A paramilitary group has been accused of gang-raping girls as young as nine in a war-torn region. Sudan in a damning new report.
Search for Human Rights Surveillance warned that the group perpetrated sexual violence against women, including rape, forced marriage, gang rape and child marriage – attributing fewer incidents to the military.
The study analyzes sexual violence against women and girls in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and its sister cities, from the start of the conflict until February this year.
Frontline services supporting victims have heard from women and girls detained by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in circumstances that may constitute sexual slavery.
Human Rights Surveillance urged the United Nations and the African Union to establish a joint mission to protect civilians in Sudan, as more than 15 months of fighting between the military and RSF paramilitaries shows no sign of abating.
“Rapid Support Forces raped, gang-raped, and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas in Sudan’s capital,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
The group accused both warring parties of blocking survivors’ access to critical emergency care and said the military had “deliberately restricted” shipments of humanitarian supplies to RSF-controlled areas, including medical supplies and aid workers, since October of this year. past.
The RSF looted medical supplies and occupied medical facilities, researchers warned. RSF fighters committed sexual violence against service providers, the group said, citing local first responders.
Sudan descended into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in Khartoum and other parts of the country. The fighting has killed more than 14,000 people and injured another 33,000, according to the UN, but human rights activists say the true toll could be much higher.
Rapid Support Forces raped, gang-raped and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas in Sudan’s capital.
Laetitia Bader
The conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people forced to flee their homes.
The RSF, previously aligned with the military, emerged from the Janjaweed militias formed during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s by former president Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades until he was ousted during a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted. by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes committed during the conflict.
Human Rights Watch said it documented widespread sexual violence as well as forced and child marriage during the conflict in Khartoum and the neighboring cities of Omdurman and Bahri, or Khartoum North. The three cities are known as Greater Khartoum.
These acts constitute “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the prominent global organization said.
Investigators said most of the cases were attributed to the Rapid Support Forces, but some were also attributed to the military, especially as the military maintained control of Omdurman earlier this year. Men and boys were also raped, including while in detention, activists warned.
Both RSF and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Human Rights Watch said neither party took significant steps to prevent its forces from committing violations or attacking health care, nor to independently and transparently investigate crimes committed by its forces.
It stated that an RSF spokesperson denied occupying hospitals or medical centers in Khartoum and sister cities, but provided no evidence that the group carried out effective investigations into allegations of sexual violence by its forces.
Activists called on the African Union and the United Nations to jointly implement a new mission to protect civilians in Sudan, including preventing sexual and gender-based violence.
“The United Nations and the African Union need to mobilize this protection and States must hold accountable those responsible for ongoing sexual violence, attacks on local response teams, health facilities and the blocking of aid,” Bader said.
Clashes were reported over the weekend in eastern Sudan and in the town of al-Fasher, the last military stronghold in the sprawling western region of Darfur. The RSF besieged al-Fasher for months in an effort to take control.
International experts warned last month that 755,000 people will face hunger in the coming months and that 8.5 million people will face extreme food shortages.
One 2015 report of Human Rights Watch described how national security services targeted women activists during crackdowns.
“Public order police” arrest women and girls for their choice of clothing – such as wearing pants or exposing their hair – or simply for riding in a car with members of the opposite sex, the organization said.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
