On the escalation of the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan

B100533/2025

European Parliament resolution on the escalation of the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan

(2025/2984(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with both factions seeking to take control of state institutions and resources;

B. whereas since April 2023, nearly 12 million people have been forcibly displaced by the conflict; whereas this figure includes over 7.2 million internally displaced persons and more than 4.2 million refugees, asylum-seekers and returnees who have fled to neighbouring countries; whereas credible estimates suggest that tens of thousands of civilians have been killed since the start of the hostilities, with researchers placing the toll between 20 000 and 150 000, though the true number remains unknown because of restricted access and under-reporting; whereas in the past month alone, renewed violence has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee, including at least 36 825 from North Kordofan and nearly 89 000 from North Darfur following the fall of El Fasher; whereas UN agencies have confirmed famine conditions in El Fasher (North Darfur) and Kadugli (South Kordofan), with at least 20 other areas at imminent risk; whereas neighbouring host countries, including Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, are severely overstretched by the continuous influx of refugees; whereas Egypt has received EUR 4 billion in macro-financial assistance from the EU, including EUR 200 million specifically earmarked for migration; whereas Egypt nonetheless fails to provide adequate support for Sudanese refugees in Egypt, thus encouraging them to move onwards to the EU;

C. whereas El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, was seized by the RSF in late October 2025 following an 18-month siege; whereas credible reports indicate that the RSF and affiliated militias have committed grave violations, including killings, sexual violence, forced displacement, and attacks against non-Arab communities;

D. whereas the World Health Organization and other independent monitoring groups reported that more than 460 patients and their companions were shot and killed inside the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher on or around 28 October 2025 after the RSF entered the facility; whereas UN human rights experts and satellite imagery investigations have documented abductions, summary executions, forced disappearances and other grave abuses of civilians trying to flee the besieged city of El Fasher;

E. whereas the situation in Kordofan has deteriorated significantly; whereas on 3 November 2025, an aerial strike near El Obeid killed at least 40 civilians attending a funeral; whereas large segments of the civilian populations of El Obeid and Kadugli remain trapped and have no access to aid; whereas the RSF has used starvation as a method of warfare, including by besieging towns, destroying crops and food stocks and deliberately blocking humanitarian relief in Darfur and Kordofan;

F. whereas the International Criminal Court (ICC) and UN human rights mechanisms have launched renewed evidence-gathering efforts in light of the latest atrocities; whereas civil society organisations have called for urgent findings to be published and for those responsible to be named;

G. whereas regional actors, such as the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, have condemned the continuing violence and called for a political solution to the conflict;

H. whereas armed groups have attempted to establish de facto administrative structures in territories under their control, undermining efforts toward a unified civilian-led transition and further fragmenting Sudan’s governance landscape;

I. whereas multiple credible sources have highlighted the involvement of foreign actors in fuelling the conflict; whereas the United Arab Emirates, among others, has been accused of providing military and logistical support to the RSF, including during recent offensives; whereas the Russian militia Africa Corps has been shown to be supporting the RSF directly;

J. whereas international humanitarian efforts continue to be hampered by insecurity, blockades and targeted attacks on aid convoys and health workers;

K. whereas the EU remains one of the largest donors to Sudan, allocating EUR 270 million in humanitarian assistance to the country in 2025 alone; whereas this support is vital in saving millions of lives, but remains insufficient given the immense and growing needs, with more than 21 million people facing acute food insecurity and with famine conditions continuing to spread;

L. whereas women and children remain disproportionately affected by the conflict, facing heightened risks of sexual violence, malnutrition, forced displacement and the collapse of essential services; whereas conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence has increased markedly; whereas the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan has documented that RSF fighters have perpetrated rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage and racially targeted abuse, including against girls as young as 12; whereas according to UNICEF, conflict-related sexual violence was approximately 160 % higher in the first half of 2025 than in the same period in 2024;

M. whereas credible human rights organisations have documented that many Sudanese people have been denied access to national identification documents and passports, including on ethnic, geographical or political grounds; whereas this practice has left large numbers of Sudanese people at heightened risk of exclusion, restrictions on movement and rights violations;

N. whereas Sudanese civil society, human rights defenders and independent journalists face systematic threats and attacks from all sides;

O. whereas the international response remains fragmented, despite the growing scale of the crisis;

Human rights violations and accountability

1. Strongly condemns the grave and systematic violations of international humanitarian law and human rights committed by both the SAF and the RSF, including indiscriminate attacks against civilians, ethnically targeted violence, sexual violence, torture, deliberate starvation tactics, and the use of child soldiers;

