“It is perhaps more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict,” is a poignant quote by Patrick Cammaert, former UN Division Commander for the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, that aptly describes the horrific reality of conflict-related sexual violence. It’s a deliberate tactic of warfare that devastates the lives of thousands of women and children globally every year.

Widespread sexual assault by soldiers is as old as battle itself: it’s used to intimidate, disintegrate, and destroy communities, turning unimaginable levels of cruelty into a daily reality for potential victims and their families.

The use of mass rape as a weapon of war is nowhere as glaringly evident as in the Sudanese civil war, in which the Sudanese Armed Forces and a militia called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engulfed in a violent conflict that has destroyed much of the nation’s political, economic and social fabric.

SCREENSHOT reached out to experts, non-profits, and different UN bodies to gain a clearer understanding of just how pervasive and insidious this form of terror remains.

“Women’s bodies have historically been a contested site of power, control, and social regulation,” Dr Malancha Chakrabarty, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director at the political think tank Observer Research Foundation, explained. “Violation of the female body is often associated with shame to the entire community. It’s a weapon of war and plays a major role in subjugating and emotionally defeating the entire population deemed as enemy in a conflict.”

Vanya Kovac, the Senior Gender Advisor for the Center for Civilians in Conflict, seemed to agree with this assessment: “Sexual violence has been a serious issue in Sudan’s conflicts, including Darfur and the current war. Reports indicate that rape has been used as a tool of persecution and terror, particularly against marginalised communities. Between April 2023 and November 2024, at least 120 incidents were documented, affecting over 200 victims, mostly women and girls. UNICEF has also reported more than 200 cases of child rape since early 2024.”

Most of the violence originates from the RSF, a militia largely composed of lighter-complexioned Arabs who have been systematically targeting non-Arab ethnic groups. This includes Black Africans, who suffer the majority of massacres and mass rapes currently being reported.

In Sudan, the conflict is not rooted in religion—nearly all those involved are Sunni Muslims—but rather in race and competition for land and resources, with Black Africans seen as having a lesser claim to both.

The extent of their dehumanisation can be traced through the derogatory language used against them; RSF fighters frequently refer to them as slaves or compare them to litter and black plastic bags.

@refugees

One story about sexual violence is one story too many. Yet in a war zone like Sudan, harrowing stories of r*pe, exploitation and abuse are the norm. In Chad, UNHCR’s Dominique Hyde shares some of the heartbreaking stories she heard from women who fled the war in Sudan, and calls for funds to deliver vital services for survivors. Disclaimer: The individuals appearing in this video do not represent any of the survivors mentioned. Additionally, the names of survivors of gender-based violence have been changed to protect their identities. #16Days #KeepEyesOnSudan

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“The biggest obstacle is that conflict-related sexual violence happens under orders from senior military officers who use it as a war strategy and encourage the average soldier,” Dr Chakrabarty went on to note.

All of this echoes the atrocities that were observed in Tigray, a war-torn state in the northern region of Ethiopia, between November 2020 and 2022.

With most of the world focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, a civil war was taking place between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front on the other. It disfigured the lives and bodies of many women and young girls in the region.

“Soldiers are targeting Tigrayan women to stop them giving birth to more Tigrayans,” 18-year-old Mona Lisa, who survived an attempted rape, told the New York Times at the time. She recounted how an Ethiopian soldier burst into the home she shares with her grandfather and ordered them to have sex before attempting to rape her himself.

“I fought the soldier off. But there are so many women all over this region who were actually raped.” The assault left her with seven gunshot wounds and an amputated arm.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted back then that sexual assault had become an integral part of a war he had promised would be swift and bloodless. The recurring violence in Darfur, a region in western Sudan, is anything but. In a conversation with a spokesperson from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this grim reality was reinforced. SCREENSHOT asked the intergovernmental body which protects refugees and displaced people about the challenges to keeping women and children safe:

“The biggest challenges include cultural practices and the overall position of women on issues that affect their wellbeing, limited access to justice, fear of retaliation, protracted and emerging violence, extremely limited livelihood opportunities leading to survival sex, negative coping mechanisms, and [a culture of] impunity.”

