Global Roundup: Sexual Abuse in Sudan War, UK Protest for Detained Migrant Women, Campaign Supports Latinas vs Gender-Based Violence, Germany Germany's Trans Rights, Ballon d'Or to Spain's Bonmati

Millions of Sudanese people have been displaced by the conflict, with women and children facing high levels of sexual violence [AFP]

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allies have committed "staggering" levels of sexual abuse, raping civilians as troops advance and abducting some women as sex slaves during the more than 18-month war, a U.N. mission said on Tuesday.

Victims have ranged between eight and 75 years, said the U.N. fact-finding mission's report, with most sexual violence committed by the RSF and allied Arab militia in an attempt to terrorize and punish people for perceived links to enemies.

"The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering," said mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman in a statement accompanying an 80-page report based on interviews with victims, families and witnesses.

The paramilitary RSF has roots in so-called Janjaweed militias, which helped the military crush a rebellion in Sudan's western Darfur region two decades ago.

In the current conflict, the RSF has seized control of large parts of Sudan including in West Darfur where it is accused of carrying out ethnic killings against the Masalit people with the help of Arab militias.

The U.N. mission said racist slurs against non-Arabs in parts of West Darfur state were widely used during sexual attacks, indicating ethnicity targeting.

War in Sudan has displaced more than 14 million people. Though pushed out of global headlines by Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Sudan's war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, with thousands killed, more than 11 million uprooted, widespread hunger and involvement of foreign powers.

The conflict has had catastrophic impacts on women and girls, according to a Gender Alert published in September by UN Women. 

The number of people in need of gender-based violence related services has increased by 100 percent since the beginning of the crisis, up to 6.7 million by December 2023, and this figure is estimated to be even higher today. While men and boys are also victims of gender-based violence, most of these cases involve women and girls.

The ongoing violence, particularly in Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan, has exacerbated the risks faced by women and girls, with rising reports of conflict-related sexual violence, sexual exploitation, and abuse. The nearly 5.8 million internally displaced women and girls are particularly vulnerable, with many cases of abuse going unreported due to a lack of adequate support and fears of stigma and retribution.

Outlining how women and girls are being abducted for sexual slavery, the fact-finding mission’s chair Mohamed Chande Othman said: “There is no safe place in Sudan now.”

Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the army’s former paramilitary allies, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which previously collaborated to remove former President Omar al-Bashir in a 2019 military coup.