Girl raped in South Darfur city

A 13-year-old girl was raped in the western part of Nyala city on Wednesday, the child's father said.

A rickshaw driver is accused of raping the girl, her father reported to Radio Dabanga by phone. The victim is in the hospital for treatment.

The police have arrested the suspect and already completed their investigation into the case. “The police told me to come to the children's court next Sunday with my daughter and the birth certificate for the trial session,” the father said.

Impunity

A UN Report by the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence published in April this year, states that the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid) documented 100 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, affecting 222 victims, specifically 102 women, 119 girls, and one boy between January and December last year. Ten percent of these cases occurred during displacement.

The incidents included rape, gang rape, attempted rape, abduction for the purpose of sexual assault and sexual harassment, primarily in North Darfur, coinciding with the presence of militias. Rapists in Darfur “continue to operate in a climate of impunity,” the report reads.

According to data of the Sudanese government, 112 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were reported between January and December 2016, of which 40 were brought to court, with 13 convictions.

The UN lauds the initiatives undertaken by the Sudanese government, “including amendment of the Criminal Act to make a clear distinction between rape and adultery, and the expansion of the mandate of the Darfur Special Court to include rape”, but notes that “The legally discontinued, but still widely upheld, requirement that victims obtain a specific form (“form 8”) from the police in order to receive medical care deters reporting.”