{"id":20122881,"date":"2025-11-11T19:44:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20122881"},"modified":"2025-11-11T19:44:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:44:55","slug":"un-women-warns-of-systematic-rape-and-starvation-as-sudanese-women-demand-peace-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/un-women-warns-of-systematic-rape-and-starvation-as-sudanese-women-demand-peace-table","title":{"rendered":"UN Women warns of \u2018systematic rape and starvation\u2019 as Sudanese women demand peace table"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UN Women has warned that rape is now being \u201cused intentionally and systematically\u201d in Sudan, where hunger and displacement deepen daily. Women and girls, the agency stressed, \u201care not just statistics, but a measure of our common humanity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday, Anna Mutavati,\u00a0UN Women\u2019s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa<\/a>, said: \u201cEvery day the world is late in taking action on Sudan, another woman is born under the weight of bombing, buries her child starving, or disappears without justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutavati highlighted the gender dimensions of food insecurity in North Darfur\u2019s capital of El Fasher, \u201cthe heart of the recent disaster in Sudan,\u201d where \u201cpregnant women put their children on the streets after the looting and destruction of the last remaining maternity hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat women tell us is that during their horrific journey, every step they take to fetch water, collect firewood, or stand in line carries a high risk of sexual violence,\u201d Mutavati said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She warned that\u00a0women\u2019s bodies<\/a>\u00a0\u201chave become a crime scene in Sudan,\u201d adding, \u201cthere are no longer any safe places where women can access protection or basic psychosocial care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic dignity has collapsed. \u201cOne sanitary pad package in North Darfur costs about $27, while on average the value of\u00a0humanitarian cash assistance<\/a>\u00a0is just under $150 a month for a family of six.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families are forced to make \u201cimpossible decisions,\u201d choosing \u201cbetween\u00a0food, medicine and dignity<\/a>,\u201d with women and girls\u2019 needs \u201cfall[ing] at the bottom of that list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunger hits women hardest. \u201cMost women and girls may not eat at all in Sudan. Women often avoid meals so that their children can eat, while teenage girls often get the smallest share,\u201d Mutavati said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health workers report surging infant malnutrition \u201cassociated with the reduced ability of their hungry mothers to breastfeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She called for an end to the violence,\u00a0safe humanitarian access<\/a>, and support for women-led aid initiatives. Famine has already been confirmed in El Fasher and South Kordofan\u2019s capital of Kadugli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Amy Pope, visiting their warehouses in Port Sudan today, said\u00a0in a statement<\/a>: \u201cThe crisis in El Fasher is the direct result of nearly 18 months of siege that has severed families from food, water, and medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur teams are responding, but insecurity and depleted supplies mean we are only reaching a fraction of those in need. Without safe access and urgent funding, humanitarian operations risk grinding to a halt at the very moment communities need support the most,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudanese activists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite their central role in relief efforts, Sudanese women remain politically marginal.\u00a0UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed<\/a>\u00a0told an event on the Secretary-General’s Common Pledge for Women’s Full, Equal and Meaningful Participation in Peace Processes on October 28 that \u201cthe space for women\u2019s voices is shrinking while the violence around them grows,\u201d noting that \u201cfewer than one in ten negotiators were women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cWe know the evidence. When women are part of peace talks, the agreements reached are stronger, fairer, and more likely to last.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activists insist women must not be tokenised. Rabah Ismail Mohamed said inclusion must start \u201cfrom the first moment,\u201d not as \u201clate or marginal\u201d participants. Political and human rights activist Neimat Koko Mohamed warned: choosing women who \u201cdo not represent the reality of the affected majority will reproduce the old political crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women are both victims and leaders. \u201cWomen played a pivotal role in delivering aid, supporting the displaced, managing shelters and\u00a0community kitchens<\/a>,\u201d said Sudanese Women’s Network and political and civil activist Rahma Ateeq Al-Kanzi, calling for involvement \u201cat all levels of the negotiation process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates call for two-track participation: women at the main table and in civil platforms to reinforce feminist priorities. \u201cThe most affected are the keenest on peace,\u201d said activist Ihsan Abdel Aziz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hala Al-Karib, Regional Director of the\u00a0Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa<\/a>\u00a0(SIHA) warned Sudan faces \u201ca series of atrocities in which the bodies of civilians are used as tools,\u201d adding that the Quartet alone cannot stop them.<\/p>\n