Speaking before the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed, particularly targeting women and girls from specific ethnic communities.
“There is an inescapable pattern of offending, targeting gender and ethnicity through rape and sexual violence,” Khan said, emphasising that the ICC’s work aims to transform such suffering into legally admissible evidence.
Her remarks come as the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies, driving Darfur deeper into a humanitarian catastrophe.
The ICC’s Darfur Unified Team has conducted multiple field missions, particularly in refugee camps in Chad, collecting more than 7 000 items of evidence.
The Court has also increased collaboration with civil society organisations and victim groups, and has placed renewed focus on prosecuting gender-based crimes, backed by its dedicated gender unit.
Meanwhile, humanitarian conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate. According to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, aid convoys are under attack, hospitals are being bombed, and civilians are being deliberately denied food, water and medicine.
In one recent incident, five aid workers were killed in North Darfur. In West Kordofan, airstrikes killed over 40 people, including patients and healthcare staff.
In El Fasher, North Darfur’s capital, RSF forces have reportedly besieged the city, cutting off civilians from essential services. A cholera outbreak is now spreading across the region and into neighbouring Chad and South Sudan, worsened by the rainy season contaminating water supplies.
Despite immense operational obstacles, including obstruction, underfunding, and non-cooperation by certain states, Khan reaffirmed the ICC’s resolve to pursue justice.
She pointed to the pending verdict in the trial of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, as a milestone in the fight against impunity.
“They should understand, we are working intensively to ensure that this trial is only the first of many,” Khan warned.
--UN/ChannelAfrica--
