More than Numbers – Report on the State of Violence Against Women and Girls in Sudan (2023-2025)

MORE THAN

NUMBERS Report on the State of Violence Against Women and Girls in Sudan - 2023-2025

Published December, 2025 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented including copying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

SIHA Network 2025 Cover artwork: Shiroug Idris Report Design: Samah Osman

Foreword Victims and survivors in Sudan who are enduring sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence are among the most overlooked and marginalized people in the world. Despite this, the perpetration of violence against civilians—women, girls, men, and boys—remains a fundamental feature of the ongoing campaign of atrocities in Sudan.

Downplaying sexual violence as an intrinsic or inevitable outcome of the conflict reflects one of the most dangerous, patriarchal, and ethnically biased viewpoints. This is especially evident in regions like Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Nuba Mountains where women, their daughters, at times their granddaughters, and even men have been subjected to generational rape and systemic violence. The current war in Sudan is not an exception. It is characterized by sexual violence and other grave abuses used to intentionally subjugate and demean Sudanese communities.

This report seeks to illuminate the distressing realities faced by the Sudanese people, with a particular focus on women and girls between the period of 2023-2025. The data reflects the outcomes of our efforts at SIHA and those of our network of women at the grassroots level. As a feminist agency operating with limited resources, we have meticulously gathered and verified these figures with the support of grassroots women, but many more cases remain unrecorded.

The victims affected by the war in Sudan are eager to express themselves and speak in order to receive help; yet, tragically, there is a profound abandonment. Too often, their voices and our pleas fall into a void.

This report represents a compelling appeal for victims’ access to comprehensive justice. It champions the elevation of women’s voices and those of their communities, to strengthen efforts for civilian protection in Sudan and to confront the entrenched web of interests that perpetuates and sustains these cycles of violence.

Released on International Human Rights Day, a moment ostensibly dedicated to reaffirming global commitments to dignity, justice, and protection, there is a stark disconnect between these proclaimed universal values and the shameful neglect that the Sudanese people continue to face.

Marking this day with this report is both a reminder and an indictment that the rights being celebrated globally are the very rights being denied to Sudanese people in real time.

Hala Al Karib Regional Director SIHA Network

Acknowledgments and Gratitude To all survivors, past and present — those whose stories have been recorded, and those whose voices remain unheard — your courage and resilience remind us why this work matters. Every number in this report is a life and not a statistic. Every life carries a story that has been irreversibly changed.

We honor the women at the grassroot level and human rights defenders who continue to risk so much to document these testimonies. Your dedication ensures that survivors are seen, that their experiences are recorded, and that the truth is not lost.

We also recognize and extend gratitude to the SIHA team for their unwavering dedication and persistence in the face of immense challenges. Their often quiet work carries a loud impact.

SIHA also expresses profound gratitude to its diverse donor community — including bilateral partners, feminist funds, foundations, and global solidarity networks — whose flexible and principled support enabled our response, protection interventions, documentation of violations, and feminist organizing across Sudan. Thank you for sustaining this work, and for believing in its urgency.

As survivors, your testimonies expose the cruelty, the injustice, and the deliberate violence inflicted upon women and girls, and we demand that the world takes notice. This record stands as a witness to your courage, a recognition of your lives, and a reminder that your voices matter.

This report exists because of you, and for you.

We experienced great terror...Some cried and some prayed and sought forgiveness...

We couldn’t do anything. The men couldn’t do anything. What could we possibly do? They raped them...”

MADANI, AL-GEZIRA