Armed forces in Sudan’s civil war are perpetrating systematic sexual violence against young children, with one-year-olds the youngest survivors of rape, according to a new report from UNICEF, the United Nations’ (UN) children’s agency.

The U.N. children’s agency says children in conflict-ravaged Sudan as young as a year old have been raped since the beginning of 2024 and that sexual violence is being used as a tactic of war.

Some of the survivors cited by UNICEF say they fell pregnant as a result of the assaults, resulting in rejection by relatives and additional hardships. One woman who was held in captivity with other women and girls was quoted saying,

A report issued by UNICEF investigators described horrific abuses, affecting children as young as 1 year old, in the civil war in Sudan.

Children as young as 1 are being raped and sexually assaulted by armed forces in Sudan, according to a new report by UNICEF.