Statement by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) on Sudan – (no. OBS/433)

83rd ORDINARY SESSION OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS 
BANJUL, THE GAMBIA 
2 – 22 May 2025 

Your Excellency, Honourable Commissioner Hatem Essaiem,  

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is a regional feminist network with over 200 member organizations working across South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Somali region. We welcome this opportunity to address the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) this session.  

As an organization, we continue to draw this Commission’s attention to the plight of women and girls in Sudan. After two years of devastating conflict, the country has descended into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Over 12.4 million people have been forced from their homes across Sudan, with 73% still displaced internally and at risk of future violence. Half the population, 24.6 million people, are acutely food insecure, with an additional 683,000 people facing alarming levels of hunger. The complete collapse of healthcare infrastructure has left 20.3 million without access to medical services, enabling preventable diseases like cholera to claim over 1,500 lives across Sudan.  

Since the war erupted, women and girls in Sudan have faced brutal and widespread violations. SIHA Network has documented 372 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) since April 2023. A vast majority of these cases are gang rape, predominately perpetrated by the RSF, though we have documented some cases committed by SAF and its allied militia. Other forms of CRSV committed have included sexual slavery, forced marriage, and transactional sex for critical food supplies and dowries to support the broader family at the expense of the girl child. It has also included sexual assault, and these crimes have been levelled alongside instances of looting, abductions, physical assault and torture. This has also been while aiming racist slurs at survivors, particularly those from African-identified tribes and ethnicities such as the Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa people, commonly from the Darfur region. 

These crimes have targeted women and girls across all ages, from 6 to 68 years old. SIHA Network has identified that 24.8% of its documented CRSV and forced servitude cases involve young girls. SIHA has also documented cases where survivors died as a result of rape, due to the complete absence of critical sexual reproductive health services, and the inability to safely leave conflict zones to seek medical treatment.  

Women have been subjected to extreme brutality. SIHA has documented cases of femicide, involving women who were executed in front of their families, killed while fleeing, or targeted for speaking out, including women humanitarian aid workers. In North Khartoum, a school principal was publicly hanged in her home by the RSF after she tried to protect her son. In Al Gezira, women were killed for confronting RSF looting or simply attempting to reach safety.   

SIHA Network has documented 236 cases involving the enforced disappearance of women and girls, with 88% still unaccounted for. Patterns show that disappearances surge when the RSF invades new areas, particularly in Khartoum and Al Gezira States. Women and girls have gone missing while attempting to flee, during routine movement, or following RSF raids on homes. Once RSF control is established, cases of abduction, forced servitude, forced prostitution, and sexual violence become increasingly prevalent. Survivors have reported being detained in warehouses, schools, dorms and private homes, often alongside dozens of other girls.   

Over the past year, SIHA has also documented more than 300 cases concerning the arbitrary detention of women by SAF forces, charged under the Sudanese Criminal Code of 1991 and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, for allegedly collaborating with the RSF. Under these laws, women are targeted for detention based on their place of residence and ethnicity if it demonstrates any loose connection to the RSF and are often from poorer socio-economic backgrounds. Women held in detention have reported degrading treatment, denial of medical care, and prolonged detention without charge in some instances. These arrests reflect a growing pattern of ethnic profiling, collective punishment, and the criminalization of women.  

These acts contravene several human rights instruments, particularly the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (the African Charter), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol). We urgently call for strong action by the ACHPR in addressing this crisis, noting the scale of devastation in Sudan and the systematic use of CRSV.   

Specifically, we call on the ACHPR to: 

1. Strongly condemn the crimes of CRSV and enforced disappearance which remain rampant in Sudan, targeting women and girls, in terms of the Government of Sudan’s obligations under Article 18(3) of the African Charter and Articles 16, 22 and 27 of the ACRWC;

    

2. Urge for Sudan’s signature and ratification of the Maputo Protocol in strengthening its commitment to safeguard the rights and the central role of women, particularly in the current context of conflict and transition;
    
3. Timeously publish its finding following its investigations under the Joint Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan established under ACHPR Resolution 590 (LXXX) 2024, with specific recommendations on addressing CRSV; 
4. Drive concerted efforts to establish a gender sensitive civilian protection system, which serves as a preventative step against CRSV, with the Special Rapporteur on Women’s Rights in Africa assuming a leading role in this; 
   
5. Call for the provision of adequate humanitarian aid, sexual reproductive health and psychosocial support services, especially for survivors of CRSV;

    

6. Facilitate intervention in Sudan under Article 4(h) of the AU’s Constitutive Act;
    
7. Demand the establishment of mechanisms for justice and accountability for survivors of CRSV, femicide and enforced disappearance; and

    

8. Support calls for the provision of funding to women-led civil society and grassroot organizations documenting violations, providing essential services and safe spaces for survivors. 

    

9. The African Union (AU) must take a very clear and strong stance against the influx of arms into Darfur, and raise its voice firmly in demanding the halt of arms smuggling, in accordance with the relevant AU and UN Security Council resolutions.