Port Sudan – Geneva: Europe and the Arabs

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that "if the war in Sudan had a face, it would surely be a woman's face," adding that the war represents "an assault on the rights, health, and dignity of women and girls." The UNFPA called on the international community to take immediate action to prevent further atrocities, according to the UN's daily news bulletin, a copy of which was received Wednesday morning.

Speaking from Port Sudan to journalists in Geneva on Tuesday, the UNFPA representative in the country, Fabrizia Falcioni, said she had just returned from a visit to the Northern State, including the Al-Afad camp, where she met a group of pregnant women who had survived a 540-day siege in El Fasher.

She said that none of the women she met had received any prenatal care before arriving at the camp. The women told Ms. Falcioni that they had been forced to sell everything they owned to pay for the journey, as most of them had lost their husbands, leaving them as the sole breadwinners for their families. “Many women were stripped of all their belongings,” she said. “One woman told me, ‘I had to sell my land to escape. I lost my husband, and now I have nothing left.’”

“I’ve never heard of this before,” the UN official said, adding that basic needs are extremely limited in the Al-Afad camp. “In my 19 years of working for the UN in the humanitarian field, I have never heard women, including pregnant women, say that toilets are their first need. There are no toilets near their tents, and there is no lighting in the camp at night. These are pregnant women without men. So, you can imagine the enormous protection risks.”

She said that bread was the women’s second priority, followed by finding a way to earn a living. She added that many of the displaced women she met were doctors, nurses, midwives, and teachers, and are now struggling to survive. She emphasized that some of them work in the camp and use their skills to support other women.

She explained that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provides maternal and childbirth care for women, as well as case management and psychosocial services for survivors of gender-based violence in the Al-Afad and Tawila camps and across Sudan, but the situation remains dire.

Ms. Falcioni recounted the story of an 18-year-old girl who recently arrived at the Al-Afad camp in the Northern State from Tawila in Darfur. The girl told her, "I shouldn't have left El Fasher." Ms. Falcioni expressed hope that her words would serve as a message to the international community, "because we can and must do better."

Funding Shortage

UNFPA has received only 42% of the funding it sought for 2025, forcing it to close some safe spaces, reduce supplies, and suspend some reproductive health services.

Ms. Falcioni noted that the Fund is appealing for $116 million for Sudan in 2026, adding that full funding is essential to meet the needs of women and girls in Sudan.