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	States must act to protect Civilians in Armed Conflict by UN News, OCHA, ICRC, IASC, INEW, agencies   June 2026   Explosive Weapons Drive Persistent Civilian Harm Across Global Conflicts   Civilians around the world continued to bear the devastating consequences of explosive weapons use in 2025 amid a broader pattern of sustained harm, a new report by the Explosive Weapons Monitor has revealed.   The Explosive Weapons Monitor 2025 paints a concerning picture, where civilian suffering from the use of explosive weapons has become a routine feature of warfare rather than an exception.   For the third consecutive year, communities in many conflict-affected countries endured daily bombing and shelling of towns and cities, while new conflicts and emerging patterns of explosive weapons use further expanded the scope of harm.   “The devastating impact of explosive weapons on civilians is both foreseeable and preventable. Yet across numerous conflicts, their continued use has entrenched a pattern of civilian harm that is increasingly treated as routine rather than exceptional,” said Katherine Young, Research and Monitoring Manager of the Explosive Weapons Monitor.   “When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, civilians suffer. What is particularly alarming is that this harm has become persistent across conflicts worldwide, risking the normalisation of civilian suffering on a massive scale.”   More than 22,600 civilians were killed by explosive weapons in 2025 (based on officially verified casualty figures, the exact number is thought to be considerably higher. Tens of thousands more were injured).   Civilian deaths remained alarmingly high, with more than half of all recorded civilian deaths attributed to Israeli armed forces and rising fatalities linked to other state and non-state actors across multiple conflicts.   Civilian infrastructure and essential services also came under growing threat. The report found that the use of explosive weapons in attacks affecting humanitarian aid increased by 52 percent in 2025, placing aid workers and life-saving assistance at greater risk and further limiting access to populations in need.   “We have observed in multiple conflicts that communities have been driven into dependence on humanitarian aid after explosive weapons devastated local food systems through the destruction of agricultural land, water infrastructure, and markets,” said Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight.   “When humanitarian workers responding to these growing needs are attacked and killed, life-saving assistance is disrupted at the very moment people need it most, deepening human suffering and leaving already vulnerable communities at even greater risk.”   The report also recorded a dramatic increase in attacks on education, where explosive weapons damaged or destroyed educational facilities, or killed students and teachers, 64 percent more frequently in 2025 compared with the previous year.   Beyond the immediate death and destruction, the report highlights the long-term humanitarian consequences of attacks on essential services.   In Gaza, a surge in attacks on infrastructure essential to humanitarian relief efforts and food production in 2025 severely undermined Palestinians’ ability to locally produce or access food, while increasing dependence on humanitarian assistance.   Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, more than 3,800 schools have been impacted by explosive weapons, severely disrupting children's access to education and forcing many schools to close or operate under emergency measures.   Attacks on water and related energy infrastructure in Lebanon severely disrupted access to safe water in at least 36 incidents, damaging critical supply systems and leaving many communities dependent on costly alternative sources.   The report findings come at a time of growing concerns over violations of international humanitarian law and increasing pressure on norms designed to protect civilians in armed conflict.   The report warns that the normalisation of such severe civilian harm risks weakening the international commitments that seek to prevent suffering and protect civilians.   The report therefore calls for renewed efforts to bring the 2022 Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences of the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas into effect. Doing so not only includes placing limits on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas but also taking action to reinforce and defend the Political Declaration’s norms and principles.   “States must refuse to normalise the devastating toll of explosive weapons on civilians. By signing the Political Declaration, states are sending a clear message that harm to civilians, and destruction of the infrastructure they need to survive, will not be tolerated,” said Alma Taslidzan, Disarmament and Protection of Civilians Advocacy Manager at Humanity & Inclusion. “The challenge then is to translate the Declaration’s commitments into concrete action that reduces harm."   This international agreement to protect civilians from the devastating effects of explosive weapons in urban areas has been endorsed by 91 countries so far.   http://explosiveweaponsmonitor.org/reports/9/explosive-weapons-monitor-2025/ http://www.hi-us.org/en/explosive-weapons-killed-more-than-22-600-civilians-in-2025-new-report-finds http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/children-and-blast-injuries-the-devastating-impact-of-explosive-weapons-on-children-2020-2025 http://www.inew.org/resources/ http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-iasc-protecting-civilians-armed-conflict-responsibility-member-states-and-un http://www.unocha.org/news/over-1000-aid-workers-killed-often-hands-member-states-un-relief-chief-demands-action http://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-tells-security-council-protecting-civilians-cannot-be-outsourced-postponed-or-diluted http://humanitarianaction.info/document/mid-year-review-global-humanitarian-overview-delivering-people-crisis-against-odds/article/trends-crises-and-needs-civilians-line-fire http://civiliansinconflict.org/press-releases/joint-civil-society-statement-ahead-of-the-2026-open-debate-on-the-protection-of-civilians-in-armed-conflict/ http://www.prio.org/news/3719 http://www.prio.org/events/9296   http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/29/global-failure-to-protect-right-to-health-in-conflict http://insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025-SHCC-Annual-Report.pdf http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-ifrc-world-red-cross-red-crescent-day-call-uphold-protections-civilians-medical-personnel-humanitarian-workers-communities-depend-on