One in three women risk rape in crisis-hit Darfur

Darfur (Sudan), June 1(ANI): A human rights charity survey has found that one in three women fleeing from the civil war hit region of Darfur in Sudan risk being rape victims.

The US-based, Physicians For Human Rights, interviewed 88 women who had fled from Darfur and came to a conclusion that rape against women was widespread, Sky News reports.

The survey declared 29 women making "confirmed or highly probable" accusations of rape, which included three women who had been assaulted twice.

Janjaweed militiamen were accused of 17 of these attacks. A further 15 allegedly took place outside a refugee camp in Chad, when women left to look for livestock or firewood.

Five women accepted witnessing militiamen carry out gang rapes.

According to Medicines Sans Frontiers, they had treated 500 rape victims in Darfur over a period of five months in 2005.

The Physicians For Human Rights wants rape to be recognised as a war crime. However, the Sudanese government still denies reports of rape. (ANI)