By Bhaswati Bhattacharjee
© UNICEF/Mohamed Zakaria
Rape and sexual assault are used as weapons of war to terrorize, displace, and destroy non-Arab ethnicities in Sudan.
Widespread Rape: Women and girls are being raped in their homes, fields, and during displacement. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed 80 percent of rapes since civil war broke out in April 2023. There are also reports of non-Arab men being raped in Ardamata. In July 2023, the Combating Violence Against Women Unit documented 88 cases of sexual violence in Khartoum, El Geneina, and Nyala. In December 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported documented 118 cases of rape in Sudan, including rape, gang rape, and attempted rape, with 19 children among the victims. According to a report published by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) in April 2024, 244 cases of rape have been documented. Since only one in twenty rapes are reported, the actual number of rapes may actually be over 4,400.
Targeting of Specific Groups: The RSF, dominated by Arabs, with allied Arab militias, targeted non-Arab communities, mainly the Masalit during attacks on El Geneina in West Darfur. Female human rights defenders and healthcare providers have been targeted deliberately.
Forced Pregnancy and Sexual Slavery: Abduction and enslavement of women and girls and trafficking of women are widespread. Victims are subjected to sexual slavery, forced marriages and pregnancies. According to the SIHA, at least seven women have committed suicide. because of their unwanted pregnancies. Women are forced into prostitution to get food for their families.
Based on over 300 interviews with victims and witnesses, the U.N. human rights office concluded in a report in February 2024 that rapes in Sudan are war crimes. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that rape has been systematically used as a weapon of war in Sudan. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan’s office said in a report to the U.N. Security Council on July 13, 2023, that it is investigating “allegations of sexual and gender-based crimes, including mass rapes… and violence against children.”
Genocide Watch recommends:
Ethnically targeted rape is an act genocide under Genocide Convention, Article II (b) (Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group), (c) (Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part), and (d) (Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group). (ICTR Akayesu case) Leaders of genocide must be prosecuted.
Reported cases of rape should be investigated and arrest warrants issued by the ICC and Sudanese courts.
RSF and SAF rapists and traffickers must be arrested and tried.
Survivors of sexual violence must receive immediate medical care and protection.
International donors should fund clinics to provide medical and psychological care for survivors of rape.
The Sudanese government must permit emergency medical care without requiring police or legal reports.
Safe escape routes for civilians should be established by agreements with RSF and SAF commanders.
A strong UN/AF Peacekeeping Mission in Sudan should be authorized by the UN Security Council.