The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI)-led Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) consortium, funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Secretary’s Office of Global Women's Issues, is excited to announce its newest initiative titled “Increasing Access to Justice and Holistic Services for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Sudan.”
Implemented in Sudan by ABA ROLI in collaboration with Search for Common Ground (Search), the initiative seeks to empower women to lead community-driven initiatives to mitigate drivers of violent extremism (VE) and prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) and to enhance GBV service providers’ capacity and accessibility to survivors in need of legal, psychological, medical, economic, and reintegration services. WAGE partners will engage with communities, GBV and legal service providers, and women’s organizations to meet these objectives.
Decades of conflict and humanitarian crises paired with a lack of legislation on gender equality has perpetuated violence and discrimination against women and girls in Sudan. While limited quantitative data on GBV in Sudan exists, especially since this type of violence often goes unreported, recent qualitative evidence demonstrates how pervasive GBV is in the country. This includes domestic violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C), forced marriage, and economic violence, which continue to go unaddressed in many cases. COVID-19 restrictions have exacerbated the situation since 2020 by increasing rates of domestic violence in Sudan. Moreover, GBV response is hindered due to the lack of resources for civil society organizations (CSOs) that provide GBV services for survivors coupled with stigma and harmful social norms, and justice institutions are inadequately prepared to address GBV cases. The Sudanese Transitional Government took some steps to address GBV, such as outlawing FGM/C and adopting a National Action Plan to implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security, but as the country continues to face sociopolitical unrest, the need to expand GBV prevention and response activities persists.
Further destabilizing the context, Sudan is considered an at-risk country for VE. The country has exhibited growing recruitment into VE organizations and a deepening influence of extremism among young students, with new recruits ranging from elite university students in Khartoum to impoverished youth from eastern Sudan. Recruits have included both young men and young women. Additionally, women have been reported as recruiters for VE groups and to promote extremist messages in their homes and communities.
Similar to the lack of data on GBV, there is also limited information available to demonstrate links between VE and GBV, and the drivers of women’s vulnerability to GBV and radicalization may be interrelated. Recent research from other countries suggests factors leading to violence against women may be associated with factors leading to VE. However, research scrutinizing VE’s impact on women and its possible connections to other types of violence, including GBV, is non-existent in Sudan.
To address these issues, the WAGE Sudan initiative takes an integrated, community-driven approach to support vulnerable women and girls at risk of GBV and VE. As a first step, WAGE conducted launch assessments to inform interventions and improve outcomes through this initiative. After analyzing assessment results and using results to inform activities, ABA ROLI and Search will engage with communities and their local partners to affect meaningful change around women’s susceptibility to violence in Sudan.
Specifically, WAGE will work with women’s CSOs and women leaders through trainings on consensus building and conflict analysis and through awareness raising on the drivers of VE and GBV. WAGE will support women-led community initiatives to establish dialogue platforms that bring communities together across dividing lines and act on recommendations from the trainings and awareness raising. WAGE will also establish a partnership to deliver information and holistic services to survivors and individuals at risk of GBV, as well as conduct community outreach with those at risk of GBV on options for assistance, whether legal, psychosocial, medical, or other services. With regard to the justice sector, WAGE will identify barriers and opportunities GBV survivors face in seeking redress and train lawyers on handling GBV cases in a survivor-centered manner. In addition, WAGE will guide international partners as to where/which institutions require resources to enhance their justice response to GBV survivors and inform local GBV service providers on how to navigate the existing justice system in Sudan while adhering to Safeguarding and Do No Harm principles.
WAGE believes if lawyers and Sudanese civil society actors have increased commitment and capacity to provide holistic services to women affected by GBV and VE; to understand GBV and VE through community-driven initiatives; and to understand the linkages, if any, between GBV and VE, then women and girls will be better protected from GBV and VE, and impunity for GBV will decrease.