Sudan - Facts on Trafficking and Prostitution

Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation

Sudan

Trafficking

Trafficking in humans has resurged along with civil war in Sudan. Young women and children are considered the most profitable war bounty. (John Eibner of Christian Solidarity International, Karin Davies, "Slave Trade Thrives in Sudan," Associated Press, 7 February 1998)

Prostitution

Policy and Law

Four prostituted women were sentenced to death by an Islamic Sharia court for their 'way of life'. (International Secretariat, The World Organization Against Torture, 5 December 1997)

Organized and Institutionalized Sexual Exploitation and Violence

27 women have left the main faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, and the Southern Sudan Independence Movement (SSIM) because of sex discrimination and abuse. A former member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army reported that during training in 1986 in the bush of the Equatoria region (in the south), the women trainees were sexually abused, not only by Sudanese trainers, but also by Ugandan soldiers who were training with them. Some women were married to male rebels without their prior knowledge. Compulsory marriages were common in rebel territory. "You were told to sleep with a man you had never talked to and if you disobeyed, you violated the orders of the movement and you were punished for it." SPLA leader John Garang himself told us during his lectures near Chukudum in Equatoria State that he favoured marriages among fighters, "because the movement needs children for this war." Another woman lost her hair and carries the scars of war on her legs and face. She had been detained and tortured in the town of Wau (Southern Sudan), when she refused to sleep with her local commander. (members of Sudan People’s Liberation Army, "SUDAN: Women Ex-Rebels Speak of Neglect and Abuse," Nhial Bol, IPS, 3 April 1997)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

The Sudanese government and authorities have overlooked atrocities committed against children by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Uganda. Sudan has allowed the LRA to have bases in Sudanese territory. ("Uganda: Stolen children, stolen lives," Amnesty International Index: AFR February 1997) (Doctor Mawson, "Uganda: Stolen children, stolen lives," Amnesty International Index: AFR February 1997)

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Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic and Nadine Z. Mendelsohn