Sudan

Sudan

The Context

Sudan

Since April 2023, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has driven one of the world’s largest humanitarian and protection crises, with ethnically targeted violence and conflict related sexual violence remaining pervasive and women and girls disproportionately affected. Courts are non functional across much of the country and law enforcement structures are either absent or implicated in the violations themselves.

LAW’s Sudan programme works to bridge that gap by centring survivor agency, strengthening documentation for future accountability processes, and integrating legal support with psychosocial and medical care. Working with the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network), LAW has built a one stop, confidential service model and extended assistance along the Chad–Sudan border.

Facts & figures (2025)
1500+
People received legal/psychosocial/medical support (SGBV)
50
Survivors trained as first responder (Restore Hope Survivor's Network)
2
Active cases
2
Partner organisations
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Focus areas

What we do in Sudan

gender-equality & GBV

Gender Equality & GBV

Over 547 survivors of sexual and gender based violence accessed structured legal awareness sessions and individual legal consultations in 2025, with 365 confidential consultations helping survivors understand their rights, assess risk and weigh their options. Recognising that legal engagement is impossible without stabilisation, LAW’s integrated referral system connected 637 survivors to psychosocial or medical care, more than double the original target, including 26 group sessions, 197 individual counselling sessions and 40 medical referrals.

Accountability & Rule of Law

Accountability & Rule of Law

LAW submitted detailed documentation to the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan concerning alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gezira State, and filed a legal brief with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on behalf of 22 Darfuri women survivors of conflict related sexual violence and other grave crimes perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces. Survivor case files have been documented to international evidentiary standards and testimonies preserved for future proceedings.

Furthermore, on behalf of twelve Sudanese victims, LAW and The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) filed a landmark criminal complaint with Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Kenya for war crimes and crimes against humanity, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. The victims are asking the DPP to investigate 10 members of the RSF, including some with alleged ties to Kenya, for committing these international crimes in and around Khartoum between April 2023 and March 2025.

Transformative justice

Transformative Justice

A central achievement of LAW’s Sudan work is the establishment of a survivor led first responder mechanism. Fifty survivor advocates were trained in psychosocial first aid and survivor centred SGBV response, 35 of them receiving advanced capacity building, and through seven mentorship sessions the Restore Hope Survivors’ Network was set up as a survivor owned structure with elected leadership, ethical standards and safety protocols. Survivor advocates now act as trusted first responders in their own communities.

Justice for children victims

Justice for Child Victims

Girls and young women have borne a disproportionate share of the education crisis caused by the conflict, and refugee girls are far less likely to be enrolled in school than boys. Through the Education Cannot Wait supported project “Future is Female: From Victims to Advocates”, LAW supported SIHA Network to reach 250 out of school Sudanese refugee girls in Kampala and Kiryandongo Settlement in Uganda with legal education, advocacy training and support for school re-enrolment.

Spotlight

First war crimes complaint against the RSF filed in Kenya

“The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) violently interrogated me, detained me in darkness for weeks, and tried to force me to rape a male cellmate at gunpoint.” On 9 June, on behalf of twelve Sudanese victims, Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), and The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) – represented by Otieno Ogola and Company Advocates – filed a landmark criminal complaint with Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Reports library

Latest Reports on Sudan

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"Even when war took away my classroom, it did not take away my voice. Education is not just something useful; it is my right."
Yumna Mustafa Mohammed · 15-year old Sudanese girl living in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Uganda
TESTIMONY

Voices from the Frontline — Sudan

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"The war is still ongoing, but it's a single story, and there are so many stories about Sudan."
Jumana Eltigani, Sudanese gender justice advocate