Civilian fatalities in Sudan’s ongoing conflict skyrocketed by more than 150% in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to a dire UN assessment released this week. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk described the violence as “ugly, bloody, and senseless,” with over 11 million people displaced since fighting erupted between government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023.
Turk condemned both warring factions for rejecting humanitarian truces and criticized foreign backers for fueling a “high-tech” conflict. Documented civilian killings surged sharply last year, with thousands more cases unresolved due to missing or unidentified victims. Sexual violence reached alarming levels, with 500+ cases of rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery reported in 2025 alone—a tactic Turk said weaponizes “the bodies of Sudanese women and girls to terrorize communities.”
The RSF’s April 2025 attack on Zamzam displacement camp and October’s assault on El-Fasher—the army’s last Darfur stronghold—were singled out as particularly brutal. A coalition of foreign ministers at the UN Human Rights Council accused RSF-led forces of committing war crimes and acts “bearing the hallmarks of genocide.”
As the conflict enters its fourth year, analysts warn of regional destabilization, while aid groups struggle to address what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
