Armed forces in Sudan’s civil war are perpetrating systematic sexual violence against young children, with one-year-olds the youngest survivors of rape, according to a new report from UNICEF, the United Nations’ (UN) children’s agency.

Children as young as 1 are being raped and sexually assaulted by armed forces in Sudan, according to a new report by UNICEF.

Armed men are raping and sexually assaulting children as young as one during Sudan's civil war, says the UN children's agency, Unicef. So traumatised are the survivors that some say they have attempted to end their lives. Mass sexual violence has been widely documented as a weapon of war in the country's nearly two-year conflict.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 12 million and cut off crucial supply routes across the country.

Some of the survivors cited by UNICEF say they fell pregnant as a result of the assaults, resulting in rejection by relatives and additional hardships. One woman who was held in captivity with other women and girls was quoted saying,

A database compiled by Sudan-based groups aiding sexual violence survivours recorded 221 child cases since last year, the UN agency reported.