The civil war in Sudan has been going on for two years. Under its protective mandate, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) conducted a virtual joint fact-finding mission on Sudan from June 2024 to March 2025. During this 85th ordinary session, the African Commission launched the report of this mission, presenting both the methodology used and the findings. The panel discussion on the report was composed of Commissioner Hatem Essaiem, Vice Chair of the African Commission, country rapporteur of Sudan and Chair of the Joint Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, Commissioner Solomon Ayele Dersso, Chair of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations, Commissioner Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, Commissioner Litha Ogana, Chair of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and Minorities in Africa, Commissioner Selma Sassi Safer, Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrant in Africa, Jeggan Grey-Johnson, Open Society Foundations and Wini Omer, Head of the Sudan Framework Mechanism.
On the methodology, the African Commission specified that this mission was a virtual one. However, with a victim-based approach, commissioners were able to interview a diverse range of victims, including women, migrants, and indigenous peoples.
On the findings, the mission led the African Commission to confirm the long-standing root causes of the conflict and to identify the following violations breaching the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The African Commission found violations of the right to life, the right to human dignity, the right to liberty and security of the person, freedoms of speech, the media, association, the press, academic and of assembly, the right to freedom of movement, the right to non-discrimination, rights of vulnerable groups, and the right to peace and security.
The report also refers to human rights defenders who have been arrested and detained on suspicion of possessing evidence of ongoing human rights violations.
Deploring the lack of accountability for the violations, a speaker of the panel held on this fact-finding mission on Sudan called States parties to the African Charter to adopt:
