The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission), meeting at its 76th Ordinary Session, held virtually from 19 July to 2 August 2023;
Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in Africa pursuant to Article 45 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter);
Bearing in mind the national agreements and international commitments that Sudan has signed or ratified, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Juba Peace Agreement, by which the State Party undertook to respect and protect human rights, the principles of democracy, the rule of law, the culture of peace, and good governance;
Recalling its resolutions - ACHPR / Res. 444 (LXVI) 2020 on the human rights situation in the Republic of Sudan, ACHPR/Res.516 (LXX) 2022 on the worsening of the human rights situation in Sudan following the coup d'état of 25 October, ACHPR/Res.548 (LXXIII) 2022, on coups d'état, military transitions and related violations of human and peoples' rights in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan and ACHPR/Res.555 (LXXV) 2023 on the human rights situation in the Republic of Sudan;
Deeply concerned by the armed conflict that began on 15 April between the Sudanese Armed Forces under and the Rapid Support Forces , and by the violent persistence of the fighting even after the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment, which is having devastating consequences on several areas;
Considering by the successive failures of all attempts at international mediation, despite the many summits that have struggled to bring about a ceasefire;
Considering that the current fighting has caused the death of more than 30900 civilians since the beginning of the fighting and a little more than 5000 wounded, as well as more than 1 million people trapped in Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri;
Considering further the humanitarian consequences of the conflict on the forced displacement of more than three million people in less than 4 months, including 2.2 million internally displaced people and 700,000 refugees in neighbouring countries (Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic);
Alarmed by the many violations taking place in the country, including excessive use of force, extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions, unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence, violations of freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, economic and social rights, as well as inter-communal violence; as well as inter-communal violence and attacks against civilians which constitute violations of the rights guaranteed by the African Charter and other international instruments to which Sudan is a party;
Condemning the atrocities being committed in Darfur including killings, rape and destruction of properties and livelihood targeting in particular people on the basis of their ethnicity affecting mostly members of the Maslit ethnic group;
The Commission:
1. Strongly condemns:
i.The ongoing violent fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF);
ii.The ongoing human rights violations and risk of war crimes in Sudan;
2. Calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire by the warring parties, and for talks to bring a definitive end to the current conflict;
3. Urges the parties to the conflict to respect and protect humanitarian workers by ensuring the security of humanitarian corridors and refraining from acts that could prejudice the actions of humanitarian workers;
4. Calls on the African Union to take the following urgent measures to put an end to the conflict in Sudan and restore peace and stability:
i.Pursue negotiations between the various parties to end the conflict;
ii.If necessary, send a peacemaking and peacebuilding mission to restore stability and put an end to the human rights violations and possible war crimes and humanitarian crimes under way in Sudan;
iii.Implement African humanitarian aid through the African Humanitarian Agency to assist the victims of war in Sudan and those who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries;
iv.Mobilize its member states and international actors to bring pressure to bear on the warring parties including through the use targeted sanctions to compel the leaders of the warring parties to put an immediate end to the conflict.
v.To put in place a mechanism for monitoring, documenting and reporting on the perpetration of human rights and international humanitarian law violations by the warring parties including with particular attention to the situation in Darfur.
5. Urges the international community to intensify its efforts to resolve the conflict in close collaboration with the African Union in order to put an end to the current conflict as soon as possible;
6. Continues to monitor the human rights situation in Sudan.
Done virtually, 2 August 2023
