Sexual, gender-based violence on the rise in Sudan: report

September 26, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Sexual and gender-Based violence incidences have significantly risen since the onset of Sudan’s conflict, a new report shows.

Conducted by UN Women, the Initial Rapid Gender Assessment specifically focused on the regions of Southern and central Darfur, White Nile and Khartoum in Sudan.

The assessment provided information on the different needs, capacities, and coping strategies of women, girls, boys and men in Sudan, classifying them into needs requiring immediate attention and those seeking mid-term interventions.

Since the fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out on April 15, 2023, humanitarian needs have reportedly increased from 16 million to 24.7 million people in need.

Women were attacked while sourcing food and water as they fled the fighting.

Water, food, shelter and income sources are listed as essential household needs.

“The breakdown of families due to separation, and lack of kinship support, forced women to spend long hours outside their homes, increasing their vulnerability to opportunistic attacks and assaults,” partly reads the report.

The 36-page assessment further revealed a shift in gender roles within the society.

“In de-facto female-headed households, women assumed the responsibility of household financial maintenance, a role previously undertaken by their husbands – resulting in increased workload for women,” it noted.

Also observed was that women’s participation in decision-making at household and community levels in male-headed households remained unchanged.

In these households, the assessment shows, women continued performing their reproductive roles and responsibilities without extended family support, which would typically allow them to engage in productive work.

But to strengthen women and youth-led organisations and community-based initiatives, the report recommenced a quick institutional assessment of the registered and unregistered women-led and youth-led organisations and community-based initiatives to assess their capacity to deliver humanitarian response and advance small grants to strengthen their operational and programmatic capacity.

It urged provision of training among women and youth on the principles of humanitarian response to support their participation in the humanitarian programme cycle while calling for integration of gender-based violence prevention and mitigation measures across all response efforts.

The Initial Rapid Gender Assessment was conducted in Sudan from 10-20 May, 2023.

(ST)