The available data on wartime sexual violence reveals alarming levels of rape during armed conflicts and their aftermath: between 250,000 and 500,000 women and girls were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, more than 60,000 in the civil war in Sierra Leone, between 20,000 and 50,000 in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at least 200,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1996. However, as is often the case, the true scale of these atrocities is believed to be far greater than what has been officially recorded.

Indeed, one of the main reasons why mass rape is such a potent tool for warfare is because it is unlikely to be reported.

Rape in conflict, when widespread and systematic, is recognised as a war crime and a crime against humanity. However, it mostly goes unpunished due to the high “evidence requirements for identifying, reporting and prosecuting war crimes,” UNHCR noted. This highlights once again how cultures of rape are really just cultures of impunity.

“In Sudan, where conservative social norms prevail, survivors, particularly women, risk being blamed, divorced, or even subjected to further violence if they report what happened to them. This culture of silence enables perpetrators and prevents justice,” Kovac explained. “And this is all if victims know what happened to them, meaning if they know how to recognise [an] act of sexual violence when it happens to them. The justice system in most conflict-affected countries is often weak or totally corrupt, and even when these systems aren’t weak or corrupted, going through the legal process can be traumatising all over again.”

When I asked Chakrabarty about the challenges women face, she responded: “The end of violence in a conflict isn’t always permanent. There are many regions which are in a state of protracted conflict, and violence only abates for a few years before erupting again.”

This is incredibly true for the Darfur region, which has been in a state of political instability and humanitarian catastrophe since the early 1950s. Likewise, a new war in Tigray is being anticipated as international leaders warn about the rising tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

@aljazeeraenglish

As war is looming once again in Tigray, a northern region of Ethiopia, thousands of young women and girls across the area have been victims of sexual violence.Why the global silence on the crisis in Tigray? Listen to the full episode on TheTakepodcast.

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“Some of the perpetrators remain in positions of power. Victims of sexual assault are bruised and have typically lost family members, assets, and homes and are struggling to eke out a life. Post-conflict governments and the international community typically fail to give them confidence. Moreover, they might want to forget the traumatic past and prefer to move on,” Dr Chakrabarty added.

It’s hard to get a comprehensive impression of the hardships many women and children in conflict regions like Darfur are facing because access is highly restricted. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel to South Sudan, Sudan and Ethiopia’s borders with Eritrea, Somalia, and Kenya, meaning that journalists, aid workers, and political officials risk their lives when visiting these regions.

It’s a grim fact that should give a general idea of how dangerous it actually is to live there, especially as a vulnerable group.

Kovac noted these constraints for human rights and humanitarian organisations, when I queried her, “particularly in areas controlled by armed groups. This limits their ability to provide medical and psychological support to survivors,” she reported.

“We need a tougher global stance on sexual violence during wars and conflicts. During a conflict, the international community should be able to mount pressure on parties engaging in systematic sexual violence as a military tool. The outcome of the conflict and often the fragility of the peace itself is a barrier to holding the perpetrators accountable,” Dr Chakrabarty replied after I asked her how to prevent and combat these atrocities.

Kovac from the Center for Civilians In Conflict also had some suggestions regarding immediate steps that civilians outside of Sudan could take: “[F]or everyone outside conflict zones, your voice matters! Amplifying the stories of survivors through social media platforms can raise awareness and inform people about the realities of sexual violence in conflict.”

“Finally, preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence requires collective action. By challenging the norms that enable this form of violence, supporting survivors, and demanding accountability, we can work towards a world where no one has to experience such atrocities. We have the power to drive change—let’s use it!”

Speaking to experts across three continents has made one thing abundantly clear: Acknowledging the existence and scale of conflict-related sexual violence is just the first step; demanding accountability and ensuring justice must be the next one.