Violence against women, including rape, humiliation and beatings, has become a "hallmark" of the conflict in Sudan, a data-based report published on Tuesday by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said.
Survivors who gave evidence in the report spoke mainly about sexual violence occurring within an environment of impunity, including in the western region of Darfur.
The report draws on medical data documented in medical centres supported by MSF and testimonies gathered between January 2024 and November 2025. More than 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought medical care at MSF-supported sites across North and South Darfur during that period. Darfur is under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting against the Sudanese military since April 2023.
Survivors overwhelmingly said armed men were the perpetrators of the violence, with more than 95 per cent reporting such incidents in North Darfur and 68 per cent in South Darfur. Physical violence often involved more than one attacker, with nearly 60 per cent of cases in South Darfur carried out by more than one person.
The report also outlined that physical and sexual violence is embedded in daily life and displacement. In South Darfur, 22 per cent of survivors were assaulted while collecting essential items such as water or firewood, while 34 per cent were attacked while working in fields or travelling to farmland. In North Darfur, more than 90 per cent of survivors reported being assaulted while fleeing along routes between conflict zones and areas of relative safety.
Children were among those affected. In South Darfur, 20 per cent of survivors were under 18, with some younger than five. In North Darfur’s Tawila area, 27 per cent of survivors in late 2025 were children.
MSF said the figures reflected only a fraction of the true scale of abuse. That was due to stigma, insecurity and limited access to services.
The organisation described violence against women as a “defining feature” of the civil war, with the issue driven by displacement, the collapse of systems of protection and widespread impunity for attackers. "This war has, in many ways, been fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls," it added.
On April 15, the civil war in Sudan will enter its fourth year. The conflict between the RSF and the armed forces has been marked by atrocities and systematic gender-based violence.
Tens of thousands have been killed since 2023 and more than 13 million people have been displaced. The warring parties have each been accused of committing war crimes and launching indiscriminate attacks that have killed civilians. The US, European countries and the UN have imposed sanctions on elements from both sides.
