Sexual Violence in War: Women and Girls as Primary Targets

2019 Women’s March [Photo: Fred Murphy]

Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) continues to ravage communities globally with no end in sight. MSF reported that between January 2024 and March 2025, 94% of sexual violence survivors they provided care to in Sudan were women and girls, 56% said they were assaulted by a non-civilian and 31% were younger than 18. As the United Nations reports that women and girls account for 95% of CRSV cases across 21 classified situations of concern, it is important to investigate why women and girls remain the primary targets of such horrific violence. For this reason, this article intends to examine CRSV theories and women-led community initiatives in Sudan. 

CRSV Theories 

CRSV remains a new area of interest in academic literature, with only five articles on the topic from 2001-2006. Early theories came after the revelations of mass rape from the 1992 Yugoslavia War and 1994 Rwandan genocide. In these early theories, women were hypothesized to be targeted due to militarized masculinities and to attack the identity or humiliate a particular ethnic, religious or political group. Others “viewed sexual violence as a natural and unavoidable side effect of war, due to male sexual urges” and conceptualized “rape as a violation of “family honour” rather than an individual harm”. 

However, later theories contested prior ideologies that sexual violence in conflict is inevitable and that all armed groups possess the ability to perpetuate sexual violence if given the chance. This is due to variation found by scholars, where not all armed group engaged in such heinous behaviour, even in the same conflict zone. Using new data sets, scholars have now found that CRSV varies due to differences in time, actors and conflict settings. Further, states remain the largest perpetrators of CRSV at 60% while rebel groups were responsible for 40%. In addition, scholars have noted that CRSV is not always correlated with other forms of wartime violence like killing and looting. Interestingly, academics have noted that due to the variation in CRSV, patriarchy and resulting structural gender inequality are not a “causal explanation for wartime sexual violence”. 

Another key theory being critiqued by scholars is the idea that CRSV is opportunistic and strategic, caused by individual motives and a cheap weapon of war used to break the moral of an enemy, induce fear and dispel local populations. Rather, scholars such as Woods have suggested that CRSV occurs simply because commanders render such behaviour permissible, leading to its spread through peer socialization in combatants. This is further supported by Cohen which found gang rape is used to strengthen intra-group cohesion within fighters in state forces, pro-government militias and rebel groups. Overall, scholars dispute this notion of CRSV being a cheap weapon of war as it carries high costs—it can cause civilian population to turn against perpetrators, jeopardizing political goals and cause disease, potentially reducing the groups ability to fight. 

While academic literature continues to lag behind, due to the lack of the scholars in this area coming from conflict affected regions, one truth remains unshaken in Sudan—women continue to stand at the forefront of change, leading courageous initiatives, regardless of the individual costs.

Women-Led Initiatives in Sudan 

Sudan - ‘In Their Hands: Women Taking Ownership of Peace’ - Hawa Games Dahab Gabjenda [Photo : UN Photo/Maimana El Hassan]

Sudanese Emergency Response Rooms (EERs) are a crucial, often women-led initiative, where community responders provide support to other community members through community kitchens that provide food, medicine, water and shelter. EERs fill in gaps like distributive issues that international organizations often face, staving off famine and providing support to the over 12 million displaced people in the country. Notably, women led ERRs have been providing crucial health services—psychological, medical and economic—to women and girls who are survivors of CRSV. Further, it has been reported that these ERRs offer community, helping community members cope with war and discuss challenges relating to the war. 

ERRs are a powerful community and neighbourhood-based initiatives that embody the rich resilience and generosity of Sudanese people in spite of the neglect the war in Sudan has received worldwide. Though female volunteers are targeted by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), they continue to provide crucial supports needed to women and girls, risking their lives to go to markets in order to provide sanitary products while also identifying, reporting and responding to CRSV. 

This article comes at a time where El Fashir has unfortunately been seized by the RSF, the paramilitary group largely responsible for CRSV in Sudan. This comes after an 18-month brutal siege, where the RSF has blocked key supply routes, causing hundreds of thousands of civilians to be left without food and medicine. As a result of the seize, mass killings have been reported. In particular, Siham Hassan, who was a former member of the Sudanese parliament and ran a community kitchen in El Fashir, was killed by the RSF. 

Image of Siham Hassan. [Post by: Mohanad Elbalal]

May she rest in power and may the spirit of the Sudanese people continue to burn.