A high-level, independent investigation into the crisis in Sudan on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that civilians had been deliberately targeted, displaced and starved. The Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, created by the UN Human Rights Council, also drew attention to the devastating humanitarian emergency resulting from the war.
Shortly after presenting a mandated report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, Mohamed Chande Othman, informed journalists that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had carried out atrocious crimes.
The report documents numerous attacks on civilians and essential infrastructure and concludes that both warring parties have violated international human rights and humanitarian law. Most of these violations amount to war crimes and the conduct of the Rapid Support Forces may also constitute crimes against humanity, including persecution and extermination.
As the conflict in Sudan continued to intensify, the parties involved not only failed to protect civilians and critical infrastructure, they also made civilians primary targets.
The Fact-Finding Mission documented widespread violence against individuals and communities, including killings, mass displacement, detention, enforced disappearance and sexual violence. Civilian infrastructure has suffered extensive damage, with healthcare centers, schools, markets, food production systems, electricity stations and displacement camps coming under attack.
Widespread torture
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 of this year after being tortured and denied food and healthcare, Othman said.
Similarly, 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 said.
Additionally, girls as young as 12 were forced into marriage, “sometimes under the threat of death to their families”, the Fact-Finding Mission chair added.
“Men and boys were also subjected to sexualized torture and such acts are rooted in racism, prejudice and impunity and they devastate entire communities.”
Extermination goal
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.”
When asked why the report did not describe the events in Sudan as genocide, Rishmawi replied that the evidence “basically looks at more or less the same kind of violations as genocide”.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
One of the most shocking examples of these atrocities happened in El Fasher and nearby areas, where the RSF and its allies carried out large-scale killings of hundreds of civilians, mainly targeting non-Arab communities like the Zaghawa, Fur, Masalit, and Tunjur.
In April of this year alone, between 300 and 1,500 civilians — mostly women and children — were massacred in the Zamzam camp for displaced people.
Starvation as a method of warfare
Civilians have also been subjected to starvation as a method of warfare,, with the RSF and its allies depriving them of essential items necessary for survival, including food, medicine, and relief supplies. Furthermore, humanitarian assistance has been obstructed, aid convoys have been attacked, and aid workers have been targeted.
The report also notes that both parties have failed to take sufficient measures to minimize the impact of airstrikes and artillery on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Consequently, towns, villages, displacement camps, markets, hospitals, and homes have been systematically destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. This has left more than 12 million people displaced, with over half of the nation — approximately 25 million people — facing acute food insecurity.
“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, member of the fact-finding mission.
Addressing the Human Rights Council earlier in the day, chair 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 shelled markets, pillaged entire areas, and destroyed the market in Zamzam camp.
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”, Othman said, who like the other two members of the panel is an independent human rights expert.
Call for accountability and immediate action to protect civilians
The experts urged accountability for the perpetrators and called for diplomatic solutions to end the conflict. They emphasized that the international community cannot stand idly by while civilians are raped, looted, and starved. The mission's findings underscored the urgent need to protect Sudan's most vulnerable people.
In their report, the Fact-Finding Mission called for the international community to take immediate action to enforce the arms embargo, support justice by backing the International Criminal Court, establish an independent judicial mechanism for Sudan, use universal jurisdiction to hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure that those orchestrating atrocities face consequences, including targeted sanctions.
The experts emphasized that justice and protection cannot wait for a peace agreement, but also pressed for swift, coordinated action to cease hostilities, protect civilians, lift sieges, and halt ethnic targeting, as well as sexual and gender-based violence.
Further information
Full text: Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan (A/HRC/60/22), presented to the UN Human Rights Council on September 9, 2025
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/ffm-sudan/a-hrc-60-22-auv.pdf