Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Imagine walking through darkness for days, your infant clutched tightly against your chest, moving from shadow to shadow to avoid drone attacks overhead. You have no food in your stomach, no water to quench your thirst, and nowhere you can truly call safe. This is not a scene from a novel; this is the daily reality for millions of women and children in Sudan today, and the world has largely turned its back.
Sudan's war has entered its third year, transforming from a political conflict into what can only be described as a systematic assault on women and children. More than 21 million people face acute food insecurity and it is the largest such crisis anywhere on Earth. Famine has been officially declared in El Fasher, North Darfur, and Kadugli, South Kordofan, where families survive on leaves, animal feed, and grass. Yet beyond the starvation statistics lies a darker story that speaks to humanity's collective failure.
Violence as a Weapon of War
If starvation were Sudan's only problem, it would be devastating enough. But women and girls face something even more threatening which is systematic sexual violence used deliberately as a weapon of war. Women describe their bodies becoming "crime scenes." They are abducted and forced to work for armed groups during the day, then assaulted at night, often in front of others. Many survivors are children themselves; girls so young and malnourished that when they become pregnant through rape, they cannot even feed their babies.
The perpetrators no longer hide their crimes. Violence has become so normalized that documenting cases can cost aid workers their lives. In Tawila, North Darfur, only one clinic run by Doctors Without Borders can provide care for rape survivors. Think about that: in an entire region, just one facility exists to help women who have endured the most traumatic experiences imaginable.
Following the Rapid Support Forces' takeover of El Fasher after more than 500 days of siege, reports emerged of over 2,000 civilians killed in recent days. On October 30, nearly 500 patients and their companions were reportedly killed during attacks on the Saudi Maternity Hospital, where women had sought safety and medical care. Nearly 71,000 people have fled El Fasher since late October, reporting killings, abductions, and sexual violence along their escape routes. Every step women take to fetch water, collect firewood, or stand in a food line carries a high risk of sexual violence.
The Children Caught in the Crossfire
Boys are not spared from this horror. They are being drawn into the conflict, armed and sent to fight. In South Darfur, trucks filled with children have been reported heading to battle zones. Missile strikes have killed children sheltering in displacement sites wherein eight children died in Kadugli when strikes hit their refuge. Families disappear without a trace. More than 13 million children are out of school, their education and futures evaporating like morning mist.
The violence has taken on deeply ethnic dimensions. Displaced people report fearing to return home because their skin colour or tribal affiliation would mark them for death. Satellite evidence shows burned homes, desecrated bodies, and mass graves, while communication blackouts prevent verification and humanitarian access.
The Unsung Heroes: Women-Led Organizations
Amid this devastation, Sudanese women's organizations remain the backbone of humanitarian response. In North Darfur, they manage communal kitchens reaching families beyond formal assistance networks. In Kordofan, they identify malnourished children and teach mothers how to prepare nutrient-dense meals from scarce resources. These women risk their lives daily, and some are kidnapped for ransom, assaulted, or killed because armed groups believe humanitarian organizations can pay.
Yet only three percent of humanitarian funding reaches women-led organizations directly. They operate mostly through volunteers and small, one-off grants. The courage of these women offers a glimpse of the country Sudan could still become, but they cannot and should not be expected to shoulder this burden alone.
The Cost of International Indifference
This is not merely a crisis of violence and it is a crisis of indifference. Sudan has become the world's largest displacement crisis, with 30 million people needing urgent assistance and 15 million forced from their homes. Yet only 28 percent of Sudan's $4.16 billion humanitarian plan has been funded this year. Basic necessities have become luxuries: a single packet of sanitary pads costs around $27 in North Darfur, while average humanitarian assistance for a family of six is under $150 monthly. Families face impossible choices between food, medicine, and dignity, and women's needs invariably fall to the bottom of that list.
The world's failure to act sends a clear message that some suffering matters less than others. Every day of delay means another woman gives birth under fire, another child is buried in hunger, another woman disappears without justice. Silence is not neutrality but, it is involvement.
What Must Happen Now?
The path forward requires immediate, coordinated action. An immediate ceasefire must be implemented and enforced. All parties must ensure safe corridors for civilians, especially women and girls. Humanitarian routes must open, and communications must be restored to enable life-saving coordination and proper documentation of violations. Aid workers, particularly local women who sustain their communities, must be protected.
Humanitarian actors must prioritize women and female-headed households in food assistance and livelihood restoration. The international community must support investigations into war crimes, including sexual violence, ethnic killings, and attacks on humanitarian workers. Critically, women must be included in all peace processes, their leadership and voices must be centered in humanitarian, peacebuilding, and reconstruction efforts.
The Measure of Our Humanity
Women and girls in Sudan are not statistics. They are the measure of our shared humanity. Their strength is extraordinary, but they deserve more than survival they deserve dignity, justice, and the opportunity to rebuild and thrive. The world matched its words with action after other conflicts. Why not Sudan?
This is not a problem too complex to solve. It requires political will, adequate funding, and genuine commitment to human dignity. The humanitarian workers on the ground are risking everything so that others might live. The least the international community can do is match its courage with urgent action.
History will judge not only those who committed these atrocities but also those who had the power to stop them and chose to look away. Sudan's women and children are calling out across the distance. The question that is ahead, is anyone listening? Or everything is falling on deaf ears.
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