Statement
Freedom for women to choose what they wish to do with their lives.
International Women’s Day comes at a time when practices that lead to violations against women—and even their killing—continue to escalate. Women in West Darfur face a painful and deeply disturbing reality, beginning with the deprivation of their right to life through horrific crimes that include various forms of violations committed against them almost daily.
Over the past periods, we have documented multiple violations against women across different localities in the state, amid the absence of any political solutions or genuine will to resolve a crisis that has persisted for years—one for which women continue to pay the heaviest price. This reality heightens our fears that violations may expand to affect even larger numbers of women.
Despite women’s participation in the revolutionary movement and their efforts to establish a new phase of struggle for their rights within the political sphere, successive governments have contributed to creating a complex and harsh reality for women in the state. Women have been forced to endure extremely difficult living conditions. Compounding this suffering, thousands of women face the ordeal of losing their male providers—killed, imprisoned, arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, or displaced to other countries.
With regard to internal displacement, it is deeply concerning to confirm that the majority of those forcibly displaced within the state due to war are women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49. Women and children make up approximately 76% of the displaced population, and they are the most vulnerable to gender-based violence in such extraordinary circumstances, including sexual violence and rape, as a result of the collapse of protection mechanisms.
We also regret reopening the file of child marriage, a fully constituted crime against girls before they reach the legal age. This extremely dangerous phenomenon leads to maternal deaths and must be confronted firmly by civil society.
Additionally, our society remains attached to one of the most harmful traditions—female genital mutilation (FGM). This practice is a condemnation of us all, as girls are forcibly subjected to genital cutting in a way that gravely violates their rights, leaving us shocked and outraged.
The economic impact of the violations documented by the organization on women is also severe. Women face discrimination in access to public employment or are deprived of such opportunities altogether. Many women suffer additional hardships following the death of the family breadwinner amid deteriorating economic conditions. This leaves women alone and vulnerable to perpetrators who often exploit their financial need by coercing them into sexual acts and degrading practices—acts that are explicitly prohibited and criminalized under international law.
We strongly condemn and denounce the clear violations of numerous international agreements that guarantee special protection for women, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), among others. These instruments guarantee fundamental rights for women and criminalize any assault on or diminution of those rights.
So that International Women’s Day does not become merely slogans raised in official forums, we call upon the government, women’s organizations, civil society, the international community, UN agencies, and all relevant actors to shoulder their legal and moral responsibilities and to intervene urgently to provide full protection for women—foremost by ensuring that perpetrators are brought before fair and public trials for their repeated violations of human rights, particularly women’s rights.
Long live the struggles of women.
womenofchange.org@gmail.com
March 2023