Sudan: 288% Surge in Violence Against Women and Children
Youssef Abdullah
With the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023, the country has turned into a theater of violations, witnessing one of the worst waves of systematic sexual violence in its modern history. In effect, the bodies of women, girls, and children have become open battlefields.
Alongside the brutal conflict and the utter disregard for morality, these violations have been further fueled by the collapse of justice mechanisms, the absence of deterrent laws, and the breakdown of state institutions and the security and judicial systems, according to experts analyzing this horrific phenomenon.
Estimates published by UN and human rights organizations monitoring these violations indicate that over 12 million people inside Sudan (a quarter of the population) are directly at risk of gender-based violence. This is an alarming and staggering increase of around 288% compared to the periods before the outbreak of the war, which has now entered its third year between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In reality, the hidden violations—suppressed for social reasons or out of fear—are likely far greater than what has been documented by organizations and institutions. No one can fully grasp the scale of the social catastrophe arising from children born of rape, who are left without an identity.
Even with these unreported crimes, documented reports confirm the occurrence of more than 400 verified cases of rape committed between April 2023 and mid-2024. UNICEF, for example, announced in March 2025 that there were 221 confirmed cases of child rape, some involving children under the age of five.
In Darfur, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) indicated that 659 survivors of sexual violence received care between January and March 2025. In East Gezira State alone, about 71 rape cases were recorded within just two months, including 37 cases in the city of Rufaa.
The sheer scale of both reported and hidden violations suggests that these were not isolated acts committed by untrained soldiers but rather systematic uses of rape as a weapon of war. Reports indicate that more than 97% of the documented rapes were committed by RSF forces in various areas under their control, including cases of gang rape, rape in front of family members, and the forced marriage of underage girls.
All of these violations against children and women continue, while plans to halt them and achieve justice and redress for the victims remain vague aspirations, with no one seeming to consider them a priority. And therein lies the ongoing disaster.
