Sudan

Sudanese women and girls are experiencing brutal violence as well as the deadly secondary effects of fighting and state collapse. Conflict has led half of Sudan to suffer from acute food insecurity, with famine declared in at least five areas across Darfur and the Nuba Mountains. Nearly two-thirds of female-headed households are impacted, while pregnant women and new mothers are particularly vulnerable to starvation and malnutrition. Gender-based violence has reached alarming levels, with one quarter of Sudanese at risk of violations, including systematic gang rape and kidnapping. The situation has been exacerbated by US foreign aid cuts, which impacted women-led response efforts and eliminated critical services, forcing more than 80 percent of emergency food kitchens to close and leaving three-quarters of facilities offering clinical support for rape victims non-functional. Although women lead crucial initiatives—like the Emergency Response Rooms, which support displaced populations—they remain largely shut out of official negotiations between the RSF and SAF. Women human rights defenders and women-led organizations also face escalating violence, harassment, and technology-facilitated attacks by armed groups—particularly the RSF—as retaliation for speaking out. Despite these risks, 12 women civil society leaders participated in the August 2024 peace talks in Switzerland to discuss civilian protection, including from gender-based violence; since then, mediators, known as the ‘Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group,’ have formed a technical group to advance women’s participation in talks and carry out consultations with women leaders. 

Both the SAF and RSF have made moves to establish political legitimacy, and although future negotiations remain possible, the risk of state fragmentation looms. Failing to comprehensively include women’s voices risks limiting the transformative potential and impact of any agreement reached. A pervasive culture of impunity, identified as a primary driver of the current conflict, also poses a fundamental threat to women’s safety and rights. Although the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into Darfur in 2005 and has reinvigorated efforts to document ongoing violations, including rape, a lack of meaningful accountability risks prolonging instability and normalizing violence against women. The humanitarian crisis is also expected to deepen dramatically in the coming months, with the capital facing famine and disrupted agriculture threatening to further strain food supplies already depleted by fighting. Access to aid will remain susceptible to blockades and attacks on both aid convoys and critical delivery hubs, like Port Sudan; this disproportionately affects women and girls, who rely heavily on humanitarian support. Without fundamental change, women in Sudan are likely to continue bearing the brunt of humanitarian catastrophe, political exclusion, and impunity.

After more than 500 days of siege, the RSF seized Al-Fashir with reports since emerging of rapes, massacres, and other brutalities perpetrated by the RSF against trapped civilians. At least 300 women were killed by RSF forces in just the first 48-hours. Al-Fashir was the last SAF stronghold in Darfur; its fall is likely to escalate genocidal violence against non-Arab communities and shift the RSF’s attention to Kordofan.

Famine conditions—driven by conflict-related disruptions to humanitarian access—were confirmed in Al-Fashir and in Kadugli, South Kordofan, with the risk of famine projected for 20 additional areas in both Darfur and Kordofan. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition and starvation; nearly three-quarters of women are falling short of minimum dietary diversity, as women tend to eat “last and least.” Yet, women continue to lead community response kitchens despite scarce resources and grave risk of violence.

Research and advocacy—including by Sudanese women leaders—continue to highlight the role of foreign weapons in fueling war in Sudan. The UAE has reportedly provided weapons produced in both the EU and the UK to the RSF, which has been credibly accused of perpetrating massacres, widespread sexual violence, and other atrocities against civilians. Sudanese women leaders continue to call for governments to end weapons sales to the UAE and to hold the UAE accountable for enabling conflict. This demand has recently been echoed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Women and girls make up the majority of refugees—comprising more than half of people internally displaced and 86 percent of those forced to migrate to neighboring Chad—and are largely unable to access humanitarian aid. Midwives were laid off from maternity hospitals supporting Sudanese refugees following US aid cuts, with even more set to lose their jobs by December 2025 due to insufficient funds. Three-quarters of women and girls returning to Sudan after fleeing to neighboring countries are unable to access gender-based violence services, water, sanitation, or sexual and reproductive care.

Cholera is spreading across all five states in Darfur due to inadequate sanitation, crowded displacement shelters, and starvation. Sudanese women and girls are typically more vulnerable to contracting cholera as they have heightened exposure to contaminated food and water during household tasks and caregiving. The current case fatality rate is almost three times the emergency level and has already killed more than 2,500 people. With more than 300,000 confirmed cases, this marks the worst cholera outbreak in Africa in 25 years.

The UN Human Rights Council held a special session addressing the crisis in Al-Fashir on November 14, 2025. The Council adopted a resolution without vote condemning ongoing violence, including sexual and gender-based violations, and requesting the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission to investigate violations in Al-Fashir. Although findings could be shared with the ICC to inform eventual prosecutions, there is concern about the UN’s capacity to support this inquiry amid funding shortages.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted a Janjaweed militia leader of rape and gender persecution, alongside other war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in Darfur. This marks the Court’s first ever conviction for gender persecution as well as its first conviction related to Darfur—an important precedent which could expand access to justice for gender-based crimes in Sudan and beyond.

Sudanese women peacebuilders and human rights defenders issued a statement condemning ongoing violence—including sexual violations—in el-Fashir which demonstrates risks of genocide. Civil society and humanitarian organizations also released an open letter demanding humanitarian access and evacuation routes for trapped civilians.