http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/2026-ECOSOC-HAS-Panel-2-remarks http://globalprotectioncluster.org/publications/2474/communication-materials/advocacy-note/poc-advocacy-note-civilian-protection-2026 http://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/remarks_un_special_adviser_r2p_convening_7_8_may_2026.pdf http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/15/global-surge-in-attacks-on-education-continues-rising-more-than-40-percent http://eua2026.protectingeducation.org/ http://www.rescue.org/report/watchlist-midyear-update-2026 http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/   * Protection of civilians in armed conflict - Report of the Secretary-General: http://docs.un.org/en/S/2026/390 http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/en/news/year-unthinkable-suffering-record-number-children-conflict-victims-grave-violations-2025 http://watchlist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-annual-report-press-release_final.pdf http://www.unicef.org/take-action/campaigns/children-under-attack http://www.savethechildren.net/news/every-war-war-against-children-it-must-never-be-accepted-inevitability-statement-save-children http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/unhrc-statement-children-rights-armed-conflict http://alliancecpha.org/en   May 2026   States must act to protect Civilians in Armed Conflict   Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict is a Responsibility that Member States and the UN Security Council Must Uphold. Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC):   "As the Protection of Civilians Week unfolds in New York, we strongly condemn and raise the alarm about the growing and blatant violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law meant to protect civilians in armed conflict.   Across conflicts, civilians, including children, are killed, injured, and displaced at an alarming scale. Sexual violence is used as a tactic of war, overwhelmingly affecting women and girls and devastating lives. Homes, schools, places of worship, hospitals, including maternal wards, are destroyed or damaged, as are civilian infrastructure and assets, such as water systems, transport network, markets, food production. Essential services are collapsing. Forced displacement is accelerating.   Conflict-induced hunger and famine are spreading, often driven by unlawful siege tactics, starvation, and the arbitrary denial of humanitarian access. This is happening despite the existence of clear obligations under International Humanitarian Law and the framework reaffirmed by UN Security Council resolution 2417 (2018), which condemns the deliberate starvation of civilians and the use of hunger as method of warfare.   And a decade after the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2286 (2016) that demands the protection of the wounded, sick, and medical personnel, violence, attacks and threats against healthcare workers and facilities continue with impunity. More than 10,000 incidents against health care facilities and workers have been verified to date.   Aid workers are also under attack and killed in unprecedented numbers. More than 1,000 humanitarian colleagues have been killed over the past three years. Many others are arbitrarily detained. Often the first to respond, staff from national and local organisations and community initiatives pay an unacceptably high toll. Many women-led-organisations addressing lifesaving protection and gender-based violence are being attacked.   From Gaza to El Fasher, and from Kharkiv to Beirut, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is devastating civilian lives. At the same time, new technologies, including drones and artificial intelligence, are reshaping warfare and expanding the battlefield.   Wars have rules that apply to all parties to conflict. The problem is not a lack of law. The problem is the failure to uphold them consistently, the erosion of accountability and inaction, even in the face of atrocities.   Protecting civilians is a legal obligation and a moral imperative. For the sake of our shared humanity, rules that protect civilians must be upheld.   http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-iasc-protecting-civilians-armed-conflict-responsibility-member-states-and-un http://www.unocha.org/news/un-heads-condemn-failure-protect-civilians-growing-threats-their-security   20 May 2026   Briefing to the UN Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict - by Edem Wosornu, Director, Crisis Response Division for OCHA, on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:   "One civilian was killed approximately every 14 minutes in 2025. These are only the deaths that the United Nations could document across 20 armed conflicts. We know the real toll is far higher in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan, in Ukraine, in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.   I saw some of this devastation myself over the past year during my visits to countries affected by war.   Civilians, including children, are killed in their homes, in markets, at work, at school, on roads, and while fleeing for safety. All too often, they are not collateral damage. They are the target.   Explosive weapons continue to tear through towns and cities, destroying not only lives but the systems that sustain them such as power grids, water networks, schools, and hospitals.   Health care is under attack. Ten years after this Council adopted Resolution 2286 on the protection of health care in armed conflict, the situation has only gotten worse.   In 2025, the United Nations recorded more than 1,350 attacks on medical care across 18 conflicts. Hospitals and ambulances were hit. Medical personnel were killed, detained, intimidated, or criminalized simply for doing their jobs.   Conflict‑driven hunger has deepened. 147 million people faced acute food insecurity in 2025, driven largely by armed conflict. Two famines were confirmed – not because food was unavailable, but because of the way parties conducted hostilities, used siege tactics, and denied humanitarian access. Food has become a weapon of war.   Sexual violence remains widespread. The United Nations reported over 9,300 cases last year – the overwhelming majority women and girls – many of whom will struggle to get the basic assistance they need. We know that number unfortunately is much higher.   Children are abducted and recruited to fight. Too many are injured and killed – a direct result of the use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas. Information and Communication Technology, including social media, is used to abduct, to extort, and recruit children.   