The Nine Thousand Unnamed Detainees of Shala Prison in Sudan

• In October 2025, the city of El Fasher in Darfur fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after an eighteen-month siege.
• UN special procedures have identified an allegation of approximately 9,000 individuals arbitrarily detained at Shala Prison.
• There is no public list of these 9,000 people; their current status, location, and mortality rate remain unverified.

The Humanitarian Crisis

• Nearly 19.5 million people in Sudan suffer from acute food insecurity, with 825,000 children facing severe malnutrition.
• Healthcare systems have collapsed, leaving 40% of facilities non-functional and 17 million people without access to safe water.
• Women and girls face a systematic campaign of sexual violence, abduction, and displacement used as a tool of war.

Global Arms and Geopolitical Interests

• Investigative reports show that foreign-manufactured weapons—including those from China, Russia, Turkey, Serbia, and the UAE—are fueling the conflict.
• Powerful nations like the U.S., China, and Russia maintain significant influence, yet their responses remain limited by strategic interests rather than consistent human rights advocacy.
• The "war economy" created by resource exploitation has decimated Sudan’s GDP, with an estimated $39 billion in losses by 2043 compared to peace-time projections.

Call for Action

• International mechanisms require urgent, independent access to Shala Prison.
• Priorities include establishing a verified registry of detainees, documenting deaths in custody, and reuniting survivors with their families, regardless of the ongoing geopolitical negotiations.