Sudan: Three-quarters of women feel unsafe as war rages on

Fabrizia Falcione, UNFPA The Country Representative in Sudan briefed journalists in New York on the latest assessment based on 95 focus group discussions in 16 of 18 states.

About 1,000 women participated and 76 percent of them aged 25 to 49 “reported feeling unsafe both in the camp and outside the camp: at markets, water points, at firewood collection points, on roads,” she said, speaking from Khartoum.

This especially happened at night, when using the latrine in the camp.

“Everywhere they feel unsafe, and it’s not just about a few incidents or a few locations,” he said.

Displacement, violence and danger in the dark

The conflict in Sudan has now entered its fourth year, with fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) showing no signs of stopping.

Falcione said most of the women she met on her visits across the country – including in the northern state of Khartoum as well as White Nile and Blue Nile states – “had been living under shelling and active conflict for months.”

Many of them have been displaced multiple times “and all have experienced enormous violence or witnessed violence experienced by their families and community members.”

Furthermore, “the path to safety is actually not safe at all,” she added as women face “harassment, sexual violence, all kinds of physical violence, lack of food and water, and in refugee areas, as I said, they continue to feel unsafe.”

He described his visits to refugee camps, where most of the residents were women and children.

“Women, including pregnant women, had to walk through the camp at night in the dark, trying to reach the latrine with no light at all,” he said.

In addition, reporting cases of gender-based violence remains very difficult due to stigma, fear of retribution, financial constraints, and distance from service providers.

What women want

On what Sudanese women need most, Ms. Falcione reported that three-quarters indicated that the top priority was economic empowerment and livelihoods, while the mission emphasized that women wanted to return to their homes.

“They asked for three things,” he said. “Basic services and access to health; access to schooling, especially for their children, and livelihood opportunities.”

She stressed that Sudanese women “don’t want to be fed. They want opportunities, income-generating activities, opportunities to be able to feed their families and their children.”

However, the issue is whether there is enough financial support to meet women’s needs when funding for the protection and health sectors currently stands at 14 percent and 11 percent respectively.

“We hear again and again that this is a protection crisis that particularly impacts women and girls, it is a health crisis, but the funding is inadequate—both the definition and the needs identified,” she said.

Safe space and services

UNFPA manages 88 safe spaces for women and girls across Sudan where they “find the courage to speak out, talk about the violence they suffer, seek help and receive the services they need most.”

However, the lack of findings made the operation difficult to maintain.

Ms. Falcione shared the testimony of a girl, who felt safe in this place because she could spend time with her friends, as they did before the war.

“I think this is a very important message that the world needs to hear,” the humanitarian veteran said, urging the international community not to abandon the Sudanese people.