Journalists are targeted. According to UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), 186 journalists were killed while covering wars and conflict zones between 2022 and 2025 – a 67 per cent increase compared to the period 2018-2021.   Persons with disabilities are left behind when bombs fall and warnings fail.   Last month, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, briefed this Council on attacks against humanitarian workers. Since then, eight more colleagues were confirmed killed in 2025. Already in 2026, 144 humanitarian workers have been reported killed, injured, abducted or detained as they try to serve those in need.   New technologies are intensifying these risks. Armed drones and artificial intelligence are accelerating the pace and reach of violence, often in densely populated areas. The use of drones increased by 4,000 per cent from 2020 to 2024 across conflicts. The impact is not only physical. The impact is psychological – constant fear, constant disruption. The consequences for children are alarming.   None of this is inevitable. These patterns are the result of choices. The choice by parties of conflict to ignore their obligations to protect civilians, and, too often, to target them.   The choice by some to adopt increasingly permissive interpretations of international humanitarian law, hollowing out the very rules designed to protect civilians during war. The choice to subordinate the protection of civilians to claims of military necessity or exceptional threat. The choice to let impunity prevail.   The choice to harness technology to increase lethality, sow devastation, and spread misinformation, instead of using it to better protect civilians.   And the choice to attack the United Nations Charter, humanitarian norms, and the tools built over decades – that extraordinary scaffolding meant to protect people from and during war.   My message to this Council and to the United Nations membership is simple: there is another path. Other choices are possible. They must be made. They must be made because protecting civilians, ensuring respect for the law, and ending impunity is not only a legal and moral obligation.   It is also in Member States’ shared interest. In a world where conflicts are rising and rearmament is accelerating, unrestrained force and unapologetic brutality do not make anyone safer. They put everyone at risk.   Those who believe war will never reach them, their families, or their people are living in a dangerous illusion. War does not respect borders. It does not respect privileges.   So, the law exists. The tools exist. What is needed now is the resolve, the leadership, the courage, and the moral clarity to hold the line and to push it forward.   Protecting civilians requires more than expressions of concern. Protecting civilians requires genuine commitment that translates into concrete action. To uphold the United Nations Charter and prevent disagreements from escalating into armed conflict.   To ensure respect for international humanitarian law, without exceptions, without selectivity, regardless of who the parties are. No reinterpretation. No exceptionalism. No double standards.   To avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and call out those who raze entire cities to the ground. To stop the transfer of weapons when there is a clear risk they will be used against civilians. To safeguard medical care, humanitarian personnel and journalists; not stigmatize them, not criminalize them.   To keep human control over the use of force. To steer AI and technology toward greater, not lesser, protection of civilians. To help victims seek justice. And to end impunity.   Protecting civilians in armed conflict is not charity. It is the minimum that humanity and civilization require. It is central to peace and security.   It is a responsibility of this Council and of every Member State that signed the United Nations Charter. And it is what many people around the world expect the Member States of the United Nations to do. It cannot be outsourced, it cannot be postponed, it cannot be diluted. It is the choice we have to make, now.   http://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-tells-security-council-protecting-civilians-cannot-be-outsourced-postponed-or-diluted http://www.unocha.org/news/over-1000-aid-workers-killed-often-hands-member-states-un-relief-chief-demands-action http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-president-un-security-council-open-debate-protection-civilians-armed-conflict http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-ifrc-world-red-cross-red-crescent-day-call-uphold-protections-civilians-medical-personnel-humanitarian-workers-communities-depend-on http://globalprotectioncluster.org/publications/2474/communication-materials/advocacy-note/poc-advocacy-note-civilian-protection-2026 http://civiliansinconflict.org/press-releases/joint-civil-society-statement-ahead-of-the-2026-open-debate-on-the-protection-of-civilians-in-armed-conflict/   April 2026   End impunity for violations of the rules of war - Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee   "We are alarmed by the sustained violations of the rules of war and international humanitarian law.   In just the last month across the Middle East, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, many multiple times. The numbers continue to rise and essential services are increasingly difficult to access.   Health workers, hospitals and ambulances have been targeted. Schools have been struck. Civilian infrastructure – including bridges, residential buildings, houses, water facilities and power plants – has been destroyed.   This leaves us especially concerned about women and children and others with specific needs. Global supply chains are also impacted, with food and fuel prices on the rise.   Our humanitarian colleagues have been caught up in the hostilities. Aid workers have been killed or injured in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in Iran and in Lebanon in alarming numbers, national staff and local organizations, working courageously on the humanitarian front lines every day.   We strongly condemn all attacks on civilians, including humanitarian and health workers, as well as civilian objects. We demand that all parties – whether Member States of the United Nations or armed groups – respect their legal obligation to protect civilians, including humanitarian personnel, and civilian infrastructure.   All violations must be met with accountability. Even wars have rules, and these rules must be respected".   http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-end-impunity-violations-rules-war-0 http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-ifrc-world-red-cross-red-crescent-day-call-uphold-protections-civilians-medical-personnel-humanitarian-workers-communities-depend-on   April 2026   Violence against health care in conflict   A decade after world leaders pledged to protect health workers and facilities in conflict, violence against health care has only deepened. In 2025, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition documented 2,546 attacks in 33 countries — including hospitals bombed, medical staff kidnapped, and drone strikes targeting search-and-rescue teams. Funding cuts have further gutted health services in nearly three-quarters of conflict-affected countries. Our report, Care in the Crosshairs presents the full scope of this crisis and calls on states and international institutions to act.   http://insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025-SHCC-Annual-Report.pdf http://safeguarding-health.com/2026/05/01/2026-call-to-action-to-end-violence-against-healthcare/ http://safeguarding-health.com http://insecurityinsight.org/ http://phr.org/news/with-hospitals-and-medics-increasingly-under-fire-countries-must-implement-un-resolution-to-protect-health-care-in-conflict-phr/
