United Kingdom • • • 🌿 Progressive

Watercolor illustration of a humanitarian aid camp with tents and supplies, silhouettes of displaced civilians at sunset among Sahel acacia trees
Illustrative image: a humanitarian aid camp at sunset in the Sahel. · Erick Prometeo Media

One year after El Fasher, the Coalition seeks justice for Sudan

One year after the 26 October 2025 atrocity in El Fasher, the Coalition on Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan remembered victims and survivors, backed…

--- The context --- One year ago, on 26 October 2025, violence in and around El Fasher reached a devastating peak following months of siege and escalating attacks by the Rapid Support Forces, according to the statement. The Coalition on Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan, whose members are Canada, Denmark, the European Union, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sierra Leone, Sweden and the United Kingdom, marked the anniversary with a joint declaration. --- The facts --- The statement says civilians were subjected to atrocities including mass killings, ethnically motivated killings, summary executions, torture, disappearances, forced recruitment, arbitrary detentions and widespread sexual and gender-based violence. Entire communities were forcibly displaced and humanitarian access was obstructed, which, according to the text, exacerbated hunger, insecurity, human suffering and deprivation among the affected population. The Coalition says the findings of the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan laid bare the scale and severity of violations of international humanitarian law and of human rights law committed in and around El Fasher. The statement supports that mission, welcomes the renewal of its mandate, and also welcomes the work of the African Union's fact-finding mission. --- The positions --- One year on, the Coalition states that it remembers and recognises the suffering of victims and survivors and reaffirms its shared determination to prevent further atrocities and pursue accountability. The text stresses that justice and accountability are vital to achieving sustainable peace, and that those responsible for serious violations and abuses must be investigated and held to account. The Coalition says it will keep working with Sudanese and international partners to support credible accountability processes, including the work of the International Criminal Court concerning Darfur, and meaningful transitional justice for the people of Sudan. It also highlights the crucial role of Sudanese human rights defenders and civil society, which often work at great personal risk. --- What remains unknown --- The statement warns that the risk of further large-scale atrocities in Sudan remains acute. Among the factors it cites are the systemic and widespread use of sexual violence, displacement, attacks on civilian infrastructure, the growing use of drones in attacks affecting civilians, and restrictions on humanitarian assistance. It describes those restrictions and repeated attacks on humanitarian actors and local and frontline responders as unacceptable. --- Unanswered questions --- Who will be held to account for the crimes committed in El Fasher, and when will those processes begin? How will safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access be guaranteed in areas where it is now restricted? Will all states cease arming, financing or otherwise enabling the war and fully respect the arms embargo on Darfur? --- EPM analysis --- The statement combines remembrance with warning: it honours the victims of the anniversary while describing a present risk that has not closed. Its emphasis on international investigation, on the International Criminal Court and on transitional justice places accountability as a condition of peace, and its defence of Sudanese civil society recognises those who document abuses from within, at great personal risk. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the value of this statement is that it does not treat El Fasher as a closed episode, but as an open obligation: to investigate, to protect and to guarantee unimpeded aid. Its most demanding point is the call to stop arming and financing the war, because it places responsibility also on states that enable it from outside. If that commitment does not translate into effective humanitarian access and credible accountability processes, the anniversary risks remaining a solemn gesture without consequences for victims or survivors.
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