Sudan Must Rewrite Rape Laws to Protect Victims

“An international aid group called on Sudan on Thursday to rewrite its laws to protect women from ‘mass rape’ in the war-torn Darfur region.

A report from U.S.-based Refugees International accused government-backed armed groups of systematic sex attacks on women and girls in the country’s remote west.

Legally, it is ‘all but impossible’ to prosecute rapists, the report found.

Women who admit to being raped risk prosecution for having sex outside marriage — an offence punishable by 100 lashes or death by stoning, it added.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry declined immediate comment on the report. But Khartoum has often denied that mass rape occurs in Darfur, accusing Western media of sensationalism.”

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