Civilians Arbitrarily Detained in Sudan, Tortured by Warring Parties in Shadow War Against Marginalised Groups
30 September 2024 — The warring parties in Sudan are each exploiting the armed conflict to wage systematic campaigns of violence, including mass arbitrary detention of civilians, a new report by REDRESS, ACCESS, the Darfur Network for Human Rights, and the SOAS Centre for Human Rights Law concludes.
The report finds that both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and their respective affiliates are targeting individuals primarily based on their ethnicity, tribal affiliation, civil society activities and activism to crush resistance, consolidate power, and inflict terror.
The report, “Serious Human Rights Violations Perpetrated in the Context of Mass Civilian Detention in Sudan”, builds on a written submission made by the organisations to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan (FFM), which included additional information regarding the nature of ongoing detention violations across Sudan based on survivor and witness testimonies.
There is clear evidence showing patterns of arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment (some amounting to torture), and death in custody, which indicate widespread and systematic practices, if not deliberate policies, adopted by the warring parties. Many of the violations committed by the RSF, the SAF, and their respective affiliates may amount to international crimes, including torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report calls for more robust international action to prevent, monitor, and respond to the unprecedented levels of arbitrary detention and other abuses, including further documenting these abuses and identifying those responsible so that they can be held accountable. In this context, the report urges the UN Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of the Sudan FFM for a further year.
While the Sudanese de facto authorities have presented the National Committee of Investigation as a supposedly credible alternative, the report explains that the same authorities have already taken steps to shield certain perpetrators from prosecution. They have strengthened the repressive powers of the SAF-affiliated General Intelligence Service by re-introducing broad powers of arrest and detention, as well as sweeping immunities for its officers. This is a reversal of crucial legal reforms made during the transitional period and is emblematic of a regime that has contempt for accountability and international law. Beyond this, the National Committee of Investigation also lacks the independence, technical and institutional capacity and trust of survivors to credibly investigate detention abuses.
Rupert Skilbeck, Director of REDRESS, said:
“Our report contributes to an increasingly vast body of analysis implicating Sudan’s warring parties in international crimes and serious human rights violations. Rather than attempt to mitigate the immense devastation and humanitarian catastrophe caused by their atrocities, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces continue to exploit the conflict to target civilians.
States should take the necessary steps to broker a comprehensive ceasefire without delay and signal that perpetrators of detention abuses and other violations will be held accountable. This should include deploying all available diplomatic leverage, engaging directly with States and other actors obstructing the peace process, renewing the Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan’s mandate, supporting the International Criminal Court’s investigations in Darfur, and enforcing and extending the Darfur arms embargo.”
For more information or for an interview, contact Eva Sanchis, REDRESS’s Head of Communications, on [email protected], +44 (0)20 7793 1777 (office) or +44 (0) 7857 110076 (mobile).
Photo: Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images