A United Nations human rights team says incidents of rape have become so common in South Sudan that many women are no longer bothering to report repeated sexual attacks.

Rape victims lack access to medical and trauma care, including those who have been gang-raped multiple times in the ongoing conflict in the country.

Some women have been raped up to five times in the last nine years, the panel said.

“Just imagine what it means to be raped by multiple armed men, pick yourself up for the sake of your children and then for it to happen again and again and again,” said Yasmin Sooka, the chairperson of the panel.

She added: “These women are asking us when it will stop – 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021 and now in 2022 – they say they keep telling their stories and nothing changes.”

In several villages in Western Equatoria State and Unity State - where fighting in ongoing - there is no medical care to rape victims, the panel said.

“Women raped by armed forces while collecting firewood are threatened with death if they report it,” said Prof Andrew Clapham, a member of the panel.

The experts have been participating in meetings at the UN General Assembly in New York to speak about the situation in South Sudan.