Sudanese Women’s Union calls for activation of international accountability mechanisms for violations against women

The Sudanese Women’s Union (SWU)* has created an open memorandum to be signed, addressed to various UN, international and regional bodies on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8, calling for the activation of independent international accountability mechanisms for the war in Sudan.

The memorandum, which has so far been signed by 34 organisations and individuals, pointed to a widespread and systematic pattern of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law against Sudanese women. These include murder, individual and collective rape, sexual slavery and exploitation, abduction and forced marriage, sexual torture, unlawful detention, displacement and asylum, the use of sexual violence as a tool of mass intimidation, and impoverishment through the confiscation of property and means of production for the purpose of deliberate starvation leading to death.

The Women’s Union called for the activation of independent international accountability mechanisms, support field investigations and the collection of evidence, work to refer crimes to international justice, and explicitly recognise that what is happening in Sudan constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The memorandum stressed the need to pressure the two parties to commit to controlling the behavior of fighters in order to avoid and limit further violations.

The memorandum also called for directing international funding towards the protection of women, the provision of treatment and psychological support to survivors, the establishment of safe protection centres, and support for the economic reintegration of affected women.

The Women’s Union called for pressure on the de facto government to take urgent action to provide the necessary funding to support free health care for women in government centers and hospitals.

The memorandum stressed the need for immediate funding and support to provide food and health services to the more than 4 million survivors, pregnant and lactating women.

Call for a ceasefire

The EU stressed the need to exert political, diplomatic and economic pressure to impose an immediate ceasefire and ensure unhindered humanitarian access, as 20 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance such as food, medicine, tents and shelters.

It also called for specific penalties for those responsible for crimes of sexual violence, starvation and forced displacement, and the formation of a special commission of inquiry and redress.

The Union stressed the importance of placing the issue of women at the center of any political transformation project in Sudan, and considering justice for women as a foundational condition that cannot be overridden or postponed.

The SWU issued a direct appeal to all Sudanese, regional, Arab, African and international women’s organisations, calling on them to join and sign this memorandum, adopt it as a joint international pressure document, work to submit it to governments and international organisations, and turn the issue of Sudanese women into an urgent global feminist issue.

The SWU also called on the global women’s movement and the peoples of the world to break the international silence, put pressure on governments, and turn the suffering of Sudanese women into an issue of global public opinion.

The Union called for the adoption of March 8, International Women’s Day, as an international day of solidarity with Sudanese women, so that it turns from a symbolic occasion into a platform for international political action in which the issue of Sudanese women is raised in various forums, with the aim of imposing accountability, mobilising political will, and building effective global pressure to end crimes and stop impunity.

* The Sudanese Women’s Union (SWU, Arabic: الاتحاد النسائي السوداني, transliteration: Aletahad Elnisa’i Assodani) is a Sudanese women’s rights organisation that is one of the biggest post-independence women’s rights organisations in Africa. (Source: Wikipedia)