Mr. President, 
Distinguished participants,

Global attention is being pulled in many directions by escalating crises.

We must be clear: Sudan cannot be forgotten.

The conflict has deepened and expanded, marked by a sharp increase in the use of armed drones by the warring parties. Civilians are enduring devastating new levels of suffering.

Between January and May 2026, our Office documented more than 1000 civilians killed by drone strikes. These account for some 80 percent of all conflict-related civilian deaths recorded by our Office this year.

Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have launched drone strikes across the country, repeatedly hitting civilian infrastructure, including in areas where there had not been active hostilities.

In the first five months of this year, our Office documented at least 16 drone strikes on health facilities and 33 on markets. In one of the deadliest attacks, a strike on Ed Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur in March killed more than 60 civilians. In January, a drone attack on a market in Dilling in South Kordofan killed at least 12 civilians.

Attacks have taken place mainly in Kordofan and Darfur and are also spreading to Blue Nile, White Nile and Khartoum.

Patterns of repeated aerial strikes, including by drones, on markets, health facilities, and water and energy infrastructure, raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law and undermine the rights to health, food and water.

Drone warfare is terrifying for civilians, who do not know whether the next strike will hit their neighbourhoods, markets, health centres, or vehicles as they flee.

As hostilities escalate in border areas, including North Darfur and Blue Nile states, the risk of regional spillover and destabilisation rises.

Mr. President,

Sexual violence has reached unprecedented levels in scale and brutality, including gang rape, sexual torture and sexual enslavement. Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war – to terrorise and to punish based on perceived affiliation and ethnic identity. We will issue a report in the coming days that documents and analyses the systematic use of sexual violence in this conflict.

Since the start of the war, our Office documented more than 830 victims of sexual violence – mostly women and girls, but also men and boys – in 16 out of the 18 States of Sudan. This is just the tip of the iceberg, given what we know about the obstacles to reporting these attacks.

Accountability for these horrific crimes is virtually absent. This impunity fuels repeated cycles of sexual violence and deepens trauma. It will scar communities and society for generations.

Grave human rights violations and abuses by all parties are compounding what is already the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Some 34 million people need aid. Since the start of the war, more than 14 million people have been displaced from their homes, within and outside of Sudan.

Fleeing violence by no means guarantees safety; it often adds another layer of risk. On their journeys, civilians face arbitrary detention, abduction for ransom, sexual and gender-based violence, and summary executions. Our Office has also documented numerous drone strikes on vehicles transporting civilians.

Survival for millions of Sudanese largely depends on the courage and solidarity of their communities and local humanitarian responders. Networks of volunteers are doing what they can to fill gaps, including distributing food through community kitchens, and supporting displaced people and vulnerable families, often at great personal risk. These local humanitarian responders must be protected from attacks and arbitrary detention.

Those who might provide scrutiny and promote accountability must also be protected. Our Office has received credible reports that warring parties have abducted and threatened journalists, media workers and other members of civil society.

Hundreds of journalists have fled the country since the start of the war, which creates an information vacuum in which propaganda and conspiracy can thrive. Parties to the conflict are weaponizing information.

Against this backdrop, the work of our Office to document, verify, and bring to light violations and abuses – and to stand with civil society – is crucial.

Mr. President,

This litany of violations and the rampant impunity are not random. This war is sustained by its own terrifying rationale.

Domestic and foreign players are exploiting Sudan’s vast natural resources, including gum arabic and gold.

Global exports of gum arabic have long been an important source of income for Sudan’s people, as this product is widely used in candy, medicines and cosmetics. Today, the parties to the conflict are fighting for control of this resin, as well as gold and livestock. They are enriching themselves and bankrolling war crimes at the expense of the Sudanese people.

In parallel, foreign powers and suppliers are providing drones and other advanced weapons – which Sudan itself cannot manufacture – reaping gains of all sorts, while further entrenching this senseless war.

Mr. President,

This war is already spilling over Sudan’s borders. Any further escalation would be dangerous for the region and beyond.

All attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop immediately. All countries need to ensure full compliance with the UN Security Council’s arms embargo in Darfur. Across the entire territory of Sudan, all countries need to prevent the transfer of arms, including drones, that are being used with manifest disregard for the protection of civilians.

Stronger diplomatic and political pressure is crucial to push the parties towards a humanitarian truce that leads to a permanent ceasefire, followed by a transition to inclusive civilian rule.

The High Commissioner has shared human rights-based confidence-building measures with the parties and with those involved in mediation efforts. They reinforce protection and accountability as core components of any pathway to peace.

The international community needs to do everything it can to break the cycle of impunity. This includes States supporting the work of the International Criminal Court with respect to crimes in Darfur and making full use of universal jurisdiction to ensure justice for victims.

We also urge States to advocate for the Security Council to refer the situation in the whole of Sudan to the International Criminal Court.

Governments must strengthen oversight and traceability of resources that are being used to fuel the conflict. Companies need to ensure their supply chains do not contribute to violations and abuses.

Sudan is built on the diversity of its people. The leaders of the warring parties are cynically shredding the social fabric, with consequences that will echo through generations.

The international community needs to act urgently – to protect the Sudanese people and to avert an even wider crisis.

Thank you.