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Security Council hears fact-finding report alleging mass killings and systematic sexual violence in Sudan
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Summary
A United Nations fact-finding report presented in a Security Council briefing alleges starvation, mass killings and widespread gender-based violence in Sudan; civil-society briefers called for a protection mission, expanded arms embargo and accountability measures.
An unidentified representative opened a United Nations Security Council session on Sudan, calling the country's humanitarian emergency intolerable and saying the international community must not look away. The representative introduced a new United Nations fact-finding report into the RSF siege and capture of El Fasha and said its findings would be presented to the Council.
The opening speaker summarized the report's findings as "chilling," saying they include starvation used as a weapon, mass killings, ambushes of civilians fleeing, and what the report describes as "hallmarks of genocide." The speaker urged expanded sanctions, an international criminal response and pressure for a humanitarian truce and ceasefire to stop arms flows that are fueling the conflict.
Hala Al Karim, who briefed the Council on behalf of a grassroots feminist network in the Horn of Africa, said the fact-finding mission's conclusions align with civil-society documentation of targeted attacks against women. "My hope today is that the Security Council will do everything in its power to protect civilians while developing a serious strategy to end hostilities," she said.
Hala Al Karim told the Council her organization has documented more than 1,200 cases of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence since April 2023, including abductions, detention and enforced disappearances, and said that is likely "just a tip of the iceberg." She described a collapsed health system and constrained humanitarian access that leave many survivors without post-rape care or emergency reproductive health services.
In her recommendations, Hala Al Karim asked the Council to deploy a mission with an explicit civilian-protection mandate across Sudan, with special emphasis on Darfur; to enable gender-sensitive humanitarian responses and unfettered access; to halt external interference that violates the Council's existing arms embargo; and to expand that embargo to cover the whole of Sudan. She also urged accountability for violations of international law and increased resources for women human-rights defenders and frontline workers.
The transcript records the briefings and calls for action but does not record any formal vote or Council decision during this segment. The session concluded with expressions of thanks. Next procedural steps, deadlines or votes were not specified in the transcript.
