Sudan: rape & suicide

[NitroNine]

If the title was insufficient warning, the news coverage gives some detail of the fact women in Sudan who have been raped are subsequently dying by suicide - with women who anticipate being raped by the RSF increasing the death toll.

A UN Report from earlier this year was titled Rape, Murder & Hunger - & if you’re wondering about the high suicide rate, being a rape victim attaches lifelong stigma in Sudan.

(Search tells me there was some discussion of Sudan on the April thread about the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict’s briefing).

I’m still shocked and amazed there isn’t more coverage about this on mainstream media. Women’s deaths in general are so routine to be almost wallpaper, but this is a pure horror on another level

The horror unfolding in Sudan's civil war appears to go unnoticed. Months ago I saw pictures of a little girl watching other children playing. She could not join in because she had lost both her feet. No mention of this anywhere, just a 'good' photo.
The Yemen also gets short shrift and is a similar horror story for women. The horrific rapes in Israel appear to have been dismissed by many, too, who advocate that the oppressed (Hamas in this case) are given a free pass to commit atrocities, so it doesn't matter that 'oppressor' women were gang-raped.
Meanwhile, had anyone noticed that Oct 7th was the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto, in 1571? Europe effectively beat the Ottoman Empire, which had invaded as far as Vienna and held Greece until the mid-nineteenth century. Sort of thing Hamas would hold a grudge about, I think - and suggests that the Oct 7th attack was not just aimed at Israel but against Europe.

I’m still shocked and amazed there isn’t more coverage about this on mainstream media. Women’s deaths in general are so routine to be almost wallpaper, but this is a pure horror on another level

I agree. Horrific.

Although in theory this is exactly the kind of story the western media covers, I wonder if the lack of reporting is a combination of i. They Don’t Look Like Us^ [& We’re Not Involved] + ii.
war - & rape as a weapon of war - being understood essentially as the status quo for Sudan since its independence.

^ similar to racial bias in coverage of missing persons cases

BBC has woken up, but seems to be downplaying reports/numbers involved
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xpqvz0e88o.amp

Thanks Nitro. This needs to be read widely.

Um @Jamazon1 not wanting to be rude, but that article is what prompted the thread - it’s the first of the hyperlinks in the OP. Would it have been helpful if I’d labelled it? I do sometimes label hyperlinks as being from specific sources, but I admit I’m not consistent, so if that’s something people want/need I’m happy to [try to remember to] do it.

@Helleofabore it’s one of those times where something is absolutely horrendous & you don’t want to think about it - but you know you should shout about it, because those women should be heard 💔

I didn't know that regarding the dates, thats really interesting

Hi @NitroNine, this may sound a bit paranoid but I tend to avoid clicking on links unless I can see what they are - @Jamazon1 might be the same.

@EmpressaurusDelleGatte - which I totally understand - I wouldn’t click on something claiming to be an archive link if I didn’t “know” the poster/several other [FWR] regulars hadn’t already established it was to what/where it claimed. But you can view the hyperlink destination before/without opening it - or is that yet another issue with the app which seems to be even more thoroughly banjaxed than “Harry Potter: Magic Awakens” is?

I know I can do that on my laptop, @NitroNine, but I don’t think it works on my mobile.

Ah - you long hold rather than tapping the link @EmpressaurusDelleGatte - in Safari you can preview the link as well as “just” seeing it; I’m not sure if Chrome offers that if it’s your OS rather than just an app.

(Have attached some pictures to show what appears on screen when you long hold a hyperlink in Chrome & in Safari; apologies for it not being the same link, Chrome wasn’t letting me find this thread & I didn’t want to take any more time to reply!)

I didn’t know that, thank you!

You are very welcome - am glad I could help 😊

I am not sure about the dates. Everything is a date for something. e.g. the UKs last election was on 4th July. Was that a friendly nod to our transatlantic neighbours or an attempt to put two fingers up to their celebrations? Or just a coincidence especially considering any day is Independance from the British day somewhere in the world!

I just want to thank you for posting about this important topic.

Rape is an instrument of war. I cannot think of a war where it has not been used. I reckon it's less abele to be used in Ukraine purely because women and children were generally evacuated, because there are certainly reports of horrific rapes in villages that were invaded.

Sudan is utterly horrific. We know why we're not hearing about it. This doesn't even need pontification. It's the flip side of why we hear about Ukraine.

As for Israel, that raises something else related. The rape and sexual humiliation of men is also a weapon of war. I do not know if it's as widespread as rape of women. I think not quite, but it's definitely present. While there are cultural ramifications in Sudan and other countries on women being raped, it's at least acknowledged. But when men are raped they often don't/cant talk about it for different but at least as strong cultural reasons.