	Satellite images show Rapid Support Forces using ‘starvation strategy’ in Sudan by Humanitarian Research Lab, ICC, OHCHR, agencies   24 Mar. 2026   The Sudan INGO Forum is appalled by the latest drone attack on Ed Dain Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, which killed at least 64 people, including 13 children, two female nurses, one male doctor and multiple patients, and injured nearly 90 others.   This attack rendered the hospital completely non-functional, destroying essential departments including the emergency room, pediatric ward, surgery service and a stabilisation centre that was treating children with acute malnutrition and related medical complications. It was the only functioning public medical facility in Ed Dain and its destruction is cutting off lifesaving services for hundreds of thousands of civilians.   This is yet another grave violation of international humanitarian law, within a series of deadly escalations of drone attacks in recent weeks and months. Health facilities and health workers must never be targeted.   Sudan’s health system is already under extraordinary pressure. After nearly three years of war, up to 80% of health facilities in conflict-affected states have shut down, while those still operational face severe shortages of staff, medicine and essential supplies. Repeated attacks on healthcare facilities, over 200 attacks were verified by WHO between April 2023 and December 2025, have killed close to 2,000 people and injured hundreds more, the vast majority of them within the last year only.   At the same time, humanitarian funding is rapidly shrinking. According to interagency analysis, the imminent closure of legacy US-funded programs will result in the shutdown of at least 344 health facilities across 13 states, affecting an estimated 876,247 people every month. In East Darfur specifically, this loss of funding is expected to lead to the suspension of mobile clinics, primary healthcare services, and referral systems that communities depend on.   The destruction of a central facility such as Ed Dain Teaching Hospital, combined with the withdrawal of humanitarian health programming, risks creating a near-total collapse of healthcare access in the region.   The Sudan INGO Forum reiterates its urgent call on all parties to the conflict to:   Fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law and immediately cease attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and health facilities. Respect and protect medical personnel, facilities, and transport at all times. Adopt and enforce a clear no-strike policy on critical civilian infrastructure. Ensure safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access to all populations in need.   We further call on the international community to:   Strongly condemn this attack and all violations of international humanitarian law. Take urgent diplomatic action to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Sudan. Immediately increase and frontload humanitarian funding to mitigate the severe gaps created by program closures and sustain life-saving services, particularly in conflict-affected states.   The continued targeting of healthcare facilities, combined with the erosion of humanitarian service capacity, represents a devastating convergence that will cost countless lives unless immediate action is taken.   * The Sudan INGO Forum is the coordination and representation body for the international non-governmental organization (INGO) community in Sudan.   http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-drone-strike-ed-dain-teaching-hospital-represents-grave-escalation-attacks-healthcare-amid-increased-strain-health-system http://reliefweb.int/report/lebanon/statement-dr-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-who-director-general-humanitarian-crisis-and-conflict-sudan http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-deadly-escalation-drone-strikes-civilian-areas-must-end http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/sudan-war-refugees-pushed-into-hunger-as-livelihoods-collapse-across-the-region http://www.msf.org/drone-strikes-intensify-around-chad-sudan-border http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/three-years-war-have-shattered-sudans-lifelines http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/three-years-agony-sudans-children-trapped-and-carry-deepest-scars http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/un-report-documents-widespread-and-brutal-use-sexual-violence-sudan http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/05/joint-declaration-sudan-adopted-joint-fact-finding-mission-african http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/sudan-arbitrary-detention-torture-and-enforced-disappearances-fueling http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/ffm-sudan/index   10 Mar. 2026   Satellite images show Rapid Support Forces using ‘starvation strategy’ in Sudan. (Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, agencies)   Targeted attacks on farming communities by the Rapid Support Forces were intended to prevent villages producing food.   There is strong evidence that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed a war crime by depriving the villagers of north Darfur of the means to produce food, legal experts argue in a new analysis published today calling for the Humanitarian Research Lab’s (HRL) revelations to be used in international courts.   The destruction of the villages, farming equipment and infrastructure all provide strong evidence of a “starvation strategy” against a population already struggling with food insecurity because of the war, says Tom Dannenbaum, a professor at Stanford Law School and a leading expert on the use of starvation in war.   “People were at the brink of starvation and objects indispensable to their survival were being destroyed,” says Dannenbaum, who co-authored the analysis alongside Yale Law School professor Oona Hathaway.   He says it was not merely the fact the villages had been attacked but the targeted destruction of livestock enclosures, as well as the forced displacement of the farmers, that led to reduced farming activity that suggested a deliberate attempt to prevent the villages from being able to produce food.   Dannenbaum and Hathaway believe the HRL research is a breakthrough in attempts to prove how a starvation strategy was imposed because of the way it uses remote sensing technologies. They also think there is potential for the same techniques to be used to investigate war crimes in places such as Gaza and Ethiopia.   “It’s evidence of extraordinary cruelty and the real horrors people have been facing,” says Hathaway. “The report provides a unique level of fine-grained, over-time analysis documenting exactly what was attacked, going far beyond our general knowledge of the fighting … [it] is of a quality that could be submitted in a court for criminal prosecution.”   The international criminal court has been investigating genocide in Darfur since the 2000s, and has issued calls for evidence related to recent violence including the takeover of El Geneina in West Darfur in June 2023, when RSF fighters imposed a months-long siege that killed tens of thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more people from the Masalit community.   The UN human rights council has also been documenting rights violations throughout the war and last month published a report saying the RSF’s attack on El Fasher last year bore the “hallmarks of genocide”, including a siege that imposed conditions designed to destroy non-Arab communities including the Zaghawa and Fur.   There have also been investigations into the “genocidal attack” on Zamzam in April 2025, which at the time was Sudan’s largest displacement camp, hosting about 700,000 people just south of El Fasher.   HRL’s researchers used sensors that can remotely detect the presence of fires, together with satellite imagery to monitor the locations of the attacks on these 41 villages, where it found there was a 2040% increase in fires during the period studied.   A quarter of the villages were attacked more than once, and after being attacked 68% of them show no signs of normal life. The researchers found that vehicles consistent with those used by the RSF could be identified near the scenes of the violence.   The attacks on villages began just months before the siege of El Fasher. HRL researchers believe this was part of a plan to cut the city off from the areas that fed it.   “They ripped out the breadbasket of El-Fasher as an intentional strategy to starve the city,” says Nathaniel Raymond, HRL’s executive director.   During the subsequent 18-month siege of El Fasher the RSF prevented food, water and medicine from entering the city, and constructed an earthen berm at least 19 miles long to physically prevent civilians from leaving.   Throughout the war the RSF have imposed long sieges on cities with large non-Arab communities such as El Geneina and El Fasher, before militarily taking them over.   The RSF now controls all of Darfur’s main cities but its use of siege tactics has continued in its fighting against the Sudanese army elsewhere, which has most recently been focused on the neighbouring Kordofan region.   Like Darfur, Kordofan is resource-rich with supplies of gold, oil and gum arabic, a key ingredient in cosmetics and soft drinks – Sudan provides 80% of the world’s supply. It is also the location of Kadugli, a city which alongside El Fasher, has been declared as suffering famine and where the price of staple foods such as sorghum are 1,000% higher than before the war.   In February, the Sudanese army announced that it had broken a siege on Kadugli that prevented aid trucks from arriving, but violence has continued and concerns remain that the RSF will try to reimpose siege conditions. On 20 February, a convoy of aid trucks that had waited weeks to reach the city was hit by a drone strike, killing four people.   Hunger is also growing in eastern Sudan’s Blue Nile state where farmers have not been able to access their land because of RSF attacks, leaving crops unharvested according to campaign group Avaaz, which reported that the price of flour rose 43% in January.   Raymond says that HRL’s work is evidence that the RSF is using hunger as a means of war and that unless they are investigated and held accountable, there is a threat of the same fate facing other communities.   “This report is quantitative proof of RSF’s intent, which is to prevent those they perceive as enemies from being able to feed themselves,” says Raymond. “What this means for Sudan is clear: what happened here can happen again.”   http://www.justsecurity.org/131508/report-new-evidence-starvation-darfur/ http://medicine.yale.edu/lab/khoshnood/news/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2026/mar/10/extraordinary-cruelty-images-show-longterm-starvation-strategy-in-sudan   Feb. 2026   Sudan: Countdown to catastrophe in Kordofan, as world once again looks away. (NRC)   South Kordofan is now the epicentre of the war in Sudan, which has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Civilians in this part of southern Sudan face intensified fighting and near-total blockage of humanitarian supplies, after a year of starvation and bombardment, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Jan Egeland warned today.   At the end of his visit to South Kordofan, Egeland said he saw that the world was once again failing civilians in Sudan, with the clock ticking on further widespread atrocities.   “South Kordofan has become Sudan’s most dangerous and neglected frontline,” said Egeland. “After the horrors in Al Fasher, Darfur, we cannot allow another civilian catastrophe to unfold on our watch. Entire cities are being starved, forcing families to flee with nothing. Civilians here have told me they are bombed and attacked where they live, pray, and learn. This is a man-made disaster, and it is accelerating towards a nightmare scenario.”   In Kadugli and Dilling, the main towns in South Kordofan, essential supply routes have been cut, leading markets to completely collapse. Trapped civilians are left with little or no access to food, cash, or basic services. Famine is taking hold in Kadugli, with Dilling at high risk of the same..   Thousands of people are now fleeing Kordofan in desperate journeys, having to navigate across frontlines, heading toward the Nuba Mountains – a region long isolated and impoverished, and now facing renewed violence. Others are fleeing to White Nile, Gedaref, and South Sudan. Journeys take days or weeks and are marked by hunger, theft, intimidation, and abuse.   