Sexual violence in Sudan’s civil war reached ‘shocking’ levels: UN

Women and girls are being trafficked as sexual slaves, and children are not spared from abuse, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission in Sudan said in a new report.

“There is no longer a safe place in Sudan,” investigation head Mohamed Chande Othman said in a statement.

The war has been ongoing since April 2023 between the Sudanese army (SAF) led by the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

The civil war has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Sudan is experiencing a “nightmare” of hunger, violence, disease and “unspeakable atrocities”, UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

The war has resulted in thousands of deaths, injuries, widespread displacement and the destruction of homes, schools and hospitals, the fact-finding mission said on Tuesday.

“As the fighting intensifies, the situation continues to be dire, causing great suffering to civilians,” the statement said.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, approximately 11.3 million people have been displaced from their homes by war; Among them, nearly three million fled out of Sudan.

More than 25 million people, more than half the population, face acute hunger.

– War crimes –

The delegation noted that the SAF, RSF and allied militias “committed large-scale violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, many of which may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.”

Both sides arbitrarily arrested and detained people and engaged in torture that amounted to war crimes.

“Both prevented civilians in need from accessing humanitarian aid,” the delegation said.

The report accused both parties of sexual violence, but said RSF was behind the “vast majority” of documented cases.

The panel said RSF was responsible for “sexual violence on a large scale”, including “gang rapes and the abduction and detention of victims in conditions amounting to sexual slavery”.

The report also stated that the RSF and its allies committed a number of other war crimes and crimes against humanity, including “the abduction, recruitment and use of children in hostilities” in an environment of systematic plunder and looting.

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– Terrorism and punishment –

“The extent of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering,” said Othman, Tanzania’s former chief justice.

“The situation facing vulnerable civilians, especially women and girls of all ages, is extremely worrying and needs to be addressed urgently.”

Such abuses were “part of a pattern aimed at terrorizing and punishing civilians for perceived links to dissidents and suppressing any opposition to their military advances”.

In the West Darfur region, sexual violence was carried out “particularly brutally, with firearms, knives and whips.”

The report said: “First-hand sources reported the rape of eight-year-old girls and 75-year-old women.”

Victims were often subjected to “punching, bludgeoning, and whipping before and during the rape”; sexual violence often occurred in the presence of victims’ relatives.

The delegation said it had received reliable information “about rape and gang rape of men and boys”.

– Civil protection force –

The three-member mission, headed by Othman, was established by the UN Human Rights Council in October 2023 and is tasked with investigating all alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the conflict.

Tuesday’s 80-page report expands on the mission’s initial report to the rights council in September.

The mission called for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire.

They renewed their call for the deployment of an independent force with a mandate to protect civilians.

The delegation also said that the arms embargo imposed on Darfur and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over the region should be expanded to the entire country, and former president Omar Al Bashir should be handed over to the ICC.