Over 200 victims of sexual violence have been reported in Sudan between April 2023 and November 2024, with a sharp increase in pregnancies and births resulting from rape, APA has learned.
In a new report published Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) denounced the surge in sexual violence in Sudan where the civil war between paramilitaries and the army continues to ravage the country.
The report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights revealed a worrying increase in sexual violence, with approximately 120 incidents documented between April 2023 and November 2024, affecting at least 203 victims, including 162 women and 36 girls.
“The persistent use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in Sudan is deeply shocking,” said Volker Türk, the UN’s human rights chief, upon the report’s release.
“The parties must take urgent steps to stop it, so that perpetrators are held accountable and survivors get redress,” he added.
The report emphasises that sexual violence follows the geographic evolution of the conflict, which has pitted the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane since April 2023.
However, many cases of sexual violence remain unreported due to victim stigmatisation, fear of reprisals and the collapse of medical and judicial institutions.
Reports of pregnancies and children born as a result of rapes have increased fivefold compared to the previous period.
These pregnancies often occur after rapes committed against women and girls held in
near-slavery conditions by the RSF and their affiliated militias in the Darfur region.
Service providers have reported the difficulties faced by pregnant survivors in obtaining safe and legal abortions or in finding adoption solutions for children.
Sexual violence, according to the report, is particularly targeted against the “Masalit community” in the state of West Darfur, often for “ethnic” reasons.
More than half of the documented rapes were gang rapes, a consistent trend since April 2023, revealing a coordinated use of sexual violence by the RSF and affiliated Arab militias.
In February 2024, five paramilitaries took turns to gang-rape a woman in South Darfur, explaining that the order of their turn was determined by their rank, as testified by a survivor.
The report also highlights summary executions motivated by ethnic considerations, attacks on densely populated areas, displacement camps, health centres, markets and schools.
At least 12 journalists were killed, including two in detention and 31 were arbitrarily
detained, including four women.
“Some of these acts may amount to war crimes,” Türk said.
“They must be investigated promptly and independently, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice,” he added.
In 2024, more than 4,200 civilian killings were documented in the conflict, although the total number of victims is likely much higher, according to the study.
To curb abuses, the UN human rights chief called on the international community to extend the arms embargo and expand the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court – currently limited to the Darfur region – to the whole of Sudan.
ODL/te/lb/jn/APA