As many as 40 percent of the women interviewed by Physicians for Human Rights for its recent study, Darfur: Assault on Survival, had been raped or sexually assaulted.

The consequences of rape are complicated and multi-faceted; rape victims suffer physical, psychological and social scars. In Darfur, a conservative Muslim society, rape victims suffer from stigma and shame. Some married women who are raped are disowned by their husbands, while unmarried rape victims may never marry because they are considered by society to be "spoiled."

The stories that follow were adapted from the PHR report. The photos of women, taken during PHR investigations in Sudan, are not directly related to the stories.