{"id":30981,"date":"2026-06-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/reports\/hrc62-civil-society-letter-on-situation-in-and-around-el-obeid-6837\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:44:05","slug":"hrc62-civil-society-letter-on-situation-in-and-around-el-obeid-6837","status":"publish","type":"reports","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/reports\/hrc62-civil-society-letter-on-situation-in-and-around-el-obeid-6837\/","title":{"rendered":"HRC62: Civil society letter on situation in and around El Obeid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Your Excellencies,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of the situation in and around El Obeid, North Kordofan, which after 18 months of siege-like conditions<\/b>appears at risk of an imminent ground offensive by<\/b> the Rapid Sup\u00ad\u00adport Forces (RSF) and their allied forces, cre\u00addi\u00adble re\u00adports of risks of atrocity crimes, and risks of further violations throughout Sudan, the Hu\u00adman Rights Council should convene an urgent debate during its 62nd<\/sup> re\u00adgu\u00adlar ses\u00adsion or hold a spe\u00adcial ses\u00adsion at the earliest opportunity.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council should request the Inde\u00adpen\u00addent International Fact-Fin\u00adding Mission (FFM) for the Su\u00addan to conduct an urgent inquiry into the situation. To prevent further atrocities, advance account\u00adability for all violations committed in Sudan, and end the impunity of perpetrators and those backing and enabling them, the Council should unequivocally condemn external ac\u00adtors supporting the war\u00adring parties, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council should also ensure that the FFM has adequate resources to identify all actors res\u00adpon\u00adsible for atrocity crimes with a view to en\u00adsuring that they are held to account\u00ad, in line with its man\u00adda\u00adte, inclu\u00adding as part of an effort to en\u00adcourage the FFM to report on external actors fuelling vio\u00adla\u00adtions in Sudan.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 18 June 2026, following a significant troop build-up by the RSF and their allied forces around El Obeid, accompanied by intensifying drone strikes and artillery shelling, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker T\u00fcrk, issued a \u201cstark warning\u201d that \u201can imminent offen\u00adsive risked fresh commission of se\u00adrious international crimes [\u2026].\u201d Referring to atrocities committed in North Darfur in 2025, and \u201cpatterns of serious violations of international law,\u201d he said: \u201cWe have seen this playbook before. We know where it led then, and cannot allow a repeat of the preventable atrocities we documented in El Fasher and Zamzam IDP camp [\u2026].\u201d Violations include summary executions, abductions, arbitrary detentions, widespread se\u00adxual violence against women and girls, and other violence against civilians, including ethnically motivated violence, as well as the use of starvation as a weapon of war.1<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In North and South Kordofan, civilians continue to be targeted, including through drone attacks and artil\u00adlery shelling. The city of Dilling, South Kordofan faces a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of RSF\/ SPLM\/N attacks on essential life-sustaining services.2<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 20 June 2026, the UN Security Council adopted a statement in which members expressed concern over the \u201cimminent risk of mass atrocities\u201d and demanded that the RSF immediately halt their assault on El Obeid. They called for \u201call abuses and violations to be investigated and for those responsible to be held account\u00adable.\u201d3<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Security Council have urged external actors to stop in\u00adterfering in Sudan, the former highlighting that \u201cStates with influence have the duty to exercise it now to stop this madness,\u201d and the latter urging \u201call UN Member States to refrain from external inter\u00adfe\u00adren\u00adce that could fuel con\u00adflict and instability.\u201d As Human Rights Watch has reported, \u201c[t]hroughout the conflict, the RSF has received military support from the UAE,\u201d which has directly backed the paramilitary group and facilitated the recruitment of hundreds of private military contractors on its behalf. Human Rights Watch high\u00adligh\u00adted that leaders from across the globe should \u201cbreak their silence on the insidious role of the UAE in fueling this conflict.\u201d4<\/sup><\/b> Civil society organisations have repeatedly called on the inter\u00adna\u00adtional community to call out and condemn the role of the UAE in fuelling the Sudan conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other external actors backing the RSF or other warring parties in Sudan, including the Su\u00addanese Ar\u00admed Forces (SAF), should also be condemned and held to account for the violations they have either committed or enabled, some of which amount to crimes under international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ ~ ~<\/b><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Human Rights Council should not content itself with reacting to one atrocity crisis after another. Keeping in mind that the FFM has concluded that massacres committed by the RSF and their allied forces in El Fasher in 2025 bore the \u201chall\u00admarks of genocide,\u201d the Council should make full use of its prevention mandate and act to prevent the com\u00admis\u00adsion of crimes under international law, in and around El Obeid and throughout Sudan.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We<\/b> urge all States Members and Observers of the Human Rights Council to:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a) Support the con\u00advening of an urgent debate or spe\u00adcial session on the<\/b>situation in and around El Obeid, North Kor\u00addo\u00adfan;<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b) Request the FFM to conduct an urgent inquiry into the situation and present its report to the Council between its 63rd<\/sup> and 64th<\/sup> session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue;<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c)<\/b> Request the FFM to update the Council on the progress made on its inquiry at the Council\u2019s 63rd<\/sup> session, allocating adequate time to enable the FFM to do so, in addition to the presentation of the comprehensive report requested by resolution 60\/3; and<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(d) Take additional steps towards accountability in Sudan, among other things by explicitly con\u00addem\u00adning external ac\u00adtors sup\u00adporting the warring parties, inc\u00adlu\u00adding the United Arab Emirates, and ensuring that the FFM has adequate resources to identify all actors responsible<\/b>for vio\u00ad\u00ad\u00adlations<\/b>with a view to ensuring that they are held to account\u00ad, in line with its mandate, including as part of an effort to encourage the FFM to report on external actors fuelling violations in Sudan.