April 12, 2024
UN reported:
A year since the outbreak of Sudan’s conflict, sexual and other forms of violence are rife in conflict zones and on asylum routes, while a lack of funding is hampering UNHCR’s response.
But their sense of security was cruelly shattered when three armed men came to the door late one evening demanding food and water. After she gave them water they went on their way, but later that night, one of the men returned with his face covered and threatened to shoot Fatima if she did not do as he said.
“My children were all inside … and I was afraid that something bad would happen to them. They are very young,” Fatima said. “I locked them inside with their older brother and said to keep quiet and that if anything happens to me, he should take his sisters and brother and leave.”
Fatima was raped on three separate occasions over a period of a week. Desperate for a safe route out of Khartoum with her children, she learned of a bus being organized to take families out of the city closer to the border with Ethiopia – and registered for the journey.
After two months of relative safety there, Fatima discovered that she was pregnant. Determined to leave Sudan and the conflict behind, she sold the last of her gold to pay for the family’s travel across the border to Ethiopia.
She and her children are now living in a family shelter at a site on the Ethiopian side of the border, where UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its partners are helping the authorities to provide refugees with assistance and services. She has received psychosocial support and been referred to the regional hospital for medical care. She has also registered with the Red Cross to try to trace her husband and eldest son.
Here there is no gunfire … we get water to drink and somewhere to sleep without [the threat of] rape,” Fatima said. “[But] I am pregnant, … I don’t know how long we are going to stay here without a house, without a door to close so you can feel safe. I need help.”
One year since the outbreak of conflict between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, more than 8.6 million people have been driven from their homes, including 6.8 million people displaced inside the country and more than 1.8 million refugees and returnees who have fled to neighbouring countries.
Shocking levels of violence
Women and girls account for more than half of all registered refugees from Sudan, although the proportion is higher in some host countries. On top of the inherent dangers posed by conflict and displacement, women and girls have been exposed to shocking levels of sexual violence, whether in conflict-affected areas inside Sudan, on the move, or in countries of asylum.