Sudan: Children as young as 12 raped and assaulted

Teenage girls are being sexually assaulted and raped by armed combatants in Sudan in alarming numbers, with many survivors aged between 12 and 17 years old, Save the Children warned in a press release today.

The children make up some of the cases of sexual and gender-based violence as a result of the escalating conflict, with incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation being reported by women and girls who have fled the conflict in Khartoum and other areas.

While the sexual violence is understood to be rampant, only 88 cases of rape as a result of the conflict have been verified. This includes at least 42 alleged cases in the capital, Khartoum, and 46 in the Darfur region. However, according to the Sudanese Unit for Combating Violence against Women, this figure likely on represents two per cent of total cases – meaning there have been a possible 4,400 cases of sexual violence in 11 weeks alone.

Some survivors are arriving in neighbouring countries pregnant as a result of rape, according to UNHCR. There have also been reports of girls being kidnapped and held for days while being sexually assaulted, and of gang rapes of girls and women.

READ: UN agencies condemn increase in sexual violence in Sudan

 “Sexual violence continues to be used as a tool to terrorise women and children in Sudan. We know that the official numbers are only the tip of the iceberg. Children as young as 12 are being targeted,” Arif Noor, country director for Save the Children in Sudan, said.

“We have also heard parents who are making the agonising decision to marry their daughters at a young age, in an attempt to ‘shield’ them from further risks of sexual violence, assault or exploitation,” hed added.

Even before fighting broke out on 15 April, more than three million women and girls in Sudan were at risk of gender-based violence. This number has since climbed to an estimated 4.2 million people.

Sexual violence is often used as a weapon of war against children to terrorise them, spread fear and intimidation for political and military gain, to ethnically cleanse or humiliate an ethnic group, or to punish civilians for suspected support of opposing forces.

The trauma it inflicts can have long-lasting physical, psychological, social and economic effects. The brutality of the physical act itself can be especially damaging for children whose bodies aren’t fully developed.

More than 3,000 people have died and 6,000 have been injured since 15 April, including at least 330 children killed and 1,900 injured, according to Sudan’s Ministry of Health. However, aid workers and witnesses say many bodies have been uncounted. In addition, an increasing number of children are at risk of child recruitment and association with armed groups.