Attachments
Human Rights Council
Fifty-eighth session
24 February–4 April 2025
Agenda item 2
Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the
High Commissioner and the Secretary-General
Summary
The present report, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-36/1, outlines key human rights challenges encountered in the Sudan from 16 December 2023 to 15 November 2024 and includes recommendations for addressing them.
I. Introduction and methodology
1. The present report, which covers the period from 16 December 2023 to 15 November 2024, is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-36/1, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the assistance of his designated Expert on human rights in the Sudan, to submit a comprehensive report on the situation of human rights in the Sudan to the Council at its fifty-eighth session.
2. A draft of the report was shared with the Sudanese authorities for factual comments. Their initial comments, received after the deadline, on 23 December 2024, are reflected in the report, as relevant.
3. The report is based on information gathered by the Expert on human rights in the Sudan and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the Sudan. It includes information obtained through interviews with 776 sources (453 men, 303 women, 9 boys and 11 girls), including victims and witnesses, including during OHCHR monitoring missions to Chad (from 18 February to 3 March 2024, from 14 to 20 July 2024, and from 7 to 20 October 2024), Ethiopia (from 8 to 22 August 2024) and the Abyei Administrative Area (from 11 to 22 August 2024). It also includes analyses of photographs and video footage, in addition to United Nations reports, as well as statements by authorities and other sources. The security situation linked to the expanding conflict and the protection concerns for victims and witnesses, exacerbated by communication disruptions and delay by the Sudanese authorities in issuing visas to OHCHR international staff, compelled OHCHR to rely mainly on remote monitoring.
4. The interviews followed the OHCHR human rights monitoring methodology. OHCHR employs a “reasonable grounds to believe” standard1 in its assessment of incidents investigated and considers the credibility and reliability of the sources, taking into account their nature and objectivity. It draws conclusions from its assessment of documented incidents only when that standard has been met.
5. The Expert visited Port Sudan from 7 to 11 July 2024, where he met with the Sudanese authorities, United Nations officials, civil society representatives and internally displaced persons. During his visit, he advocated for the protection of civilians; unhindered humanitarian access; the removal of restrictions to civil society’s work; and accountability. He subsequently held a virtual meeting with the Deputy Commander of the Rapid Support Forces on 29 July 2024 in which he raised similar messages. He continued to hold regular online meetings with civil society representatives in and outside of the Sudan to share information relating to the human rights situation. He engaged regularly with the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sudan. He met virtually with the Chair of Taqaddum2 on 29 March 2024.
6. OHCHR continued to engage, inter alia, with the Personal Envoy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and humanitarian actors through the humanitarian clusters to integrate human rights and protection of civilian considerations in political and humanitarian efforts. The High Commissioner spoke separately by phone with the commanders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and of the Rapid Support Forces on 14 May 2024, urging them to take specific steps to ensure the protection of civilians, and regularly engaged with representatives of the Sudanese authorities.