The Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan has revealed patterns of arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearances increasingly carried out by parties to the conflict in Sudan as a means of controlling populations trapped by the war.
In a report presented to the Human Rights Council, the mission stated that widespread violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and war crimes committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and their allied groups show no signs of abating. The report added that these grave acts may also amount to crimes against humanity.
The mission documented a systematic pattern of mass and arbitrary detentions carried out by both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF against individuals perceived to be associated with or sympathetic to the opposing side. Both parties have reportedly detained people on allegations of “collaborating with the enemy,” holding them in extremely harsh conditions without any legal basis, fair trial guarantees, or judicial oversight.
The mission expressed deep concern over the arrest of at least 70 people in El Geneina during May by the RSF’s military intelligence. Among those detained were humanitarian workers, and no information has been received about their whereabouts since then.
The mission also documented the continued harassment, arrest, and detention by the Sudanese Armed Forces of civilian leaders, political opponents, lawyers, human rights defenders, humanitarian workers, and journalists suspected of cooperating with the RSF.
