Amnesty International Calls on Sudanese Government
to Intervene to End Systematic Rape of Women and Girls

"In our culture, it is a shame, and women will hide this in their hearts so that the men do not hear about it." -- a Sudanese woman interviewed by Amnesty International

(New York) - Amnesty International (AI) today urged the government of Sudan to immediately intervene to end the systematic rape of hundreds of women by government-backed armed militias in Darfur. The organization also called 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.

In the past few months, AI has received countless reports of rapes in Darfur. 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-they feared that if their men went they would be killed.

"Government forces and allied armed groups in Darfur are waging war on women's bodies," stated Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "While the peace process has received accolades from the international community and is being sold to the public as moving forward successfully, government-backed militias in Darfur have created a climate of fear in which women cannot carry out daily tasks without the threat of rape."

When paramilitary forces attacked villages in the Tawila area in late February, residents and humanitarian aid workers, including representatives from UN, reported the systematic rape of women and schoolchildren. The former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, said: "All houses as well as a market and a health centre were completely looted and the market burnt. Over 100 women were raped, six in front of their fathers who were later killed."

The extent of the problem of rape has yet to be fully established, underscoring the need for the government to grant access to humanitarian agencies and international human rights monitors, in particular monitors who are trained to deal with issues relating to sexual violence. As one refugee woman in Chad told an AI researcher: "Women will not tell you easily if such a thing happens to them. In our culture, it is a shame, and women will hide this in their hearts so that the men do not hear about it."

"Women make up a disproportionate number of internally displaced people seeking refuge in urban centers in Darfur, where they come under the control of government militias and are at heightened risk of sexual attacks," explained Adotei Akwei, Africa Advocacy Director for AIUSA. "The long-term effects of sexual crimes like rape can be seen in countries like Rwanda where many women and children remain traumatized and live with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, following the systematic rape during the genocide ten years ago. The international community cannot consign the women of Darfur to this same horrible fate."

For more information on Sudan see: http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/sudan
For the legacy of rape in Rwanda see: "Marked for Death: Rape Survivors Living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda" at http://www.amnestyusa.org
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On the Internet: www.amnestyusa.org