Amid alarming reports of sexual violence being used as a weapon of terror across Sudan, UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, is warning that over 12 million women and girls - and increasingly men and boys - are estimated to be at risk.
It is nearly two years since the brutal war between the forces of the military government in Khartoum and the Rapid Support Forces militia erupted, sparking one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Human rights abuses have been committed on both sides and more than 30.4 million Sudanese require urgent assistance, with millions displaced, and tens of thousands killed. Nearly 25 million people face acute hunger.
According to the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, there have been increasing and alarming reports of sexual violence being used to terrorise civilians.
In late 2024, in the northern state of Sudan, armed men forced their way into Layla's* home in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, while she was alone with her children. "They arrested my son and took me to a separate car. I noticed they were looking at my daughter in a disturbing way - she's 18 years old. Probably they took me away to keep her alone," she told UNFPA.
Layla's fears for her daughter were a precursor of what she would later confront at an overcrowded prison, where she was held for nearly three weeks.
Recounting that they brought her son back and started beating him in front of her, Layla added that they interrogated her, accused her of being a spy and claimed that her husband was working for the army. �"UN
