Horror as 9-year-old girl dies after brutal gang rape | World | News

A little girl has died from her injuries following a sickening gang rape. A horrific human rights report issued on Tuesday has given insight into the sheer scale of sexual violence that has occurred since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan in 2023. The report shows warring violence is consistently followed by an increase of sexual abuse, against women, men and children.

Many of these acts have been committed in a systematic attack against the general civilian population, meaning there are grounds for these to be treated as crimes against humanity, the report says. 546 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence have been recorded and verified by the UN Human Rights Office across nearly all of Sudan’s 18 states, affecting at least 838 victims.

These victims include 539 women, 284 girls, eight men and seven boys. These figures do not account for those cases that have remained unreported.

In one documented attack, a nine-year-old girl died after being brutally gang-raped. There were 12 other reported cases that also resulted in a death.

“Unless the patterns and impacts of conflict-related sexual violence are addressed through justice, victim-centred responses and efforts to tackle stigma and discrimination, peace and social cohesion in Sudan risk being undermined for years to come,” says the report.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that: “As I warned at the end of my mission to Sudan in January, sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war. This is a war crime and, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, a crime against humanity”.

The report says that during the conflict, sexual violence has been used a war tactic, utilised in a highly systematic and coordinated manner.

Cases have been documented as occurring due to political retaliation and association with specific parties, along with ethnically motivated attacks.

These cases include rape and gang rape, forced prostitutions, sexual slavery, trafficking and forced marriage.

The majority of the incidents were attributed to men in Rapid Support Forces (RSF) uniforms along with Arab militias. A number of incidents have also been put down to Sudanese armed forces (SAF).

“Persistent impunity is clearly deepening harms and reinforcing cycles of violations and abuses,” Türk said.

“All perpetrators, including those exercising command responsibility, must be held fully accountable, and victims must be guaranteed access to effective remedy, including reparation.”