UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed concern Friday over the deepening human rights crisis in and around El Fasher in North Darfur, calling for civilians to be allowed to leave and to be protected by both warring parties.

Through a press release, Türk stated that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have intensified their offensive, killing at least 481 civilians in North Darfur since April 10, attacking humanitarian personnel, and causing an increase in cases of sexual violence.

Türk noted that women, girls, and boys are being “raped or gang raped there” trying to escape attacks, water sources are being cut, and medical workers are facing severe attacks from the fighting.

According to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, parties must ensure the safety of people taking no active part in the hostilities, the wounded, and the sick, and the taking of hostages is prohibited.

Article 4(2)(e) of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions (1977) prohibits attacks on “person dignity,” namely humiliation, degrading treatment, enforced prostitution, and rape.

Since April 2023 North Darfur has turned into a battleground between the Sudanese Army and the RSF, a paramilitary group primarily composed of the Janjaweed, an Arab nomad militia group.

According to Human Rights Watch, both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF have committed war crimes, contributed to famine, and attacked hospitals, with thousands of civilians dying as a result of the fighting.

Between 2003 and 2005, around 200,000 civilians died in Darfur as a result of “attacks, disease, and starvation,” with the US State Department labeling it a genocide in 2004. In 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for former Sudan president Omar Al Bashir on five counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of genocide.