Sudan has a long record of stifling dissent by targeting activists for specific abuses, such as beatings, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions, ill-treatment in detention, interrogation for long hours, and intrusive government surveillance. The government also restricts freedom of expression, assembly and association by censoring or confiscating newspapers, harassing civil society organizations, and using lethal force to break up protests and demonstrations.
While these patterns of repression are well-documented, scant attention has been paid to the toll of this repression on women activists and human rights defenders.
Yet, as popular protests and civil society activism by women has increased, so too have reports of abuses and repression against them. As this report shows, women involved in protests, rights campaigns, social services, legal aid, and journalism, and other public action have been targeted for a range of abuses, and operate in a wider context of gender inequality that makes their activism all the more challenging.
It describes how women activists and human rights defenders face an array of abusive practices their male colleagues are less likely to have to contend with — from sexual violence to the deliberate efforts of security personnel to tar their reputations in ways that can cause lasting social and professional harm. Sudanese security forces have used sexual violence, intimidation, and other forms of abuse, to silence female human rights defenders across the country. These abuses reflect, or are made worse by, the wider context of gender inequality in Sudanese society and the laws that institutionalize it.
Vaguely defined public morality crimes discriminate against women in Sudan, proscribing their manner of dress, limiting their movement and role in public life, and imposing humiliating corporal punishments of lashing and stoning, in violation of international norms. The cases described in this report also highlight the broader problem of entrenched impunity for human rights abuses women face, including sexual violence.
