The Subcommittee on International Human Rights met to study the human rights situation in Sudan, hearing from former minister Khalid Omer, strategist Amjad Taha, Raoul Wallenberg Centre representatives Yonah Diamond and Mutasim Ali, Sudanese Canadian Community Association board member Ranya Elfil, pharmacy technician Sadia Araa, and founder Irwin Cotler.
Khalid Omer, former minister in Sudan's civilian transitional government, argued the war stems from decades of military rule and Islamist ideology that denied Sudan's diversity, and he said both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are illegitimate products of the Bashir regime that aborted the 2019 democratic transition. He called for coordinated international pressure on both sides to accept a humanitarian truce as a first step toward a negotiated civilian transition, and he stressed that any support for either warring party is a betrayal of the Sudanese people.
Amjad Taha, a strategist, traced the conflict to Sudan's history of civil wars since 1955, asserting that the SAF became the armed forces of the Muslim Brotherhood and committed grave violations including the use of child soldiers and denial of humanitarian access. He argued that foreign states including Turkey, Iran, and Russia are arming the SAF, and he called for a ceasefire and an end to arming all parties, disagreeing with witnesses who focused blame on the RSF alone.
Yonah Diamond, senior legal counsel at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre, said the RSF's atrocities amount to genocide and a war on children, and he urged Canada to formally recognize the genocide, stop Canadian-made weapons from reaching perpetrators, impose targeted sanctions, confront the United Arab Emirates for backing the RSF, take legal action at the International Court of Justice, tighten scrutiny of gold supply chains, increase humanitarian aid and immigration measures, and launch an all-party coalition for Sudan. He noted that Canadian-owned company Streit Group should be investigated for arms embargo violations.
Mutasim Ali, legal adviser at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre, said the war continues because of external funding, and he recommended cutting off perpetrators from funding sources, initiating legal proceedings against complicit states, using universal jurisdiction to hold perpetrators accountable, and expanding the International Criminal Court's mandate to cover all of Sudan. He disagreed with any portrayal of the conflict as simply a civil war, calling it genocide, and he said the culture of impunity, including the failure to extradite ICC indictees during the transition, enabled the atrocities.
Ranya Elfil, board member of the Sudanese Canadian Community Association, focused on Canada's immigration pathway for Sudanese, saying it has been plagued by delays with processing timelines of up to 99 months, and she called for it to be made a separate urgent initiative. She also urged Canada to close loopholes allowing Canadian-made arms to reach the RSF, to hold Canadian weapons manufacturers accountable, and to ensure trade deals with the UAE are grounded in human rights principles given credible allegations of UAE backing for the RSF.
Sadia Araa, a registered pharmacy technician from El Fasher, described the RSF's massacre at a hospital in her hometown, where patients were executed and blood filled the hallways, and she said the international community's failure to act gave a green light to the perpetrators. She called for justice and accountability for those responsible, and she argued that Sudan's resources, particularly gold exported to the UAE, should benefit a civilian government rather than fuel the war.
The committee heard no procedural debate, motions, or votes during the meeting.
AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.