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FFM should continue coordinating and sharing information, as appropriate, with other inde\u00adpen\u00addent international and regional mechanisms, including the African Commission for Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights-mandated Joint Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) to the Republic of Sudan and the Int\u00ader\u00ad\u00adnatio\u00adnal Criminal Court (ICC). The Security Council should expand the jurisdiction of the ICC to cover investigations of international crimes committed across the entire territory of Sudan. Addi\u00adtio\u00adnally, the General Assembly should submit all reports of the FFM to the Security Council for its con\u00adsi\u00adderation and ap\u00adpropriate action.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thank you for your attention to these pressing issues and stand ready to provide your delegation with further information as required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n
  1. African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS)<\/li>\n\n\n
  2. AfricanDefenders (Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network)<\/li>\n\n\n
  3. Amnesty International<\/li>\n\n\n
  4. Burkinab\u00e8 Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CBDDH)<\/li>\n\n\n
  5. Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Benin (CDDH-B\u00e9nin)<\/li>\n\n\n
  6. Connection e.V.<\/li>\n\n\n
  7. CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)<\/li>\n\n\n
  8. Darfur Women Action Group<\/li>\n\n\n
  9. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)<\/li>\n\n\n
  10. Federation of African Journalists (FAJ)<\/li>\n\n\n
  11. Geneva for Human Rights \u2013 Global Training & Policy Studies<\/li>\n\n\n
  12. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect<\/li>\n\n\n
  13. Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD)<\/li>\n\n\n
  14. Governance Programming Overseas (GPO)<\/li>\n\n\n
  15. Hawai\u2019i Institute for Human Rights<\/li>\n\n\n
  16. Human Rights Watch<\/li>\n\n\n
  17. Institut des M\u00e9dias pour la D\u00e9mocratie et les Droits de l\u2019Homme (IM2DH) \u2013 Togo<\/li>\n\n\n
  18. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)<\/li>\n\n\n
  19. International Practice of Human Rights (IPHR)<\/li>\n\n\n
  20. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)<\/li>\n\n\n
  21. InterReligious Task Force on Central America<\/li>\n\n\n
  22. Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) \u2013 Sudan<\/li>\n\n\n
  23. MIR Italy (Italian branch of International Fellowship of Reconciliation)<\/li>\n\n\n
  24. Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l\u2019Amiti\u00e9 entre les Peuples (MRAP)<\/li>\n\n\n
  25. Network of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in North Africa (CIDH AFRICA)<\/li>\n\n\n
  26. Nigerien Human Rights Defenders Network (RNDDH)<\/li>\n\n\n
  27. Preventing and Ending Mass Atrocities (PAEMA)<\/li>\n\n\n
  28. The Reckoning Project<\/li>\n\n\n
  29. REDRESS<\/li>\n\n\n
  30. The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in South West Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)<\/li>\n\n\n
  31. Rencontre Africaine pour la D\u00e9fense des Droits de l\u2019Homme (RADDHO)<\/li>\n\n\n
  32. The Strategic Initiative for the Horn of Africa (SIHA)<\/li>\n\n\n
  33. Sudanese Women For Peace UK (SWP)<\/li>\n\n\n
  34. Sudanese Women Rights Action<\/li>\n\n\n
  35. Sudan and South Sudan Forum e.V.<\/li>\n\n\n
  36. Togolese Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CTDDH)<\/li>\n\n\n
  37. Women of Change Organization<\/li>\n\n\n
  38. Youth Citizen Observer Network (YCON Sudan)<\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Click here to download this letter as a PDF<\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    1<\/sup><\/b> Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), \u201cSudan: Imminent offensive on El Obeid must be halted \u2013 T\u00fcrk warns of catastrophic impact on civilians,\u201d 18 June 2026, https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2026\/06\/sudan-imminent-offensive-el-obeid-must-be-halted-turk-warns-catastrophic<\/a> (accessed on 24 June 2026). See also DefendDefenders et al., \u201cSudan: civil society calls for a UN Human Rights Council special session on El Fasher,\u201d 3 November 2025, https:\/\/defenddefenders.org\/sudan-call-for-hrc-special-session-elfasher\/<\/a>; DefendDefenders, \u201cEl Fasher atrocities under UN spotlight, but accountability gaps remain in Sudan,\u201d 14 November 2025, https:\/\/defenddefenders.org\/el-fasher-atrocities-under-un-spotlight\/<\/a> (accessed on 24 June 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2<\/sup><\/b> See Sudanese Women Rights Action, \u201cUrgent Action: End Systematic Targeting of Civilian in North and South Kordofan,\u201d 24 June 2026, https:\/\/suwra.org\/blog\/2026\/06\/24\/urgent-action-end-systematic-targeting-of-civilian-in-north-and-south-kordofan\/<\/a> (accessed on 24 June 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3<\/sup><\/b> UN News, \u201cSudan: Security Council warns of mass atrocity risk in El Obeid,\u201d 20 June 2026, https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2026\/06\/1167773<\/a> (accessed on 24 June 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4<\/sup><\/b> Human Rights Watch, \u201cRobust Global Action Is Key to Curbing Sudan Atrocities,\u201d 22 June 2026, https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2026\/06\/22\/robust-global-action-is-key-to-curbing-sudan-atrocities<\/a> (accessed on 24 June 2026).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In light of the situation in and around El Obeid, North Kordofan, the HRC should convene an urgent debate during its 62nd regular session or hold a special session at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44976,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[152,157],"class_list":["post-30981","reports","type-reports","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-sub-saharan-africa","regions-sudan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reports\/30981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reports"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reports"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reports\/30981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36877,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reports\/30981\/revisions\/36877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30981"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=30981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}