Kampala, Geneva, Port Sudan, Nairobi.
With voices driven by hope, human dignity, and justice, the Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy, along with its collaborating and coordinating civil society organizations, expresses its deep appreciation and sincere support for the opening statement delivered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, during the 59th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, which convened in Geneva on 16 June and will continue until 11 July 2025.
The Nubian Center also highly values the powerful and honest testimonies delivered in the oral update by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan (FFM Suda), represented by its Chairperson Judge Mohamed Othman Chande, Professor Joy Ezeilo, and legal expert Ms. Mona Rishmawi, along with their dedicated team, who courageously and transparently conveyed to the world the bitter truth of the grave human rights violations taking place in Sudan amidst media blackout, misinformation, complicity, and neglect.
Believing in the urgent and unconditional need for justice, redress for victims, and an end to the humanitarian catastrophe and senseless war, we reaffirm our full and unconditional support for the Fact-Finding Mission. We call for the strengthening and expansion of its mandate and the extension of its work, including all complementary and coordinated international mechanisms, for no less than three years. This is due to the ongoing war, the worsening of gross human rights violations, and the refusal of the warring parties to cooperate with the Mission or allow it access to victims within Sudan. Additionally, some countries have denied the Mission entry to interview more victims and witnesses who fled the war.
We also warmly welcome the important statement issued today, 19 June, by Mr. Radhouane Nouicer, the UN Expert on the human rights situation in Sudan, appointed to monitor and improve the situation following the coup against the democratic civilian transition. His statement exposed the horrors of sexual violence, gender-based violence, sexual slavery, and the use of food for sex as tools of war, oppression, and persecution. He revealed that the UN documented 368 conflict-related incidents of sexual violence since the outbreak of war on 15 April 2023, involving more than 521 victims-most of them women and girls-many of whom endured horrific gang rapes, often with a vile ethnic-based nature.
We at the Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy strongly condemn these crimes and hold the de facto authorities accountable-ethically and legally-in areas under their control or presence. We call on them to submit official, documented testimonies regarding the violations they reference in their statements against other parties, and to refrain from exploiting the suffering of the Sudanese people for empty political propaganda. They must allow the Fact-Finding Mission entry into their controlled areas to reach victims, witnesses, and affected communities.
We reiterate our unwavering support for the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan and call on all victims, survivors, witnesses, and the wide spectrum of human rights organizations and civil society to submit their written and documented testimonies about the atrocities witnessed in Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict on 15 April 2023-violations which continue to this day-through the official channels:
Secure email for submissions: submissions-ffmsudan@un.org
Or the general email: ffmsudan@un.org for inquiries or to arrange sending large digital files securely, or through UN offices in Port Sudan, Nairobi, or Geneva.
If direct contact with the Mission is not possible, please reach out to the Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy via email at:
info@nubian-cpd.com, mohamed.yassin@nubian-cpd.com, or humanrights4sudan@gmail.com
We will assist in connecting you directly to the Mission. Please note that the final deadline for submissions is 30 June 2025.
Submitting testimonies by victims or witnesses is not only a courageous act in the face of injustice, but a crucial step toward ensuring rights during accountability processes, activating mechanisms to combat impunity, and enabling reparations, redress, and justice-be it retributive, transitional, or transformative. Properly documented testimonies remain lasting evidence that does not expire with time. Therefore, we urge civil society organizations, especially local ones, to take up the responsibility of rigorous, impartial documentation and safe, professional preservation of evidence, especially in the absence of a reliable justice system in Sudan. We also remind human rights defenders-and those who protect them-of the importance of ensuring physical, psychological, and legal protection for victims and witnesses so they are not left alone in the face of violence, fear, and marginalization.
In this context, we stress that the statement made by the Attorney General of the de facto authorities in Port Sudan before the Human Rights Council in Geneva does not absolve them of their direct responsibility to protect civilians and provide evidence to international and regional justice mechanisms-particularly regarding the horrifying figures on mass graves and the thousands of victims of rape. They must enable people to access justice, not block their path. This includes allowing the Independent Fact-Finding Mission immediate and unconditional access to Sudan and ceasing all forms of pressure or threats against countries hosting Sudanese refugees to prevent the Mission from interviewing them. The entire world now knows that what has been committed in Sudan before and during this conflict constitutes genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. There is no escape for those responsible except through truth, accountability, reconciliation, compensation, and redress.
The Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take into account the exceptional circumstances that the Sudanese people are enduring-in displacement, exile, and diaspora-due to ongoing armed conflict, escalating violations, absence of justice, and the collapse of legal, health, and support systems in Sudan. The obstacles faced by witnesses and whistleblowers are growing, and we urge the OHCHR to extend the submission period to a more appropriate time frame in order to do justice and provide a greater opportunity for victims to break their silence.
No peace without justice, and no justice without the voices of the victims.
Let our voices be the bridge of salvation for the victims, the lens that documents the truth, and the tool for long-awaited justice.
The Nubian Center for Peace and Democracy
19 June 2025