The ICC's jurisdiction must go beyond Darfur: the violence in the rest of Sudan is part of the same pattern of conduct
- Mariana Goetz
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
On 19 January 2026, the ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan briefed the UN Security Council about the Prosecutor's investigation in Darfur. Rights for Peace has been arguing that the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction for the whole of Sudan insofar as there is a sufficient link between crimes to be investigated and those subject in the initial referral by the Security Council to the International Criminal Court in Resolution 1593 (2025).
On 3 December 2025, Rights for Peace, with lawyers from Hogan Lovells LLP, submitted an Article 15 Communication to the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) setting out how the Court has jurisdiction over the entire territory of Sudan based on Security Council resolution 1593 (2005) which referred the Situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. Territorial jurisdiction beyond Darfur came up at the Security Council briefing on 19 January, with at least one state also arguing in favour of an expansive interpretation to jurisdiction.
Our Communication to the ICC Prosecutor argues that, while Sudan is not a State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC may exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed in the whole of the Sudanese territory or committed by Sudanese nationals, by virtue of the existing Security Council referral made in 2005, insofar as there is a sufficient link between the situation referred in the Resolution and the alleged crimes.
In March 2005, while seized of the situation in Sudan, on the basis that it constituted a threat to international peace and security, the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur, rather than the whole of Sudan, to the Office of the Prosecutor, in Resolution 1593. Our Communication shows that, based on the conduct encompassed by that Resolution, the Court’s jurisprudence and interpretation of the territorial and temporal parameters of situations, Resolution 1593, provides jurisdiction over crimes committed post-April 2023 in Darfur as well as other regions in Sudan, insofar as there is a sufficient link between the situation referred in the Resolution and alleged crimes.
Our Communication provides facts that demonstrate this link, connecting crimes in Darfur from 2003-4 with crimes in other parts of Sudan such as Gezira state and the Kordofans, as examples of the same pattern of ethnically motivated persecution against non-Arab groups that amount to crimes against humanity.
Since the outbreak of civil war in April 2023, atrocities committed by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been documented in West Darfur, Gezira State, and South Kordofan. These attacks exhibit the same strategic use of hate speech, identity-based profiling, targeting and persecution of communities such as the Fur, Masalit, Zaghawa and Nuba, repeating patterns of conduct consistent with earlier Darfur crimes. These facts meet the specific and contextual elements of persecution under Article 7(1)(h). Command structures, continuity of perpetrators, and similar patterns of conduct reinforce the link to the 2005 situation referred to the Court. The submission requests that the ICC Prosecutor extend the scope of its investigations beyond Darfur to other regions where similar crimes are ongoing.
At least one country at the Security Council briefing on 19 January 2026, namely France, raised territorial jurisdiction and encouraged the ICC Deputy Prosecutor to extend the Office's investigation. The United Kingdom emphasised the importance of cooperation, in particular the arrest and surrender of ICC Suspects Omar Al Bashir, Abdel Raheem Hussein, and Ahmad Harun.
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