PRESS RELEASE : UN Human Rights Council 55 – Core Group Statement on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan [March 2024]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 1 March 2024.

UK statement for the Enhanced Interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in the Sudan (with assistance of designated Expert). Delivered by UK Human Rights Ambassador, Rita French.

Madame Vice-President,

This statement is on behalf of the Core Group for Sudan – Germany, Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Thank you, High Commissioner and Mr Nouicer, for your continued reporting on the situation in Sudan to this Council, and your engagement with the warring parties and other key actors to push for an end to the fighting.

Madame Vice-President,

We welcome the strong statements from the international community condemning the continued violence and supporting the need for accountability, including the latest resolution from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, which welcomed the establishment of the Fact Finding Mission.

The situation in Sudan is catastrophic.  No part of the country, or indeed any neighbouring country, has been unaffected.  We again call on the leaderships of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to stop the fighting, end the obstruction of humanitarian assistance, implement immediately the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, and start talking peace rather than waging war.

We will continue to support all efforts to silence the guns and achieve justice, particularly those by the UN, African Union (AU), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Sudanese civilians and other key actors, in the hope that Sudan might finally know a lasting peace and a democratic future, with full respect for human rights.

Thank you.