Port Sudan , November 4( Darfur 24) Sudanese women human rights defenders called on the international community to act urgently to protect women in Sudan from the danger of rampant sexual violence amid the ongoing war in various parts of the country.
Three Sudanese women human rights defenders spoke while they were in New York, to participate in activities marking the anniversary of Security Council Resolution No. 1325 on women, peace and security.
These annual events are held to emphasize the importance of the role played by women and the necessity of their meaningful involvement in peace processes.
The three activists highlighted the suffering of Sudanese women due to the war, which exacerbated the suffering of Sudanese men and women, and forced millions of them to flee their homes. Parties to the conflict also face accusations of using women’s bodies as “war arenas,” that is, using sexual violence – most notably rape – as a method of war.
Representing civil society in Sudan, the Regional Director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, Hala Al-Karib, spoke at a Security Council session held under the title “Women’s Participation in International Peace and Security: From Theory to Practice.”
Women’s lives and what happens to them are not taken seriously enough, and women are treated as collateral damage
Al-Karib said that her participation in the session was aimed at providing insight into the systematic and massive violence and atrocities that happen to Sudanese women, especially in Darfur – and to clarify that what is happening in Sudan is a blatant violation in which women’s bodies and lives are used as a tactic for this war, as she put it.
She said that the crimes committed during this war “may amount to genocide,” noting that the lives of women and what happens to them are not taken “seriously enough, and we are treated as collateral damage.”
Hala Al-Karib called on the international community to carry out “its duty, which it abandoned more than twenty years ago, during which the violations, abuse and killing of Sudanese people did not stop,” she said.
She added: “Rape, sexual assault, dispossession of property, and forced displacement. These are all crimes committed by the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, in cooperation with the Janjaweed militias, which later became the Rapid Support militias.”
The Sudanese activist said that these violations continued even during the transitional period, and the perpetrators of the crimes were not prosecuted, “but were promoted to higher positions in the state, which gave the violators a feeling that they were above the law,” she said.
Hala Al-Karib stressed the need to hold accountable the crimes committed, noting that the current violence is an extension of “the violations that occurred against civilians in Darfur twenty years ago by the Rapid Support Forces.”
But now, according to Ms. Hala Al-Karib, the two sides – the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support – are committing “violations against civilians, represented by the systematic bombing of residential areas in Khartoum and Nyala, which leads to civilian casualties.”
Al-Karib stressed the need to stop hostilities completely, and added:
“We asked the Security Council to add sexual violence and violence against women as one of the conditions for lifting sanctions on Sudan, because the Sudanese government has believed, for a long time, that it can practice whatever sexual violence it wants. This issue has become unbearable because it has continued for more than twenty years.”
Strengthening the voice of Sudanese women affected by violence
Nimat Ahmady, President of Darfur Women for Hard Work, says that the ongoing war has exacerbated the disaster that has been going on in Darfur for twenty years, calling on the world not to forget Sudan in the midst of the many disasters taking place in various parts of the world.
Do not forget the situation in Sudan in the midst of many other disasters
Ahmadai referred to her meeting with representatives of member states of the Security Council and United Nations officials – including the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict – with the aim of amplifying the voice of Sudanese women by focusing on demands to provide protection and security, delivering humanitarian aid to all those affected by the war, especially women, and supporting women’s organizations. And civil society organizations on the ground that play a major role in helping those affected by war, especially women affected by sexual violence.