UNFPA warns sexual violence used as weapon of terror against women and girls in Sudan

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS – UNFPA on Wednesday warned that over 12 million women and girls and increasingly men and boys are estimated to be at risk after alarming reports of sexual violence being used as a weapon of terror across Sudan.

UN agencies reported that for past 2 years the brutal war between the forces of the military government in Khartoum and the Rapid Support Forces militia erupted, sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

OHCHR said that human rights abuses have been committed on both sides and over 30.4 million Sudanese require urgent assistance, with millions displaced, and tens of thousands killed.

WFP, FAO reported 25 million people face acute hunger.

According to the UNICEF there have been increasing and alarming reports of sexual violence being used to terrorize civilians.

Over 12 million women and girls and increasingly men and boys – are estimated to be at risk of assault, an 80 per cent increase from the previous year.

UN mission in Sudan reported that since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, the situation has worsened dramatically, with 13 million people forcibly displaced one third of the population and the health system all but obliterated.

UNFPA is providing reproductive health and protection services through 90 mobile health teams, more than 120 health facilities, and 51 safe spaces for survivors of sexual violence across Sudan.

The agency give assistance includes clinical treatment and psychological counseling after rape, sexual abuse and assault, and referrals for legal assistance and awareness raising among communities of the risks of sexual violence, coercion and trafficking.

According to UNFPA, there have been over 540 attacks on health facilities reported over the last two years, supplies and equipment are looted, and health workers, patients and ambulances are targeted with violence and intimidation.

Maha Mahmoud, a social worker at a UNFPA-supported safe space in Dongola in Northern State, said health facilities are no longer safe havens.

“I was informed that a young woman had been raped at a maternity hospital,” she told UNFPA.

“She’s 18, divorced with one daughter and had been living with her family when opposition forces entered her area. They took her, along with many other women, and raped them.”

“She lost consciousness. When she woke up, she found herself surrounded by other girls, all of whom had also been raped. They were then left in the street.”

Ms. Mahmoud said that the woman would later discover she was pregnant.

“She made her way to the safe space, where we provided her with psychological support and all the necessary medical care.”

She added that the woman and her baby are slowly recovering. “Since then, we have continued to help her cope with the trauma.”

UNFPA has called for $119.6 million for its work in Sudan and a $26 million to assist refugees in the country.

In the northern state, UNFPA’s sexual and reproductive health programmes and safe spaces operate with funding from Canada, the European Union, Japan, Norway and Sweden.

The agency said unprecedented funding cuts by many lead donors are risking the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of women and girls into jeopardy.

US is a crucial supporter of the people of Sudan, but the funding cuts will leave some 250,000 women without reproductive health services, UNFPA stated.

UN agency stressed that training for frontline medical workers has also been halted, and 10,000 women will lose access to safe spaces that provide medical, legal, and psychosocial support.