21 May 2025 | Royal Suites Hotel, Kampala, Uganda, Darfur Network for Human Rights Joined FIDH and ACJPS in launching their latest report, “We Demand Justice. We Deserve Justice,” which critically explores the justice and accountability mechanisms available to Sudanese victims and survivors of atrocities. This report asks a vital question: are these avenues truly delivering truth, justice, and reparations? At the heart of this event, titled “Voice of Survivors,” was a powerful address by Mohamed Adam Hassan, Executive Director of the Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNHR)—a survivor himself—who brought to light the human cost of inaction in Darfur. His testimony underscored the urgency of meaningful, victim-led justice at every level: national, regional, and international.
Sabah al khair, everyone.
My name is Mohamed Adam Hassan, and I am the Executive Director of the Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNHR). Our organization is dedicated to monitoring, documenting, and reporting human rights violations across Sudan, with a particular focus on the Darfur region. We produce detailed reports and engage in advocacy with regional and international bodies, including the UN Fact-Finding Mission, various UN entities—especially the Special Procedures Branch—and the International Criminal Court. We also support victims through legal assistance and community-based awareness campaigns.
I speak to you today not just as a human rights defender, but as a survivor—someone who has seen with his own eyes the devastation inflicted upon my people in Darfur.
For over two decades, Darfur has been a land marked by bloodshed and betrayal. But the crimes we are witnessing today—since the war reignited in 2023—are of a new and horrifying scale. In places like Zamzam, Abushuk, El Fasher, and Nyala, the violence has become systematic. Entire camps of displaced people have been shelled. Women are being raped with impunity. Children are dying—not only from bombs, but from hunger, disease, and fear.
I have met mothers who buried their children with their bare hands. I have heard the silence of men who lost everything and now say nothing because the pain has no words.
As part of the Darfur Network for Human Rights, we document these crimes. We gather the testimonies, even when it’s dangerous, because we believe the world must know—and must act. But the most painful truth is that many survivors no longer believe justice is coming. They feel forgotten. Betrayed by those who promised “never again” after the genocide of 2003. And yet, we are here. We are speaking. We are demanding that justice be more than a slogan.
Our expectation is simple: accountability. We want the perpetrators—no matter their rank, no matter their title—to stand trial. We want international courts to act. We want the United Nations, the African Union, and the international community to protect civilians and stop the killing. And we want Sudanese voices—especially those of victims—to lead the process of truth, justice, and reconciliation.
We are not asking for pity. We are asking for action. For principled, sustained, and meaningful justice. Because justice is not only about punishing guilt, but also about restoring the dignity of the victims.
My hope is that in my lifetime, I will return to a peaceful Darfur. Where no child will cry from hunger. Where no mother will fear losing her child to war. And where we will live—not just survive—with dignity and freedom.
Thank you.
About the Report
The report “We Demand Justice. We Deserve Justice” critically analyzes the justice and accountability mechanisms available to Sudanese victims. It asks a fundamental question: Are these mechanisms truly responding to the needs for justice, truth, and reparations?
With survivor voices at its center, the report explores national, regional, and international approaches—and what more must be done to ensure justice is not just possible, but real.