Sudan Index | News | Organizations | Resources

Women, Peace and Security Initiatives: Sudan
In-country | International

In-country

Darfur Peace and Development
Darfur Peace and Development Organization is non-profit and non-sectarian. It seeks to restore reconciliation where conflict exists in the Darfur region of Sudan through advocacy and humanitarian aid to the needy people in Darfur region, without regard to race, religion, sex or national origin. DPDO has a Women's Center Program that equips Darfurian women on an individual and collective basis with the resources to resolve the consequences of sexual trauma. The approach is holistic- integrating psychological, social, educational, and economic elements. Other projects include the Darfur Schools Project, the Solar Cooker Program, the Darfur Archives Project, the Community Dialogue Project and Advocacy.

For more information, please visit DPDO's website by clicking here

Sudanese Women's Statement on Darfur
Femmes Africa Solidarité and its partner World YWCA successfully organised a Panel and a series of high level meetings for 6 Sudanese women in Geneva, 12 March to 18 March, 2008. The women met with UN Delegates, foreign government ministers, ambassadors, NGO's, UN Agencies, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rghts Situation in Sudan, Ms Sima Samar, and a broad spectrum of key contacts regarding Women in Darfur.

Femmes Africa Solidarité
This is a statement delivered at the Human Rights Council during the debate on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention. Roberta Méan, Coordinator of FAS’ International Secretariat, read the statement on behalf of Mme Bineta Diop, FAS’ Executive Director. This statement was presented jointly by Mme Diop and the seven other women who took part in the fact finding and solidarity mission to eastern Chad earlier this month.

FAS Executive Director Visits Refugee Camps with Seven Other Notable Women: Solidarity Mission to Push for Ceasefire in Darfur, Chad
Bineta Diop, Executive Director of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), has just returned from a solidarity and fact finding mission to eastern Chad along with seven other prominent women including Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Benin singer Angelique Kidjo.

For more information, please click here

Recommendations from Sudanese Women’s Civil Society Organizations to the Security Council Delegation, 5-9 June 2006
Letter prepared for the recent Security Council visit to Sudan, and signed by hundreds of women’s organizations and networks including those in Darfur, Nuba Mountains, Eastern Sudan and South Sudan. The letter was prepared with support from UNFPA and the UNMIS Gender Advisor’s office, with input by other UN agencies.

In Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), the Council expressed “its willingness to ensure that Security Council missions take into account gender considerations and the rights of women, including through consultation with local and international women’s groups.” The Security Council’s mission to Sudan (5-9 June 2006) provides an important opportunity for the knowledge, expertise and resources of women’s civil society organizations to inform and support the Security Council in its work and decision-making on Sudan. We, the undersigned women’s civil society organizations, have therefore outlined three critical issues which require the Security Council’s attention. We look forward to discussing these issues with the delegation.

A message from the Women from Southern Sudan to the UN Security Council in relation to UN Security Council Resolution No. 1325
Recommendations for the Security Council from Women in Southern Sudan.
Women in Southern Sudan appreciate and are grateful to the UN Security Council for adopting Resolution 1325 which takes cognizant of the impact of armed conflict on women girls and calls for affirmative action to address their protection as well as the increased participation of the women at all levels.

LETTER from South Sudan Women Network to Salva Kiir on refugees killing in Cairo
January 13, 2006
On behalf of Southern Sudanese women in the Diaspora, SSWEN, Inc. seeks your immediate attention on the above mentioned matter. As you are already aware, a lot of Sudanese women, including pregnant mothers, and children in addition to elderly people died in an “unjustified killing” committed by ruthless police in Cairo, Egypt. We are morally bound to address this issue with your office and hope to see your immediate intervention.

For more of this letter, please click here

Workshop: Inclusive Security - Sustainable Peace
International Alert and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
11-13 May 2005, Nairobi, Kenya
Information featured in 17 May IRIN news story "Sudan: Women Demand Greater Inclusion in Southern Peace Process"
"Women activists have demanded for more involvement in the implementation of the southern Sudanese peace process that followed the 9 January agreement between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)...The activists were attending a workshop entitled "Inclusive Security - Sustainable Peace" which was organised by International Alert and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), from 11-13 May."

