The suffering in the region, Khan said, is so severe that "one struggles to find words" to describe the conditions people face. The UN had previously referred the Darfur atrocities from 2002 to the ICC for investigation. However, after civil war returned to the country in 2023, the court reopened its investigations, conducting interviews with survivors and refugees in neighbouring Chad.
Gathering Evidence of Crisis Mounting and Deepening
Khan said that researchers are also developing a "clear pattern of offences" and working to transform the numerous testimonies into evidence that can be presented in court. The crisis has been the subject of international attention, and the United States formally declared in January 2025 that genocide had been carried out by the RSF and their allied militias.
The RSF has rejected all such accusations and denies it has ever taken part in any targeted violence, describing the conflict as a "tribal dispute".
Whether they've been denied or not, the situation in Darfur has continued to worsen. Hospitals, aid convoys and civilians are among those being targeted, UN agencies say. The town of Al-Fasher has been completely encircled by forces of the RSF, all transportation of desperately needed humanitarian assistance has been cut, and the cholera outbreak similarly implicates an already unstable water supply.
The famine is being worsened by the crisis. Between January and May 2025, during just those five months, four times as many children received treatment for severe acute malnutrition, more than twice the number as in the same period a year earlier. UNICEF's Sheldon Yett said: "It is war that starves children, that denies millions of people access to life-saving aid, and it cannot be allowed to continue.
Human Cost and Disquiet Among Prosecutors
The broader human cost of that conflict has been staggering. More than 150,000 people have been killed over the past two years, and nearly 12 million have been driven from their homes.
Deputy Prosecutor Khan: "The conditions are exceptionally fragile; it can escalate if not addressed. "We should not be under any illusion — things can still be worse," she said.
As the demand for accountability and justice intensifies, the ICC presses on with the elemental work of making its case against the alleged perpetrators of the reign of terror across Darfur. But amid continuous violence and restricted access across affected regions, the road ahead is grim and uncertain.
