Sexual violence has been systematically used as a “weapon of war” throughout Sudan’s conflict, with hundreds of verified cases representing only a fraction of the actual scale of abuses, according to a UN human rights report.
The report, released on Tuesday, by the UN Human Rights Office documented 546 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence across 16 of Sudan’s 18 states between the start of the conflict in April 2023 and mid-April 2026, affecting at least 838 victims, including 539 women, 284 girls, eight men and seven boys.
The report said sexual violence has accompanied both the geographical spread of the conflict and displacement routes, and has been used to terrorise and traumatise civilians.
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“As I warned at the end of my mission to Sudan in January, sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.
“This is a war crime and, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, a crime against humanity.”
