UN High Commissioner Volker Türk, calls for accountability, more efforts to end war in Sudan

Briefing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today on the situation surrounding the North Darfur capital of El Fasher, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk has called on the international community to hold those responsible for atrocities and war crimes accountable, and to do more to end the senseless war in Sudan.

Full text of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva:

“The events that unfolded in El Fasher in Sudan last October were a preventable human rights catastrophe. After imposing 18 months of siege, starvation and bombardment, the Rapid Support Forces unleashed a wave of intense violence. Thousands of people were killed in a matter of days, and tens of thousands fled in terror. Our collective job is to hold those responsible accountable, and to make sure this never happens again.”

Since I last briefed you on El Fasher, I have visited Sudan and heard first hand accounts from some of those who survived that final offensive. I have rarely seen people so traumatized by their experiences. My staff have interviewed more than 140 victims and witnesses in Northern state and eastern Chad.

They consistently reported mass killings and summary executions of civilians and those no longer participating in hostilities, both inside the city and as people fled. They spoke of rape and other sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, detention, disappearances and abductions for ransom.

‘Our collective job is to hold those responsible accountable, and to make sure this never happens again..’

In one horrific example, people who fled to separate locations, thousands of kilometres apart, gave consistent accounts of the mass killing of hundreds of people sheltering at El Fasher University. Others spoke of attacks on health facilities and healthcare workers. We heard convincing testimony that some victims were targeted based on their non-Arab ethnicity – in particular, members of the Zaghawa ethnic group. Survivors also spoke of seeing piles of dead bodies along roads leading away from El Fasher, in an apocalyptic scene that one person likened to the Day of Judgment.

Sexual violence was systematically used as a weapon of war by the RSF and its allied militia. During my visit, I met survivors who gave consistent and harrowing testimony of gang rape and other sexual violence against women and girls. My staff documented many accounts of sexual violence during abductions and searches of women and girls as they attempted to flee.

RSF fighters and their allies abducted people as they fled and charged exorbitant ransoms for their release. Most victims were men and adolescent boys judged to be of fighting age, but women and children were also targeted. Thousands remain missing. Some were undoubtedly killed; others are believed to be held in inhumane detention conditions, subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Thousands were reportedly transferred to Tagris prison in Nyala, South Darfur, where we know conditions are horrific.

The RSF and its allies detained people perceived to be affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied Joint Forces, government officials, medical professionals, journalists, teachers, and local humanitarian volunteers. Former detainees reported that more than 2,000 men were held in El Fasher Children’s Hospital. Those who died in detention were reportedly buried near the hospital.

‘The spirit of the struggle for peace, justice and freedom is still very much alive…’

My staff also documented the recruitment and use of children by the RSF, either through pressure on communities, or through direct coercion.

The International Criminal Court told the Security Council last month that it assessed that both war crimes and crimes against humanity had taken place in El Fasher during the culmination of the RSF’s siege of the city.

Our own findings are fully consistent with this conclusion. They will be detailed in a public report to be issued in the coming days.

Distinguished delegates,

My Office sounded the alarm about the risk of mass atrocities in the besieged city of El Fasher for more than a year. We had previously documented patterns of such atrocities several times, including during the RSF offensive to capture Zamzam camp for displaced people in April 2025. The threat was clear, but warnings were not heeded.

Responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies squarely with the RSF and their allies and supporters.

At the same time, the international community must do better. If we stand by, wringing our hands while armies and armed groups commit well-flagged international crimes, we can only expect worse to come.

In fact, I am extremely concerned that these violations and abuses may be repeated in the Kordofan region. Fighting there has intensified since the capture of El Fasher. In the last two weeks, the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied Joint Forces broke the sieges on Kadugli and Dilling. But drone strikes by both sides continue, resulting in dozens of civilian deaths and injuries. Civilians are at risk of summary executions, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, and family separation.

In a period of just over two weeks to 6 February, based on documentation by my Office, some 90 civilians were killed and 142 injured in drone strikes by the RSF and the SAF. These struck a World Food Programme convoy, markets, health facilities and residential neighbourhoods in South and North Kordofan.

‘The Sudanese people hold the key to sustainable peace in their country, and they will prevail…’

Nearly three years into this conflict, my Office continues to document flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of international human rights law, with no effective measures to address or prevent them.

Hate speech is a frequent catalyst for ethnically motivated violence. Leaders use dehumanizing rhetoric against communities to justify atrocities, mobilize fighters, and deepen divisions. I myself saw the effects of that language in the stories and faces of the survivors I met.

I urge every State to consider what it could have done to prevent the deaths of many thousands of civilians in El Fasher, and what it will do to prevent a repeat elsewhere in Sudan.

My Office has drawn up a list of confidence building measures, based on human rights, that are intended to support mediation efforts and foster trust. I have shared these with both parties to the conflict.

All countries need to get behind these concrete steps to protect civilians and de-escalate violence, and pressure the parties to abide by their legal obligations.

This starts with commitments not to target civilians or residential areas with explosive weapons; to take steps to reduce harm to civilians; to enable the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid; to end arbitrary detention; and to treat those deprived of liberty humanely and in accordance with international law.

And it means ending attacks on civilian infrastructure. During my visit, I witnessed the damage done by RSF attacks on Merowe dam and hydroelectric power station, which once supplied 70 percent of Sudan’s electricity. Repeated drone strikes have disrupted power and water supplies to huge numbers of people, with a serious impact on healthcare and livelihoods.

Distinguished delegates,

I will provide the Council with a more extensive update on Sudan on 26 February.

But it is essential in the meantime for the international community to take broader measures to address the human rights crisis in the country, first and foremost, by addressing the continuous inflow of weapons. Advanced weaponry systems used by both sides are now putting civilians in danger wherever they are. I urge you to press for the arms embargo on Darfur to be extended across the whole of Sudan.

I also call on you to help strengthen resilience against divisive ideologies and hate speech, by supporting civil society, human rights defenders and journalists, and empowering religious and community leaders to promote peaceful dialogue.

All States with influence need to do everything possible to promote local, regional, and international mediation efforts, and to put pressure on those who are benefiting from this senseless war.

During my visit to Sudan, one thing became very clear to me: The spirit of the struggle for peace, justice and freedom is still very much alive.

The Sudanese people hold the key to sustainable peace in their country, and they will prevail.