Sudan seeks China-led bloc’s support to block UN rights mission renewal
August 26, 2026 (GENEVA) – Sudan asked a 29-member coalition led by China on Wednesday to help block a draft resolution seeking to renew the mandate of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission.
Britain is expected to lead Western efforts during the council’s 63rd session, scheduled from Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, to extend the mission’s mandate. Sudan has repeatedly refused to cooperate with the investigators or allow them entry into the country.
Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Hassan Hamid Hassan, addressed an ambassadorial meeting of the Like-Minded Group at the Palais des Nations in Geneva ahead of the session.
Hassan urged member states to back Khartoum against the anticipated British draft resolution, according to the state-run SUNA news agency.
He said three U.N. human rights mechanisms already operate in Sudan with the government’s full cooperation: the country office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a designated human rights expert, and the Panel of Experts established under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1591.
“Despite the presence of these three mechanisms, which enjoy the government’s full acceptance and cooperation, Britain and the core Western group continue to submit a draft resolution each year to impose a fourth mechanism,” Hassan said.
The Human Rights Council established the independent Fact-Finding Mission in October 2023 to investigate alleged human rights abuses and violations, including those committed against refugees, and has renewed its mandate annually.
The mission is tasked with collecting and analyzing evidence, identifying responsible individuals and entities, and recommending accountability measures.
Hassan argued the draft resolution unfairly equates the Sudanese military with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), describing the latter as a rebel group with a criminal record.
He also accused the resolution’s sponsors of disregarding official U.N. protocols, ignoring domestic judicial investigations, and mobilizing non-governmental organizations to promote RSF narratives against the army.