WUNRN
Sudan-Darfur + Chad - Sexual
Violence Against Darfur Women
Direct Link to 74-Page Report
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In November, 2008, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) sent a team of four
experts to gather an in-depth picture of the lives and concerns of Darfuri
women now living in the Farchana Refugee Camp in eastern
The team found that many of these women had been sexually violated in
Darfur, and many have been raped since arriving at the camp in
In the coming weeks and months, PHR will be posting photographs, findings, and narratives from its assessment and asking you to take action to prevent future violence against women and to support care for those who have already been harmed. Sign up to receive notifications of new information.
Some of the women PHR met with had first spoken bravely and boldly about their frustrations in the Farchana Manifesto.
In the Farchana camp on June 5, 2008, seven women were rounded up for public humiliation and torture: tied-up, whipped, and beaten with sticks of firewood. Their supposed “crime”? Working outside of the camp to earn money for their families. Shamed as prostitutes, these women were “fined” – forcibly deprived of goods, money, and food ration cards. Though there is no proof, it is likely that at least some of these women became pregnant as a result of rape.
After the brutality, a group of eight Darfuri women gathered to give voice to their shared lament. They wrote a one-page document in Arabic, in hope of shedding light on the plight of women refugees and opening a dialogue with the world. This document made its way from the Farchana camp into the hands of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). We call it the Farchana Manifesto.
The manifesto speaks of the challenges and fears faced by
women refugees from
Please read the manifesto and the women’s stories. Take a couple of minutes to view PHR’s video, Life in the Camps. Do you have any comments, thoughts, or hopes that you would like to share with Darfuri women refugees? Send a messages to the women in the Farchana Camp, which we will deliver on our next visit.
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