Upon reaching the relative safety of displacement camps, families sleep on the bare ground or in overcrowded shelters. Aid groups like NRC are few, over-stretched, and under-funded. Essential items are critically scarce. Children are traumatised, malnourished, and out of school.   Egeland warned that the humanitarian response is nowhere near the scale required, as international agencies remain largely absent and access constraints continue to block aid delivery.   “With most international organisations’ operations scaled back, Sudanese local responders are holding the line under extreme pressure,” said Egeland. “They are running communal kitchens, evacuating families, and delivering aid under fire. They are doing everything possible, but we must do more to help them.”   “This is a critical moment,” said Egeland. “We know exactly where this leads if the world looks away again. History will judge us if we abandon the civilians of Sudan again to face endless violence and deprivation.”   NRC is appealing to the parties to the conflict for immediate humanitarian access and protection of civilians. It is calling for urgent funding for life-saving aid, and effective international engagement to prevent further suffering.   http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/sudan-countdown-to-catastrophe-in-kordofan-as-world-once-again-looks-away http://www.msf.org/sudan-msf-treats-around-170-people-drone-injuries-two-weeks http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/un-human-rights-chief-warns-against-atrocities-sudans-kordofan-region http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/statement-operational-humanitarian-country-team-sudan-violence-kordofan-region   Feb. 2026   Child malnutrition hits catastrophic levels in parts of Sudan. (UN News, IPC)   Acute malnutrition among children has reached catastrophic levels in parts of Sudan’s North Darfur and Greater Kordofan, UN-backed analysts warned on Thursday, as conflict, mass displacement and denials of aid push the country deeper into a famine-risk emergency.   According to an alert from the IPC, a global food security monitoring system, thresholds for acute malnutrition were surpassed in two new areas of North Darfur – Um Baru and Kernoi – following the fall of the regional capital, El Fasher, in October 2025 and a massive exodus.   December assessments found acute malnutrition levels among children of 52.9 per cent in Um Baru – nearly twice the famine threshold – and about 34 per cent in Kernoi. The IPC warned that conditions are deteriorating rapidly – and action is urgently needed.   “These alarming rates suggest an increased risk of mortality,” the experts said, adding that many other conflict-affected or inaccessible areas may be facing similarly catastrophic conditions.   The IPC alert draws urgent attention to the worsening conditions. It builds on earlier IPC analyses that confirmed famine (IPC Phase 5) in El Fasher, North Darfur in 2024, and Kadugli, South Kordofan, in September 2025 – and projected famine risk in at least 20 other areas across greater Darfur and greater Kordofan.   The new findings indicate that famine-like conditions are likely spreading beyond previously assessed locations, driven by continued fighting, displacement and the collapse of food, health and water systems, IPC analysts said.   Across the country, over 4.2 million cases of acute malnutrition are expected in 2026, including more than 800,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition, representing a sharp increase from 2025 levels, according to IPC analysis.   The IPC also warned of rapidly deteriorating conditions across Greater Kordofan, where famine was already confirmed in Kadugli and severe conditions were projected in Dilling and the Western Nuba Mountains. Without an immediate end to the fighting and large-scale humanitarian access, IPC experts said preventable deaths are likely to rise.   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-143/en/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/02/1166931 http://www.unicef.org/sudan/stories/generational-crisis-looms-sudan http://www.savethechildren.net/news/children-dying-because-hunger-famine-risks-detected-two-new-locations-sudan http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-sudan-have-endured-1000-days-agony http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nutrition-survey-finds-unprecedented-level-child-malnutrition-part-sudans-north http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-warns-deepening-protection-crisis-sudan-violence-and http://www.wfp.org/news/families-sudan-pushed-brink-amidst-brutal-conflict-and-famine-wfp-resources-dry http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026/article/sudan-4   19 Jan. 2026   Atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region are spreading from town to town in an organized campaign of violence that includes mass executions, rape and ethnic targeting, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council on Monday.   Briefing ambassadors, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said the situation in Darfur had “darkened even further,” with civilians subjected to what she described as collective torture amid a widening war between Sudan’s rival military forces.   “The picture that is emerging is appalling: organised, widespread, mass criminality including mass executions,” Ms. Khan said. “Atrocities are used as a tool to assert control.”   Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between former allies the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF).   What began as a power struggle metastasised into conflicts across the country, most devastating in the Darfur region, which also saw longstanding ethnic tensions – which prompted allegations of genocide in the early 2000s – being reignited.   She said the fall of North Darfur’s regional capital El Fasher to the RSF had been followed by a “calculated campaign of the most profound suffering,” particularly targeting non-Arab communities.   The crimes, she said, include rape, arbitrary detention, executions and the creation of mass graves, often filmed and celebrated by perpetrators.   Based on video, audio and satellite evidence collected, the ICC Prosecutor has concluded that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher, particularly in late October, following a prolonged RSF siege of the city.   Ms. Khan said video footage showed patterns similar to those documented in earlier atrocities in Darfur, including the detention, mistreatment and killing of civilians from non-Arab tribes.   “Members of the RSF are seen celebrating direct executions and subsequently desecrating corpses,” she said.   