Sudan Enabling Environment Snapshot

Reporting period: October 2025-May 2026

Since the outbreak of armed conflict in Sudan in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the enabling environment for civil society has continued to deteriorate. Between October 2025 and May 2026, violence and violations against civilians escalated alongside increasing restrictions targeting civil society organisations, humanitarian actors, journalists, and human rights defenders and this has intensified, particularly in Khartoum, Darfur, Blue Nile, and South Kordofan. By the end of 2025, civic space in Sudan was downgraded from being rated as “repressed” to closed in the CIVICUS Monitor. EmergencyResponse Rooms (ERRs), which emerged as community-based initiatives providing humanitarian assistance since the outbreak of war, have faced growing pressure, including funding suspensions, surveillance, security interrogations, and arrests of volunteers and humanitarian workers.

The reporting period also witnessed the closure or suspension of several civil society organisations, including humanitarian and development organisations in Darfur, due to administrative and security restrictions. Cases of arbitrary arrest targeting women activists and journalists were documented, alongside criminal proceedings against lawyers and human rights defenders in connection with public statements and civic activities.

In some conflict-affected areas controlled by armed actors, restrictions on freedom of movement and discriminatory practices based on ethnic identity were reported, in addition to increasing threats against humanitarian workers. Armed attacks and insecurity have also directly affected the ability of local organisations and community initiatives to provide essential services to civilians.

Overall, the situation reflects a severe shrinking of civic space in Sudan amid ongoing armed conflict, growing security interference, and the absence of adequate protection for fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.