Female volunteers in Sudan face murder, rape, and harassment
October 4, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Female volunteers in Sudan are facing increasing pressure, including murder, rape, and harassment, in conflict areas.
On October 2, 2023, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) members assassinated Siham Hassan Mustafa, a member of the Al-Jarif West Emergency Room and the Women’s Response Room, which works to support women affected by the war. Mustafa was shot in the head and chest while trying to protect herself and her family during a raid on their home by the RSF. Another woman was raped during the raid.
On September 28, volunteers accused members of the RSF of raping a Khartoum Bahri Emergency Room member at gunpoint while she was working to assess the needs of those affected by the military conflict in the region.
In areas under the control of the Sudanese army, security forces have restricted and suppressed the freedom of female volunteers to engage in humanitarian work.
In the Blue Nile region, the activities of a feminist awareness initiative were frozen on the pretext of violating the voluntary work law. In Gedaref State in eastern Sudan, a police force took away one of the activists while organizing an educational seminar targeting women to combat the cholera epidemic spreading in the state. In the Nile River State, authorities arrested three female volunteers and prevented them from practising humanitarian work.
In addition to the rape of the emergency room member in Khartoum Bahri, Sudan Tribune learned from reliable sources that members of the RSF also raped a female doctor on her way home from work. She received treatment in a shelter in Bud Madani, the capital of Al-Jazira State.
A responsible at the shelter centre who supervised the survivor’s treatment said the doctor preferred to keep the matter secret for fear of her reputation and standing in society. This confirms that many victims of sexual assault choose to remain silent for fear of societal stigma.
The rape of the volunteer in the Khartoum Bahri emergency room sparked angry reactions, as a group of feminist and legal initiatives condemned this attack, which was described as the worst incident against a volunteer since the outbreak of war.
The Unit for Combating Violence against Women and Children – a government body – recorded 124 cases of rape, in addition to monitoring 96 cases of forced disappearance in which women were victims.
The representative of the Women and Children’s Emergency Room in Khartoum, Bahri Ola Al-Samani, revealed to Sudan Tribune that the emergency room member was raped at gunpoint by two members of the RSF.
The representative of the Psychological Support Office for Women in the Khartoum North Emergency Room, Maab Mohamed, stated that they provided the necessary treatment and psychological support to the survivor.
Mohamed said that this case of rape is the first case of sexual assault against female volunteers in the emergency room. She pointed out the risks and difficulties that obstruct the work of the chamber’s members, namely the difficulty of movement within neighbourhoods due to the spread of the RSF and their interception and monitoring of girls and women, as well as the lack of safe corridors to protect activists.
The activist said that women who are assaulted cannot easily reach the hospital to receive treatment and are afraid of being assaulted again.
Sexual attacks against female activists in volunteer work violate international humanitarian law, which stipulates special protection for humanitarian volunteers. It also violates UN Security Council Resolution No. 1296 of 2000, which obligates all parties to ensure the protection and security of humanitarian relief workers.
The Women’s Initiative for Building Sustainable Peace condemned the rape of a female activist in Khartoum Bahri in a statement. The initiative stressed that the crime hurts female volunteers working in humanitarian aid, who are desperately needed in conflict areas to meet the needs of those affected by the war.
The statement called for the perpetrators of the crime to be punished and for the dignity of the victim, who the statement described as courageous, to be restored.
Activists arrested
Activist Najda Mansour told Sudan Tribune that she and her co-worker were arrested by military intelligence in Gedaref state while holding an educational session for a group of women on how to mitigate the effects of cholera, which has become more widespread in the region, along with dengue fever.
Mansour said that she travelled to Gedaref to help contain epidemics by providing sterilizers, spraying the homes of infected people, and educating residents on how to avoid the disease.
In the Nile River state in the north of the country, activist in humanitarian volunteer work, Doria Abdullah, wrote on her Facebook page that she was arrested last Thursday for three days inside the Military Intelligence Division at the army headquarters.
Abdullah stated that the arrest also included activist Katira Al-Hadi and Yosra Badri, along with three volunteers, including a man and his son, for three days inside the army headquarters.
She added, “I was asked to sign a declaration that I would not engage in any voluntary work within the Nile River State until the war ended because I described the war as absurd.”
Notably, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, had also described the war as absurd.
Women’s awareness initiative banned
Earlier, the government of the Blue Nile region in the southeast of the country announced the freezing of the activity of a women’s awareness initiative under the pretext that it violates the voluntary work law.
One of the initiative’s activists told Sudan Tribune, “There is no glimmer of hope for the initiative’s activity to resume. We are still at a standstill, and we do not know the violation we committed.”
She stressed that the authorities’ talk about the initiative’s violation of the Voluntary Work Law is an excuse to stop promoting awareness among women, as the initiative succeeded in raising it and informing women of their rights and duties, “which seems unwelcome by the authorities,” as she put it.
In the same state, ten female activists were arrested before organizing a protest against the continuation of the war, and they were released on personal recognizance before the authorities recorded legal articles against the activists related to disturbing security and safety and public nuisance.
The “No to the Oppression of Women” organization struggled to hold a symposium in Wad Madani calling for an end to the war, as the authorities of the Gezira state blocked its organization twice. The governor of the state, Ismail Alaqib, declared that stopping the symposium was intentional and that they would prevent any call aimed at stopping the war.
(ST)