Report says sexual violence, including rape, is ‘being used as a tactic of war’ in violation of international law and laws protecting children.
Children in war-ravaged Sudan, some as young as a year old, have been raped since the beginning of 2024, according to the United Nations children’s agency.
In a report published on Tuesday, UNICEF said at least 221 children, including boys, were raped by armed men, according to records compiled by gender-based violence service providers in the North African nation.
Of those cases, 66 percent of the survivors were girls and the rest were boys. There were 16 survivors below the age of five, including four who were as young as one.
UNICEF recorded an additional 77 reported cases of sexual assault against children – primarily attempted rape.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the military and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with battles in capital Khartoum and around the country.
Since then, at least 20,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely much higher. The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.
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‘Rape as war tactic’
According to rights groups, atrocities, including sexual violence and forced child marriages, have been committed by both sides. An estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began, according to UNICEF.
The agency reported documented cases involving children who were raped during attacks on cities.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in the report that sexual violence, including rape, is “being used as a tactic of war” in violation of international law and laws protecting children.
The cases of rape were reported in the states of Gadarif, Kassala, Gezeira, Khartoum, River Nile, Northern State, South Kordofan, North Darfur and West Darfur.
In South Kordofan, a boy was raped at gunpoint and several children, including a six-year-old, were also raped. They were all out picking fruit.
“In a culture of really serious social stigma and at a time when access to services has been severely hampered, the fact that this group came forward tells us that it is only a small sample,” UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told The Associated Press news agency.
“It is only the tip of the iceberg of what are undoubtedly hundreds more children who have been raped.”
Ingram, who was in Sudan in December, said she met with victims who “endured horrors that no person would want to experience in their lifetime, and in the aftermath of those horrors, their suffering doesn’t stop”.
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Many of the victims dealt with physical injuries and “serious psychological scars”, Ingram said, adding that some have attempted suicide.
Survivors are often reluctant to report that they were subjected to sexual violence due to social stigma and fear of retribution from armed groups and rejection from family.
UNICEF urged the Sudanese government and all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations to protect civilians, especially children, while those providing services to survivors must be protected.
“Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” said Russell.
