Women and ladies in Sudan’s Darfur area are dealing with an alarming prevalence of sexual violence amid ongoing battle, in keeping with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
The group reported that survivors, together with youngsters as younger as 5, have recounted harrowing experiences of rape and assault, typically perpetrated by armed teams.
“Women and girls do not feel safe anywhere. They are attacked in their own homes, when fleeing violence, getting food, collecting firewood, and working in the fields. They tell us they feel trapped,” stated Claire San Filippo, MSF emergency coordinator.
“These attacks are heinous and cruel, often involving multiple perpetrators. This must stop. Sexual violence is not a natural or inevitable consequence of war; it can constitute a war crime, a form of torture, and a crime against humanity,” she added.
Between January 2024 and March 2025, MSF supplied care to 659 survivors of sexual violence in South Darfur. Of these, 86% reported being raped, 94% had been ladies and ladies.
Around 56% of survivors recognized their assailants as members of army, police, or different safety forces, or non-state armed teams. Additionally, 55% reported experiencing extra bodily violence in the course of the assault. Alarmingly, 31% had been underneath 18, with 7% youthful than 10 years previous.
The disaster extends past Sudan’s borders. In jap Chad, which hosts over 800,000 Sudanese refugees, MSF handled 94 survivors between January and March 2025 in Wadi Fira Province, 81 of whom had been underneath 18.
In Adre, practically half of the 44 survivors handled since January had been youngsters.
Survivors’ testimonies reveal the brutality of the assaults. A 17-year-old rape survivor recounted: “When we arrived in Kulbus, we saw a group of three women with some RSF (Rapid Support Forces) men guarding them. The RSF also ordered us to stay with them. They told us, ‘You are the wives of the Sudanese army or their girls.’ … Then they beat us, and they raped us right there on the road, in public. There were nine RSF men. Seven of them raped me. I wanted to lose my memory after that.”
Access to medical and psychological care stays restricted. Survivors typically face boundaries akin to stigma, concern of retaliation, and lack of companies.
One 27-year-old girl in jap Chad shared: “I cannot say anything to the community because it will be a shame for my family. So, I didn’t say anything about what happened to me before today. I’m only asking for medical help now. I was too afraid to go to the hospital. My family told me, ‘Don’t tell anybody.'”
In response, MSF has applied community-based packages in South Darfur, coaching midwives and healthcare employees to offer emergency contraceptives and psychological first support, and to facilitate referrals to clinics and hospitals.
Since this system’s inception, there was a big improve in ladies and adolescents in search of care.
MSF emphasizes the pressing want for opponents to guard civilians and for humanitarian companies to be scaled up.
“Access to services for survivors of sexual violence is lacking and, like most humanitarian and healthcare services in Sudan, must urgently be scaled up,” stated Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency medical supervisor.
“People – mostly women and girls – who suffer sexual violence urgently need medical care, including psychological support, and protection services,” she added.
The group calls on all events concerned within the battle to uphold their obligations underneath worldwide humanitarian legislation and to make sure the security and dignity of all civilians.
Source: www.dailysabah.com