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.

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

Armed men are raping and sexually assaulting children as young as one during Sudan's civil war, says the UN children's agency, Unicef. So traumatised are the survivors that some say they have attempted to end their lives. Mass sexual violence has been widely documented as a weapon of war in the country's nearly two-year conflict.

The United Nations children’s agency has revealed armed men are sexually assaulting and raping children as young as toddlers in Sudan's civil 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,

One third of di victims na boys wey dey normally get "unique challenges" to report di crimes and find di help wey dem need.

The United Nations children agency, UNICEF, said Tuesday that 221 children, including boys, have been raped by armed men since the beginning of 2024 to date. The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.