Women and girls in Sudan’s western Darfur region live under the shadow of near-constant sexual violence, according to humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023 between General Abdel Fattah al Burhan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said MSF emergency coordinator Claire San Filippo.
The brutal war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced 13 million people, and shattered Sudan’s fragile infrastructure.
“Women and girls do not feel safe anywhere,” San Filippo said, sharing chilling testimonies from victims in Darfur and neighbouring Chad.
Attacks happen in homes, fields, while fleeing violence, and during daily tasks like collecting food or firewood. Survivors describe feeling trapped and vulnerable.
From January 2024 to March 2025, MSF treated 659 survivors in South Darfur; 94 percent were women and girls. Over half were attacked by armed actors, and nearly a third were minors, some as young as five years old.
In eastern Chad, home to over 800,000 Sudanese refugees, MSF treated 44 survivors since January 2025, nearly half of whom were children.
A 17-year-old girl survivor described her trauma, saying, “I wanted to lose my memory after that.”
MSF’s emergency medical manager, Ruth Kauffman, stressed the urgent need to scale up medical, psychological, and protection services for survivors in Sudan.
“The crisis demands swift action to safeguard and support those affected, especially women and girls,” she concluded.
