South Sudan

For women and girls, instability translates into daily insecurity, collapsing services, and deepening hunger. Armed actors are increasingly attacking and kidnapping young girls, often while they are walking to school. This violence largely stems from inter-communal disputes and further impedes girls’ access to education. Essential services like medical care and psychosocial support remain limited, with healthcare infrastructure and hospitals attacked at least six times in 2025. Insecurity and US foreign aid cuts have now forced numerous facilities to close, cutting off women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive care, trauma support, and other lifesaving medical services. South Sudan also faces a worsening food crisis, with two counties in the conflict-affected Upper Nile State nearing famine, and hunger projected to reach record levels, disproportionately affecting women and girls—particularly those returning from Sudan. Despite these obstacles, women leaders in South Sudan continue to call for peace and greater inclusion in decision-making. South Sudan also maintains a 35 percent quota for women’s political representation, although implementation typically falls short. The South Sudanese Women’s Union has demanded that warring parties end the violence and highlighted the disproportionate impact of the conflict on women.

A return to full-scale war remains the greatest threat to women and girls’ wellbeing; this would likely drive a surge in sexual and gender-based violence—a pattern observed in the country’s prior civil war—particularly if violence fractures along ethnic lines. Resumption of conflict also threatens to reverse gains made in improving women’s and girls’ status. South Sudan is highly exposed to climate change; this will likely further compound decreased agricultural output and food access in conflict-affected areas, with women and girls more vulnerable to extreme heat, given they more frequently perform tasks like fetching water and farming. South Sudan’s already beleaguered healthcare system is contending with existential threat, as foreign aid previously provided 80 percent of its funding. Yet, even with elections postponed to December 2026, South Sudanese women are already preparing to run for office. Female candidates and political leaders, however, still encounter backlash due to patriarchal gender norms. Ensuring women’s safety and participation in political processes will be essential to building durable peace and preventing cyclical violence.

More than half of South Sudan’s population is now projected to experience severe hunger in 2026, with no food currently reaching conflict-affected areas at risk of famine. Food insecurity exacerbates health risks for women and girls while increasing their potential exposure to sexual exploitation and sexual violence as they travel farther in search of food and water.

Violence has reached the highest level since the 2017 cessation of hostilities agreement was signed, with women and girls often targeted. Experts warn that risk factors for mass atrocities are emerging, including ethnic cleansing and mass sexual violence. The prosecution of the Vice President for treason and murder—charges his party dismissed as a witch hunt—now marks an escalation of political tensions, with UN experts warning of a possible return to civil war.

More than 300,000 people have left South Sudan due to fighting, half of whom fled to conflict-ravaged Sudan. Displaced women and girls are at risk of hunger, sexual violence and exploitation, and disease. The unfolding displacement crisis threatens to further destabilize the region, strain humanitarian resources, and trigger backlash against refugees. Local reporting has accused Sudan of deporting South Sudanese women and separating them from their children.

A September 2025 UN report found that pervasive corruption has prevented funds—including oil revenue—from supporting food security, healthcare, sanitation, and other lifesaving purposes, in turn perpetuating a human rights crisis. Women and girls are disproportionately exposed to many of these challenges; for instance, the state lacks funding to implement gender equality commitments and ensure access to sexual and reproductive care.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudanese nationals will terminate on January 5, 2026 after 14 years, jeopardizing the ability of around 5,000 people—including women and girls—to safely live, work, and study in the US. Those with TPS are at risk of deportation despite rising instability, sexual violence, and resource scarcity in South Sudan.

The African Union sent a solidarity mission to South Sudan from November 17 – 18, 2025 intended to reaffirm support for the WPS Agenda and highlight women’s leadership. The mission involved direct consultations with women leaders and women-led organizations, a needs assessment of women’s priorities, and development of policy and advocacy recommendations to support AU peacebuilding and security work.

Sudanese women’s organizations—including the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa and  the South Sudan Women Entrepreneurs Association—convened stakeholders to discuss investment in women small business owners and market vendors. Following the event, they released calls to action for private actors, government, and civil society to better invest in women’s economic growth.