ZAM ZAM DISPLACEMENT CAMP , Sudan ( CNN ) -- Sudan 's Darfur crisis has exploded on many fronts -- violence , hunger , displacement and looting -- but United Nations peacekeepers say the biggest issue now affecting the region is the systematic rape of women and children . UNAMID police officer Ajayi Funmi , left , educates Darfur women about rape . Thousands of women as young as 4 caught in the middle of the struggle between rebel forces and government-backed militias have become victims of rape , they say , with some aid groups claiming that it is being used as a weapon of ethnic cleansing . `` That is one of the biggest issues in Darfur : the rapes , and crimes against women and children , '' said Michael Fryer , police commissioner of UNAMID , the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed to try to tackle the violence . Relief workers say they are powerless to stop the attacks and say that if they do speak out , they fear that the Sudanese government will tell them to leave the country . Humanitarian group Refugees International said in a report last year that rape was `` an integral part of the pattern of violence that the government of Sudan is inflicting upon the targeted ethnic groups in Darfur . '' Some relief workers say that almost every woman living in aid camps has been raped or become a victim of gender-based violence . Many teenagers , while out running errands such as collecting firewood , are raped multiple times by militiamen , the workers say . Watch women face dangers in Darfur » . They say the situation has now become so bad that many women are now resigned to rape as a way of life and men are unwilling to accompany them because they fear that they will be killed if they try to defend them . But despite the extent of the abuse , the Sudanese government insists there is no problem , adding to the difficulties faced by the victims , who are often ostracized by their communities or fall afoul of a legal system seen as favoring their attackers . iReport.com : Share your photos , videos of Darfur . `` There is no rape in Darfur , '' said Mohammad Hassan Awad , a Humanitarian Aid Commissioner for West Darfur , who accuses foreign aid workers of persuading people in refugee camps to make false claims . Although few aid workers dispute the extent of the attacks against women , they say survivors are unwilling to come forward . But those who do reveal shocking levels of abuse . `` She said they removed their scarves and used it to tie them up and were taking turns to rape them . One is 13 years old ; the other one is 16 years , '' Ajayi Funmi of the UNAMID police , who is trying to educate women , said after talking to two girls . Making matters worse , aid workers say scores of babies conceived through rape are being dumped by their mothers . `` Abandoned babies are reported , but because of the stigma attached to it , there is no detailed report , because the women do n't come forward , '' said Dr Naqib Safi of the U.N. children 's body UNICEF . As many as 20 babies a month are being dumped in one camp of 22,000 people . With U.N. officials calling for more female officers to better educate women against rape and women saying they wo n't feel safe until the under-equipped and undermanned United Nations force is strong enough to protect them , the situation shows little sign of improving .
Women and girls as young as four face rape on daily basis in Darfur . U.N. mission says rape now biggest issue facing troubled Sudanese region . Aid workers says 100 percent of women in camps face gender-based abuse . Sudanese government says there is no rape in Darfur .