In brief
The ongoing civil war in Sudan has seen an alarming escalation in child sexual abuse, with UNICEF reporting hundreds of incidents, including shocking accounts of victims as young as one year old. The report outlines the grim reality for these children amidst the conflict, calling for urgent global attention to their plight.
As the civil war in Sudan enters its third year, a recent report from the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, has shed light on the horrific extent of sexual violence affecting children. Driven by the ongoing conflict, the report reveals that armed men have raped hundreds of children, some as young as just one year old. Since the beginning of 2024, health providers in Sudan have documented 221 cases of rape, with 147 victims identified as girls and 74 as boys. Disturbingly, sixteen of the affected children were under five years old, with four merely a year old.The findings, based on firsthand accounts from victims and witnesses, paint a stark picture of the pervasive violence occurring amid the conflict between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces. Victims recounted harrowing tales of being selected for sexual violence and returning to their homes traumatized, often physically injured and psychologically scarred. In many cases, the violence included gang rape, while some survivors were also infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.While there is a lack of comprehensive data regarding sexual violence within Sudan, a 2024 U.N. fact-finding mission corroborated the prevalence of gender-based violence, including rape and sexual slavery, especially in conflict zones. The war, ignited in April 2023, has led to ethnic killings, allegations of genocide, and a staggering humanitarian crisis—with tens of thousands dead and over 11 million displaced.The report highlighted that both sides in the fighting have committed sexual violence, but the majority of incidents were attributed to armed individuals in Rapid Support Forces uniforms. Tess Ingram, a representative from UNICEF and the report's lead author, expressed her deep concern after spending weeks interviewing survivors who had endured sexual violence, stating that the suffering continues long after the incidents occur.Ms. Ingram emphasized the challenging decisions faced by survivors after such violence. Many hesitate to disclose their experiences to family or the community due to the ensuing stigma and shame, resulting in survivors often bearing the cultural burdens of abuse rather than their perpetrators. Furthermore, some survivors who became pregnant from their assaults grapple with whether to keep their children or give them up for adoption, facing societal rejection regardless of their choices. Ingram recounted the story of one survivor living in foster care who chose to raise her child alone, determined to spare her baby from a similar fate. Sadly, due to the lack of shelter options for pregnant women, both mother and child are left without a stable home. The stark realities laid out in this report call for urgent international attention and action to protect the vulnerable children of Sudan from the ongoing horrors of war.
