Women’s groups report widespread sexual violence and detention across Sudan

Arabic report by Sarah Taj-Elsir, translated and adapted by the English newsdesk

Women’s rights groups have reported widespread sexual violence, exploitation and detention of women and girls across Sudan, warning that fear, insecurity and restrictions on documentation are masking the scale of abuses.

Amira Osman, head of the No to the Oppression of Women initiative, told Radio Dabanga that a young woman who fled the Murda neighbourhood in Omdurman with her mother was repeatedly gang-raped during their journey in search of dialysis treatment. Her mother died on the journey, and the woman later discovered in Kassala that she was pregnant as a result of the rape.

Osman said the woman, who was adopted and was under 18 when she left Omdurman, was allegedly raped by a group of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) members. The survivor eventually reached Kassala, where women’s groups helped connect her with doctors and secure a safe place to stay. Osman said she was now safe.

Osman also described the case of 28 Filipino women who reported being detained in a building in El Mamoura on 60th Street in Khartoum in August 2023. She said RSF members gang-raped the women before women’s organisations helped evacuate them to Wad Madani and then Port Sudan, where they received initial medical examinations and were prepared for repatriation.

In Darfur, Azza Mohamed Ahmed of the Women for Peace and Security group told Radio Dabanga that more than 225 cases of sexual violence and other abuses had been recorded in a single displacement camp more than three months earlier.

Ahmed said widespread secrecy and the near-complete absence of documentation made it difficult to establish the true scale of violations. She said some communities also lacked awareness of the importance and legal value of documenting abuses.

She also reported the detention of women in Kabkabiya, El Fasher and Nyala. Some women from Nyala had been transferred by the RSF to Daqris Prison, she said, while others were being held inside homes. Families often avoided speaking publicly about detainees for fear that disclosure could expose them to further torture, mistreatment or denial of food and medicine.

Hala El Karib, regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), said sexual violence had continued across Sudan, with more than 71 cases recorded in a single week in Kordofan during some periods.

El Karib said displaced women and girls arriving in White Nile were also reporting repeated sexual violence, while abuses continued in Darfur alongside targeting based on race and tribal identity.

She said fear of retaliation meant reported cases were far below the actual scale of violations. Women and girls were also facing sexual exploitation, sexual slavery and torture, particularly as hunger and the collapse of livelihoods left them increasingly vulnerable.

El Karib warned that the war was also deepening the risks faced by women who tried to earn a living. Women farmers in some areas were unable to cultivate small plots because of the threat of abuse.

She also warned that the disruption of education was putting Sudan’s next generation at risk, with children dropping out of school and facing the prospect of losing basic literacy and other skills.

The activists said weak protection and justice systems, combined with continuing conflict and insecurity, were allowing violence against women and girls to go largely undocumented.