Geneva / Al-Hamish’s Voice– September 8, 2025 – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned in a speech before the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the warring parties in Sudan – the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces – continue to flagrantly violate international humanitarian law and human rights law, targeting health facilities, markets, and water stations, Such attacks starkly expose the atrocities taking place in Sudan.
Türk stated that thousands of civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year as fighting has intensified in Darfur and Kordofan. He added that the scale of the Sudanese people’s suffering “is unimaginable and demands the attention of the entire world.” The atrocities in Sudan expose the profound suffering endured by its people
He pointed out that the situation in Al Fashir, after more than a year under siege by the RSF, has become catastrophic. Residents are struggling to access food, water, and medicine amid relentless shelling. Widespread cases of sexual violence -particularly against displaced women and girls- have been reported, while safe routes out of the city remain absent. Under these dire conditions, the atrocities in Sudan are laid bare.
Türk called for urgent international action to prevent further atrocities, urging states to comply with the UN Security Council’s arms embargo, to press the warring parties to protect civilians, and to ensure full humanitarian access. He also stressed the need to resume dialogue aimed at securing a ceasefire, ending the war, and restoring civilian rule.
The city of Al Fashir, capital of North Darfur, has been under a suffocating siege by the RSF for more than a year. This has cut off food, medical supplies, and water to hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped inside.
According to reports by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, the ongoing fighting and relentless shelling have killed and injured thousands, while cases of sexual violence and the systematic starvation of displaced people have spread. The atrocities in Sudan demand global intervention to bring them to an end.