2. Deplores the combatants’ widespread and systematic use, as war tactics, of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, including rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage; calls for urgent, survivor-centred responses, including medical, psychosocial and legal support; urges all parties to immediately end these abuses and to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable; underlines the need to prioritise the protection of women and children in all humanitarian and peacebuilding responses;

3. Deplores the mass killings, executions and sexual violence perpetrated in El Fasher and its surroundings during and after the RSF assault; expresses deep concern at reports of continued abductions and of a lack of humanitarian access; condemns, in particular, the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, including the destruction of mosques and churches, and calls for religious minorities to be protected and their right to worship safeguarded;

4. Condemns the airstrike near El Obeid on 5 November 2025, which targeted a funeral gathering and resulted in the deaths of at least 40 civilians; urges all parties to immediately halt attacks against civilian gatherings and infrastructure;

5. Reiterates the urgent need for full, independent and transparent investigations into all atrocity crimes; calls on all parties to grant UN agencies, humanitarian workers and international observers immediate and unimpeded access to those affected;

6. Stresses the importance of documenting crimes and preserving evidence for future prosecution proceedings, including through cooperation with the ICC and the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan; notes that the ICC Prosecutor is actively collecting evidence about the atrocities in El Fasher and the UN Human Rights Council has mandated the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan to investigate recent mass killings;

Humanitarian access and response

7. Expresses its full solidarity with the people of Sudan and pays tribute to local, voluntary and international humanitarian workers operating under extreme conditions, including mutual aid groups such as the Emergency Response Rooms;

8. Demands the immediate cessation of hostilities and the opening of safe humanitarian corridors, particularly into El Fasher, Kadugli and El Obeid, monitored and verified by the United Nations and the African Union to ensure compliance; stresses that the EU must actively promote and support a verifiable ceasefire as a prerequisite for any sustainable peace process;

9. Calls on the RSF and SAF to remove all blockades and cease attacks on humanitarian convoys; insists that cross-border and cross-line assistance be facilitated without bureaucratic hindrance; recalls that the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian assistance and the use of starvation as a method of warfare constitute war crimes under international law; recalls that no administrative fees, taxes or other impediments may be imposed on humanitarian actors, who must be granted unconditional, safe and sustained access to affected populations;

10. Urges the EU and its Member States to increase humanitarian funding, with a focus on food security, maternal health, protection from gender-based violence, and education;

11. Calls for effective international support for countries neighbouring Sudan that are hosting Sudanese refugees, paying particular attention to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt; underlines that such support should be tied to clear human rights benchmarks and must be used effectively for refugee protection and basic services, as failure to ensure this undermines regional stability and contributes to onward irregular migration; notes that more than 1.1 million Sudanese people have fled to Chad, about 1.3 million to Egypt and roughly 580 000 to South Sudan;

Accountability and international justice

12. Welcomes the ICC’s expanded investigation and reiterates the need for all states to cooperate fully, including by arresting and surrendering suspects; notes the ICC’s conviction, in October 2025, of a person for war crimes committed during the 2003-2004 Darfur genocide, and its ongoing collection of evidence about the current atrocities; calls for increased cooperation and resources to enable the ICC to effectively pursue investigations into ongoing atrocity crimes;

13. Calls on the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Sudan and to sanction individuals and entities responsible for grave violations; notes that the existing arms embargo is limited to Darfur and urges its expansion to cover the whole of Sudan;

14. Recalls that given the growing body of evidence of mass atrocities in and around El Fasher and the consistent pattern of RSF abuses over the past two and a half years, the RSF’s actions might amount to a crime of genocide; acknowledges that the International Court of Justice considered that it was not competent to process the application filed by Sudan against the United Arab Emirates; urges the EU’s Member States and institutions, nonetheless, to engage diplomatically with all actors, including the United Arab Emirates, on the need to take all reasonable measures within their power to prevent genocide at the hands of the RSF in El Fasher and elsewhere; stresses that this must include direct diplomatic engagement with the United Arab Emirates;

15. Urges the EU to apply targeted sanctions under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime to key RSF and SAF commanders, including Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Muhammad Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo and their respective networks, as well as to financiers and external enablers, for their responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law; notes that 10 individuals and 8 entities have been sanctioned to date, but not top commanders; stresses that the failure to sanction senior RSF leaders undermines the effectiveness and credibility of the EU’s restrictive measures;

16. Calls on the Council to urgently trigger the procedure to evaluate whether the RSF fulfils the criteria for inclusion on the EU’s restrictive ‘terrorist list’, ensuring a rigorous review of the substantial evidence of its actions and, if justified, proceeding to a unanimous designation by the EU Member States;

