UN agencies condemn sexual violence in Sudan, demand independent investigation into violations

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - Senior UN officials voiced shock and condemnation at increasing reports of gender-based violence in war-torn Sudan, including conflict-related sexual violence against internally displaced and refugee women and girls since fighting erupted more than 11 weeks ago.

The heads of UN agencies, including the aid agency; Human Rights Office; Refugee Agency; Children’s Fund, UNICEF; Population Fund; UN Women and the World Health Organization demanded an immediate end to sexual violence as a tactic of war to terrorize people.

''It is unconscionable that Sudan’s women and children – whose lives have been upended by this senseless conflict – are being further traumatized in this way,'' said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths. ''What we are witnessing in Sudan is not just a humanitarian crisis; it is a crisis of humanity.''

Human rights chief Volker Turk said women and girls are left with little or no medical and psychosocial support in the aftermath of such cruelty and brutality.

''There must be zero tolerance for sexual violence,'' he said.

They urged prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigations into all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law and called for perpetrators to be held accountable.

The conflict-hit African nation has again been engulfed by violence for weeks between the army and the RSF paramilitary group two decades after a conflict broke out.

More than 3 million women and girls in Sudan were at risk of gender-based violence even before fighting began April 15, according to UN estimates.

That number has since climbed to an estimated 4.2 million.

In one case, as many as 20 women were reportedly raped in the same attack, according to the UN Human Rights Office in Sudan.

Disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides about the integration of the RSF into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since the fall of 2021 when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.