Systematic Sexual Violence

Women and girls bear particular brutality:

1. Mass rape by RSF forces in captured areas
2. Sexual slavery
3. Forced pregnancy
4. Rape used to terrorize and displace populations
5. Targeting of specific ethnic groups' women

The UN and human rights groups document that "women and girls are being raped" systematically. This isn't random violence—it's deliberate strategy to:

1. Break community bonds
2. Terrorize populations into flight
3. Humiliate defeated groups
4. Assert dominance
5. Make return impossible for displaced

The Erasure of Women's Voices

In coverage of Sudan, women's experiences are marginalized:

1. Most media focuses on military/political leaders (all men)
2. Women's testimony dismissed as unreliable or overly emotional
3. Sexual violence treated as unfortunate side effect, not central strategy
4. Women's organizing for peace ignored
5. Female refugees' specific needs unmet

Yet women carry the burden:

1. Protecting children while fleeing
2. Caring for wounded without medical supplies
3. Maintaining families in refugee camps
4. Organizing community support networks
5. Trying to preserve education and normalcy

The Double Bind

Sudanese women face double discrimination:

1. As Africans in Arab-dominated society
2. As women in patriarchal culture
3. As victims without justice
4. As refugees without protection

The intersection of ethnic and gender violence makes their situation particularly horrific. Some observers note that the targeting of maternity wards is no accident—it's an attack on the future of targeted ethnic groups.