November 21, Nairobi — War in Sudan is being fought on the bodies of women, said a top United Nations human rights investigator on Thursday. Women and girls have been subjected to large-scale sexual violence, gang-rape, abduction and detention akin to sexual slavery.
“This is a shameful story, to be honest,” said Mona Rishmawi, member of the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan. “When the war is being fought on the bodies of women, that’s really shameful.”
Speaking during a briefing in Geneva, Rishmawi also said that delivering humanitarian aid is near impossible. “When humanitarians move from one area of control to another… people have been killed,” she said. “The situation is very, very complex, which makes reaching the needed population extremely difficult.”
Earlier this week, the United Nations in Sudan released a report saying that women and girls have been disproportionately impacted by the conflict and face heightened risks of sexual exploitation and abuse.
In Gezira state, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been accused of rape and gang rape. The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, a regional women’s rights group have documented at least six cases in which survivors of acts of sexual violence subsequently died by suicide.