UN Commissioner: Sudan's war has turned the country into a "land of despair"

^{United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk (websites)}

February 26, 2026 (PEN) The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned that the war that has been raging in Sudan for nearly three years has almost turned the country into a “land of despair,” stressing that the parties to the conflict continue to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

During an interactive dialogue held by the Human Rights Council on the situation in Sudan, Turk presented a report that he described as “another chapter in a record of brutality,” explaining that it documents ongoing patterns of violence against civilians, including murder, rape and torture.

He pointed out that the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces are using explosive weapons in densely populated areas, targeting schools, hospitals, markets and places of worship, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, noting that violations have escalated as fighting intensifies and accountability is lacking.

According to data from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the number of civilians killed in 2025 increased by more than two and a half times compared to the previous year, while thousands of people remain missing or unidentified.

The High Commissioner also spoke about the increasing use of advanced long-range drones, which has broadened the scope of harm to civilians to include areas that were once considered far from the front lines.

He explained that the parties, particularly the Rapid Support Forces, have repeatedly used drones to target vital infrastructure, including power stations, dams and fuel tanks, leaving serious impacts on civilians.

Turk said that “the bodies of Sudanese women and girls are being used as a weapon to terrorize communities,” noting that his office documented more than 500 victims of sexual violence in 2025, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture and slavery, some of which resulted in death.

The office also recorded a sharp increase in summary executions of people accused of collaborating with the other side, as well as widespread arbitrary detention by both sides of the conflict and their allied militias.

In areas under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces, he noted the arrest and trial of civilians without proper legal safeguards, with death sentences or life imprisonment being issued in many cases, while a formal justice system is absent in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces.

The High Commissioner said that the Rapid Support Forces' takeover of the Zamzam camp in April and their attack on El Fasher in October resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and amounted to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

He added that he had repeatedly warned of the dangers threatening El Fasher, “but the massacre was not prevented.” With the fighting