The Sudanese Women’s Network concluded its organizational workshop aimed at expanding its grassroots structure. The workshop was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from June 26 to 29, with the participation of 53 women from inside Sudan, as well as from displacement camps, refugee communities, and the diaspora.
In its final statement, the network said the workshop discussed 12 working papers focusing on priorities for expanding the network and shaping its future programs. It stressed the urgent need to achieve a ceasefire and implement a comprehensive humanitarian truce, particularly in El Obeid and South Kordofan, while ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians, especially women.
Participants recommended prioritizing humanitarian action, establishing a technical team to advance proposals for a humanitarian truce, creating a women-led human rights observatory to document violations, and launching a media observatory to promote peace messaging and combat hate speech and racism. They also called for support for emergency education and efforts to oppose the militarization of school curricula.
The network expressed concern over the current political process, stating that it is being managed “without regard for the will of the Sudanese people.”
It also rejected what it described as attempts to reintegrate members of the former regime into the political process, affirming its opposition to their participation in any peace arrangements or the upcoming political transition.
The network called on Sudan’s democratic civilian forces to regain the initiative and make a humanitarian truce and the response to the humanitarian catastrophe a fundamental prerequisite before launching any political process, while ensuring that all parties to the conflict abide by it.
Finally, the network emphasized that women’s participation in any political process or peace initiative must be meaningful and effective. It rejected what it described as the “tokenization of women’s representation,” calling for mandatory representation of women across all civilian and political blocs and for priority to be given to the concerns of women, survivors, refugees, and internally displaced women, as well as accountability for violations committed against them.