So we see in Israeli detention camps men have been raped (by objects) and raped to death in at least one case. While the "system" apparently went to punish the perpetrator (and I'm suspicious that only ONE soldier was involved), people were protesting his arrest. In Russian prisons, male rape (using objects) is known to occur. It's used in many other prison systems.

Basically, when men are given the power of free rein over others, know that they can get away with whatever they want, many sadly use it to sexually torture, be it rape or in other ways (Abu Ghraib) those under them.

The Hamas rapes I'm sure happened. I believe some women hostages would have been raped too, not because it was Hamas, but because it ALWAYS happens. It's not that every man would do it. It's that enough men worldwide either participate with, or stand by the ones who want to do it, when they think they can get away with it.

So Sudan is a situation where certain men are running wild. Where filming on phones is almost impossible so they're really "free". It's absolutely no shock that it's happening.

What's shocking is that we still think of rape as isolated incidents and that in wars it's one of the last things to be reported when it's THE greatest risk to civilian women and girls. And any captive, male or female, is at high risk too, albeit for slightly different reasons.

War = rape. Always has, and at the moment, always will.

Should add that I know women can be involved (Abu Ghraib is an example and there are documented cases in Israeli detention camps too) but by and large it is a male-led and perpetrated act.

Also going back to rape and suicide in Sudan, it's important to state that suicide is a massive no-no in Islam. So it's a huge issue anyway what women are committing suicide but it has an extra angle when the women are Muslim. There's a stigma on the family of dying by suicide. So these women who are in these horrific situations are weighing to two extremely difficult options. It is not stigma vs sad but no stigma options. Not remotely. Plus religious beliefs about what happens to you in the afterlife if you die by suicide.

Heartbreaking doesn't begin to touch the sides.

I’ve picked up on this through BBC WS and it is absolutely horrific to hear the real accounts of suffering from women and girls

They enter homes etc and what happens is distressing

Idk what next but it was a hard listen

It is absolutely horrendous.

My husband is Sudanese (we live in another country). When the RSG invaded his hometown last December, we paid a driver to take them across the border into Egypt. It was a tough journey and sadly one elderly uncle died shortly after. But at least the rest of his family are now safe.

There is huge sadness amongst the Sudanese community here and bad news comes often.

I share your shock that this is so underreported in the media. As well as the atrocities you've mentioned, it's caused one of the biggest famines and displacement of people the world has ever seen.

I’m so very sorry about your husband’s uncle @Vivaea - how are the rest of the family managing?

The link in my second post from the words “status quo” goes to an “In Focus” document in the House of Lords Library, from 06/09/24: Civil war in Sudan: Is there a path to peace? It provides lots of information about the death, destruction, [internal] displacement & other damage (including famine). As the document mentions, there was a Lords Debate on Sudan on 13/09/24, the motion being “That this House takes note of the situation in Sudan” (it passed). If you read it, they really have taken note; & have also gone rather beyond that.

Then we have Anneliese Dodds addressing the Commons as Minister for Development on 24/10/24; answering questions about Sudan on 29/10/24; & on 30/10/24 the Lords debated the answer to the initial urgent question that triggered the Commons debate on the 29th.

So something that UK MNers could do is write to their MPs &/or to those members of the Lords who are particularly alert to the situation in Sudan (reading the linked Hansard debates will show you who to pick, basically).

I read something like 130 women in one village committed suicide to acoid being raped. It is utterly horrifying. I really struggle to understand why Sudan isn’t getting more attention. Aid can’t get in, medics are struggling to get access, there was a cholera outbreak. It’s fucking miserable, the number of war crimes must be staggering.

It’s very much complicated by race, northern sudanese consider themselves to be arabs and the southern sudanese are considered to be black african. Theres a race dimension to some of this as there so often is.

and the same problem the middle east has with non state actors (RSF was basically a militia that became legitimised but then refused to be integrated into the Sudanese army). RSF have been accused of war crimes elsewhere as well.

I struggle with the Gaza boards tbh, I feel like the rapes and sexual violence were completely and utterly dismissed by some posters. It makes me deeply worried when rape is seen as legitimate resistance or people hesitate to criticise it or face it because of what “side” they are on. I think perhaps the problem here is both sides are doing awful things. There is no “good” side.

They're doing well, thanks for asking. A lot of them crammed into one house but they're together and safe.

The RSF is made up of fighters from neighbouring countries as well as Sudanese. They're essentially told to join up and fight and they can loot whatever they like as they go along.

Maybe if there were like regular marches like for Gaza.

Rapper Macklemore has boycotted a gig in UAE because they are funding the RSF.