Sudanese women returning from displacement and asylum to several cities and areas across the country lack basic services, particularly in Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, and Sennar states. They are unable to access healthcare, education, water, and sanitation, amid a shortage of job opportunities and competition over scarce resources, in addition to the need for official documents and legal recognition.
As a result of these conditions, cases of child marriage and gender-based violence have increased, along with exploitation, sexual assault, and harassment, due to inadequate security measures and the absence of effective law enforcement.
Services Crisis
Awatif Abdullah, who returned to the Al-Azhari area in Khartoum, told Mashauri: “We are now living in tragic conditions. Most neighborhoods in the south of the capital still suffer from a complete collapse of infrastructure and a loss of basic services, in addition to security chaos and the absence of the rule of law, even after the Rapid Support Forces were expelled and the army regained control of Khartoum State.”
The returning displaced woman added: “Life is no longer what it was; it has turned into a harsh daily struggle to obtain services—especially electricity, which operates only for limited hours in the more fortunate areas. The cost of living arrangements are extremely difficult due to the sharp, daily rise in prices.”
She explained that “a large number of women face severe difficulties in reclaiming their homes because land committees in Khartoum State refuse to hand over houses without legal documents, which were lost because women could not carry them during displacement journeys or because they were looted and stolen.”
Diseases and Deaths
Hanan Hamed and her family returned to the city of Sennar. She says, “The city has turned into a breeding ground for epidemics, mosquitoes, and mysterious fevers. Searching for scarce medicines is costly and exhausting when they are available at all. The few operating hospitals are overcrowded with patients suffering from dengue fever and malaria, forcing patients to wait for long hours to receive intravenous fluids.”
In her interview with Mashauri, she noted that “women and girls are losing access to essential health supplies and services, in addition to rising maternal and pregnancy-related deaths. Thousands face the specter of death due to interruptions in treatment for kidney failure, cancer, and diabetes.”
She pointed out that “hundreds of women in the state are suffering severely, with several deaths recorded among women due to malnutrition, poisoning, dengue fever, and typhoid, in addition to childbirth complications and repeated miscarriages.”
Multiple Barriers
In this context, UN Women stated in a report that “three-quarters of women returning to Khartoum, South Kordofan, and Al-Jazirah lack basic services. Barriers to accessing these services include insecurity, weak infrastructure, high costs, long distances, and discrimination.”
The report indicated that “three out of four returnees cannot access healthcare, education, water, and sanitation services, and that 75 percent of returning women are unable to resume work or any income-generating activities, while 56 percent lack identity documents that would enable them to access financial services.”
It also noted that “only one out of every ten women was able to reclaim housing or land upon return, while 85 percent reported that local community authorities and land committees rejected their claims. A similar percentage cited the absence of legal documentation.”
The report mentioned that “only 46 percent of women were able to obtain legal support related to housing and land restitution claims,” stressing that reproductive health services, responses to gender-based violence, education, water, and sanitation remain out of reach for women due to high costs, long distances, and lack of legal documents.
It revealed that 37 percent of women’s organizations reported increased risks facing women upon return, with 70 percent of girls at risk of forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and assault. It further stated that 53 percent of service providers indicated that sexual violence is on the rise, while 68 percent of women confirmed an increase in harassment and exploitation at checkpoints.
The report recommended prioritizing funding for local women’s organizations—especially in return areas and remote regions—and called for the establishment of specialized services to respond to gender-based violence in Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, and Sennar.
Humanitarian Catastrophe
In this regard, women’s rights activist Samia Al-Nour said that “protecting women and girls has become a fundamental issue that all organizations defending and monitoring their conditions must rally around. There is an urgent need to mobilize and not remain silent under the current circumstances, in which the entities working in this field are largely absent.”
She explained that “the deprivation of thousands of women from their fundamental rights to work and to receive reproductive health services, as well as medical, legal, and psychological support under the current conditions, constitutes a humanitarian catastrophe, for which the state bears primary responsibility.”
The women’s rights activist stressed “the necessity of the state’s commitment to protecting women from all forms of violence and discrimination, and to integrating a gender perspective into all national policies.”
