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06-03-2025
Warning:
(This article contains details of sexual violence that some people may find distressing)
UNITED NATIONS/ KHARTOUM: Armed men are raping and sexually assaulting children as young as one during Sudan’s civil war, says the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
So traumatized are the survivors that some say they have attempted to end their lives.
Mass sexual violence has been widely documented as a weapon of war in the country’s nearly two-year conflict but UNICEF’s report is the first detailed account about the impact of rape on young children in Sudan.
A third of the victims were boys, who typically face “unique challenges” in reporting such crimes and seeking the help they need.
UNICEF says that, although 221 rape cases against children have been officially reported since the start of 2024, the true number is likely to be much higher.
Sudan is a socially conservative country where huge societal stigma stops survivors and their families from speaking out about rape, as does the fear of retribution from armed groups.
The UNICEF report provides an appalling window into the abuse of children in the country’s civil war.
Perhaps its most shocking revelation is that 16 of the victims were under the age of five years, including four infants.
UNICEF does not say who is responsible, but other UN investigations have blamed the majority of rapes on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), saying RSF fighters had a pattern of using sexual violence to terrorize civilians and suppress opposition to their advances.
The RSF, which is fighting this war against its former allies, the Sudanese Armed Forces, has denied any wrongdoing.
“Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell. “Millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war. This is an abhorrent violation of international law and could constitute a war crime. It must stop.”
According to evidence presented by international human rights groups, victims in the RSF’s stronghold of Darfur were often targeted because they were black African rather than Arab, apparently with the aim of driving them out of Sudan.
The UN humanitarian response for Sudan is already underfunded. Recent cuts in US aid are expected to reduce programs to help the victims even further.
Harrowing details in UNICEF’s report underscore the dire situation.
“After nine at night, someone opens the door, carrying a whip, selects one of the girls, and takes her to another room. I could hear the little girl crying and screaming. They were raping her,” recalls Omnia (not her real name), an adult female survivor who was held by armed men in a room with other women and girls.
“Every time they raped her, this girl would come back covered in blood. She is still just a young child. They only release these girls at dawn, and they return almost unconscious. Each of them cries and speaks incoherently. During the 19 days I spent there, I reached a point where I wanted to end my life.”
UNICEF says the attacks included armed men storming homes and demanding that the girls be surrendered, raping some of them in front of their loved ones. (Int’l News Desk)