17. Stresses the need for a responsible approach regarding EU exports of arms and dual-use items to countries neighbouring Sudan; calls for the strict enforcement of end-use controls and the suspension of exports to states that may divert arms into the Sudan conflict;

18. Calls for strengthened due diligence and traceability mechanisms for gold and other natural resources entering the EU market, in order to prevent the financing of the conflict in Sudan by illicit supply chains linked to armed groups;

19. Demands an immediate halt to all foreign support for the warring parties; urges the EU and its Member States to adopt targeted measures in response to third-state interference that fuels violations of international humanitarian and human rights law;

20. Further stresses that external support by foreign states or private actors, including but not limited to the United Arab Emirates, has directly enabled atrocities and obstructed peace efforts; calls for an end to all military, financial and logistical assistance to the warring parties; recalls that the provision of such assistance may constitute a breach of international obligations under arms embargoes and international humanitarian law;

21. Urges the Council, and specifically its Foreign Affairs Council configuration, to adopt concrete measures, including targeted sanctions, increased humanitarian support, and diplomatic engagement with regional actors;

22. Calls for a full, independent international investigation into war crimes and other serious violations committed in Sudan, including those involving foreign complicity; stresses that accountability must extend to all perpetrators and their enablers;

23. Emphasises the EU’s legal and moral responsibility to respond to the crisis in Sudan; recalls that silence or inaction in the face of mass atrocities undermines the credibility of EU foreign policy and violates the EU’s commitments under the Treaties and international law; calls for the EU to significantly strengthen its restrictive measures against those responsible for grave violations and to step up diplomatic pressure on them;

Political solution and engagement

24. Reiterates that there is no military solution to the conflict and that sustainable peace requires a comprehensive, inclusive, civilian-led political process; stresses that any political settlement must exclude arrangements that entrench the military or the RSF/SAF leadership in power, and must instead lay the foundations for a democratic transition and accountable governance;

25. Welcomes the commitment made in the Council conclusions of 20 October 2025 that the EU will ‘work together with partners to advance concrete measures for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure’; calls on the Commission and the Council to translate this commitment into urgently needed action, including robust support for initiatives to physically protect civilians, encouragement for the UN Secretary-General to assess how the UN can strengthen civilian protection, and engagement with the UN, the African Union and regional organisations to urgently consider the deployment of a mission mandated to protect civilians and monitor and report violations of international humanitarian and human rights law;

26. Urges the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to step up their mediation efforts and ensure the meaningful participation of women, youth, ethnic minorities, civil society, and representatives of marginalised communities in all stages of the peace process; underlines that women-led organisations in Sudan are playing a central role in humanitarian response and peacebuilding, and must receive dedicated, flexible financial support from the EU;

27. Calls for the development of a coordinated international peace plan for Sudan, led by the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development with strong EU backing, which sets out clear benchmarks for a ceasefire, humanitarian access, accountability, security arrangements, and a timeline for a return to civilian rule; stresses that this process must be Sudanese-owned and grounded in the principles of non-discrimination and human rights;

28. Stresses that transitional justice must be a central pillar of any sustainable peace process in Sudan, ensuring accountability, the recognition of victims, and the restoration of trust between communities and the state; highlights the important role of truth-seeking mechanisms and the meaningful participation of victims and civil society in shaping these processes;

29. Welcomes the joint statement issued by the Quad (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States) on 12 September 2025 on ending the conflict in Sudan and recalls that the Quad remains the sole recognised mediation format for this conflict; expresses support for the efforts of the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to coordinate international and bilateral pressure on all parties to secure a ceasefire, improve humanitarian access and relaunch an inclusive political dialogue, in cooperation with partners such as the EU, the League of Arab States and the United Nations;

30. Stresses that the EU’s current restrictive measures are important, but remain clearly insufficient to halt the ongoing atrocities; calls, therefore, for deeper and sustained diplomatic engagement, notably through the EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, Annette Weber, together with concrete accountability measures targeting both the perpetrators and their accomplices around the world; calls, in addition, for the appointment of an EU Special Envoy for Sudan, with a robust mandate to coordinate EU action, liaise with regional partners, facilitate diplomatic engagement and ensure consistent support for Sudanese civil society, human rights defenders, journalists and democratic actors;

31. Calls for increased EU support to Sudanese civil society, media, human rights organisations and humanitarian responders, including through long-term core funding, protection mechanisms, and capacity-building for local peace and reconciliation initiatives;

32. Reiterates the need to ensure that Sudanese civilians fleeing violence have access to asylum and protection pathways; encourages the development of humanitarian visas, temporary protection mechanisms and expanded opportunities for family reunification, paying particular attention to women, unaccompanied minors and survivors of sexual violence;

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33. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces, the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.