Sudanese women bear the brunt of war as violations continue, activist warns

Sudanese women are paying the highest price in the country’s ongoing war, facing a growing catalogue of abuses including killings, sexual violence, displacement and intimidation, according to a leading rights activist. Rehab El Mubarak, a member of the executive office of the Emergency Lawyers group, says women had been disproportionately affected by the conflict, which has devastated large parts of Sudan since fighting erupted between rival military factions.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga during March – widely recognised as Women’s Month, which includes International Women’s Day on March 8– Mubarak says the violations documented in recent months included deaths from shelling, arrests, abductions and sexual violence. Many women, she added, have also been forced into displacement while simultaneously carrying the burden of supporting their families amid worsening humanitarian conditions.

She pointed to one particularly deadly incident in which about 40 women were killed when a transport vehicle travelling from the city of Ed Daein to El Fula was struck by shelling. Most of the victims, she says, were travelling with their children to attend a funeral.

Mubarak stressed that abuses have not been confined to women living in active conflict zones. Female journalists, lawyers, teachers and human rights defenders have also been targeted with arrests, harassment and intimidation because of their work documenting violations or speaking publicly about the situation facing civilians.

Some professional women, she says, have also faced punitive measures such as dismissal from their jobs, the suspension of salaries and restrictions on practising their professions. Others have had their passports confiscated or have been prevented from travelling.

According to Mubarak, the war has claimed the lives of many women through aerial bombardment and heavy artillery attacks, while others have suffered rape, sexual violence, abduction or forced marriage. Such acts, she says, represent grave breaches of international humanitarian law and could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sudanese women are also enduring the hardships of repeated displacement, often moving from one region to another in search of safety. Many now struggle to secure basic necessities, while others have been compelled to work to support their families, both inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries where they have sought refuge.

Despite the scale of suffering, Mubarak says Sudanese women remain determined to continue their struggle for a civilian, democratic Sudan.

“These violations will not prevent Sudanese women from defending human rights and revealing the truth,” she says. “They will continue their work and their struggle for justice.”

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