Fears of rising sexual violence against women in Darfur after reported rapes

 February 11, 2025 (NYALA) – A women’s rights advocate expressed fears on Tuesday of increasing sexual violence against women in the Darfur region due to insecurity after 16 women were reportedly raped in the Kalma camp in recent days.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in his latest report on Sudan that victims of sexual violence face serious challenges in accessing timely medical, psychological, social and legal support, particularly about preventative care, due to the collapse of the health system.

“Women in Darfur have been suffering from sexual violence since 2003, as a result of the conflict and insecurity, which has worsened after the outbreak of the current conflict,” Noun Kushkuk, a human rights advocate, told Sudan Tribune.

She noted that members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed acts of sexual violence in El Geneina and Nyala in West and South Darfur states.

Kushkuk said that victims of sexual violence face difficulties in obtaining medical care after the Turkish hospital in Nyala stopped operating, as it was the only facility capable of dealing with rape cases.

In a related context, Adiba Ibrahim al-Sayed, a member of the Omdurman Private Branch of the Doctors’ Syndicate’s Preparatory Committee, revealed in a statement to Sudan Tribune the documentation of “16 cases of rape of girls aged between 16 and 30 years in the Kalma camp in South Darfur in recent days.”

She pointed out that two of the 16 cases were committed against elderly women, which caused them severe bleeding that required their evacuation to Nyala Hospital for treatment.

Adiba reported that all cases of rape occurred while girls and women were going to the market or gathering firewood.

She said that the perpetrators were armed men wearing military uniforms without specifying the party to which the gunmen belonged.

South Darfur has been under the control of the RSF since October 2023, after the army withdrew from its base in Nyala before the two sides engaged in fierce battles.

Hundreds of families have fled to Kalma since the outbreak of the war, settling with about 300,000 people in the camp, which was established after the civil conflict in the Darfur region in 2003.