UN mission urges sanctions, expanded ICC jurisdiction over Sudan war crimes
September 5, 2025 (GENEVA) – A U.N.-backed mission on Friday called for targeted sanctions and an expansion of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction to cover all of Sudan, accusing the country’s warring parties of committing war crimes in a brutal conflict.
In a report titled “Sudan: A War of Atrocities,” the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said its findings justify international action against individuals and entities suspected of international crimes. The report concluded that while both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are responsible for war crimes, the RSF’s actions may also constitute crimes against humanity, including extermination and persecution.
Siege turns camps into targets
The report’s findings are based heavily on a relentless campaign of violence in and around the North Darfur city of El Fasher since the RSF began its siege in May 2024.
Displacement camps, housing hundreds of thousands of civilians, became deliberate targets. The RSF repeatedly shelled the Abu Shouk camp, killing more than 300 people. The nearby Zamzam camp was also regularly shelled and stormed by the RSF in February and April 2025. In one large-scale ground offensive on Zamzam from April 11-13, the RSF and its allies killed between 300 and 1,500 people, the majority women and children.
“They claimed they only wanted to fight soldiers, but they punished the whole community,” one witness told the mission. “It felt like they wanted to remove us because of who we are”.
The mission found the RSF and its allies carried out coordinated, large-scale attacks on non-Arab communities. Civilians fleeing the violence were also attacked. In January 2025, the RSF opened fire on a convoy of people fleeing to Chad, killing at least 30.
Healthcare and aid under fire
The report details the near-total collapse of the healthcare system, with both sides attacking medical facilities. The RSF was implicated in repeated attacks on El Fasher’s Al Janoubi Hospital and Al-Saudi Maternal Teaching Hospital, forcing their closure. An airstrike by the SAF landed near a pediatric hospital in El Fasher, killing two children and a caregiver.
Markets and humanitarian operations were also hit. A SAF airstrike on the Tora market, one of the last accessible food sources in the area, killed and injured hundreds of civilians in March 2025. The mission found that attacks on aid workers and bureaucratic blockages have severely impeded humanitarian operations, contributing to famine-like conditions. By besieging El Fasher, the RSF committed the war crime of intentionally using starvation as a method of warfare, the report said.
A call for accountability
The fact-finding mission, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council, said its multiple requests to visit Sudan and meet with officials from both the government and the RSF went unanswered. Its findings are based on 257 interviews conducted between October 2024 and July 2025, alongside verified videos and other evidence.
The report concludes that the RSF has committed war crimes of murder, hostage-taking, torture, rape, and sexual slavery, which also constitute crimes against humanity. It finds the SAF committed war crimes, including direct attacks on civilians, indiscriminate airstrikes, and carrying out executions without judicial guarantees.