The Hague. On 2 December 2025, an important discussion on Preventing Genocide and a Humanitarian Catastrophe in Sudan was hosted by Global Human Rights Defence during the week of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP). This event took place more than twenty years after the Security Council’s referral of the Sudan situation to the ICC, at a time when appalling crimes continue to be perpetrated against civilians and the recent attacks on El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have shocked the world.
Charlotte Zehrer, Human Rights Officer at Global Human Rights Defence, opened the panel by emphasising the scale of violence and the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians. Highlighting that two years have passed since the escalation of conflict in Sudan in April 2023, she described a humanitarian crisis that some colleagues working in the field have referred to as “the worst year on record to be a humanitarian”.
She reminded the audience that Sudan is currently facing the largest displacement crisis in the world, with a staggering 12 million civilians displaced, including those displaced within the country. She stressed that women and children are particularly exposed to a high risk of violence. In August 2025, UNICEF reported that “El Fasher has become an epicentre of child suffering, with malnutrition, disease, and violence claiming young lives daily”.[1] Referring to the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan’s report published in September 2025, Charlotte Zehrer noted that the Mission had received evidence of sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, forced nudity, abduction, sexual slavery, and forced marriage. She stressed that much of this violence has an ethnic dimension, with the RSF “mostly targeting women and girls belonging to non-Arab communities in North Darfur”. The report highlighted that the RSF used sexual violence as “a deliberate tactic to humiliate and subjugate women, girls, and entire communities”, and that “the persistence and recurrence of violent sexual acts across multiple regions and time frames indicate a systemic pattern”. The Mission also concluded that civilian infrastructure has suffered “extensive damage, with medical centres, schools, markets, food production systems, electricity stations, and displacement camps under attack”, revealing a consistent pattern of attacks on infrastructure and objects indispensable to the survival of the population.[2]
Regarding the recent events in El Fasher, the moderator noted that the fall of the city marks a devastating turning point in the conflict but is not an isolated incident; crimes of similar scale are occurring across the country. Civilians who survived the atrocities are now facing dire conditions in overcrowded camps, while thousands remain trapped in El Fasher. Humanitarian workers are struggling to obtain access to the area following the paramilitary takeover. Charlotte Zehrer concluded her overview by highlighting three recommendations on behalf of Global Human Rights Defence. These centred on three key priorities: guaranteeing humanitarian access, ensuring a ceasefire, and enabling investigations that will open avenues for accountability.
Sara Segneri, international human rights lawyer and Co-Vice Chair of the IBA’s War Crimes Committee, commented on avenues for accountability, stating that “the ICC’s mandate needs to be expanded but that the focus cannot rest solely on the ICC”. There is, she stressed, a need to identify and utilise alternative legal avenues.
She emphasised that “the international community should address immediately the conflict” and use sanctions as a means of targeting individuals involved in the perpetration of crimes. Governments can support accountability by imposing targeted sanctions against perpetrators of ongoing violations. In the United Kingdom, for instance, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, enforced disappearance, death in custody, and other related human rights violations committed in Sudan fall within the scope of the existing human rights sanctions regime. Drawing a comparison with how governments have addressed the conflict in Ukraine, she highlighted that sanctions regimes are powerful tools that can directly affect perpetrators by, for example, freezing the funds and resources of the designated persons.
On accountability initiatives, Sara Segneri stressed that they should be “led by Sudanese people, and that women need to be involved”. She explained that to develop accountability mechanisms with meaningful impact, “accountability mechanisms should coordinate their efforts”, including through “a coalition that could oversee the work”. She also emphasised the importance of not waiting for international mechanisms to be created or fully operational before addressing the crimes committed, noting that “murder, rape, torture can be investigated and prosecuted domestically” and that “we do not have to wait for a ceasefire or a peace agreement to be working on accountability”. She further underscored the need to ensure that, in order to advance accountability, domestic legal actors receive appropriate training, experts support accountability mechanisms, and civil society is actively involved. As seen in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, “perpetrators will be returning to their village”; hence the necessity of establishing local courts capable of contributing to the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators at the domestic level.
The audience then heard from Emma DiNapoli, Associate Legal Adviser at eyeWitness to Atrocities, who highlighted the challenges in collecting evidence. She described serious security concerns for individuals attempting to share evidence of crimes committed in Sudan, noting that “human rights defenders, journalists, and reporters are being targeted”. They are subjected to arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, torture, and enforced disappearance, leaving them highly exposed and at risk of reprisals. Civilians are also targeted, with phones being seized and searched to delete material and prevent the sharing of evidence through channels such as WhatsApp or Signal. As an additional tactic to obstruct the reporting of atrocities, she referred to the use of internet shutdowns, which create an informational blackout and significantly hinder both civilian communications and the coordination of humanitarian aid. Emma DiNapoli’s remarks echoed findings from Reporters Without Borders, which in October 2025 called on the international community to take urgent action to protect journalists who covered the siege of El Fasher and were subjected to acts of torture by paramilitary forces.[3] Regarding the recent events in El Fasher from an evidentiary perspective, she stressed that one of the specificities of the Sudan context is that RSF officers have themselves shared evidence of the crimes committed, posting extensively on social media.
