Top United Nations officials on Wednesday denounced an increase in violence, especially sexual violence, against women and girls in Sudan, where armed conflict has raged for more than two and a half months.

In a joint statement, the heads of UN agencies, including the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Children’s Fund (UNICEF), organizations for women (UN Women) or health (WHO), said shocked and “condemned” the increasing reports of gender-based violence in Sudan, including “conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls who have been displaced or become refugees”.

“It is outrageous that the women and children of Sudan, whose lives have been turned upside down by this senseless war, are being hurt even worse in this way. What we are seeing in Sudan is not just a humanitarian crisis; it is a crisis for humanity,” summed up UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.

“After so much inhumanity and brutality, women and girls are left with little or no medical and psychological support,” added UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

Its services received after the war broke out in April “credible information about 21 incidents of sexual violence linked to the conflict”, with victims of “at least 57 women and girls”, according to the statement, which specified that “at least 20 women were raped” in just one of these attacks and that “at least” 10 children are among the victims.

However, given that not all attacks are reported due to “shame, stigma, fear of reprisals”, it is “undoubted” that “the real number” of crimes of this nature “is much higher”.

Even before the relentless power struggle between the two Sudanese generals turned into open war on April 15, “more than 3 million women and girls were at risk of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence,” according to estimates of the UN.

This number is now estimated to have reached 4.2 million, according to the announcement, which emphasizes that the risk is greater among the displaced and refugee populations.

“Our teams in the region describe the horrific ordeals experienced by women and girls when they fled to save themselves,” said the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

“This shocking series of human rights violations must stop. It is urgent to offer assistance to survivors and those at risk, but, to date, funding is far from commensurate,” he added, while it is estimated that the war has turned 2.8 million civilians into internally displaced persons and refugees.