Sexual violence in Sudan's war: Special MSF report uncovers systematic attacks
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 frontlines.
This is according to a new report released today by Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (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 in Sudan’s war, with survivors' testimonies and data from MSF medical programmes highlighting clear patterns of widespread and systematic abuse.
Between January 2024 and November 2025, at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought treatment in MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur. Though MSF has warned that this represents only a fraction of the true scale, as many survivors cannot safely reach care. Women and girls accounted for 97% of survivors treated in MSF programmes.
“Sexual violence is a defining feature of this conflict – not confined to frontlines, 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 healthcare and deep-rooted gender inequalities are allowing these abuses to continue across Sudan.”
Assaults along escape routes
Survivor testimonies and MSF medical data show that RSF (Rapid Support Forces) soldiers and allied militias are responsible for widespread and systematic sexual violence against women.
Following the RSF’s capture of El Fasher – the capital of North Darfur State – on 26 October 2025, MSF then treated more than 140 survivors fleeing the city to the nearby town of Tawila in November. In total, 94 percent of these patients were attacked by armed men, with many reporting assaults along escape routes.
The assaults were widespread, often carried out by multiple perpetrators in front of family, and deliberately targeted non-Arab communities, as a means of humiliation and terror. This echoes previous RSF atrocities, such as the dismantling of the Zamzam camp for displaced people.
In just one month, between December 2025 and January 2026, MSF identified a further 732 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.
Systematic sexual violence
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 – showing how sexual violence extends far beyond the frontlines.
In South Darfur, hundreds of kilometres from active ground fighting, 34 percent of survivors were assaulted while farming or travelling to farmland, and 22 percent while collecting firewood, water or food.
This highlights how violence occurs during everyday activities.
Children are also among the survivors: in South Darfur, one in five survivors was under 18, including 41 children younger than five.
MSF data also points to patterns of systematic abuse, with armed men responsible for most assaults – over 95 percent in North Darfur, while nearly 60 percent in South Darfur involved multiple perpetrators.
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One survivor described the violence she experienced while fleeing her home:
“They took us to an open area. 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.”
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. When we go to the farm, this happens,” said a 40-year-old woman in South Darfur.
Survivors also face significant barriers to care – including insecurity, stigma and limited protection services.
A call for 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, says MSF.
Community leaders, midwives, activists and survivors in focus groups MSF organised called 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.
MSF also calls on the United Nations, donors, and humanitarian organisations to urgently scale up health and protection services in Darfur and all of Sudan.
MSF and the Sudan civil war
On Saturday 15 April 2023, a brutal civil war broke out across Sudan with a wave of gunfire, shelling and airstrikes.
The violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has trapped millions of people in the middle of an unexpected conflict. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes while access to essential services such as healthcare has become increasingly difficult.
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams already working in Sudan have been responding to the crisis since its first moments.