Women and the War in Sudan
Karissa Kromminga
Staff Writer
As the war in Sudan nears its second year, human rights organizations are deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis going on inside the country. The conflict broke out in April of 2023 in the capital of Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over state control. The Council on Foreign Relations reports that more than 15,000 people have been killed, 8.2 million have been displaced, and 25 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. The United Nations has called the situation the “world’s largest hunger crisis.” There have been multiple failed ceasefire agreements since the conflict began.
Recently, the humanitarian crisis has drastically worsened amid a report released by Sudan’s Unit of Combating Violence Against Women and Children in September 2024 which documented 216 cases of sexual violence, an estimated 2 percent of the total incidents. The report further describes that “sexual violence is being used as a weapon in Sudan, with the objectives of humiliation for ethnic or ideological reasons, forced eviction and displacement, and creating chaos and a sense of insecurity.” Sexual violence as a tool of war is not a new phenomenon and was long considered an inevitable consequence of war until 2008 when it was classed as a war crime by the UN. Nancy Sarkis of UN News stated that a “battle is being fought on the bodies of women.”
The violence has become so egregious in Sudan that several women took their lives in Gezira after being raped by members of the RSF. A rights group told BBC that they are in contact with six women who are contemplating committing suicide due to the fear of being sexually assaulted. The RSF dismissed these claims as well and stated that the accusations made by the UN reports were “not based on evidence.” A female activist told the BBC that she had accounts and seen messages regarding women taking their own lives following sexual violence or the killing of family members by RSF militiamen. She stated, however, that it was impossible to verify many of these accounts on social media of reported mass suicides due to communication problems throughout the nation. The UN said the victims it has documented have ranged in age from eight to 75 years old, with most of them needing but struggling to find medical care due to the destruction of most hospitals and clinics.
Unfortunately, even after these women escape Sudan, the violence does not end. Reports are emerging of women in refugee camps in neighboring countries such as Chad being forced to have sex to survive. Women in these camps told The Associated Press that those abusing their vulnerable situation include humanitarian aid workers and local security forces. They are said to have sexually exploited them in Chad’s displacement sites by “offering money, easier access to assistance and jobs.” This includes one 27-year-old woman who describes giving birth to the child of an aid worker who promised her money in exchange for sex. Sudanese psychologist Daral-Salam Omar stated that the women were “psychologically destroyed.” One 19-year-old refugee said, “If we had enough [money], we wouldn’t have to go out and lose our dignity.”
Image courtesy of Getty Images