Sudan — On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Sudanese Women’s Union affirmed that targeting women during wars reveals the depth of the national crisis and threatens the social and economic fabric of Sudanese society.

In a statement issued on Sunday, March 8, the Union’s media office said that targeting women in wars effectively means targeting the very reproduction of social life, as women form the backbone of the continuity of society both economically and socially.

The statement added that the issue of women in Sudan is not merely a limited rights issue, but rather a direct reflection of the broader national crisis, including the crisis of the state, the economic crisis, and the crisis of violent authority based on looting and militarization.

It stressed that turning International Women’s Day into a platform to present the issues of Sudanese women globally is not the adoption of an imported symbol, but a renewed use of a historical tool of struggle that emerged in the context of resisting exploitation, noting that the essence of the matter lies in the political content of the occasion rather than its symbolic form.

The Union also called for avoiding the reduction of women to a subject of symbolic celebration, emphasizing that March 8 should instead serve as an opportunity to expose the structure of social and economic violence. It stressed that a systematic analysis leads to a fundamental truth: women cannot be liberated in isolation from the liberation of society, nor can a just nation be built while women—who represent a vital pillar of its continuity—are being targeted.

The statement further called for International Women’s Day to become an occasion to measure the justice of society as a whole, stressing that placing the issue of Sudanese women at the heart of this day is not a sectional demand but a national act that redirects attention to the core of the crisis in a state that produces war.

Finally, it emphasized the importance of protecting Sudanese women and holding those responsible accountable for crimes committed during the war.