A temporary clinic in Tawila for people fleeing conflict in Darfur. “There is mounting evidence that rape is being deliberately and systematically used as a weapon of war,” says UN Women.
This article is published in association with United Nations.
In war-torn Sudan, rape is likely being used as a weapon of war and simply being a woman there is “a strong predictor” of hunger, violence and death, the UN’s gender equality agency warned on Tuesday.
“Women speaking to us from El Fasher, the heart of Sudan’s latest catastrophe, tell us that they’ve endured starvation…displacement, rape and bombardment,” Anna Mutavati, UN Women Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, told reporters in Geneva. “Pregnant women have given birth in the streets as the last remaining maternity hospitals were looted and destroyed.”
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia captured North Darfur state capital El Fasher after more than 500 days of siege in late October, amid reports of widespread atrocities including summary executions and sexual violence.
Fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary RSF when a transition to civilian rule broke down, stemming from the overthrow of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir four years earlier. The ensuing heavy fighting has devastated communities, displaced millions and exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis.
In 2008, the UN Security Council recognised that rape in conflict and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity and a component of genocide.
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Find out how one war criminal was brought to justice in the DR Congo here, including for using rape as a weapon of conflict.
Ms. Mutavati said that the situation is worsening dramatically as fighting spreads around the city, prompting mass displacement. Thousands of women and girls have fled to other localities in North Darfur including Tawila, which is some 70 kilometres away, Korma and Malit, where a humanitarian presence is “very scarce”.
On Monday, UN aid coordination office OCHA said that nearly 89,000 people have fled from the area, some seeking refuge near the Sudan-Chad border.
“What the women tell us is that on their horrific journey…every step that they’ve taken to fetch water, to collect firewood or to stand in a food line has carried a high risk of sexual violence,” the UN Women representative said. “There is mounting evidence that rape is being deliberately and systematically used as a weapon of war.”
Nowhere is safe
Warning that women’s bodies “have just become a crime scene in Sudan”, Ms. Mutavati insisted that there are “no safe spaces” left where women can find protection or access basic psychosocial care.
“Basic dignity has also collapsed,” the UN Women official insisted, explaining that in North Darfur a single packet of sanitary towels costs around $27, while humanitarian cash assistance amounts to slightly below $150 per month for a family of six, on average.
Ms. Mutavati spoke of “impossible decisions” having to be made by families “forced to choose between food and medicine and dignity”.
“The essential needs of women and girls fall to the very bottom of that list,” she said.
Ms. Mutavati also said that in Sudan – like in other crises – “women and girls eat the least and they eat last”.
“Most women and girls may not be eating at all in Sudan…Women often skip meals so that their children can eat, while adolescent girls frequently get the smallest share, undermining their long-term nutrition and health,” she said.
“In besieged, remote areas like Darfur or Kordofan, women and girls are often the ones that are scavenging for survival,” Ms. Mutavati added, citing reports of women “foraging for wild leaves and berries to boil into soup” while facing additional risks of violence.
Starvation takes hold
In early November, the latest UN-backed IPC food security analysis confirmed famine conditions in El Fasher and in the capital of South Kordofan state, Kadugli.
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Ms. Mutavati also said that health workers report rising cases of severe acute malnutrition in infants, often linked to their starving mothers’ reduced ability to breastfeed.
“There’s a ripple effect of the hunger that women are experiencing,” she warned.
Calling for an end to the violence, for broader humanitarian access and for increased support to women-led soup kitchens and other aid providers, Ms. Mutavati stressed that women and girls in Sudan “are the measure of our shared humanity”.
“Every day that the world delays to act on Sudan, another woman gives birth under fire or buries her child in hunger, or disappears without justice,” she concluded.
Relief chief presses for aid access
The UN’s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, arrived in Sudan on Monday to press for an end to atrocities and to push for unhindered access for aid workers.
The situation in North Darfur remains volatile following the fall of El Fasher. Although major clashes have eased, civilians still face sporadic attacks, looting and gender-based violence.
In South Kordofan, a drone strike reportedly hit the town of Um Barmbeeta, destroying a school and injuring several displaced people, while insecurity continues to block access to areas where thousands remain cut off from aid.
More than 12,000 people have fled violence in Darfur and Kordofan to seek safety in White Nile State since late October, straining already scarce resources. The UN has again called for the protection of civilians and for aid workers to be granted safe and sustained access across frontlines.
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