Nairobi — A new report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reveals a harrowing reality in Darfur, Sudan, where women and girls are facing pervasive sexual violence, both in active conflict areas and beyond. Titled “There is something I want to tell you.”: Surviving the sexual violence crisis in Darfur, the report documents comprehensive accounts of sexual violence in Sudan’s war, including victim and survivor testimonies and data from MSF medical programs. Between January 2024 and November 2025, at least 3,396 victims and survivors sought treatment in MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur, though MSF cautions that this represents only a fraction of the actual scale.
The report highlights that women and girls accounted for 97 per cent of the victims and survivors treated in MSF programs. Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency health manager, states, “Sexual violence is a defining feature of this conflict – not confined to frontlines, but pervasive across communities.”Displacement, collapsing community support systems, lack of access to healthcare, and deep-rooted gender inequalities are allowing these abuses to continue across Sudan.
Victim and survivor testimonies, along with MSF medical data, show that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers and allied militias are responsible for widespread and systematic sexual violence against women. Following the RSF’s capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on October 26, 2025, MSF treated more than 140 victims and survivors who managed to reach Tawila in November. Over 94 per cent of these victims and survivors were attacked by armed men, many reporting assaults along escape routes.
In displacement camps around Tawila, MSF identified a further 732 victims and survivors between December 2025 and January 2026. Women reported attacks both during their journeys and within the camps. Overcrowded shelters, lack of basic security, and unsafe conditions further increase their vulnerability. Attacks also occurred in everyday settings, such as on roads used to flee violence, in fields where families grow food, and in markets and displacement camps.
In South Darfur, hundreds of kilometers from active ground fighting, 34 per cent of victims and survivors were assaulted while farming or traveling to farmland, and 22 per cent while collecting firewood, water, or food. One in five victims and survivors in South Darfur was under 18 years of age, including 41 children younger than five years old.
MSF data points to patterns of systematic abuse, with armed men responsible for most assaults. One survivor described her experience while fleeing her home: “They took us to an open area. The first man raped me twice, the second once, the third four times.
Apart from the rapes, they beat us with sticks and pointed guns at my head.”Victims and survivors also face significant barriers to care, including insecurity, stigma, and limited protection services. MSF calls on all parties to the conflict, including the RSF and their supporters, to cease and prevent sexual violence and hold perpetrators accountable.
The organization also calls on the United Nations, donors, and humanitarian organizations to urgently scale up health and protection services in Darfur and all of Sudan.
Source: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
