Resolution on the escalation of the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan

The European Parliament adopted by 503 votes to 32, with 52 abstentions, a resolution on the escalation of the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan.

The text adopted at plenary was tabled by the EPP, ECR, Renew and Greens/EFA groups.

As a reminder, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that began in April 2023 has evolved into the world’s biggest and gravest humanitarian and protection crisis, causing mass displacement (both internally and into neighbouring countries) – with more than 7.2 million people displaced internally and more than 4.2 million refugees, asylum seekers and returnees fleeing to neighbouring countries – food insecurity and widespread human rights violations. Nearly two thirds of Sudan’s population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, including 16 million children, in a context marked by mass displacement, famine, widespread attacks on civilians and humanitarian and medical workers, and the collapse of essential services.

In addition, the war is sometimes considered a proxy war in which Sudan has become the battlefield for competition for natural resources such as gold, gum arabic, iron ore, copper and uranium. Parliament has already called on all actors to increase transparency and to effectively ban the entry of all blood minerals into the EU.

Parliament condemned the grave atrocities committed by the RSF in El Fasher and across the rest of Sudan, including widespread, ethnically targeted killings and violence, rape and sexual enslavement, torture, enforced disappearances,

attacks on hospitals and humanitarian facilities, and the deliberate starvation of civilians, possibly constituting acts of genocide. It also condemned the escalating violence in Sudan and the grave violations of international law committed by all parties.

The resolution called for:

- urgent, survivor-centred responses, including medical, psychosocial and legal support;

- all parties to immediately end these abuses and to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable;

- the protection of women and children to be prioritised in all humanitarian and peacebuilding responses;

- all external actors to take the necessary measures to end the sale or supply of arms and other military equipment to all parties;

- all parties to engage in meaningful dialogue to end the conflict and establish a transition to civilian democratic governance;

- all third-party actors to support diplomatic actions to secure a cessation of hostilities;

- safe humanitarian corridors be opened, particularly into El Fasher, Kadugli and El Obeid, and that these be monitored and verified by the United Nations and the African Union to ensure compliance;

- all parties to immediately end the widespread use of rape and all other forms of sexual and gender-based violence as weapons of war;

- countries neighbouring Sudan to open their borders to Sudanese refugees, and for the EU and its Member States to rapidly increase emergency funding for the humanitarian response in Sudan and in refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

Concerned by the effects of the Sudanese crisis on irregular migration flows towards Europe, Parliament urged the Council and the Commission to maintain and increase the EU’s humanitarian commitment of EUR 273 million for Sudan and the region, ensuring that funds reach those most in need. The resolution also urged the EU to apply targeted sanctions under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime and on the Council to urgently trigger the procedure to evaluate whether the RSF fulfils the criteria for inclusion on the EU’s restrictive ‘terrorist list’.