Joint statement
Global Rights Compliance (GRC) and Sudan’s Doctors for Human Rights (SDfHR) call for immediate action to investigate and prosecute sexual and gender-based violence committed against children in Sudan
10 March 2025.- On 4 March 2025, UNICEF published a report detailing grave incidents of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) committed against children in the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan. According to the report, there are 221 verified cases of rape against children since the beginning of 2024, in which 66% of survivors are girls, 33% are boys, and 16 are children under five-years-old. The youngest among the survivors are four individuals, all aged one year. According to the report, children in Sudan have been subjected to SGBV, including rape, during attacks and raids of cities, while fleeing, in detention, during trafficking, in exchange for basic necessities, and during daily activities. However, the extent of these crimes remains unknown and the true scale is likely much larger.
The figures and cases reported by UNICEF offer a glimpse into the large-scale crisis that has engulfed Sudan, leading to wholesale impacts on all aspects of children’s life, including their physical and mental well-being, development, family and social life, and education. Indeed, as previously reported by UNICEF an entire generation of children in Sudan faces catastrophe with a five-fold increase in reports of grave violations of children’s rights during the ongoing conflict. It is estimated by UNICEF that 770,000 children under five are at risk of the ‘deadliest form of malnutrition’ in 2025. After the countrywide shutdown of schools in October 2023, 19 million children were deprived of education, with limited access in displacement and refugee camps. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has raised concern regarding an increase in the number of children killed and victimised by sexual violence as a weapon of war, noting that children are at a higher risk given widespread armed recruitment of children.
However, as pointed out by the UNICEF report, sexual violence is “one of the least reported grave violations against children.” Survivors and their families face fear of stigma, rejection by their communities, and significant obstacles in accessing services. Boys are often acutely affected by stigmatisation, leading to underreporting, lack of access to services, and increased obstacles in accessing justice and accountability.
Despite clear evidence that children have been disproportionately affected and specifically targeted by international crimes, access to justice has remained elusive and reports of SGBV committed against children continue undeterred. Indeed, children are often invisibilised in our attempts to seek justice and accountability for international crimes. This is compounded by the near-complete lack of accountability and justice that has characterised post-independence Sudan perpetuating cycles of armed conflict.
GRC and SDfHR call on the international community to take immediate and timely action at all levels to address SGBV committed against children in Sudan. This includes the deployment of all available mechanisms to seek justice, including the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. Investigations should encompass a child sensitive approach, seeking to understand the full scope of harm suffered by children, and its impact on both the individual and community level. Justice and accountability processes should amplify the needs, perspectives, and interests of Sudanese children at all forums and stages.
The international community must commit to concrete actions to address SGBV against children in Sudan and end the cycle of impunity. This includes supporting initiatives to provide holistic support to survivors, as well as supporting local organisations in documenting and investigating international crimes, and in pursuing justice and accountability for the grave allegations of SGBV against children, enabling survivors to have a meaningful participation in ending impunity while offering adequate victim support and reparations.