HRC62 - EU statement - Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on oral update of Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
62nd session
Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on oral update of Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan
15 June 2026
EU statement
Mr Vice/President, Members of the Fact Finding Mission,
Allow me to start with a word of appreciation to the members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan for their vital work. Your efforts to document violations and abuses under extremely challenging conditions in Sudan, are indispensable for accountability and achieving sustainable peace.
The devastating conflict in Sudan has now entered its fourth year. Civilians are bearing the brunt of the conflict. We are confronted with the world’s largest humanitarian, displacement and protection crisis. More than 19.5 million Sudanese are living in conditions of acute food insecurity while 33.7 million people require humanitarian assistance, 8,9 million are internally displaced and 4,5 million have fled to the neighbouring countries. In parts of Darfur and Kordofan, famine has been confirmed. The conflict in the Middle East further exacerbates this situation.
The EU condemns in the strongest terms the atrocities committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias, including ethnically targeted killings, arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence. More than 12 million people, mostly women and girls, are at risk of gender-based violence. All this has driven Sudan to the verge of collapse. The deliberate targeting of civilians through siege and drone warfare, and deliberate targeting of critical civilian infrastructure are violations of international law and must stop immediately. Civilians must be protected. Journalists and media workers, who are exposed to harassment, reprisals, attacks and violence, must be protected to ensure they can carry out their critical work.
The latest report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, titled ‘Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher’, documented serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, amounting to international crimes, committed by the RSF and their allied militias in El Fasher. We are appalled by reports of the recruitment of children, some as young as 11 years old, who were used for intelligence and as soldiers in El Fasher.
The EU urges all parties to the conflict to fully cooperate with the Fact-Finding Mission by granting it unhindered access to all regions of Sudan. Ensuring accountability for international crimes as well as violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law is essential to lay the foundations for justice and sustainable peace. In this light, the EU will continue to advocate for the expansion of the existing ICC mandate to the whole of Sudan.
All external actors directly or indirectly supplying arms, financial support, or support of any other kind to the parties to the conflict, must immediately cease such support, as it is also agreed upon in the “Berlin Principles for Sudan”, adopted in the aftermath of the Sudan Conference in Berlin. In this regard, the EU advocates for expanding the mandate of the UN arms embargo to the whole country.
Attacks on humanitarian aid workers have made it difficult to deliver lifesaving aid to some of the most fragile and vulnerable communities in the world. Safe and principled humanitarian access throughout Sudan should be granted at all times and humanitarian workers, supplies and infrastructure must be protected. The EU remains firmly committed to supporting the humanitarian response to the population’s needs. At the Sudan Conference in Berlin, the EU and its Member States, pledged EUR 812 million. The EU will also continue pursuing its work on the protection of critical infrastructure through the EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa.
This conflict requires a political solution and a civilian-led transition process that fully respects Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity. The EU therefore will continue to work as part of the Quintet, together with the AU, the UN, IGAD and LAS, to further strengthen an inclusive civilian dialogue, based on the “Joint Call to End the War in Sudan and Advance a Sudanese Owned Political process” that was adopted by Sudanese civilian actors at the Sudan Conference in Berlin. We call on all parties to resume negotiations towards an immediate and lasting ceasefire. We restate our call to all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.
Members of the Fact-Finding Mission,
What steps can the EU and the wider international community take to support your mandate, apart from financial support, in documenting violations, particularly against women, children and journalists, and to ensure that these violations are effectively addressed in future accountability processes?