Sexual violence against Sudanese refugees ‘chronically under-reported’

 

 UN Special Representative Pramila Patten

The sexual violence against Sudanese refugees ‘chronically under-reported’, the United Nations says.

Refugee women in Sudan narrated first-hand how sexual violence remains a continuing threat for vulnerable civilians during the ongoing conflict in Sudan

This following disturbing reports of conflict-related sexual violence in the Eastern provinces of Chad, the UN Special Representative who monitors the scourge Pramila Patten visited the Ouaddaï region to assess the situation and meet survivors.

Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, briefed UN Security Council members on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Of the 620,000 refugees who have fled there due to the ongoing hostilities in Sudan, around 90 per cent are women and children.

She said the numbers of refugees are only increasing, with more than 3,200 people continuing to flee to eastern Chad every week.

Patten met with refugee women and learned first-hand how sexual violence remains a continuing threat for vulnerable civilians during the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

Cases involved multiple perpetrators, the use of ethnically motivated sexual violence, instances of rape in front of family members and the targeting of women activists and first-responders.

The women also shared their experiences about the challenges they faced in accessing essential services, including legal assistance, mental health care and trauma counselling.

“In any conflict, sexual violence is a chronically under-reported crime, and this case is no exception,” Patten said.

Surviving without help

“Survivors of sexual violence have not been able to report their cases or access lifesaving assistance due to the magnitude of the crisis, the distance to and paucity of health structures as well as shame and stigma rooted in harmful social norms.”

She said that in most cases, women who were subjected to sexual violence in Sudan or during their flight only sought medical assistance when they realised they were pregnant.

The Special Representative is calling on “all parties to the conflict to comply with international human rights and humanitarian law and in particular to guarantee immediate and complete cessation of all violence against civilians, including sexual violence”.

By Christine Muchira