Nobel Women Stand with the Women of Sudan 

Civilians in Sudan have endured unimaginable suffering living under siege, facing famine, displacement, and escalating violence, including widespread sexual violence. The recent attack in October 2025 on the Saudi Maternity Hospital, which killed patients and health workers, underscores the brutal toll on women seeking safety and care. 

Nobel Women’s Initiative stands in solidarity with Sudanese women and joins urgent global calls for an immediate ceasefire, robust civilian protection, and unhindered humanitarian access—with a particular focus on the safety, rights, and meaningful inclusion of women, and girls. 

Despite exclusion from formal peace processes, Sudanese women continue to lead with courage and vision. From the Peace for Sudan Platform—a coalition of 49 women‑led organizations demanding equal participation—to the Emergency Response Rooms sustaining communities under fire, women are driving survival and recovery efforts. 

Various investigations and UN reports have documented external actors providing material and political support to armed actors including the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), fueling the conflict and intensifying civilian suffering. We call on all states and entities to immediately cease transfers of arms, financing, intelligence, and logistics to any party to the conflict, and to strengthen the enforcement of embargoes and targeted sanctions to cut these supply lines and hold perpetrators accountable. 

Nobel Women’s Initiative has joined and supported women’s coalitions calling for justice and peace in Sudan. We reiterated these demands in the recent open letter to world leaders during the UN General Assembly and action points for the UN Security council, calling for: 

• An immediate nationwide ceasefire and the protection of civilians; 

• The resumption of peace talks co-led by Sudanese women; 

• An end to the sieges of Al-Fashir, Al-Dallanj, and Kadugli imposed by the RSF, with guaranteed humanitarian access; 

• UN-monitored humanitarian corridors for the safe delivery of aid; 

• Increased, targeted funding to address militarized sexual and gender-based violence; 

• The imposition and enforcement of targeted measures, including sanctions and an effective arms embargo, to interrupt the machinery of abuse — particularly against the RSF; 

• The inclusion and co-leadership of Sudanese women in all talks and decisions, in line with the Juba Peace Agreement (2020), Sudan’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, and the broader WPS agenda; 

• Adequate resourcing for survivor-centered responses to sexual and gender-based violence, including emergency healthcare, psychosocial support, legal aid, and long-term services accessible across Sudan and in displacement settings. 

Nobel Women’s Initiative also draws attention to the systematic conflict-related sexual violence highlighted by Sudanese woman leader Kholood Khair in her address to the United Nations Security Council: 

“Widespread and systematic conflict-related sexual violence is no longer limited to Darfur, but reported across the country, including in Khartoum and Gezira. It is clear that the RSF and the SAF have subjected women and girls from ages 9 to 60 to sexual violence, a war crime, and neither party has taken meaningful steps to prevent its forces from committing rape, attacking health care workers, nor investigating such crimes. The deliberate use of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage, chiefly by the RSF, compounded by atrocities such as looting, torture, forced disappearances, and forced labor, aims to terrorize the population into submission.” 

Women in Sudan must be central to every humanitarian, peace, and reconstruction effort. The world must match their courage with action and ensure that women’s vision for justice and peace becomes a reality for Sudan’s future. 

We join together to call for immediate action for the people of Sudan—ceasefire, humanitarian aid, justice, and the meaningful inclusion of Sudanese women.