GENEVA - UN anti-racism experts today underscored their grave concerns over the increase in the use of dehumanizing language, hate speech as well as ethnically motivated human rights violations and abuses in Sudan, particularly those targeting members belonging to the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic communities committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied forces in El Fasher, North Darfur.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a decision under its early warning and urgent procedures, highlighting the fact that Sudan is facing one of the world's worst displacement crises, with 7.2 million internally displaced persons and over 3 million refugees in neighbouring countries, compounded by famine and a collapse of humanitarian access.
The fall of El Fasher on 26 October 2025 after more than 540-day siege was followed by reported atrocities and ethnically motivated human rights violations and abuses committed by the RSF and their associated and allied forces. The Committee was particularly concerned over "ethnically motivated killings, torture, summary executions, arbitrary detention of civilians; widespread and systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon of warfare; attacks on healthcare facilities, including the killing of patients and the injured, and denial of healthcare; and deliberate attacks on humanitarian workers and aid blockades."
The Committee also expressed concerns over the intensified violence and human rights violations and abuses in Kordofan region in light of the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF and their associated and allied forces.
It urged Sudan to "take effective measures to stop and prevent further escalation of ethnic violence, incitement to racial hatred and racist hate speech, particularly the use of dehumanizing language, and hate crimes."
In particular, the Committee asked the authorities to "conduct prompt, effective, thorough, impartial and public investigations into alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, including those ethnically motivated, committed during the ongoing conflict, and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished, including persons in positions of command. It further asked Sudan to provide victims and their families with full reparations, regardless of the ethnicity of the victims and the perpetrators involved.
The Committee urged Sudan to cooperate with Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, particularly in investigating all alleged atrocities committed in and around El Fasher.
The Committee also reiterated its calls upon all parties to the conflict to cease hostilities immediately to put in place a lasting and unconditional ceasefire, and to engage in an inclusive dialogue bringing together different ethnic groups in Sudan, "aiming to reach a peaceful and lasting resolution of the conflict and to restore a civilian-led government."
