HRW Oral Statement - Urgent Debate - HRC62
This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the 62nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council during an urgent debate on the human rights situation in and around El Obeid, North Kordofan in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Sudan held on July 3, 2026.
Human Rights Watch welcomes the convening of this urgent debate, and use of this Council's prevention mandate to respond to atrocity risk warnings by UN Secretary General, High Commissioner, African Commission, as well as civil society, regarding the situation in Sudan's El Obeid.
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We are hearing alarming reports from contacts in El Obeid, eerily reminiscent of the weeks before the RSF takeover of El Fasher. They describe an unrelenting campaign of bombardment, including with drones, hampering free movement and hitting critical infrastructure. People are struggling to eat, drink, access electricity, and other essential commodities.
The RSF's modus operandi is well documented: it has a track record of carrying out mass atrocities against civilians in the aftermath of military victories.
This cannot be allowed to happen again - we need action to protect civilians, to prevent atrocities and meaningfully advance accountability.
States should break their silence on the growing body of evidence of the UAE's material support to the RSF, including weapons, fighters and other support, directly urging them to end that support, and use their leverage to prevent - rather than enable - further atrocities.
Human Rights Watch recently reported how hundreds of Colombian private military contractors (PMCs), apparently hired by a UAE-based company, transited through UAE military facilities before being deployed to Sudan to support the RSF, including in its campaign on and takeover of El Fasher, which the FFM found bore the "hallmarks of genocide."
While today we zoom in on El Obeid, we cannot forget the wider context - of widespread and systematic abuses by all parties to the conflict. The Sudanese Armed Forces and allies should stop targeting civilians including local responders they accuse of RSF collaboration, allow free and safe movement of civilians, and unfettered aid access.
The role of this Council is key, and continued investigations by the FFM into all abuses by all parties are critical, including with a view to collecting and preserving evidence to support future accountability efforts.
While action by this Council is welcome, in the face of further imminent atrocities in and around El Obeid and beyond, we need urgent and decisive action to prevent further atrocities, in line with the FFM's clear recommendations.
Notably, the deployment of a protection of civilians' mission, the expansion of both the arms embargo and ICC jurisdiction to the whole of Sudan, and expanded sanctions targeting all those responsible for atrocities and other serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law in Sudan.
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