Women in Darfur, Sudan, demand protection, care and justice as sexual violence persists across the region, both in active conflict zones and far from the front lines, according to a new report published today by .
The report, (which you can read in full at the end of this news), offers the most complete documented accounts of sexual violence in the Sudan war, with testimonies from survivors and data from MSF medical programs that reveal 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 centers in North and South Darfur. However, MSF warns that this figure represents only a fraction of the true magnitude of the problem, as many survivors cannot access medical care safely. Women and girls represented 97% of survivors treated in MSF programs.
“Sexual violence is a defining characteristic of this conflict, which is not limited to the battlefront, but is present in all communities,” said Ruth Kauffman, health representative for the MSF emergency unit. “This war is being fought at the cost of the lives and well-being of women and girls. Displacement, the collapse of community support systems, lack of access to healthcare, and deep gender inequalities allow these abuses to continue across Sudan.”
Survivor testimonies and MSF medical data show that Rapid Support Forces (FAR) soldiers and allied militias are responsible for widespread and systematic sexual violence against women. Following the capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, by FAR on 26 October 2025, MSF assisted more than 140 survivors fleeing the city towards Tawila in November. 94% of them were attacked by armed men, and many reported attacks on escape routes. The attacks were widespread, often carried out by multiple attackers in front of their families, and deliberately targeted non-Arab communities as a form of humiliation and terror, emulating previous FAR atrocities such as the dismantling of the Zamzam camp.
In just one month, between December 2025 and January 2026, MSF identified another 732 survivors in displaced persons camps around Tawila, where women reported attacks both during their displacement and within the camps. Overcrowding in shelters, a lack of basic security, and poor conditions—including remote water points, unsafe bathing areas, and limited latrines—further increased their vulnerability.
Survivors described attacks not only during combat, but also in their daily lives: on roads used to flee violence, in fields where families grow food, in markets and in displacement camps, demonstrating that sexual violence extends far beyond the battlefront.
In South Darfur, hundreds of kilometers from ground fighting, 34% of survivors were attacked while working or traveling in the fields, and 22% while collecting firewood, water or food, showing that violence occurs during everyday activities.
There are also girls among the survivors: in South Darfur, one in five was under 18, including 41 under five.
MSF data also points to patterns of systematic abuse, with armed men responsible for the majority of attacks: more than 95% in North Darfur, while in South Darfur, almost 60% involved multiple perpetrators.
One survivor described the violence she suffered when fleeing her home: “They took us to a vacant lot. The first man raped me twice, the second once, and the third four times. In addition to 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 farmlands, the same thing happens,” said a 40-year-old woman in South Darfur.
Survivors also face significant barriers to accessing care, including insecurity, stigma, and a shortage of protective services. Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war and as a systematic means to control the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law.
Community leaders, midwives, activists and survivors who participated in focus groups organized by MSF demanded an immediate end to sexual violence across Sudan, calling for protection, access to healthcare and dignity, as well as justice and accountability.
MSF urges all parties to the conflict, including the FAR and its sympathizers, to cease and prevent sexual violence and to hold perpetrators accountable. MSF also calls on the United Nations, donors and humanitarian actors to urgently expand health and protection services in Darfur and throughout Sudan.
