The Human Rights Impact of the Ongoing Conflict in the Sudan

Encourages the Tripartite Mechanism of the United Nations, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development on the political transition of the Sudan to continue its efforts to avoid further escalation of violence, and calls upon the international community to coordinate, collaborate and harmonize its respective initiatives to resolve the conflict and stabilize the situation in the Sudan;

Calls upon the parties to the conflict in the Sudan to demonstrate the utmost restraint and to refrain from further violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and to agree and fully adhere to and enforce local and national ceasefires, including those intended to allow full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to and the evacuation of civilians, without preconditions;

Calls upon all parties to the conflict to cease any measure that exacerbates the humanitarian crisis, and to rapidly allow and facilitate the full, safe and unhindered passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, and recalls the obligation under international humanitarian law to refrain from attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects critical to the delivery of essential services to the civilian population and for producing food and drinking water;

Urges the international community to work to address the immediate priorities arising from the dire humanitarian crisis in the Sudan and its impact on the country’s neighbours, including through the 2023 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan and humanitarian partners working to scale up response measures;

Strongly urges all States to respect the fundamental principle of non-refoulement, and to comply with their obligations under international human rights law and international refugee law, as applicable, in relation to persons fleeing events in the Sudan, and commends the steps taken by States in the region to receive those seeking safety in line with their respective obligations under international law;

Calls upon the Sudan to cooperate fully with the international community and relevant international organizations to urgently address the pressing humanitarian crisis, with a focus on the plight of populations already in vulnerable situations;

Also calls upon the international community to ensure effective coordination of the human rights and humanitarian response to address the needs of local humanitarian efforts and strengthen their capacities to continue to respond;

Urges all parties to the conflict in the Sudan to respect and protect civilians, including those who are humanitarian workers and health workers, and civilian infrastructure, and to allow and facilitate the return to full, safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid into and throughout the Sudan;

Calls upon all parties to the conflict to respect and protect civilians, including foreign nationals, international aid workers, staff members of the United Nations and related organizations, as well as members of the diplomatic community, still in the Sudan, and to create the conditions necessary to allow the swift return of those staff members and organizations forced to evacuate as a result of the conflict;

Calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prioritize further engagement with all parties to the conflict in the Sudan, with the aim of promoting both full respect for all human rights in the Sudan and the prevention of further violations and abuses from occurring during the current conflict, which should be complementary to and coherent with the engagement of other relevant regional and international stakeholders;

Also calls upon the High Commissioner to ensure the complementarity and coordination of his efforts with those of other actors, in particular the Secretary-General and his Special Representative for the Sudan, as well as the African Union and other appropriate regional and international entities, drawing on the expertise of, inter alia, the United Nations, the African Union, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the League of Arab States, to the extent practicable;

Requests the High Commissioner, with the assistance of his designated Expert, to present to the Human Rights Council, at its fifty-fourth and fifty-seventh sessions, an oral update on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, to be followed by an interactive dialogue, with the participation of the High Commissioner and his designated Expert, and to submit a comprehensive report on the situation of human rights in the Sudan and on violations and abuses committed by all parties in the Sudan to the Council at its fifty-fifth and fifty-eighth sessions, to be followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue, unless the mandate of the designated Expert concludes during that time;

Requests the High Commissioner and his designated Expert to engage with all actors in the Sudan and to work collaboratively with the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the League of Arab States, and relevant organs and subsidiary bodies of the United Nations, and all other relevant international and regional organizations and mechanisms, on the issue of human rights in the Sudan, including by sharing reports and recommendations and exchanging other information, as appropriate;

Requests the Secretary-General to urgently provide the Office of the High Commissioner with all the resources necessary to enable the Office to afford all the administrative, technical and logistical support required to implement urgently the provisions of the present resolution;