Stop Massive Human Rights Abuses
February 2004
Amnesty International is calling on all parties to the conflict in Western Sudan to respect international human rights and humanitarian law at all times. Massive abuses of human rights in the region are documented in a new report entitled: Sudan: Darfur: "Too many people killed for no reason."

Click here to read more.

Sit-in Protest Against Ban on Opposition Papers
14 December 2003
A group of Sudanese journalists and human rights activists called on newspapers in the country to cease their publication in protest to the government’s continued ban on two opposition newspapers. A statement signed by 35 journalists representing 17 politically backed newspapers said the action “seeks to guarantee the rights of expression and enhance freedoms”. They organized a sit-in protest at the premises of the two banned newspapers – an English language daily, Khartoum Monitor and an Arabic language newspaper, al-Ayam. The journalists have called for the lifting of the ban and a free and fair trial for the two newspapers. For more information visit The Norwegian Council for Africa.

AlHair – Sexual Abandoning
2002
A former university professor in Sudan, Samira Ahmed, launched a sex strike in an attempt to to end the 19 years of civil war that have torn the country apart. The action is called alHair in Arabic, which means "sexual abandoning" of their men. It began with just 20 women from the two tribal groups, the Lou and Jekany, which have been at the centre of the fighting. Unfortunately, we do not have more information about this initiative. We will keep updating it as we receive more information.

International

Obstacles to the freedom of association in Sudan:
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders request your urgent intervention
World Organization Against Torture, International Federation for Human Rights
April 19, 2006
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Sudan.
The Observatory has been informed by the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) that the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) decided to freeze the assets of the organisation Women Awareness Raising Group - Red Sea (AWOON - Red Sea), a women activists’ organisation that provides legal assistance and legal advice for women in Port Sudan.
For more information, please click here.

Protect Human Rights of Women and Girls in Darfur: Shield the Women of Darfur
Amnesty International
To prevent further abuses and human rights violations in Darfur, the current African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) must be fully funded and expanded. Urge your Senator to support AMIS and help Stop the Violence in Darfur. Visit Amnesty’s Online Action Center by clicking here.

The International Secretariat of OMCT Requests Your URGENT Intervention
World Organization Against Torture
14 June 2005
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT), a member of the OMCT network, that on 31 May 2005, five women from Kalma IDP camp were attacked by five armed Janjaweed militia men. The armed men reportedly killed one of the women, raped two of the women, and wounded the other two. Visit the World Against Torture website by clicking here.

Call for the Release of Sudanese Prisoners of Conscience
Amnesty International
September 2004
Two local activists who have called for an end to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, have been arrested. One of the activists, Buthayna Mohamed Ahmed, is a member of the Sudanese Women's Union. She has not been charged, allowed medical treatment, or given access to her family or a lawyer. Take action to stop this unfair treatment of women’s rights’ leaders. Visit Amnesty’s Online Action Center by clicking here.

TAKE ACTION: SYSTEMATIC RAPE OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SUDAN
May 2004
Amnesty International has received countless reports of rapes in the Darfur region of Sudan. In March, a local sheikh told the United Nations (UN) that in western Darfur up to 16 women were being raped every day as they went to collect water in the riverbed. The women felt they had no choice but to continue going to the river because they feared that if their men went they would be killed. This atrocity is the result of the ruthless army of the National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum, which for years has enslaved black Sudanese in the South. The NIF intends to make the region "Zurga- free." Zurga is a contemptuous word for blacks, and the primary victims of violence are black non-Arab Muslims. Amnesty International urges the government of Sudan to immediately intervene to end the systematic rape of hundreds of women by government-backed armed militias in Darfur. AI also calls on the international community to put pressure on the Sudanese government to address the rapes, as well as unconfirmed reports that women and girls are being abducted and used as sexual slaves or domestic workers. Click Here for more information.

TAKE ACTION! Contact your member of Congress and urge him/her to support House Congressional Resolution 403 (H. Con Res. 403), condemning the violence in Darfur and calling for immediate action by the Sudanese government to end the violence.