The Office of the Prosecutor is also advancing investigations into crimes committed in El Geneina, where witnesses have provided accounts of attacks on displacement camps, looting, gender-based violence and crimes against children.   In 2023, El Geneina witnessed some of the worst violence of the war as RSF fighters and allied militias carried out massacres against the Massalit community, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee into neighbouring Chad.   UN officials and human rights investigators described the violence as ethnically motivated and warned of possible crimes against humanity.   Evidence now indicates that the patterns of atrocities seen in El Geneina have since been replicated in El Fasher, Ms. Khan said.   “This criminality is being repeated in town after town in Darfur,” she warned. “It will continue until this conflict, and the sense of impunity that fuels it, are stopped.”   Sexual violence, including rape, is being used as a weapon of war, Ms. Khan said, adding that gender-based crimes remain a priority for ICC investigations. She acknowledged cultural and security barriers that prevent survivors from reporting abuse, stressing the need for gender-sensitive and survivor-centred investigations.   While much of the briefing focused on RSF abuses, the Deputy Prosecutor said the ICC was also documenting allegations of crimes committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), underscoring that all parties to the conflict are bound by international law to protect civilians.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-office-prosecutor-situation-el-fasher-north-darfur http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75veyzz2g2o http://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/opinion/sudan-genocide.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/sudan-evidence-el-fasher-reveals-genocidal-campaign-targeting-non-arab http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/01/26/iccs-work-vital-for-justice-in-darfur http://www.ohchr.org/en/meeting-summaries/2025/11/human-rights-council-calls-urgent-inquiry-recent-alleged-violations   Dec. 2025 (BBC News)   Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been trying to cover up mass killings in the city of el-Fasher by burying and burning bodies, a research team from Yale University says. The RSF had drawn international condemnation amid reports of executions and crimes against humanity when its fighters captured the city in October.   Now, analysis of satellite images by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) shows the RSF likely disposed of tens of thousands of bodies after seizing el-Fasher. The RSF has not responded to the report, but its leader previously admitted his fighters had committed atrocities in the city.   The HRL's report said the RSF "engaged in a systematic multi-week campaign to destroy evidence of its widespread mass killings" and "this pattern of body disposal and destruction is ongoing".   The latest HRL report follows warnings from aid agencies about the low number of civilians who managed to succesfully flee el-Fasher after the RSF seizure. The UN estimates roughly 250,000 people were still trapped in the city, with less than half of that number thought to have arrived in external camps for displaced people:   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/sudan-rsf-violations-capture-el-fasher-amount-war-crimes http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75veyzz2g2o http://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/opinion/sudan-genocide.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/meeting-summaries/2025/11/human-rights-council-calls-urgent-inquiry-recent-alleged-violations   Nov. 2025   Atrocities in El Fasher Demand Immediate International Action. (GlobalR2P)   After eighteen months under a tightening siege, El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, has fallen to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following days of bombardment and the withdrawal of the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied groups. The RSF’s takeover has unleashed a wave of atrocities, with credible reports pointing to targeted ethnic violence, extrajudicial killings and executions – some amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and/or acts of genocide.   Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, hospitals reduced to rubble and humanitarian access completely severed. Tens of thousands of civilians are now at imminent risk of mass killings and ethnic cleansing.   On 27 October UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that his office had received reports of “the summary execution of civilians trying to flee, with indications of ethnic motivations for killings, and of persons no longer participating in hostilities.”   Satellite imagery reveals house-to-house clearance operations and evidence consistent with the presence of human bodies near RSF vehicles – grim proof of atrocities unfolding in real time.   Since the siege began, the international community has watched Sudan’s conflict escalate without taking effective or decisive action. Despite repeated warnings from the UN, human rights organizations and Sudanese civil society that the RSF’s capture of El Fasher could trigger widespread and deliberate attacks on civilians, there has been no coordinated effort to protect populations, ensure accountability or halt the flow of weapons fueling these crimes.   The UN Security Council’s paralysis – driven by geopolitical rivalries and political indifference – has once again left the people of Darfur abandoned to face mass atrocities alone.   This is not only a humanitarian emergency; it is an atrocity crisis deepening by the day. The fall of El Fasher marks a critical point of no return. Without immediate and decisive action, the city could soon become the site of another mass atrocity etched into Darfur’s tragic history. It is unacceptable for the world to stand by once again as civilians are hunted, starved and killed.   We therefore call upon the international community to urgently:   Demand and enforce an immediate cessation of hostilities in and around El Fasher and other conflict hotspots. Unequivocally condemn deliberate attacks on civilians and make clear to the RSF and its supporters that all civilians in, around or attempting to flee El Fasher must be protected.   Develop diplomatic strategies to overcome barriers to humanitarian access, including flexible funding for rapid procurement of essential items, transport and emergency supplies, and creative approaches to accelerate aid delivery to communities trapped in El Fasher.   Halt the transfer of arms and financial support to parties to the conflict. Urge the United Arab Emirates to use its influence over actors in Sudan to halt attacks on civilians, uphold international humanitarian and human rights law and refrain from providing material, financial or political support to the RSF. Enhance oversight and tracking of weapons sold to the UAE to ensure they are not diverted for use in atrocities.   