The war in Darfur has prompted many human rights violations and other crimes against humanity. It is alleged that these crimes are the doings of the Arab militia Janjaweed who are working for the Sudanese government. The Janjaweed are accused of forcing people to move out of their homes and killing thousands of others.

Human rights groups contend over the crimes and violations in Darfur whether it can be classified as genocide. Human rights group rally that international sanction and action must be taken against the Sudanese government. The United States has used the term genocide to describe the recent killings in the country. Assuming that the war in Darfur is genocide, the United Nations are prompted with a legal obligation to act against the Sudanese government.

Despite these allegations, the United Nations urge that the term genocide should not be used lightly to describe the situation in Darfur. It is said that while there are rampant killings in the African nation, these are war crimes committed by the Sudanese government and the allied militias against civilians. These actions are not genocide as the term genocide pertain to acts committed with the intent to destroy national, racial, ehtnic or religious groups.

They had been contentions and numerous debates about whether the situation in Darfur warrants international action as it constitutes genocide.

Sudanese authorities claim a death toll of roughly 19,500 civilians  while certain non-governmental organizations, such as the Coalition for International Justice, controversially claim that over 400,000 people have been killed.

In January 2010, The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters published an article in a special issue of The Lancet. The article, entitled Patterns of mortality rates in Darfur Conflict, estimated, with 95% confidence, that the excess number of deaths is between 178,258 and 461,520 (the mean being 298,271), with 80% of these due to diseases.

51 International peacekeepers have been killed in Darfur.