In a report titled “Three Years Too Long,” the UN documented 546 verified incidents of sexual violence across 16 of Sudan’s 18 states since fighting erupted between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces in April 2023.

The report verified that at least 838 people were subjected to rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, forced prostitution, sexual torture, trafficking and other forms of sexual violence. Victims included 539 women, 284 girls, eight men and seven boys.

According to the findings, approximately 87 percent of documented cases were attributed to the RSF, affiliated groups and allied Arab militias.

The UN Human Rights Office cautioned that the verified figures likely represent only a fraction of the true scale of abuse, citing underreporting driven by insecurity, social stigma, the collapse of health services and the absence of functioning judicial institutions.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the findings indicated that sexual violence was being systematically used as a weapon of war. The report stated there were reasonable grounds to believe that some abuses committed in Sudan, particularly in Darfur, may amount to crimes against humanity when carried out as part of widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations.

Investigators highlighted incidents linked to RSF operations in El-Geneina and Ardamata in 2023, as well as attacks around Zamzam displacement camp and El-Fasher in 2025.

Among the verified cases, nearly one-quarter involved gang rape. The report documented incidents in which multiple perpetrators assaulted a single victim and recorded at least 85 cases involving sexual slavery and forced domestic servitude.

The UN also reported that at least 13 victims died following acts of sexual violence, most after gang rapes. The youngest recorded victim was nine years old. Investigators further documented at least 59 pregnancies resulting from rape.

Particular concern was raised over allegations of ethnically targeted sexual violence against members of the Masalit community in West Darfur. According to testimony cited in the report, attackers questioned victims about their ethnic identity before carrying out assaults, suggesting a deliberate pattern of persecution.

Sudanese human rights activist Hala Al-Karib said the report confirmed years of documentation by civil society organizations that had repeatedly warned of the systematic use of sexual violence throughout the conflict.

Al-Karib described the findings as evidence of a broader strategy aimed at terrorizing and fragmenting communities. She also criticized what she characterized as an inadequate international response to the conflict and warned that continued arms flows and external interference were contributing to the humanitarian crisis.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the documented abuses should shock the international community, emphasizing that the verified cases likely represented only a small portion of the violence occurring across the country.

The report called on all parties to the conflict to issue and enforce orders prohibiting sexual violence, conduct independent investigations into alleged abuses and remove amnesty protections for international crimes.

It also urged international mediators and governments involved in peace efforts to ensure accountability mechanisms remain central to any ceasefire agreement or future political settlement.

Sudan’s conflict, which began in April 2023 following a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, has triggered one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, displacing millions of people and devastating large parts of the country.