Yale lab provides evidence for genocide determination in Sudan
The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab utilized satellite imagery and evidence from civilians to document the conflict.

YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor
The U.S. Department of State released a press statement on Jan. 7, 2025 announcing their determination of genocide in Sudan. The statement also announced action from the Department of the Treasury to impose sanctions due to human rights violations in the region.
The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, or HRL, played a vital role in the creation of this statement. The HRL has been documenting attacks by both the Rapid Support Forces — RSF — and the Sudanese Armed Forces — SAF — since the start of the conflict in 2023.
“We documented the massacres in El-Geneina of Masalit people, and we know that information both public and private, was considered as part of the first atrocity determination, which came out in December of 2023 by the state department,” Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the HRL, said. “This genocide determination builds upon that and references activities which were documented by the HRL.”
The 2025 press statement is currently moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable on the State Department website.
Beginning in April 2023, violent conflict erupted between the SAF and the RSF, resulting in the displacement of more than 11.5 million people. Since the initial attack in Darfur, a region in Western Sudan, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated, causing people in regions like el-Geneina and el-Fasher to flee to neighboring countries and other parts of Sudan.
The HRL has been documenting the attacks and destruction of over 100 predominantly Masalit and Zaghawa communities across Darfur. Initially, the HRL worked with the State Department’s Sudan Conflict Observatory program, and left to work independently in February 2024.
“We left the State Department Program on Sudan to ensure that we could monitor the situation in el-Fasher in the surrounding area and independently warn and report on the attacks that we thought was about to happen in the spring of 2024,” Raymond told the News. “We went independent so we would be in position to monitor al-Fashir independently of the U.S. government.”
Researchers at the HRL utilized thermal scarring analysis, satellite imagery and open-source data analysis. Thermal scarring is evidence from satellite imagery that a fire is burned in an area. When the HRL is trying to ascertain whether or not arson has occurred, a crucial step in providing evidence for the genocide determination, the HRL uses thermal anomaly sensors, like visible infrared imaging radiometer sensors, or VIIRS, from NASA. Researchers then visually analyze burn patterns to determine if fires could have been caused by arson.
Sudanese civilians have also been documenting alleged crimes by the RSF and SAF, making them key actors in data collection and contribution for the HRL.
“The majority of these posts are just by everyday civilians, who are living the realities of war and documenting them,” said Bayan Abubakr GRD ’25, a history doctoral student. “There is a long legacy of organized resistance movements in Sudan.”
This evidence gathered by the HRL was utilized by the The U.S. Department of State and the Treasury to create sanctions and release the genocide determination. The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the leader of the RSF, Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, under Section 7031 (c), which further prevents Mousa and his family members from entering the U.S. They also sanctioned some companies located in the United Arab Emirates.
The New York Times reported in 2023 that officials from the U.S., Europe and multiple African countries accused the United Arab Emirates of providing arms to the RSF via a remote military base located in Chad.
According to the press statement, the attacks violated International Humanitarian Law, the Code of Conduct authored by the Advancing Lifesaving Peace in Sudan Initiative and the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan.
The press statement from the Biden Administration’s State Department, recognizing the attacks in the Darfur region of Sudan as genocide, came nearly twenty months after the current conflict broke out in April of 2023.
“The attack in al-Geneina bore all the hallmarks of genocide: targeted, ethnic killing, intent to destroy a group. The work of the Humanitarian Research Lab has showed that was happening as far back as summer 2023,” David Simon, director of Yale’s Genocide Studies Program, told the News.
With their reports, the HRL can continue to provide evidentiary support for the International Criminal Court and other bodies to take action against the RSF.
The HRL is part of the Yale School of Public Health.