African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(16 October 2023)
The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), writes to the Commission to express our concerns and urge you to address the ongoing violations of human rights in Sudan marked by continued impunity. ACJPS is a non-profit, non-governmental organization working to monitor and promote respect for human rights and legal reform in Sudan.
There is overwhelming evidence that Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (ACJPS) and the armed militias are violating human rights and international humanitarian law in Sudan. Since the war erupted on 15 April 2023, the humanitarian crisis and human rights violations in Sudan have reached an unprecedented scale. There has been indiscriminate targeting of civilians and infrastructure by the warring parties. As the conflict enters its sseventh month, the death toll continues to rise, with the remains of many victims yet to be located, collected, identified, or buried. While estimates suggest that over 9,000 lives have been lost by October 2023, the true extent of the tragedy is likely much higher due to the intensity of the fighting and the challenges in documenting and confirming casualties. In Darfur, the violence has taken on an ethnic turn, leading to a new round of ethnic cleansing and demanding urgent action. Unfortunately, this is just the latest cycle of a pattern of violence that stretches back more than 20 years. It is a vivid symbol of the failure of the commitment to end genocide and ethnic cleansing. In mid-June 2023, the brutal massacre of more than 1,100 civilians in West Darfur capital of El Geneina, was determined by both the US Department of State and the Sudan Conflict Observatory and local sources to be a deliberate act of ethnic violence targeting non-Arab communities,[1] in particular members of the Massalit community. Actual numbers of the thousands killed in El Geneina, West Darfur, could be higher.[2] Over the past six months, the RSF have systematically burned and looted villages, raped untold numbers of women, and killed those who have resisted their attacks specifically in Darfur region.
Several efforts made by different international actors to facilitate peace is yet to yield a positive result. The most notable has been the signing of a Commitment Declaration in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by the warring parties facilitated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America on 11 May 2023. The Declaration was to ensure the protection of civilians, including allowing safe passage for civilians. Additionally, on 20 May 2023, representatives of RSF and SAF signed a seven-day short-term humanitarian ceasefire agreement in Jeddah, which took effect forty-eight (48) hours after its entry into force. Mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabian authorities, the agreement reaffirmed the principles and commitments established in the Jeddah Commitment Declaration to Protect the Civilians of Sudan. However, on 31 May 2023, the ceasefire facilitators suspended the Jeddah processt, citing serious violations committed by the warring parties. The conflict has continued in different states in Sudan with concentration in Khartoum and Darfur region.
Impunity has become structural and generalized in Sudan, and this has only encouraged the continuation of the commission of serious crimes. It’s legacy in Sudan has gone hand-in-hand with continued instability and conflict. Lasting peace cannot be achieved without accountability for all perpetrators of human rights violations, and justice and reparations for victims. Findings from the investigation committee established by Sudanese authorities after the outbreak of the war have not been published and it is unclear when they will be made public. Additionally, institutions such as the judiciary that would play a vital role in ensuring accountability has had its infrastructures destroyed by bombings and shelling.
We appreciate the ACHPR for the two resolutions it has adopted on the human rights situation in Sudan since the war erupted and for condemning the war. However, it is time for the Commission to take stronger action in response to widespread and grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Sudan. We therefore urge the commission to:
- Condemn in the strongest terms the ongoing grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Sudan, including the continued indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling of civilian populated areas. Similarly condemn the ethnic- based attacks targeting the civilians of African descent in West Darfur.
- Utilize its influence and resources to support efforts to end the conflict.
- Fulfill its mandate on civil wars and armed conflicts by monitoring and reporting on human rights violations in Sudan, providing recommendations to the African Union and its member states, and engaging with civil society organizations.
- Urgently dispatch investigation teams, with expertise in sexual and gender-based violence, to investigate crimes under international law and other widespread and serious violations and abuses of human rights in Sudan, identify those responsible, and provide recommendations for accountability.
- Urge the Sudanese authorities to address the continued impunity of security forces and RSF for human rights violations in Sudan and further urge the authorities to ensure that the report of the investigation committee instituted to investigate violations committed since 15th April is made public and perpetrators held to account.
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[1] Project Hope, “2023 Sudan Conflict: Situation Report #7”, August 24, 2023, https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/2023-sudan-conflict-situation-report-7-august-24-2023
[2] The conflict in West Darfur that has heightened since 24 April, is reported to have already claimed over 5,000 lives and injured over 8,000. See, Sudan: More than 5,000 Reportedly Killed in El Geneina ‘Genocide’ at https://allafrica.com/stories/202306210012.html
