In a letter released ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 56th session (HRC56, 18 June-12 July 2024), over 70 NGOs urge the Council to extend the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) it created in October 2023 to respond to the crisis in Sudan.
As the armed conflict that broke out in the country on 15 April 2023 continues, with risks of further atrocities, and impunity is a key driver of cycles of violence, “facilitating accountability is a sine qua non to fight and deter violations,” the signatories write. The FFM is a key mechanism in this regard.
Since the FFM was established, however, the UN’s liquidity crisis has worsened due to a record number of states having failed to pay their membership dues in full. Seven months after its establishment, the FFM remains significantly under-staffed. As a result, the written report it is due to present to the Council at its 57th session (HRC57, 9 September-9 October 2024) will not, for reasons that are beyond its control, be truly comprehensive.
For all these reasons, the letter’s signatories urge the Council to extend the FFM’s mandate to allow it to pursue its work and to make clear that it will remain actively seized of the matter.
- Read the letter in English (PDF).
- Lire la version française (PDF).