(On 15 July 2026, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan addressed the United Nations Security Council on the Situation in Darfur, Sudan, virtually from The Hague. Below is a transcript of her remarks.)
Mr President, thank you for the opportunity to brief the Security Council today.
Please allow me to also express my thanks to his Excellency the Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations for his attendance. Mr. President, Excellencies, last week I was in Eastern Chad, hearing directly from just a small fraction of the Darfuris affected by the harrowing cycles of suffering that continue to be inflicted upon them.
In refugee camps in Goz Beida and in Farchana, I sat with Darfuri women, men and children to hear their experiences, and to address how the process of justice can help stem the ongoing violations suffered by their communities. Those I met with included displaced Darfuris from the camps of Adre, Arkoum, Aboutengue, Metche, Alacha, Kerfi, Goz Amir, and Zabout, who travelled, despite their own difficult circumstances, to meet with me and my team.
These conversations were deeply impactful, and I must admit, difficult. The victims I spoke with continue to bear the consequences of being driven from their homes. Living in conditions of acute hardship, they struggle each day to provide food, water and education for their children, while longing to return in safety and dignity to their homeland.
There is real despair in those camps. A clearly and repeatedly-stated belief that they have been forgotten by much of the world. That their lives are not given equal value, that the depth of their suffering has not been met with a meaningful response.
And the specific, individual experiences of pain they shared with us reflected the collective agony of the people of Darfur, including:
– Those who saw their parents die, who saw their mothers raped in front of their very eyes;
– People who were sacrificed as if they were livestock;
– Men huddled into prisons and burnt or buried alive;
– Women who spoke of being raped repeatedly and;
– Children directly attacked, raped, and traumatized by what they have seen.
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I call on all States in this Council, all members of the United Nations, and all partners for accountability, to heed the voices of the victims that I have shared with you today, and to join us at this crucial moment for the people of Darfur.