Sudan Events – Follow-ups
Human Rights Watch said that the Rapid Support RSF Militia committed acts of sexual violence in Khartoum that constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On Monday, the organization published a report documenting violations of sexual violence against women and girls in the capital, Khartoum, including crimes of rape, forced marriage, child marriage, and detention of women.
The report, which was reviewed by “Sudan Tribune,” said that “the Rapid Support RSF Militia committed widespread acts of sexual violence in the areas it controls in Khartoum, which constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
He pointed out that the organization interviewed 42 health care providers, social workers, psychologists, lawyers, and emergency room responders, between September 2023 and February 2024.
He reported that 18 health care providers dealt with 262 victims of sexual violence, ranging in age from 9 to 60, from the outbreak of the conflict in April 2023 until February 2024.
The report affirmed that conflict-related sexual violence constitutes a war crime, and that forced marriage when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population can be investigated and prosecuted as a crime against humanity.
Laetitia Bader, deputy director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch, said that “the Rapid Support Forces RSF raped, gang-raped, and forced marriage of a large number of women and girls in residential areas of the capital, Khartoum.”
“The armed group terrorized women and girls, and the warring parties prevented them from accessing assistance and support services, exacerbating the harm they faced and making them feel that there was no safe place,” she added.
Human Rights Watch said it found that the physical, emotional, social, and psychological scars on the victims were immense, with health care workers meeting victims seeking help for severe physical injuries sustained during rape and gang rape, and at least four women dying as a result.
It noted that many victims who sought to terminate pregnancies resulting from rape faced significant barriers to accessing abortion care.
“Victims described or displayed symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress and depression, including suicidal thoughts, anxiety, fear, and insomnia,” it added.
The organization reported that victims told medical providers that they were raped by up to five RSF fighters.
“The RSF abducted women and girls and detained them in homes and other facilities they occupied in Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman, subjecting them to sexual violence and other abuses,” she continued.
“In some cases, RSF members sexually assaulted women and girls in front of their families, and RSF also forced women and girls into marriage,” she added.
“I slept with a knife under my pillow for months, fearing that RSF raids would lead to rape,” the report quoted a 20-year-old woman living in an area controlled by the RSF as saying.
