The civil war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been ongoing for over two years, with almost unimaginable consequences for the inhabitants.
In a statement on Friday, Türk, who is the UN Human Rights Commissioner based in Geneva, said that the war is "escalating" and that there is complete "impunity for human rights abuses" when crimes are committed by the two warring parties in the country.
The situation is particularly serious in the provincial capital al-Fashir (El-Fasher) in North Darfur, where the RSF is carrying out extensive and violent attacks, and where the paramilitary group "has recruited new fighters, including child soldiers".
"The world has witnessed, for far too long, how the terrible atrocities are worsening in Sudan. No one is telling the story of the suffering of the Sudanese people. Civilians must be defended at all costs. Violence and crimes must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable," urged the Austrian lawyer Türk.
There are no official figures on how many civilians have been killed in the civil war, but it is a matter of tens of thousands in the conflict that the UN describes as "the worst humanitarian crisis" in the world at present. Over 13 million inhabitants have been forced to flee their homes, of which four million have fled the country.
