The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, laying bare the brutality and scale of conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict in April 2023, as well as its profound and long-term impact on victims, families, and communities.
The UN Human Rights Office has verified 546 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence in 16 of the 18 states of Sudan from the beginning of the conflict to mid-April this year, affecting at least 838 victims – 539 women, 284 girls, eight men and seven boys.
These figures represent only the tip of the iceberg of the actual magnitude of incidents, says the report, as persistent underreporting has obscured the full scale of the prevalence of sexual violence.
Most of the verified incidents were attributed to men in Rapid Support Forces (RSF) uniforms, its affiliates and Arab militias. Incidents have also been attributed to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), affiliated security actors, the Joint Forces, other armed movements and armed militias.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, says the report, sexual violence has been perpetrated in conjunction with systematic and coordinated attacks on civilians as a tactic of war. Forms of sexual violence documented by the Office include rape and gang rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, forced prostitution, sexual torture, and trafficking for the purpose of sexual violence.
Almost a quarter of the incidents involved gang rape. One documented attack involved at least 10 perpetrators who raped a girl. Repeated patterns include the use of sexual violence as a means of controlling civilian movement, abductions linked to sexual violence, sexual slavery and sexual violence in detention. The UN Human Rights Office has documented the cases of at least 85 women and girls who were held in sexual slavery and compelled to undertake domestic labour and generate income.
The report also documents the deaths of at least 13 victims (women, men and children), mostly following brutal gang rapes. The youngest was nine years old. Many more suffered from serious medical complications exacerbated by the absence of functioning health facilities. At least 59 women and girls became pregnant or bore children from rape.
Sexual violence has been perpetrated as retaliation based on perceived affiliation with specific parties, in addition to ethnically motivated attacks, the report finds. Many ethnic Masalit victims from West Darfur shared that attackers asked about their tribe before raping them. Victims reported having been told, in 2023, “This year, all of you Masalit girls will deliver our children,” and “If you are Masalit, we will slaughter you today”.
Fighting between the RSF and the SAF began on 15 April 2023, triggering one of the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crises. An estimated 12 to 14 million people have been displaced, and over 150,000 have been killed. Both sides have been accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law, some of which may amount to war crimes, including sexual violence against women and girls.
In addition to the new report by the OHCHR, several other humanitarian and human rights organisations have issued reports on rape and sexual violence in Sudan since the war began in 2023. One of the most notable was published by Amnesty International in April 2025. Titled They raped all of us: Sexual violence against women and girls in Sudan, the report documents in which RSF soldiers raping or gang-raping 36 women and girls as young as 15, plus other forms of sexual violence, in four Sudanese states between April 2023 and October 2024. Violations include raping a mother after tearing away her breastfeeding baby and the 30-day sexual enslavement of a woman in Khartoum, as well as severe beatings, torture with hot liquid or sharp blades, and murder.
To see the full OHCHR report, visit ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ohchr-report-devastating-human-rights-impacts-conflict-related-sexual.
MSF Sacks 18 Staff Over Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Sudanese Refugees in Chad
The OHCHR report came a week after Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, issued a statement on 16 June 2026 saying that 18 staff members had been dismissed and barred from working with the organisation over allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of Sudanese refugees in Chad.
In late 2024, serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were reported by Sudanese refugee women against MSF staff in eastern Chad. In response, MSF immediately sent multiple investigation teams to proactively detect and investigate cases.
Over several months, the investigations identified 59 allegations of misconduct, including sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse, and involving different employment categories, including contracted staff, daily workers, external contractors, and suppliers.
While some of the 59 allegations were corroborated by the review, others remained unverified, as in some cases neither victims or perpetrators could be identified. Where investigations established serious misconduct, immediate disciplinary action was taken. As a result, 18 staff have been dismissed and are now barred from working with MSF.
“This misconduct represents a serious breach of MSF’s values and responsibilities,” said Laura Leyser, Secretary General of MSF International. “We recognise the pain, harm, and suffering experienced by the survivors and we deeply regret that this has happened in our programmes. We have a responsibility to do everything we can to prevent misconduct and to respond decisively when it occurs.”
According to MSF, support to identified survivors was offered based on their needs and wishes, which could include referral to psychological or medical care, as well as legal or other support where appropriate.
For more information, read the full MSF statement at msf.org/information-related-dismissal-18-staff-chad.
Rape and Sexual Violence Across Sudan in Numbers
The number of reported rape cases ranges from 800 to over 3,000, depending on figures provided by various human rights organisations. However, due to the collapse of healthcare infrastructure, severe social stigma, and fear of retaliation, many victims do not come forward. International authorities therefore stress that these verified figures likely represent only “the tip of the iceberg” and a fraction of the true scale of the violence.
- The UN Human Rights Office: 838 individual victims were officially verified between April 2023 and April 2026. The demographic breakdown includes: 539 women, 284 girls, 8 men and 7 boys.
- Doctors Without Borders (MSF): 3,396 survivors of sexual violence at their field facilities between January 2024 and November 2025.
- Sudan government: More than 1,800 rape cases between April 2023 and October 2025, excluding vast sections of the Darfur and Kordofan regions where tracking is nearly impossible.
Child victims: A specific UNICEF analysis detailed 221 recorded child rape cases, which shockingly included infants as young as one year old.
