
The mobilization of civilians, including children, has intensified across Sudan, particularly along tribal lines. This poses a risk of a widening civil war with further ethnic dimensions.
Arbitrary detention by both parties and allied armed movements, continues. The UN human rights office documented increasing arrests by Military Intelligence, and imposition of death sentences, for alleged support for the RSF, often based upon real or presumed tribal identity. They also documented unlawful detention, again often based on ethnicity, by the RSF in Darfur.
“This senseless conflict has a devastating impact on economic and social rights, in particular the rights to food, housing, and education. As a result, Over 20 per cent of the population is displaced – 10.7 million people internally and 2.1 million in neighbouring countries. Sudan faces critical levels of food insecurity, with imminent risk of famine and more than half of its population – 25.6 million people – in acute hunger,” the deputy high commissioner said