Emma DiNapoli also commented on the absence of accountability mechanisms, noting the impact this has on the collection of evidence. She explained that “it becomes difficult to know for which bodies you are gathering evidence” and how to prepare dossiers of evidence without precise guidelines, emphasising that “it is necessary to know how the evidence will be used, and who the recipient might be”.
Mustasim Ali, Legal Adviser at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, then joined the panel and explained that “the situation in Darfur is becoming even more complex, with not only domestic actors involved but also external actors”. Referring to an independent inquiry published by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre, he stressed that the UAE is the most responsible foreign actor in the ongoing genocide because of its provision of arms and financial support to the RSF. The inquiry concluded that the RSF’s supply line operates through a campaign of cargo flights shipping heavy weaponry, artillery, and drones through neighbouring countries, including via an airfield base in Chad, under the cover of medical facilities and aid missions, as reported by The New York Times.The UAE’s involvement has been documented as part of a strategy to secure access to Sudan’s natural resources, including gold, with the UAE serving as an international hub for gold. The report also found that RSF-linked companies, used to acquire weapons, purchase gold, and evade financial sanctions, are based in the UAE.[4]
Commenting on the escalation of the conflict, he emphasised that “it did not begin in 2023”, noting that the violence has deep historical roots, and warned that the recent attacks in El Fasher “will not be the end”, as similar attacks have occurred throughout the conflict.
In concluding, Mustasim Ali underscored the importance of taking significant measures, including initiating proceedings before international courts, holding external actors and complicit states accountable, and making use of available legal avenues such as universal jurisdiction cases including in neighbouring countries where perpetrators are likely to relocate.
Rodney Dixon KC echoed the comments of the other speakers, describing “a staggering amount of inaction” and noting that while “we see statements made by foreign governments, including the United Kingdom, cases related to Sudan are not investigated”. He referred to the UN Security Council’s referral twenty years ago, recalling the momentum at a time when legal experts “didn’t think a referral would happen”, but observing that “there has been a lot of criticism since regarding how it has evolved”.
Rodney Dixon KC stressed that investigations need to be carried out and that the International Criminal Court should “call on States Parties to contribute, support, and provide evidence”. At the domestic level, he supported the use of universal jurisdiction mechanisms, noting that “many countries have the possibility according to their legal system”, but highlighting “a lack of appetite” among national police forces. Drawing on his practical experience, he emphasised that “it is key to submit strong evidence”, but even when such evidence is available, “there is a need to apply pressure for investigations to start”, underscoring the necessity of collecting “strong evidence” from victims and civil society.
Commenting on the specificities of the ongoing conflict in Sudan, Rodney Dixon KC, like Mustasim Ali, highlighted the scale of foreign involvement, “primarily the UAE”, whose support has fuelled the conflict “not only through financial support but by facilitating the deployment of weapons, including drones”. He referred to the case of a victim he represented who was able to testify that UAE officials were involved in his detention while held in Khartoum by the RSF, following which he applied for sanctions in the United Kingdom. Later, when asked about legal strategies between applying for sanctions and pursuing universal jurisdiction complaints, Rodney Dixon KC emphasised that “chances to arrest and investigate alleged perpetrators are slim, but not impossible, and that it is necessary to use all the tools available”. He added that the two approaches are not incompatible.
Following these presentations, a discussion took place with victims and NGO representatives in the audience, including Moneim Adam from the Sudan Human Rights Hub and Mohammed Hassan from the Darfur Network for Human Rights, who shared invaluable insights.
Moneim Adam stressed that regardless of the legal strategies chosen to end impunity, it is essential “to do everything in our power: to collect evidence, rely on open-source research, and create archives of evidence”. Mohammed Hassan echoed the importance of preserving evidence, noting that thousands of civilians have been targeted and access to evidence is currently limited. He explained that “the RSF will return to the scenes of the atrocities committed and will intend to cover up and conceal crimes that have been committed”.
Regarding means to ensure accountability, he stated that “the International Criminal Court is an available avenue, but why are we waiting twenty years for justice to be served? It is not the only legal avenue, and all alternatives should be considered, including universal jurisdiction”.
Bilbiography
[1] UNICEF, After 500 days under siege, children in Sudan’s Al Fasher face starvation, mass displacement, and deadly violence, 26 August 2025.
[2] UN Human Rights Council, Sudan: A War of Atrocities Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan*, 5 September 2005.
[3] RSF, After torture, flight, two Sudanese journalists describe El-Fasher hell, October 2025.
[4] The Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights Breaches of the Genocide Convention in Darfur (April 2023—April 2024): An Independent Analysis, April 2024.
