Widespread sexual violence against women and girls in Sudan’s Darfur region

Sexual violence is so widespread that many think it is inevitable

“Women and girls do not feel safe anywhere,” said Claire San Filippo, MSF emergency coordinator for Sudan. “They are attacked in their own homes, when fleeing violence, getting food, collecting firewood, working in the fields. They tell us they feel trapped. These attacks are heinous and cruel, often involving multiple perpetrators. This must stop."

"Sexual violence is not a natural or inevitable consequence of war," San Filippo added. "It can constitute a war crime, a form of torture and a crime against humanity. The warring parties must hold their fighters accountable and protect people from this sickening violence. Services for survivors must immediately be scaled up, so survivors have access to the medical treatment and psychological care they desperately need."

MSF provides care to survivors of sexual violence in multiple areas of Darfur and across the border in eastern Chad. Accounts from survivors show that many are raped and beaten during attacks and along the road, and some are still not safe in the places where people seek refuge. Others are raped while working in fields.

Sexual violence has become so widespread in Darfur that many people chillingly speak about it as unavoidable. “Some people came at night to rape the women and take everything, including animals,” a 27-year-old woman told MSF’s team in West Darfur, adding “I heard some women being raped at night. The men were hiding in toilets or in some rooms they could close, like my husband and brothers, otherwise they would get killed. The women didn’t hide because it was just beating and rape for us, but the men would get killed.”

It is not only during attacks on villages and towns or during the journey to safety that people have been raped and beaten. Limited humanitarian assistance is forcing people to take risks to survive: People are walking long distances to meet their basic needs and taking work in dangerous places. Others decide against taking the risk but are then cut off from their sources of income, reducing further their access to water, food, and health care. This is no guarantee of safety, as people are also attacked in their home.

Sudanese refugees in Chad recount sexual violence

Eastern Chad currently hosts over 800,000 Sudanese refugees, and MSF teams provide care to sexual violence survivors alongside other medical programs. In Adré, almost half of the 44 survivors treated by MSF since January 2025 were children. In Wadi Fira Province, 94 survivors were treated from January to March 2025, 81 of whom were under the age of 18.

Many survivors report being raped by more than one person. In Metché in eastern Chad, 11 out of 24 survivors treated between January and March 2025 were attacked by multiple assailants. The experiences patients share in various locations bear this out. 

“When we arrived in Kulbus, we saw a group of three women with some RSF [Rapid Support Forces] men guarding them," one 17-year-old rape survivor told MSF. "The RSF also ordered us to stay with them. They told us, ‘You are the wives of the Sudanese army or their girls.’ [...] Then they beat us and they raped us right there on the road, in public. There were nine RSF men. Seven of them raped me. I wanted to lose my memory after that."

In some cases, the attackers directly accused the survivors of supporting the other side. One woman shared her story: “I have a certificate for first aid nursing. [When they stopped us], the RSF asked me to give them my bag. When they saw the certificate inside, they told me, ‘You want to heal the Sudanese army, you want to cure the enemy!’ Then they burned my certificate, and they took me away to rape me. They told everyone else to stay on the floor. I was with some other women, including my sister. They only raped me, because of my certificate.”

MSF expands access to care for survivors

Where services exist, survivors need clear and accessible referral pathways to get the help they need. In late 2024, MSF added a community-based component to its care for survivors of sexual violence in South Darfur, the state with the greatest number of displaced people in Sudan. Midwives and community health care workers were trained and equipped to provide emergency contraceptives and psychological first aid to survivors. They also supported survivors’ referral to MSF-supported primary health care clinics and secondary hospitals for comprehensive care. Since the addition of this community-based model, MSF has seen a steep increase in women and adolescents seeking care.

MSF teams continue to see new survivors of sexual violence. In Tawila North Darfur,an MSF team is working in a hospital that received 48 survivors of sexual violence between January and the beginning of May, most of whom arrived after fleeing fighting in Zamzam camp in April.

Civilians must be protected

“Access to services for survivors of sexual violence is lacking and, like most humanitarian and health care services in Sudan, must urgently be scaled up,” said Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency medical manager. “People—mostly women and girls—who suffer sexual violence urgently need medical care, including psychological support, and protection services. Care must be tailored from the outset to mitigate against the many overwhelming barriers survivors face when seeking medical care in the aftermath of sexual violence.”

It is imperative to halt brutal attacks and rapes. Warring parties must ensure that civilians are protected, respecting their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to protect civilians, and medical and humanitarian services for survivors of sexual violence must be urgently scaled up in Darfur and eastern Chad.