Doctors Without Borders Reports Systematic Sexual Violence as Weapon of War in Darfur

Doctors Without Borders released a report on March 31, 2026, documenting that 3,396 (survivors) — sexual violence survivors treated at MSF facilities in Darfur, Jan 2024–Nov 2025 sought treatment at its supported health facilities across North and South Darfur between January 2024 and November 2025, describing sexual violence as a "defining feature" of Sudan's civil war. The report, titled "There is Something I Want to Tell You...: Surviving the Sexual Violence Crisis in Darfur," is based on medical data and survivor testimonies drawn from only two of Sudan's 18 states, and the organization warned the figures represent only a fraction of the true scale of the crisis. Women and girls accounted for 97 (%) — share of MSF-treated survivors who were female of all survivors treated, while men and boys made up the remaining three percent. The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias were identified as primarily responsible for the systematic abuse, according to MSF data and survivor accounts.

Sudan's civil war broke out in April 2023, pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces against the RSF, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict has forced an estimated 14 million people to flee their homes, with famine spreading across the country and estimates of deaths running into the hundreds of thousands, according to various sources cited in the MSF report. Darfur has a long history of conflict and ethnic targeting, and the region has been the RSF's stronghold throughout the war. The RSF captured Zamzam displacement camp in April 2025 after two days of heavy shelling, and took control of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on October 26, 2025.

Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency health manager, described the scope of the crisis in stark terms. „Sexual violence is a defining feature of this conflict - not confined to front lines, but pervasive across communities. This war is being fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls. Displacement, collapsing community support systems, lack of access to healthcare and deep-rooted gender inequalities are allowing these abuses to continue across Sudan.” — Ruth Kauffman via Al Jazeera Myriam Laaroussi, MSF emergency coordinator in Sudan, said the figures are "only the tip of the iceberg," citing physical access barriers, destroyed health infrastructure, and social taboos around reporting. „No place is safe for women in Darfur. We do not have data for all of Sudan, because we are dealing with a lack of physical access. Most of the health infrastructure has been destroyed. Food, water, electricity: there is no trace of anything left.” — Myriam Laaroussi via NRC The violence frequently followed ethnic lines, with non-Arab communities including the Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa groups described in the report as "systematically targeted" as a means of humiliation and terror.

Fall of El Fasher triggered surge in reported cases Following the RSF's capture of El Fasher on October 26, 2025, MSF treated more than 140 survivors in November 2025 who were fleeing toward the town of Tawila, with 94 percent of them reporting they had been attacked by armed men. In a single month spanning December 2025 and January 2026, MSF identified an additional 732 survivors in refugee camps around Tawila, where women reported assaults both during their journeys and inside the camps themselves. The BBC reported that more than 90 percent of victims treated by MSF were assaulted while traveling from conflict areas to safety in Tawila. The RSF leadership acknowledged "individual violations" were committed during the takeover of El Fasher but said these were being investigated and that the scale of the atrocities had been exaggerated, according to the BBC. Overcrowded camps, distant water points, unsafe sanitation facilities, and a limited number of toilets further increased survivors' vulnerability, the report noted.

Working in or traveling to fields: 803, Gathering firewood, water, or food: 522

Children among victims, including 41 under the age of five Children were among the survivors documented in the report, with one in five survivors in South Darfur being under 18 years of age. The report recorded 41 children younger than five years old among those treated in South Darfur, a figure MSF described as illustrative of the breadth of the crisis. Survivors described attacks occurring not only during active fighting but in everyday settings: along roads, in markets, in agricultural fields, and inside displacement camps. One survivor quoted in the BBC's coverage described being raped repeatedly through the night by multiple men, alongside a 15-year-old girl. Another survivor recounted that a 22-year-old woman in her group was raped by four to five men and died at the scene. MSF called on the United Nations, donors, and humanitarian actors to urgently scale up health and protection services across Darfur and all of Sudan, and urged all parties to the conflict to cease and prevent sexual violence.