With more than a million lives at risk in Sudan, the UN must make a decisive intervention. If not now, when? | Andrew Mitchell

This is a critical time for global leadership. There must be an urgent plan and a firm resolve, and UK ministers must demand action

The situation in El Fasher, North Darfur, has become a humanitarian catastrophe. As fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalates, more than 1.5 million people, including those in the Zamzam internal displacement camp, are at immediate risk. The threat of crimes against humanity is real and urgent. Civilians in the region are facing dire conditions, with mass violence, displacement and a paucity of essential resources.

On the other side of the world, in New York, the high-level week of the 79th United Nations general assembly is beginning, gathering the world's leaders to address the most pressing international challenges. While the Middle East and Ukraine are set to dominate the agenda, we must not let the crisis in Sudan be ignored. The meeting is a pivotal opportunity - indeed, a responsibility - for collective action to ensure that the international community lives up to its obligation under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework to help protect populations from destruction. Failure to do so risks the lives of more than a million people.

Andrew Mitchell is the shadow foreign secretary