Human Rights Council renews fact-finding mission mandate

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) voted to renew the mandate of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for Sudan for 12 months. The resolution passed on 5 October and was supported by 28 countries, with 10 voting against and nine abstaining.

The FFM was created by the HRC on 11 October 2023 to investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged human rights violations and abuses, as well as violations of international humanitarian law, in the context of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other warring parties since 15 April 2023. The mandate was also renewed in 2024 and 2025, and the Council asked the FFM to report on the situation in El Fasher and El Obeid.

Ahead of the Council session, 68 civil society organisations, including CSW, had called on the Council to renew the FFM’s mandate and ensure it was fully resourced to fulfil its work.

CSW’s Director of Advocacy and Africa and Middle East Team Leader Dr Khataza Gondwe said: ‘CSW welcomes the renewal of the mandate of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan. The FFM plays a vital role in documenting and reporting on the grave abuses that are being committed during the current conflict. It not only represents an international body to which victims and survivors of some of the worst crimes can report; it also works hard to preserve evidence with a view towards future accountability and justice.’

In its latest report, the FFM highlighted some of the external networks that are supporting parties to the conflict. The report noted those that have provided sophisticated drone technology, as well as transnational networks that supplied foreign personnel, training weapons and logistics. These transnational networks were operating in El Fasher, which endured an 18-month siege before being taken by the RSF in an offensive the FFM later found bore the ‘hallmarks of genocide’. The FFM also found that external networks facilitated the transfer of arms, personnel and logistics through the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In May, the UN FFM and the Fact-Finding Mission of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Human Rights Situation in the Sudan adopted a joint declaration in Banjul, The Gambia, which highlighted similar findings and recommendations from both fact-finding missions, and demonstrated the complementary nature of regional and international mechanisms for Sudan.

Ahead of the vote, The Gambia’s representative Mr Cherno Marenah explained that his country’s vote was ‘guided by our overriding consideration for the millions of victims of the war in Sudan, who continue to bear the devastating consequences of this conflict, and by the need for complementary pathways to justice and accountability.’ Mr Marenah added that The Gambia would vote in favour of the resolution instead of abstaining as it had done on previous occasion because ‘circumstances on the ground require a combination of national, regional and international efforts to create credible pathways towards justice and sustainable peace.’

Dr Gondwe continued: ‘CSW is encouraged by the continuing support for the FFM’s mandate, and particularly commend The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritius and South Africa, which voted in favour of the resolution. By doing so these African nations stood unequivocally with Sudan’s civilians, who continue to endure the most appalling violations. We call for continued support for the FFM and its mandate. In particular, we urge the International Criminal Court to draw on evidence documented by the FFM in its efforts to hold individual perpetrators of atrocity crimes to account.’

Note to Editors:

1. On 14 October CSW will submit a petition signed by over 3,000 people to the English Premier League calling on it to raise the UAE’s role in the conflict in Sudan with Manchester City owner and UAE vice-president Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.