Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers group says the SAF leadership is refusing entry to members of the UN Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission on Sudan and blocking them from interviewing victims of abuses.
Mohamed Salah, a member of the group’s executive office, said the military has imposed multiple hurdles that undermine the mission’s work, including weak field cooperation, risks facing witnesses, restricted access to conflict-affected areas, and media campaigns by pro-war voices. He argued these obstacles threaten prospects for justice and redress.
In response, more than 170 rights organizations, women’s and youth groups, professional bodies and political parties have launched a national campaign urging the UN to extend the mission’s mandate for an additional two years and remove barriers to its work. The campaign is a renewal of a similar push in September 2024 that secured a one-year extension.
The Human Rights Council created the fact-finding mission in October 2023 to investigate widespread violations by both warring parties against civilians. The mission is due to present its report at HRC’s 58th session in September, at the end of its current term. Sudan’s newly appointed justice minister in Port Sudan, Abdullah Dirf, has previously signaled the authorities’ desire to end the mission’s mandate.
Salah said the call for renewal is driven by the scale and severity of ongoing violations — including mass killings, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, displacement, sieges and starvation tactics, attacks on medical and humanitarian facilities, and child recruitment. With a weakened judiciary and entrenched impunity, he added, international oversight is essential to protect civilians, document crimes, support victims, and provide reliable information for aid and funding decisions. Politically, he said, the mission helps counter disinformation, bolster civil society, deter armed actors, and illuminate the conflict’s spillover risks for the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea.
Groups participating in the campaign include Emergency Lawyers, the Nuba Mountains Bar Association, East Nile Human Rights Monitor, Women Lawyers Without Borders, Bahri Human Rights Monitor, Lawyers Against Discrimination and Corruption, Kordofan Human Rights Monitor, the April 15 Survivors’ Initiative, Journalists for Human Rights, the Unified Rights Center, the Darfur Bar Association, and the Democratic Lawyers’ Association.
