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Sudan’s atrocity-fueled civil war rages on, spreading suffering and terror now for 20 months.
We’ve reported on some of the horrific crimes being perpetrated by the warring parties before. In the conflict between the between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias, we’ve seen atrocities being committed by both sides.
Today, we’re going to focus on the RSF. We know they’ve been responsible for looting and arson, killing and rape; attacking critical civilian infrastructure, like hospitals and markets; razing entire neighborhoods to the ground; and ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region.
Now, there’s new evidence Rapid Support Forces fighters and allied militias have raped scores of women and girls, including in the context of sexual slavery.
HRW’s Belkis Wille, returned recently from a research trip to Sudan’s South Kordofan state, where she documented these atrocities, alongside other atrocities in South Kordofan reported last week.
“Survivors described being gang raped in front of their families or over prolonged periods of time, including while being held as sex slaves by RSF fighters.”
Belkis collected evidence from survivors and other witnesses, revealing about 79 girls and women, between the ages of 7 and 50, reported being raped. The actual number is surely higher. Most were living in informal settlements for displaced people in the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan state.
Survivors and witnesses said the attackers were all uniformed RSF members, or allied militia members. Some incidents took place at an RSF base.
The laws of war are clear on these types of atrocities.
Conflict-related sexual violence is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime. Sexual violence may constitute crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population. Where people are held in conditions of enslavement and subject to sexual violence, this constitutes sexual slavery.
Member countries of the United Nations and African Union should act urgently. At least three things are desperately needed.
First, they need to assist survivors. Victims have had barely any access to services thus far.
Second, they need to protect other women and girls from such atrocities.
Third, they should ensure justice for these heinous crimes. This includes further evidence collection and steps to punish the perpetrators.
The UN and AU should urgently deploy a mission to protect civilians in Sudan. It should be tasked, among other things, specifically with addressing sexual violence, so it can assist in these three goals. And it needs to be given the resources to do so.
The world needs to recognize the magnitude of sexual violence in Sudan and act quickly.
