UN experts condemn attacks on Sudan healthcare system – JURIST

UN experts on Monday decried the ongoing attacks on Sudan’s hospitals and medical personnel, calling on the international community to take concrete action to protect the country’s collapsing health care system.

The UN experts highlighted that systematic attacks on Sudan’s health care system have been ongoing. The attacks persist despite the unanimous adoption of resolution 2286 in 2016, which “strongly condemns attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport.”  The experts suggest that the worsening situation is a consequence of the international community’s inaction to ensure accountability and compliance with international law.

In April, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Denise Brown, commented on the international community’s inaction and the role this has played in Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. She called the situation  “an abandoned crisis.”

The World Health Organization reports 217 attacks on health care infrastructure and workers in Sudan since 15, April 2025. Most recently, the March 20 attack on Al Deain Teaching Hospital resulted in 64 casualties, including 13 children. UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, says that attacks on healthcare facilities “directly undermine the right to health” and “may also amount to international crimes”.

Since the three-year war erupted, Sudan has been facing what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crisis.” It reports that roughly 34 million people require humanitarian assistance, with 14 million displaced population and 19 million facing starvation. Worse, 10 million children are deprived of the right to education. The UN also voiced concern that the war in Iran may exacerbate the crisis further, as “half of Sudan’s fertilizer comes from the Gulf.”

The UN experts warned that Sudan’s health system will collapse without action, adding: “protection without accountability remains meaningless.” They called on the international community to uphold their obligations under Resolution 2286 by taking concrete actions to end attacks on healthcare instead of issuing mere condemnations.