TASSC Condemns Dramatic Rise in Rapes in Sudan
Women fleeing sexual violence in Sudan attend session held by UN Population Fund – UNFPA Sudan
*Chloe Phely-Bobin
There has been a dramatic increase in rapes and abductions of women and girls, some as young as 12, in Sudan. The conflict between military factions, ongoing since April 15, 2023, is to blame. The Sudanese army is fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a transition to civilian rule.
“Rape and sexual violence have been used as ruthless weapons, inflicting unimaginable trauma on countless innocent victims. These survivors are left to endure the weight of their suffering and injustice without sufficient support or avenues for justice,” says TASSC’s Executive Director, Aymen Tabir.
The RSF has been raping women in Darfur to humiliate the indigenous population for 20 years, according to Hala al-Karib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, a women’s rights group. The highest rates of sexual violence today occur in Khartoum and el-Geneina in West Darfur. The Russian paramilitary group Wagner has exacerbated the violence in Sudan with its influence and material support, maintaining the sexual assaults.
Survivors are arriving in the neighboring countries of Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt, and South Sudam pregnant from the rape. Others have been kidnapped and held for days or gang raped. The UN estimates that 4.2 million out of the 49 million people in Sudan are at risk of gender-based violence, a stark increase from the 3 million before the conflict began.
Save the Children reports that some children are targeted for their ethnicity, as well as their gender. Sexual violence is a usual weapon of war against children and causes long-lasting physical, psychological, social, and economic effects.
From the beginning of the conflict to July 7, there were 88 reported cases of rape. However, the Sudanese government’s Combating Violence Against Women unit has estimated that this number is only two percent of the total. Reporting cases is made difficult by the lack of electricity, connectivity, and humanitarian assistance.
Tabir states that “the absence of adequate reporting mechanisms exacerbates the situation, leaving victims isolated and their perpetrators unpunished.”
The radio program Li Sudan Salam, meaning both “greetings to Sudan” and “peace to Sudan,” has received numerous reports of rape. It is increasingly difficult for survivors to access medical care. Only six out of 88 hospitals in Khartoum are functional. Additionally, the UN reports critical shortages of supplies for clinical rape management due to inaccessible stocks.
The UN notes that the risk of rape is exceedingly higher when women and girls travel to reach safe locations. The conflict has displaced over 2.9 million people and children traveling alone are at a much higher risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse.
Around 800,000 South Sudanese refugees were living in Sudan, but since the conflict began, 46,000 have returned to South Sudan. Women and girls at the Bulukat transit center on the way to South Sudan reported to UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, that they had witnessed or endured sexual violence in Khartoum and Omdurman.
One woman had traveled to Renk, the port city that the Bulukat transit center is next to, but returned to Khartoum after hearing that her three daughters had been gang raped. She found her youngest daughter unconscious on the side of the road after being brutally raped. Soon after, the girl died.
“TASSC International strongly condemns these atrocities and urgently calls for action to provide survivors with the necessary support to heal and seek justice,” said Tabir. “It is imperative that we work together tirelessly to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and ensure that no survivor is left to bear this pain alone.
*Chloe Phely-Bobin is a rising senior at the University of California, Berkeley and an Advocacy intern at TASSC