Call on the UN Security Council, particularly Sierra Leone, Somalia, Algeria and Russia, to actively and constructively engage in crafting a robust resolution with concrete measures to protect civilians.   Every government, every leader and every institution has the capacity – and the responsibility – to act. Whether through diplomacy, humanitarian assistance or public pressure, there are avenues to make a difference. Silence and inaction are choices. In the face of such horror, they are indefensible.   http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/mounting-atrocities-in-el-fasher-demand-immediate-international-action/ http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/inter-agency-standing-committee-statement-sudan-call-urgent-international-response http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/no-child-safe-al-fasher http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/november/sudan-one-month-after-the-attacks-on-al-fasher-children-arrive-in-tawila-without-parents-and-traumatised http://www.msf.org/people-who-escaped-el-fasher-are-struggling-survive-one-month-after-rsf-takeover http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/11/sudan-el-fasher-survivors-tell-of-deliberate-rsf-killings-and-sexual-violence-new-testimony/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/11/sudan-un-experts-appalled-reports-mass-atrocities-unlawful-killings-and http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/11/14/sudan-accountability-crucial-to-stop-atrocities-in-el-fasher-and-prevent-further http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/11/1166253   http://www.who.int/news/item/29-10-2025-who-condemns-killings-of-patients-and-civilians-amid-escalating-violence-in-el-fasher--sudan http://www.emro.who.int/sdn/crisis/index.html http://genevasolutions.news/human-rights/these-atrocities-were-preventable-un-backed-investigator-on-sudan-s-el-fasher http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-displaced-civilians-fleeing-sudan-s-darfur-kordofan-regions-navigate http://www.msf.org/urgent-appeal-people-el-fasher http://raoulwallenbergcentre.org/en/news/2025-10-29 http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/october/sudan-carnage-in-al-fasher-must-end http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-office-prosecutor-situation-el-fasher-north-darfur http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-137/en/ http://www.nrc.no/feature/2025/al-fasher-a-calculated-campaign-of-destruction http://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/31/sudan-rsf-accused-pr-stunt-after-arresting-fighters-behind-civilian-killings http://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/28/mass-killings-reported-el-fasher-sudan-paramilitary-group-rapid-support-forces   27 Oct. 2025   Sudan: Appalling reports of summary executions and other serious violations, as RSF makes major territorial gains in El Fasher and North Kordofan. (OHCHR)   The UN Human Rights Office is receiving multiple, alarming reports that the Rapid Support Forces are carrying out atrocities, including summary executions, after seizing control of large parts of the besieged city of El Fasher, North Darfur and of Bara city in North Kordofan state in recent days.   “In El Fasher, reports indicate an extremely precarious situation since the RSF yesterday announced its takeover of the army’s 6th Infantry Division,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.   “The risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El Fasher is mounting by the day. Urgent and concrete action needs to be taken urgently to ensure the protection of civilians in El Fasher and safe passage for those trying to reach relative safety.”   The Office has received reports of the summary execution of civilians trying to flee, with indications of ethnic motivations for killings, and of persons no longer participating in hostilities (hors de combat).   Multiple distressing videos received by UN Human Rights show dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters who accuse them of being SAF fighters.   Hundreds of people have reportedly been detained while trying to flee. Given past realities in North Darfur, the likelihood of sexual violence against women and girls in particular is extremely high.   The Office has also received reports of numerous civilian deaths, including of local humanitarian volunteers, due to heavy artillery shelling from 22 to 26 October. It is difficult to estimate the number of civilian casualties at this point, given communications cuts and the large number of people fleeing.   Amid severe food shortages and exorbitant prices, the Office has also received disturbing reports of the summary execution of men by RSF fighters for attempting to bring food supplies into the city, which has been under RSF siege for 18 months.   Summary executions of civilians by RSF fighters are also being reported in Bara city, North Kordofan state in western Sudan, after it was captured by the RSF on 25 October following a major offensive. The victims were reportedly accused of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces. Reports suggest that dozens of civilians have been killed.   “The RSF must urgently take concrete steps to end and prevent abuses against civilians in both El Fasher and Bara, including ethnically motivated violence and reprisal attacks,” Turk said. “I remind the RSF commanders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians and to ensure the passage of essential supplies and humanitarian assistance – which just days ago they again publicly committed to doing.”   The High Commissioner underlined that international humanitarian law prohibits violence against individuals no longer participating in hostilities (hors de combat). The use of starvation as a weapon of war is also strictly prohibited.   Turk reiterated his call on Member States with influence to act urgently to prevent the commission of large-scale atrocities by the RSF and allied fighters, and to intensify pressure to end this intolerable conflict.   Ensuring accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law by all parties to the conflict is critical to ensure fresh cycles of violations and abuses do not recur.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/11/sudan-turk-fears-more-atrocities-darfur-warns-kordofan-could-be-next http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/sudan-appalling-reports-summary-executions-and-other-serious-violations-rsf http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/10/1166200
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