Documenting the Unseen: A New Field Manual for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Darfur and Beyond
- Mariana Goetz
- 19 hours ago
- 2 min read
The conflict in Darfur and other regions of Sudan has been ongoing for more than two decades, involving cycles of violence, displacement and suffering. Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has been a persistent element of that violence — often occurring in the shadows of wider atrocities.
Documenting CRSV in such settings is challenging. Survivors face immense stigma, personal risk and trauma sharing their experiences, while opportunities for pursuing justice have been limited due to neglect and discrimination in the justice system. The all-out war since April 2023 has deprived survivors from accessing justice nationally, leaving documentation efforts to human rights activists and international bodies such as the UN Fact Finding Mission and the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction only for Darfur (though we argue that jurisdiction can be construed for the whole of Sudan).
The recent ICC conviction in The Prosecutor v. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman , also known as Ali Kushayb, represents a historic moment for Darfur. In October 2025, the ICC delivered its first conviction in the Darfur situation, finding Kushayb guilty of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 2003-4 conflict, including rape and other sexual violence as part of a campaign of persecution. While this represents "a good start for accountability", it also illustrates the enormity of the challenge: decades of evidence-gathering, limited convictions and most importantly countless suspects still at large, some still committing violence in Sudan.
Against this backdrop Rights for Peace is proud to release its third field Manual in a series of training guides designed for human rights defenders, funded by the Matrix Causes Fund.
Building on our previous manual on Documenting Identity-Based Violence, which offers guidance on gathering evidence to establish the elements required for 'identity' crimes such as genocide, incitement to genocide and persecution, this new manual focuses on the specific demands of CRSV documentation in complex conflict settings.
This Manual is more procedural, providing step-by-step practical guidance on survivor-centred approaches, victims' rights, ethical risk assessment, informed consent, trauma-sensitive interviewing, and secure information handling — all essential elements in collecting credible, respectful documentation in situations where human rights defenders on the ground take daily risks to gather information and establish reliable facts about what has happened with little support.
The Manual joins a growing body of practice-oriented resources designed to support human rights professionals in using principles from the Murad Code, a global framework that sets out ethical, survivor-driven principles for collecting information on sexual violence in conflict in a manner that promotes dignity and agency.
By grounding its approach in survivor agency and victims' rights to access justice, it seeks not only to improve the quality of documentation but to strengthen victims as rights holders in justice seeking. In contexts like Darfur, where only a small number of perpetrators have been held to account despite overwhelming evidence of widespread and systematic violence, practical tools that guide safe, ethical documentation are urgently needed.
The Manual will also be available in Arabic.
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