UNHRC 38th special session on the siege of El Fasher, Sudan
Following a request filed by twenty-three UNHRC Member States, the Human Rights Council held an emergency session on Sudan on Friday, 14 November 2025, due to alarming reports of mass killings in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan. On behalf of the Core Group on Sudan, the United Kingdom voiced the gravest concern over the scale and severity of the crisis in Sudan. The dramatic events unfolding in El Fasher reveal a broader collapse – a collapse of the rule of law, protection of civilians and human dignity.
The ‘machine of brutality‘ in El Fasher is not just a humanitarian emergency. It bears the hallmarks of a coordinated campaign of attacks against civilians by the Rapid Support Forces, substantiated by credible reports of ethnically targeted killings, the deliberate use of starvation, and the systematic use of sexual violence as a method of warfare. Across Sudan, over 30 million people now require humanitarian assistance. Yet, access to aid is obstructed and those who try to help are themselves at risk, as for instance the appalling targeting of health workers in El Fasher.
Bloodstains on the ground visible from the space
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk called for immediate action from the international community, highlighting the severity of the situation in El Fasher, where satellite imagery has confirmed bloodstains on the ground. Following a 500-day siege, the Rapid Support Forces have allegedly carried out widespread atrocities, including summary executions, ethnic killings, sexual violence, and attacks on civilians. Reports indicate systematic rape of women and civilians being shot in the streets.
The UN rights chief noted that these atrocities were foreseeable and preventable. Mr. Türk stated that his Office had issued numerous warnings about the potential for violence and the humanitarian crisis, which includes widespread famine affecting many. Since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, over 14 million people have been forcibly displaced, more than 40,000 killed, and countless others subjected to summary executions, mass killings, abduction, torture, rape, and attacks on humanitarian workers.
Palpable risks of genocide
In his capacity as African Union’s Special Envoy on the Prevention of Genocide and other Mass Atrocities, Mr. Adama Dieng fears the darkest chapters of this conflict have yet to unfold. The deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, as seen in the besieged cities of El Fasher and Kadugli, may amount to the crime against humanity of extermination. In the view of the Special Envoy of the African Union, the risk of genocide does exist in Sudan. This risk is real and it is growing every single day.
Urgent inquiry mandated by the UNHRC
The UN Human Rights Council passed a consensual resolution (A/HRC/RES/S-38/1) requesting the already existing Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
- to conduct an urgent inquiry into the recent violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law allegedly
committed in and around El Fasher; and - to identify all those for whom there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are responsible for alleged violations
and abuses of international human rights law in and around El Fasher.
Furthermore, this new Council’s resolution calls upon all parties to enable the safe, immediate and unhindered entry of humanitarian aid across the whole country, to lead immediately to a permanent ceasefire; and condemns all forms of external interference that fuel the conflict. Urging all parties and States to respect and uphold the unity and territorial integrity of the Sudan, the UN Human Rights Council rejects the establishment of a parallel governing authority in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces.
Get a step deeper
Discover our extensive coverage, featuring opening remarks by experts, States’ views clustered in regional groups and all NGO voices: The Human Rights Situation in and around El Fasher in the Context of the Ongoing Conflict in the Sudan
Read the resolution adopted: A/HRC/RES/S-38/1
Watch the UN video recording: 38th Special Session of the Human Rights Council | UN Web TV