ACHPR Uncovers Systematic Use of Rape Against Women and Children in Sudan’s Conflict
ACHPR Chairperson Hon. Remy Ngoy Lumbu © Askanwi
By Edward Francis Dalliah
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has uncovered systematic and widespread sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriages, targeting women and children in Sudan’s ongoing conflict.
These atrocities, detailed in their newly released Fact-Finding Mission report, reveal that sexual violence has been weaponised by both sides of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), constituting possible war crimes.
According to the report, women and children have borne the brunt of these atrocities, with victims as young as 16 years old. The mission documented cases of rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriages, often carried out during raids in homes, public places, or internally displaced persons camps.
The report pointed out that their report is based on “witness and survivor testimonies as well as submissions received. The FFM established that girls as young as 13 years old and women as old as 60 years old were subjected to rape, gang rapes and sexual slavery.”
The Fact-Finding Mission was officially constituted in mid-2024 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, under a mandate from the African Union Peace and Security Council, to investigate atrocities committed since the conflict began in April 2023.
Due to access and security challenges, the investigation was conducted virtually, gathering first-hand testimonies and written submissions from human rights organisations and independent observers. According to the report, the mission “conducted 36 interviews in the format of oral hearings, all held in camera between 17 and 28 March 2025.”
ACHPR Commissioner Hon. Hatem Essaim and Vice Chair Hon. Janet R. Sallah-Njie © Askanwi
Their findings align with a UNICEF report that revealed at least 221 cases of child rape since early 2024, including infants as young as one year old. UNICEF described these acts as “an abhorrent violation of international law and a possible war crime.” While the FFM did not document cases of infant rape, UNICEF reported that four of the children attacked were just one year old, with girls making up 66% of survivors and boys 33%.
Sudan’s history has been stained by recurring unrest even before independence in 1956, rooted in cultural, religious, and economic divisions. The current conflict, which erupted in 2023 between the SAF and RSF over control of state power, has deepened these fractures and intensified the humanitarian crisis. In regions like Darfur, the violence has left millions displaced, with women and children facing the harshest realities of war.
A recent report from UNICEF stated that “50% of the total population—more than 24.8 million people, almost 14 million of whom are children—are in need of humanitarian assistance.” While adding that, the country is “the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with an estimated 5 million children who have fled their homes since April 2023, including nearly 1 million children across borders, particularly to Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan.”
Echoing UNICEF’s call for urgent global action, the ACHPR Fact-Finding Mission urged that sexual violence as a weapon of war must end immediately. The report further insists that the Sudanese government and all parties to the conflict must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law to protect civilians, especially women and children.
