Women in Darfur, Sudan, are demanding protection, care, and justice as sexual violence continues across the region, both in active conflict areas and far beyond front lines, according to a report released today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The report, “‘There is Something I Want to tell you…’: Surviving the Sexual Violence Crisis in Darfur,” provides the most comprehensive documented accounts of sexual violence during Sudan’s war, with survivor testimonies and data from MSF medical programs highlighting clear patterns of widespread and systematic abuse.
A means of humiliation and terror
Between January 2024 and November 2025, at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought treatment at MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur, though this represents only a fraction of the true scale, as many survivors cannot safely reach care. Women and girls accounted for 97 percent of survivors treated in MSF programs.
“Sexual violence is a defining feature of this conflict — not confined to front lines, but pervasive across communities,” said Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency health manager. “This war is being fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls. Displacement, collapsing community support systems, lack of access to health care, and deep-rooted gender inequalities are allowing these abuses to continue across Sudan.”
Survivor testimonies and MSF medical data show that soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias are responsible for widespread and systematic sexual violence against women.
In just one month, between December 2025 and January 2026, MSF identified 732 more survivors in displacement camps around Tawila, where women reported attacks both during their journeys and within the camps. Overcrowded shelters, lack of basic security, and unsafe conditions — including distant water points, insecure bathing areas, and limited latrines — further increased their vulnerability.
After RSF captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on October 26, 2025, MSF treated more than 140 survivors fleeing to Tawila. Ninety-four percent of the survivors had been attacked by armed men, with many reporting assaults along escape routes. The assaults were widespread, often carried out by multiple perpetrators and in front of family, and deliberately targeted non-Arab communities. These acts are used as a means of humiliation and terror, echoing previous RSF atrocities such as the dismantling of Zamzam camp.
Sexual violence has become part of everyday life
Sexual violence in Sudan extends far beyond the front lines. Survivors described attacks not only during fighting, but in everyday settings: on roads used to flee violence, in fields where families grow food, and in markets and displacement camps.
In South Darfur, hundreds of miles from active ground fighting, 34 percent of survivors were assaulted while farming or trying to reach farmland, and 22 percent while collecting firewood, water, or food.
For many, the threat of violence has become part of daily life. “Every day when people go to the market, there are cases of rape,” said a woman in South Darfur. “When we go to the farm, this happens.”
“They took us to an open area,” said one survivor who was assaulted while fleeing her home. “The first man raped me twice, the second once, the third four times. Apart from the rapes, they beat us with sticks and pointed guns at my head.”
Survivors also face significant barriers to care, including insecurity, stigma, and limited protection services.
Children are also among the survivors: In South Darfur, 1 in 5 survivors was under 18, including 41 children younger than 5 years old.
“Unfortunately, on the day of the fall of Nyala, I had my sister’s daughter with us — she was 13 years old," said a woman in Nyala, South Darfur, in October 2024. "They took her to near where the water is, and they raped her there. We had to go find her and bring her back. She died a few days later.”
Press conference: Surviving sexual violence crisis in Darfur
On March 31, MSF held a press conference in Kenya to discuss the report's findings.
Survivors need protection and justice
Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war and a systematic means of controlling civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law. Community leaders, midwives, activists, and survivors in MSF focus groups call for an immediate end to sexual violence across Sudan, demanding protection, access to care, and dignity — alongside justice and accountability.
MSF calls on all parties to the conflict — including the RSF and their supporters — to cease and prevent sexual violence and hold perpetrators accountable. The United Nations, donors, and humanitarian actors must urgently scale up health and protection services in Darfur and all of Sudan.
"There is Something I Want to Tell You"
Surviving the Sexual Violence Crisis in Darfur
