International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

19th June 2026

Recognition, Protection and Prevention of Sexual Violence Against Sudanese Women

Rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) have been brutal, widespread and a defining factor of the current war in Sudan.

Washington, D.C. – On this International Day of Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we must recognize both the suffering and the resilience of Sudanese women in the face of the unspeakable brutality they have endured while continuing to rise. We are extremely alarmed and outraged by the deliberate and systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of genocide against women and children in Sudan, and we wish to raise the alarm about the catastrophic trajectory of this crisis if the world continues to look away. For more than three years, the people of Sudan—especially the women and children of Darfur and Kordofan—have faced a deliberate and systematic campaign of extermination, displacement, imposed starvation, and sexual violence at the hands of the genocidal paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At this moment, more than 17 million women and girls in Sudan need humanitarian assistance (United Nations). The actions and the intent of the RSF is deliberate and can no longer be described as a few incidents due to rogue soldiers. Still, a calculated destruction of an entire ethnic community is continuously enabled by the international community’s greater dismissal of the scale of this violent conflict. If the present international response remains unchanged, we will be forced to witness an unwavering assault on the humanity of Sudanese civilians, particularly women victim to unspeakable acts of sexual violation. DWAG recognizes the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict as a critical moment for the systemically ignored phenomenon of sexual violence as a weapon of war. We must recognize this day for the platform it provides victims, survivors, and allies, but we must also force the international community to listen, act, and deliver justice to all women and children who have experienced sexual violence in conflict.

Rape as a Weapon of War & Conduct of Genocide

Across Darfur and Kordofan, women and children are being targeted for sexual violence by RSF and its allied militias. Both Warring parties have been accused of committing sexual violence crimes against women, however, the genocidal paramilitary RSF is responsible for the most systemic and weaponized sexual violence with devastating and deliberate precision. Some members of the Sudanese Armed Forces have also been accused of sexual violence and exploitation and in some instances, they use oppressive laws to oppress women. Survivors who escaped RSF brutality and those forced to remain have testified to mass rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and trafficking perpetrated not as isolated acts but as a systematic tactic of war. The United Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights experts confirmed last year that these acts of sexual violence are used “systematically” as “weapons of war,” designed to destroy families, fracture communities, and erase entire ethnic groups from their lands. RSF soldiers told survivors they would be forcibly displaced and their land would be “cleaned” of their people. These women and children are not caught in crossfire; rather, they are chosen, targeted, and destroyed with intent. In South Darfur, reports confirmed the RSF detained more than 600 women and at least 50 children in Kober Prison under inhumane conditions involving forced labor, overcrowding, and the intentional starvation of pregnant women and children. Survivor testimonies describe women being forcibly removed from detention to perform acts of servitude for the families of RSF officials. This is organized sexual exploitation carried out under the command structure of a genocidal force, and it must be named and prosecuted as such.

Children in Sudan are Being Murdered

On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we join the global community in standing with child victims and survivors and refuse to remain in idle solidarity. The United Nations states that conflict-related sexual violence against children has increased by 35% in 2024. Regretfully, children in Sudan are a significant representation of this statistic. They are being targeted with genocidal intent as they are raped, trafficked, forced into marriage, and subjected to sexual torture, which inflicts chronic psychological harm and trauma. The RSF is using this violence as a weapon and warfare strategy to strip the dignity and destroy the fabric of the community including ethnically motivated attacks and sexual violence. Targeted women from the indigenous African tribes in Darfur.

The UN Security Council acknowledges this deadly phenomenon under Resolution 1261 (United Nations, 1999), which states that sexual violence against children in conflict is one of the most serious crimes against humanity. The UN must hold those who violate the Resolution to the highest level of accountability. On this day, we remind the UN and the greater international community that there is a void in this accountability that Sudan’s children and mothers feel in totality. Children who experience conflict-related violence are among the most vulnerable beings, and the effects of this violence become shrouded within the greater community. The guardians and caregivers of children are left with the burden of ineffective healthcare systems. The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 200 attacks on Sudanese medical facilities since 2023, leaving thousands dead and over a third of facilities non-functional. In the absence of critical healthcare accessibility, women take on the responsibility of caring for their children and communities. We must urge the United Nations and the greater international community to recognize that Sudanese women and children have been fighting alone for too long.

DWAG’s Commitment to Women, Children, and Survivors of Conflict-Based Violence

While women in Sudan are facing this brutality, the international community and International NGOs are failing to provide adequate protection or deliver services that can meet the evolving needs on the ground. At DWAG we stand committed to work, speak out, and respond to the needs on the ground. We have worked for over 15 years to document, to speak and provide emergency support to survivors and to center the voices of Sudanese women who have experienced conflict-related violence firsthand being their voice on the global stage.

When the war erupted and all organizations fled Sudan our teams remained on the ground working around the clock, providing life-saving assistance and attending to the needs of women survivors and providing a safe space for those who are hurt the most by rape and sexual violence, effectively uplifting their voice and hope. In the fall of 2025, DWAG led an initiative comprised of Sudanese women, human rights defenders, and civil society representatives from across Sudan— including Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile, and displacement communities across eastern Africa—for a three-day convening on protection, inclusion, and accountability. Women in attendance demanded that perpetrators of sexual violence be permanently barred from positions of influence in Sudan’s future. They demanded survivor-centered psychosocial support, maternal health services, and legal frameworks that address the reality of sexual violence in zones of conflict. They demanded what has been denied to them in every peace process so far: a seat at the table. Ending sexual and gender-based violence starts with women’s effective participation, protection, and inclusion, these are priorities that DWAG strives for every day to realize.

