SUDAN: Durable solutions elusive as southern IDPs return and ...

consent to intercourse. (Judges can impose an evidentiary requirement that four male witnesses
testify that a rape occurred--a nearly impossible legal standard for Darfuri women to reach.) If
found guilty, women can be sentenced to public lashings, and even death by stoning.
The network ran health centers in IDP camps that would administer rape kits quietly and free of
charge, which allowed women to seek treatment discreetly. But, now, they are forced to leave the
camps and go to local hospitals if they want treatment. And, before they provide a woman with
care, most local doctors require what is known as a "Form 8"--a police report documenting a
rape. […] I was told in South Darfur that, even when women are bold enough to report rape to the
police, they often aren't granted a Form 8. […] "The problem is that, even if she goes to the
hospital, she doesn't get treatment for rape because the police report doesn't say it."
Complicating matters further still, most women don't have independent sources of income.
Consequently, even if they are willing to go to the police and then a doctor, they face the often
insurmountable obstacle of having to ask their families for money to pay for transportation to a
hospital, or finding the funds elsewhere" (ibid).
UNAMID tries to respond to these gaps with "gender desk officers", female policemen who
generally lack experience in GBV issues. Sudanese government runs state committees that focus
on gender violence, but they are seen by many observers as ineffective, lacking objectives and
timeframes, and hampered by insufficient funding and poor leadership (ibid., HRW, April 2008,
p.28; UN SC, 29 October 2009, p.21).
UNAMID
Sexual and gender-based violence
The Chairman of the Security Council Committee concerning Sudan in his October 2009 letter
states:
"64. The Panel’s own monitoring confirms that sexual and gender-based violence continues to be
perpetrated throughout Darfur. The majority of such incidents occur n rural areas where security
is insufficient. To attempt to assess the current plight of women, the Panel visited El Fasher,
Kabkabiya, Masterei, Morniey, Mukjar, Saraf idad, Tawila and Zalingei, in July and August 2009,
and documented more than 50 individual cases and received testimonies from hundreds of
women in these areas.
[…]
66. Internally displaced persons reported to the Panel dozens of instances of harassment,
violence and rape that occurred during the past two years while the victimized women pursued
livelihood activities. In Hasa Hisa camp for internally displaced persons in Zalingei, women
reported that there are up to 35 incidents per week during the rainy season, when they engage in
farming activities.
67. One case that demonstrates the frequency and severity of violence against women occurred
north of Al Hamadiya camp in Zalingei. A woman who had been raped and suffered a gunshot
wound in 2003 while fleeing her village, was again gang-raped and stabbed in the leg on 15 May
2009, while she was collecting firewood with a group of 20 women. The assailants, three armed
men in khaki uniforms, inflicted genital injuries upon her and then left her bleeding. Following the
incident, she spent 45 days in hospital recovering" (UN SC, 29 October 2009, pp.20-21,
emphasis added).
The UN Secretary-General, in his report to the Security Council of 14 April 2009, observes:
"In addition to training police, UNAMID continued to assist internally displaced persons in
identifying ways and means of improving the lives of women and children. In this context, the
equal participation of women in all aspects of public life continues to pose a major challenge.
UNAMID has been encouraging internally displaced women to become community policing
volunteers and to join security committees in camps for internally displaced persons. It is also
encouraging women to start income-generating activities.
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