Your excellencies,
We welcome this opportunity to engage with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on the Sudan conflict and the status of the rights of women in the country during its 81st Session. Founded in 1995, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is an indigenous feminist network comprising more than 150 civil society organizations dedicated to advancing gender justice across Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Somali Region.
The scale of human suffering perpetuated by the conflict in Sudan is immense. Sudan is the world’s largest crisis, with over ten million people displaced and over half the population, almost 26 million people, in need of food aid.1 The humanitarian situation is dire, with blockages in access due to insecurity or obstruction by authorities blocking the flow of humanitarian aid in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Additionally, an estimated 19,000 civilians have been killed and 33,000 injured in the course of the conflict, with hotspots of violence cutting across Khartoum, Gezira, Sennar, and Darfur, specifically in the towns of El Fasher, El Geneina, Ardamata, Nyala and Zalingei amongst several others.2 The majority of the displaced are women and girls, and the war has been fought using women’s bodies, with conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in the form of rape, forced marriage, trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and forced prostitution.3 A vast majority of these cases are attributable to the RSF. However, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is not blameless and is also responsible for some cases of sexual exploitation as well.4
CRSV has been used to terrorize local populations and force mass displacement, with few options for justice and accountability, and access to medical care for survivors. In some instances, such as in Gezira state, the use of gang rape highlights its systemic use as part of a concerted campaign and not the actions of individual soldiers. Moreover, SIHA has consistently reported ethnically driven cases of CRSV directed at women and girls of the Masalit and other “African-identified” tribes in the Darfur region by the RSF, reminiscent of the Al Bashir regime.5
Against this backdrop and on the occasion of the ACHPR’s 81st session, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) calls upon Commissioners to continue to express their strong condemnation of conduct by the warring parties, the ongoing acts of CRSV and enforced disappearances in Sudan. Since the outbreak of the conflict on 15 April 2023, SIHA has documented approximately 254 and 161cases of CRSV and enforced disappearances respectively, contravening several articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, specifically Article 4 which guarantees the right to life and integrity of the person and freedom from deprivation of liberty, and Article 18 on non-discrimination and protection of the rights of women. With Sudan being a State Party, this is in direct contravention of its obligations under the Charter. The warring parties’ actions are in further violation of soft law instruments developed by the ACHPR such as its 2022 Guidelines on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in Africa. The mass killing of civilians also reflects breaches of proportionality and distinction under international humanitarian law in addition to violations of the Geneva Conventions, which Sudan is also signatory to.
As a leading regional feminist organisation with a long history of programming in Sudan, SIHA condemns ongoing acts of CRSV and calls for respect of regional and international standards. The current CRSV violations, go against several human rights and humanitarian standards, specifically, Articles 2 (elimination of discrimination against women) and 3 (right to dignity) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), and the Guidelines on Combating Sexual Violence and its Consequences in Africa. Sudan has yet to ratify the Maputo Protocol and should be called on to do so. It is noteworthy to mention that the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan has flagged reasonable grounds to believe that the current degree of CRSV has ascended to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity.6 Additionally, SIHA believes that the actual number of women impacted by CRSV is much larger, owing to blockages in reporting and stigma and intimidation of reporting rape in police stations under control by the Government of Sudan.
The snapshot above demonstrates how severely women have borne the brunt of suffering and violence in Sudan. Several instances of unwanted pregnancies have been documented, having a devastating impact on the lives of survivors and children. With Sudan already categorised as a post-conflict setting before the current hostilities, social care structures were already lacking in funding to provide care to children and this has only worsened. It is also important to note that many rape survivors are children themselves. The humanitarian situation has also led to instances of exploitation, with women forced to engage in “survival sex” in order to access food and basic goods.
The ACHPR has stood strongly in support of Sudanese women and the establishment of a peaceful and democratic state before. We note the ACHPR’s previous acknowledgements of the grave situation in Sudan specifically condemning “the flagrant violations based on gender, sexual exploitation, slavery, trafficking in persons, rape, and other behaviours similar to enforced disappearances”.7 We applaud the establishment of the Joint Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan by the ACHPR and the AU Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security under ACHPR Resolution 590 (LXXX) 2024.8
In light of the gravity of the situation, we therefore make the following calls to the ACHPR and the AU, namely to:
- Commence investigations under the established Joint Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan established under ACHPR Resolution 590 (LXXX) 2024;
- Continue its focus on CRSV within the Joint Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, and for the findings of the investigations under it to be published on a clear and established timeline;
- Strongly condemn the instances of CRSV and enforced disappearance which remain rampant in Sudan;
- 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;
- Lobby for Sudan’s signature and ratification of the Maputo Protocol in strengthening its commitment to safeguard the rights of women, particularly in the current context of conflict and transition;
- Facilitate intervention in Sudan under Article 4(h) of the AU’s Constitutive Act;
- Advocate for the establishment of mechanisms for justice and accountability for survivors of CRSV should be established;
- Ensure the visibility of the issues emanating from the conflict and facilitate the voices of civil society organisations through the organisation of seminars, symposia and conferences, specifically under the ACHPR’s mandate under Article 45 (1)(a).