A Sudanese activist called for more women police officers to help protect victims of gender-based violence.
AlTaghyeer: Agencies
According to Radio Dabanga, the director of the Nuba Women Organization for Education and Development, Kamelia Kuku, championed that idea of appointing female police officers in rural, more remote areas.
Kuku’s comments came during a workshop on Democratic Transformation from a Feminist Perspective in Khartoum held Thursday.
The Nuba Women Organization director said that victims of sexual assault require treatment that is both “confidential and respectful”.
Kuku said that, according to Radio Dabanga, often times sexual assault victims and their families fear societal shaming, which leads to them “refraining from filing an official complaint”.
A report published by CHR. Michelsen Institute (CMI) noted that sexual harassment and abuse were “well-known weapons” deployed by deposed president Omar al-Bashir’s military forces to force female protestors off the street.
“Doctors from the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is part of the umbrella Sudanese Professionals Association, told reporters that 70 rape cases, mostly women and few men, were recorded by Khartoum hospitals in the immediate aftermath of what has been called the Ramadan massacre,” the report said.
CMI also reported, separately, that Sudan had changed its rape law after it was alleged that the law stands in the way of providing legal assistance to rape victims.
In 2015, Human Rights Watch accused Sudanese soldiers stationed in Darfur of the mass rape of 221 women and girls in Darfur in 2014.
“The mass rape of women and girls in Tabit may amount to crimes against humanity,” HRW said.
