The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has issued an urgent appeal to the international community to prioritise the protection of life, prevent further atrocities and ensure justice and accountability to break the cycle of violence and impunity in response to the findings set out in a report published on 17 February 2026 by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan . The report assesses the mass killings and related atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in and around El Fasher during its takeover of the city on or around 26−27 October 2025.
Key findings from the report include:
- Indications of Genocide: The Mission noted that the 'the scale, severity and cumulative impact of the acts by the Rapid Support Forces, assessed in light of patterns of targeting, conduct and inferred intent, present indications pointing to genocide in and around El Fasher.'
- Crimes against humanity and war crimes: The report concluded that 'extermination and persecution on ethnic, gender and political grounds, as well as war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, outrages upon personal dignity, starvation and attacks against civilians, the wounded and sick and persons hors de combat, as well as protected objects' were committed in the city.
- Failure of Protection: The Mission stressed that earlier warnings about the risk of atrocities in El Fasher failed to produce concrete results in protecting civilians.
- Ongoing Risk: With the conflict escalating to regions like Kordofan, the Mission has called for urgent and comprehensive responses to prevent further atrocities.
A grim milestone - almost three years of war
More than a month has passed since the conflict in the Republic of the Sudan reached the grim milestone of 1,000 days on 9 January 2026. As global news agendas have moved on swiftly, the scale and severity of the crisis remain underreported and inadequately addressed.
Since fighting erupted on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF, civilians in Sudan have faced, and continue to face, systematic and widespread abuses that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and, in some contexts, genocide.
Systematic violations of international law and targeted attacks on civilians
Mass killings, conflict-related sexual violence against women girls, men and boys, reproductive violence, abductions, enslavement, torture, starvation, displacement and the deliberate targeting of ethnic communities and protected civilian professions (lawyers, judges, human rights defenders and humanitarian workers) have all been documented extensively by the United Nations and civil society organisations. These attacks strike at the heart of the international community's international law obligations.
IBAHRI Co-Chair Mark Stephens CBE commented, 'For more than 1,000 days, civilians in Sudan have been subjected to unspeakable cruelty while the protections promised by international law have failed them. The use of sexual violence to destroy communities, and the targeting of those who defend the rule of law are not incidental harms of war, they are serious international crimes that demand urgent accountability. The tragedy is that this new wave of atrocities was foreseeable. By failing to hold accountable the same actors responsible for the genocide 20 years ago, the international community effectively gave them a licence to repeat these horrors today. We must move beyond rhetoric and sever the financial lifelines - including illicit gold trading - that fuel this carnage.'
Urgent calls for international action and accountability
The IBAHRI joins the call of the Mission for urgent responses to the situation, in addition to the recommendations issued by the Standing Group on Atrocity Crimes in December 2025. Among others, the Standing Group called upon the United Kingdom to:
- effectively diminish the perpetrators' capacity to commit atrocities, including by way of imposing additional targeted sanctions, meaningfully reviewing UK arms sales, including the UK supplying arms to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates - namely, countries that are supplying the SAF and RSF;
- work with other States to establish a distinct diplomatic track to end the atrocities and protect civilians, in complementarity with efforts to secure a ceasefire and end the war. This should include, but not be limited to, the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly , with the African Union , and in creative constellation with partners who wish to confront grave violations of international law;
- establish an international protection mechanism to, among others, maintain local early and urgent warning systems to equip local organisations to be able to alert communities to potential threats and provide information on safe routes and shelters;
- provide direct support to locally-led protection interventions more quickly, effectively, and robustly; and review government procedures to ensure they are able to provide such direct funding without delays;
- work to support domestic and international accountability efforts for Sudan, in the first instance by:
- mapping justice and accountability initiatives and identifying short, medium and long-term needs and how the UK government could assist, making the most of existing expertise including with The Rule of Law Expertise Programme (ROLE UK) and the UK Team of Experts; and
- deploying a group of experts from its roster of independent specialists on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) (lawyers, police, medical personnel, psychosocial specialists), to assess the needs on the ground, and support local organisations including by training them on the International Protocol on Documenting CRSV and the Murad Code, and Technology for Good.
Collapse of civilian protection in Darfur: the takeover of El Fasher
The IBAHRI is particularly alarmed by credible reports surrounding the takeover of the city of El Fasher on 26 October 2025, following an 18-month siege. Evidence indicates that high-ranking commanders (recently sanctioned by the United Kingdom and the United States) oversaw a campaign of mass rape and the killing of over 2,000 civilians. The seizure of the city has left a vacuum of legal protection for the hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing toward Tawila under sustained attack.
On 28 October, the World Health Organisation reported that more than 460 patients and their companions were killed at the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, while six health workers were abducted - an attack that may constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
IBAHRI Co-Chair Hina Jilani commented: 'The horrors witnessed in El Fasher - the calculated slaughter of civilians and the weaponisation of sexual violence - are a glaring testament to our failure to act. These ongoing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law underscore a collective failure of the international community to sustain attention, protection and accountability at a moment when they are most needed. Impunity begets impunity; when we fail to hold the architects of such brutality to account, we invite the unravelling of the international laws designed to protect the vulnerable. International law exists to protect human dignity in moments like this, and states must now honour their legal and moral responsibilities to prevent further atrocities and secure justice for the people of Sudan.'
Ethnic persecution, sexual violence and the use of starvation as a weapon of war
Reports further document ethnically motivated, door-to-door executions of people of the Fur, Zaghawa and Berti communities , and reports from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) claim that sexual violence has been used as a deliberate weapon of war to terrorise and permanently displace non-Arab populations. Also, famine is now formally confirmed in the region, with the UN reporting that one child dies every six minutes from malnutrition in North Darfur.
Engagement with the UK government and the need for the implementation of recommendations
In December 2025, the IBAHRI led on a detailed expert briefing on Sudan as part of the Standing Group on Atrocity Crimes , which was submitted to the UK government and discussed with senior officials, including the Minister for Africa, The Rt Hon Baroness Chapman of Darlington, in January 2026. While most of the recommendations have been accepted, the IBAHRI stresses that implementation must now follow without delay. The IBAHRI is committed to supporting this work to ensure justice and accountability for all those affected by the war in Sudan.
IBAHRI Director, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, stated: 'Accountability for the reported massacres requires the use of all tools in the toolbox, including targeted sanctions, criminal prosecutions on the domestic, regional and international levels and also civil prosecutions, where applicable. Furthermore, ending the age of impunity in Sudan necessitates a statutory commitment to atrocity prevention, ensuring the systematic use of sexual and/or reproductive violence and ethnic targeting is not just met with diplomatic condemnation but with the full force of the international rules-based order.'
The world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis
The systemic degradation of Sudan's industrial, healthcare and logistical foundations has compounded suffering, leaving millions of people without basic services and assistance. The conflict in Sudan has created the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world, with more than 12 million people forcibly displaced and over 24 million experiencing acute hunger.
Ewelina Ochab, IBAHRI programme lawyer and Co-Convenor of the Standing Group, emphasised: 'The early warning signs of atrocity crimes, including genocide, were there for a long time before we witnessed the massacre in El Fasher. The international community as a whole made an informed decision to ignore them. Now, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan put into a report what we have been warning about. States' duties under the Genocide Convention, including the duty to prevent, are clearly engaged and must be acted upon as a matter of urgency. Further inaction is, and will be, a breach of the States' Genocide Convention obligations.'