Studies have demonstrated that women’s meaningful participation in peace negotiations increases the probability of a peace agreement lasting 15 years by 35 percent. Of recent note, the Jeddah negotiations did not include a single woman, demonstrating how forms of gender-based discrimination—both in settings of conflict and diplomacy—will continuously result in structural failure and the perpetuation of violence.

International Negligence is Complicity

At Darfur Women Action Group, we refuse to remain silent about the genocide unfolding in Darfur and Kordofan. We are dismayed by our international institutions’ constant failure and our leaders’ indifference to the people of Sudan. In the face of some of the deadliest atrocities in modern history, we must not let world leaders normalize genocide or reduce Sudan’s suffering to a matter of politics, ceasefire negotiations, and “truce frameworks” which fail to deliver effective justice for victims. The UN Security Council, the African Union, the United States, and regional actors have consistently failed to translate the normative frameworks they support—including UNSC Resolution 1820, which recognizes conflict-related sexual violence as a threat to international peace and security, and Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security—into real protection for Sudanese women and children. Every day we witness heartbreaking testimonies of survivors who continue to plead for protection, even when the world has stopped listening. Sudan’s women used every available platform to document, testify, and share experiences of sexual violence, trauma, and resilience. They have convened across borders, in the face of personal risk, to build a future for a Sudan that does not yet exist—one of freedom, peace, security, and justice. The negligence of our international leaders cannot be normalized when Sudanese women risk their livelihoods to be seen, heard, and taken seriously. To sit idle as such atrocities are being spoken of is a disgusting and unfortunate reflection of the international community’s priorities.

DWAG Demands Action

We call on the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, the United States, the European Union, IGAD, and all international stakeholders to:

• End the use of sexual violence as a weapon of genocide by enforcing immediate and enforceable civilian protection guarantees, with specific, named accountability for conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) perpetrators within the RSF command structure.
• Deploy international protection forces under Chapter VII mandates to safeguard civilians, displacement camps, hospitals, and caregivers in El Fasher, Kordofan, and West Darfur—and demand the RSF’s immediate withdrawal from occupied civilian zones.
• Open safe humanitarian corridors by land and air with guaranteed access for food, medical aid, psychosocial support, and emergency response teams, including cross-border corridors, without interference or blockade by armed groups.
• Support and fully resource the UN Fact-Finding Mission and the ICC to document CRSV, secure evidence of sexual violence, mass graves and detention sites, and prosecute crimes of genocide, ethnic targeting, and mass starvation as weapons of war—with particular attention to crimes against children and women survivors.
• Impose targeted sanctions, travel bans, and international criminal designation on RSF commanders responsible for sexual violence; designate the RSF as a global terrorist organization; and build a coordinated global response to delegitimize and isolate its leadership.
• Expand the arms embargo to all of Sudan by cutting the weapons pipeline feeding genocide, including enforcement against international suppliers and intermediaries known to be arming the RSF.
• Center survivor voices and women’s leadership in all peace processes, transitional justice mechanisms, and post-war reconstruction. Women’s exclusion from peace negotiations is a structural failure with measurable, deadly consequences.
• Sudan Humanitarian Fund must dedicate a special Fund and resources directly to survivor-centered psychosocial support, maternal health, and legal services for women and child survivors of CRSV in Sudan, particularly in displacement settings where formal systems have collapsed.
• Listen to and integrate the testimonies and demands of survivors, women leaders, and affected communities into every decision made about Sudan’s present and future.

We Must Stand with Survivors.

Every day the women of Sudan have thoughts and show us that they are not helpless and that their resilience remains unmatched but they must not be left alone to fend for themselves. Eliminating sexual and gender based violence starts with inclusion, protection, participation, and recognition of expertise and the extraordinary abilities of the Sudanese women to stand up for themselves and their communities.

The people of Darfur and greater Sudan must be granted the full protection of international law immediately. Silence has never stopped genocide. Only through collective action, accountability, and protection can progress be made. As DWAG continues its mission to center survivors, amplify women’s voices, and build a future free from genocide, we ask the global community to stand with us by supporting our One Million Voices for Sudan Campaign. Your voice can influence and compel leaders, media, and institutions to break their silence and enforce their international obligations. Together, we defend human dignity, demand the end of sexual violence in conflict, and affirm that the lives of Sudanese women and children are not expendable.

With Gratitude,

Niemat Ahmadi

Founder and President, Darfur Women Action Group

For inquiries, please contact: policy@darfurwomenaction.org

For more resources and to find ways in which you can help, go to: www.darfurwomenaction.org

About DWAG

Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) is a women-led anti-atrocities nonprofit with a 501(c)(3) status, founded in 2009 by a Darfur genocide survivor to empower and amplify voices of women and the conflict-affected and historically excluded communities in Sudan and the United States of America (USA) to enable them to champion their causes and work collectively to foster sustainable social change.