By Children as young as 1 are being raped and sexually assaulted by armed forces in Sudan, where a bitter civil war has been raging for almost two years, according to a new report by the United Nations children’s agency.
The first comprehensive account illustrating how mass sexual violence is being wielded as a weapon of war against children inside the northeast African nation found that more than 200 children had been raped since the start of last year, although the authors stressed that this was only a small fraction of the total number of cases.
“Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement Monday.
Calling it “an abhorrent violation of international law and could constitute a war crime,” she added that “it must stop.”
Four 1-year-olds were among those who survived the assaults and another 16 survivors were children under the age of 5, the report said. Of the reported 221 cases of child rape, 66% of the victims were girls, while 33% were boys, it added.
The number of violations recorded against Sudanese children was 16% higher in 2024 than in 2023, which had already seen an increase of 473% from 2022 when the war broke out, the report said.
Displaced Sudanese girls near the Sudanese town of Tawila. AFP via Getty Images
The report contained distressing details that highlighted the gravity of the situation on the ground.
“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,” read one testimony by Omnia, an adult female survivor who was held by armed men in a room with other women and girls.
Nearly two years of war between Sudan’s armed forces controlled by the country’s top commander and de facto ruler, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, led by his former deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have left more than 30 million people — or more than half of the population — in need of humanitarian assistance.
Once allies, both men were part of the military establishment that seized power following the collapse of the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in 2021.
But although they agreed to rule together, their alliance broke down over how to manage the transition to a civilian government. With neither willing to cede power, war broke out in April 2023.
More than 12 million people have been displaced and tens of thousands of people have been reportedly killed, according to the U.N.
While both sides have been accused of extensive human rights violations, a U.N. fact-finding mission in October found that the RSF was responsible for committing sexual violence on a large scale in areas under its control, including gang rapes, abductions and sexual slavery.
In January, the United States determined that the RSF had committed genocide in areas under its control.
Damage from clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum. Osman Bakir / Anadolu via Getty Images
UNICEF, which has been providing safe spaces for children through emergency response rooms set up by local activists, said in the report that the outcome of sexual crimes against children was “devastating” due to the fact that victims have “few places to turn to for medical help.”
Women and girls are fleeing their homes and families to other cities where they end up becoming internally displaced and continue to face high risk of sexual violence, the report added.
“Widespread sexual violence in Sudan has instilled terror in people, especially children,” Russell said, calling on all parties to the conflict to put an end to the violations.
“These scars of war are immeasurable and long-lasting,” she added.
