Sudan: 16 months of war against women that must end – Sudan

Geneva – As the war in Sudan enters its 16th month, the disproportionate impact on women and girls continues and must be addressed. They are paying the highest price, facing displacement, unlawful detention, house arrest, hunger amid the threat of famine, increased gender-based violence and reduced access to essential services, including for sexual and reproductive needs, as direct consequences of the ongoing war.

The power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted in Khartoum in April 2023 quickly spread to other parts of the country, leading to widespread sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement, unlawful detention, confinement of civilians and looting, with overlapping impacts on women and girls in particular.

The war has already led to extreme displacements, both internally and across Sudan’s borders. More than 2 million people, 90% of whom are women and children, and a fifth are young children suffering from acute malnutrition, have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries, including 484,000 to Chad. The vast majority of displaced people remain in Sudan, living with host communities.

Today, with more than 9.9 million internally displaced people (IDPs), Sudan is facing the largest internal displacement crisis in the world, and there is a growing risk that the violence will soon trigger the world’s largest hunger crisis. According to the latest data from United Nations Women, more than half of all IDPs are women and girls, and more than 7,000 new mothers could die in the coming months if their nutritional and health needs are not met.

Sixteen months of war have effectively created a devastating “war on women” that manifests itself in multiple and intersecting ways.

Since the outbreak of the war in mid-April 2023, there has been an escalation in sexual violence against women. The widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, including human trafficking and sexual exploitation, has been common since the beginning of the conflict. Warring parties have subjected women and girls, aged 9 to 60, to various forms of sexual violence, including forced and child marriage, and prolonged captivity in conditions of sexual slavery.

Members of both warring parties have also sexually abused women and girls in front of their own family members, creating additional trauma for both survivors and witnesses, in addition to the potential stigma and other dire social consequences. In some cases, the victim’s family members consented to the forced or child marriage, hoping that this would provide social and/or financial protection for the victim of abuse.

All the ongoing violence is exacerbated by the lack of emergency post-rape healthcare, psychosocial support and other essential services, due to attacks by warring parties on healthcare facilities and medical personnel, restrictions on the movement of civilians, ongoing fighting, unlawful restrictions on medical supplies and the deliberate obstruction of aid. The physical and psychological scars on survivors are extremely damaging and in some cases the injuries have even resulted in the death of the victim.

The economic impact of the conflict also exacerbates the situation of internally displaced Sudanese women, who have lost their jobs, property, housing, freedom and sources of income and are forced to seek external assistance, particularly in rural areas. The war has further marginalized many women, depriving them of their livelihood opportunities and driving many to risk sexual exploitation and abuse as a last resort to support themselves and their families.

Even in neighbouring countries hosting refugees, the vulnerability of refugee women and girls to conflict is exacerbated by a lack of adequate assistance and limited infrastructure. This leads to health and safety risks, physical harm, exploitation and abuse, and risks of gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation in border areas and refugee camps.

A lack of privacy and security characterizes many temporary shelters inside and outside Sudan. Along the border of South Sudan and Uganda, for example, or at the Metema Transit Centre and Kumer Settlement in Ethiopia, there is only one latrine per 100 people and the daily amount of water per person is below global standards.

“Rape and other forms of conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls, including acts intended to humiliate, dominate or instill fear, can no longer be considered an inevitable by-product of armed conflict or a less serious crime,” said Michela Pugliese, legal researcher at Euro-Med Monitor. “They are war crimes and must be held accountable and recognised as such.”

Pugliese continued: “Sudanese women and girls have paid the highest price for this war. They face displacement, hunger, increased gender-based violence and sexual abuse, and reduced access to essential services, including for sexual and reproductive needs, as a result of direct attacks on their bodies.

“Even in temporary shelters, women have not been able to find assurance of safety; a so-called ‘protection measure’ cannot be considered as such if it does not take into account the gender dimension of safety,” she added.

Euro-Med Monitor emphasises the obligation of parties to conflict to refrain from the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, and recalls UN Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015) and 2467 (2019) on women, peace and security.

Euro-Med Monitor calls in particular on all parties to the conflict to cease fighting and respect international humanitarian law, including by enforcing a zero-tolerance policy on sexual violence, protecting health facilities and medical personnel, and facilitating humanitarian access, including GBV response services. Euro-Med Monitor also calls on the United Nations and the African Union to urgently authorize an independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for Sudan and to give it a mandate that includes the prevention and documentation of conflict-related sexual violence, as well as assistance to survivors; to strengthen access to justice; to identify those responsible and promote accountability and reparations; and to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations into crimes committed across Sudan.

Euro-Med Monitor stresses that international partners and donors need to invest in local, women-led organisations on the ground to fully address the gender dimensions of the crisis in Sudan and in neighbouring countries hosting refugees. The international community must listen to Sudanese women and ensure their full, direct and meaningful participation in relevant international forums for humanitarian plans and conflict mediation, especially since US and Western policies in the resource-rich country have contributed to the crisis.