Sudan: UN Report Details Rampant Abuse Of Detainees Amid Ongoing Conflict

GENEVA (6 March 2025) – A UN report published on Thursday highlights a widespread pattern of arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees by the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces in Khartoum State, mirroring practices seen in other conflict-affected areas in Sudan.

Tens of thousands of people, including women and children, have been held without charge, with limited or even no contact with their families, in squalid and overcrowded facilities, since the conflict broke out in April 2023.

“The widespread practices of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and inhumane conditions of detention facilities, in contravention of international norms and standards, are deeply disturbing,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

“No individual should be deprived of their liberty without due process, nor - under any circumstances whatsoever - subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The report, which covers the period from the start of the conflict on 15 April 2023 through June 2024, is based on 34 interviews with former detainees, witnesses and family members, who recounted their experiences to UN Human Rights.

Former detainees shared credible accounts of harrowing torture and ill treatment, including severe and frequent beatings, in detention facilities. They described acute overcrowding with minimal ventilation, limited access to sanitation and inadequate food and water. They also described seeing many detainees die in custody, due to lack of medical treatment, in both RSF and SAF facilities.

The report documents the use of children as young as 14 to serve as guards by RSF, notably in Soba prison, and the detention of children as young as 13 alongside adults. Sexual violence and exploitation against women detainees were reported in two RSF-controlled places of detention.

Additionally, in both RSF and SAF-controlled places of detention, detainees reported discriminatory treatment based on ethnicity and perceived affiliation to the opposing party to the conflict, with individuals from the Darfur and Kordofan regions targeted.

In RSF facilities, individuals from African tribes were reportedly subjected to more frequent torture and ill-treatment. Individuals from Darfur and Kordofan, including those from Arab tribes, were allegedly profiled and detained in SAF facilities on the basis of their ethnicity and perceived affiliation with the RSF.

The report also features testimonies about people who were reportedly detained incommunicado in RSF and SAF controlled facilities. In RSF-controlled places of detention, many were held without their families being notified.

The lack of information about detainees’ fates raises serious concerns about enforced disappearances.

In one harrowing case, a family repeatedly asked about their relative after he was detained by RSF intelligence personnel, but were just told on numerous occasions, “Don’t ask about him.” Months later, they learned that he had died.

While the report focuses on practices in detention facilities in Khartoum State, the UN Human Rights Office has documented similar patterns in other parts of Sudan, including the Darfur region and Al Jazirah State.

In recent months, as the SAF has regained control of certain territory, the Office has received credible reports of RSF transferring detainees from places of detention listed in the report to other locations. In January 2025, the Office received credible information about transfers of hundreds of detainees from Soba prison in Khartoum State to various locations, including to South Darfur.

“These practices are deeply concerning. They increase the risks of violations of international human rights norms and standards and undermine due process and the rule of law,” said Türk.

The report urges the parties to immediately cease practices of arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment, improve detention conditions, and facilitate access to justice.

It also calls on the international community to engage with the parties to address and put an end to widespread practices of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment, as well as other human rights violations and abuses.

To read the full report, click on the following link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/detention-facilities-and-practices-khartoum-state-context-conflict-sudan

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