A member of Darfur Women Defenders Alliance revealed that more than sixty cases of sexual violence against women have been reported in the Darfur region since the outbreak of the war.
The Alliance was founded in April in Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur State. It aims to monitor violations committed against women during the war and advocates for women’s issues.
Awatif Ahmed Ishaq told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that some of the women subjected to sexual abuses cannot speak out for fear of stigma and because of the trauma and psychological state of the survivors.
The human rights defender pointed out that the Darfur Women Defenders Alliance aims to protect female human rights defenders and women in Darfur in general and promote their rights.
She said that one female human rights defender was raped by one of the parties to the conflict and is now receiving psychosocial support. She added, “When women human rights defenders are exposed to harm, their families are exposed to harassment, so we work to raise the capabilities of women human rights defenders and raise community awareness through advocacy on issues that concern them in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
She revealed that they are working to obtain funds to cover the victims’ needs for psychosocial support, besides disseminating awareness messages for women human rights defenders through multiple means.
She added that the Front Line Defenders organization has recently trained a group of women defenders, pointing out that their small project works to secure the needs of women defenders inside the country and find solutions for them.
Awatif further said many challenges are facing citizens, especially women in the Darfur region, especially mobile network challenges, economic hardship, lack of salaries, and insecurity.
She emphasized the need to address all issues of marginalization, education, and health, saying that the main reason for the crises in Sudan is the unfair distribution of wealth and resources. Awatif called on the warring parties to stop sexual violence and other human rights violations against women, especially human rights defenders and activists.