‘Women experience violence daily’: West Darfur camp spokesperson

“The status of displaced Darfuri women is very bad because of the daily crimes and violence against them since 2003, when the conflict in Darfur started,” a spokesperson for the women in the camp of Abu Surug in Sirba locality, West Darfur, said. Halima Ishag Abdallah from the Abu Surug camp for the displaced told Radio Dabanga that the women in Darfur are confronted “with many forms of violence in all phases of their life”. They are subjected to rape and sexual violence, early marriage and female genital mutilation, she stressed. Abdallah has strongly criticised statements by Sudanese officials who claim that there is no violence against women in Darfur. She believes those statements are completely false. “They experience violence on a daily basis.” Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir said that mass rape did not happen in Darfur during an interview on Channel 4 News on 9 October 2008. The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, indicted Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, such as sexual violence, in Darfur. He dismissed the allegations as “fabricated and made up”. Abdallah stressed that a solution needs to be found in order for women to achieve a safe and decent life.File photo: Women attending the International Women Day in Abu Shouk camp in March 2013 (Albert González Farran / Unamid)Related:Three women gang-raped in West Darfur (11 December 2013)‘Sexual violence crisis in Sudan’: rape victims speak out (8 December 2013)Sudan one of worst countries for women’s rights: survey (13 November 2013)