U.S urged to prioritize GBV prevention, responses in Sudan

April 18, 2024 (KHARTOUM) – The U.S. government should prioritize gender-based violence prevention (GBV) prevention and response as life-saving services in funding and decision-making and scale up funding in standalone GBV programming and integrated across other sectors in Sudan, an aid agency said.

Sudan, according to a statement from Inter Action, is currently witnessing an unprecedented protection crisis marked by widespread internal displacement, ongoing conflict and severe violations of international humanitarian law.

Since mid-April last year, women and girls have faced significant violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, early marriage, and domestic violence.

Despite these, however, women-led organizations have demonstrated the impact of a women-led response, particularly by seeking to reach those most in need despite significant access restrictions and a declining funding landscape.

“In order to help women in need, support must be provided to the women who help them. Thus, it is critical that the U.S. government enables WLOs and WROs in Sudan to equitably access quality, flexible funding as directly and quickly as possible, including through pooled funding mechanisms,” noted the statement.

According to the agency, alarming levels of GBV have been documented both in Sudan and in neighboring countries receiving refugees. While previous levels of GBV in Sudan were significant, as the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war has been documented since the early 2000s, conflict-related sexual violence starkly increased over the last year among individuals fleeing from conflict zones.

Amidst the crisis in Sudan, humanitarian organizations report women and girls being kidnapped from cities, including Khartoum, and being forced into prostitution or forced marriages with fighters. Also rampant, it said are cases of rape, sex work while ethnically-targeted sexual violence has been prevalent.

There are concerns that most of the GBV cases go unreported due to stigma, distrust of the justice system and fear of reprisals, hence escalating the situation.

The aid agency also highlights report of humanitarian crises, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and trafficking which are rising as a result of diminishing resources, displacement, and increased friction within and outside homes.

But while the majority of GBV cases involve female survivors, protection agencies have reported firsthand accounts of GBV cases involving boys under age of 10.

Even with their familiarity with the community and impressive level of impact in the face of GBV, food insecurity, and displacement, support for WLOs has lagged.

WLOs reported that funding was the main barrier to their work and that the lack of access to long-term funding streams made their futures feel uncertain, which has resulted in operations being forced to downsize. Protection funding, which encompasses GBV prevention, mitigation, and response for the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) has been funded at less than 6.7 percent since April 2024.

The aid agency further appealed to the U.S. government to utilize its diplomatic leverage to advocate for uninterrupted access in hard-to-reach areas, including through cross-border response in Sudan and neighboring countries.

(ST)