UN experts: sexual violence ``an instrument of war`` in the Sudan
Agencies - Moatinoon
On Thursday, United Nations experts confirmed that sexual violence is widespread in the Sudan, sometimes ethnically motivated and using a "tool of war", calling for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.
"We are appalled by reports of the widespread use of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, as a tool of war to subjugate, terrorize, break and punish women and girls," the independent experts commissioned by the Human Rights Council said in a statement.
Since April, forces loyal to Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudans de facto leader, have been at war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, nicknamed "Hemeti."
More than 10 thousand people were killed as a result of the war, according to a conservative tally by ACLID. According to the United Nations, 6.3 million people have been forced from their homes.
Experts, including the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls and on child sexual exploitation and abuse, said that the Rapid Support Forces and their allies appeared to be behind most of the sexual violence observed in the conflict.
They referred to reports of cases of rape, sexual exploitation, slavery and human trafficking "which may in some cases be racially motivated, technically and politically motivated". Cases of forced prostitution and forced marriage of women and girls had also been reported.
The experts also pointed out that violence was often used "as a means of punishing specific tribes targeted by RSF and allied militias", adding that in some cases non-Sudanese migrants, refugees and stateless persons were also targeted.
They warned that "these dangerous actions are no longer concentrated in Khartoum and Darfur, but have spread to other parts of the country, such as Kordofan".
They called for the fact-finding mission established by the Human Rights Council last October on human rights violations in the Sudan to investigate sexual violence to ensure that perpetrators were held accountable.
Experts, who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, warned that the magnitude and severity of sexual violence "has been considerably underestimated".
