Sudan — In December 2018, widespread protests erupted across Sudan following a severe economic crisis marked by rising bread and fuel prices and deteriorating living conditions. The demands soon shifted from economic reforms to the overthrow of the regime under the slogan “Just fall.”

On Friday, December 12, the Sudanese Women’s Union commemorated the seventh anniversary of the December Revolution, which began in the cities of Mayirno and Damazin. In a statement issued by its Executive Office, the Union stressed the importance of honoring the sacrifices of Sudanese women who took to the streets demanding freedom, justice, and peace, chanting with one voice for a democratic civilian state that guarantees rights and human dignity.

The statement emphasized that the demand for full justice and accountability for crimes committed will continue, noting that such crimes do not expire with time. It affirmed that despite the ongoing conflict, the Sudanese people will not forget the brutality of the sit-in dispersal and the repression of protests, highlighting that women have always been at the forefront, embodying hope and the unbreakable will of the people.

The Union stated that the December Revolution was an uprising against a regime that systematically humiliated women and stripped them of their historical gains, using this as a tool of domination. While women resisted and supported the revolution, they were later marginalized during the transitional period, which failed to achieve its goals, leading to the current tragic conflict that reproduces the same oppressive practices.

The statement pointed out that the current crisis is a direct result of excluding women and ignoring the structural roots of dysfunction within the state and society, stressing that opening this discussion is a historical responsibility and the only path toward a just future that does not marginalize half of society.

The Union noted that the seventh anniversary comes as Sudan suffers from a devastating war that has exhausted the population, threatened the country’s unity and future, and placed double burdens on women due to displacement and daily survival struggles. Nevertheless, the struggle continues, fueled by the unextinguished spirit of December.

The statement emphasized that the December Revolution is not a fleeting political event but a covenant between the people and the sacrifices of the martyrs, wounded, and missing. Upholding this covenant requires defending the revolution’s values of freedom, peace, and justice, resisting war in all its forms, and standing with women, the marginalized, and the project of a democratic civilian state.

The Union called for the urgent opening of safe humanitarian corridors under the supervision of independent international organizations to ensure the delivery of food, medicine, and aid to civilians without obstruction or political exploitation.

It also demanded the protection of women and children from escalating violence, extortion, and violations amid sieges and collapsing services, stressing that humanitarian corridors are a right, not a favor, and that delaying them constitutes a crime against civilians.

The statement further called for measures to support agricultural life in a country that relies on agriculture as a fundamental economic and livelihood pillar. It noted that the war has destroyed entire seasons, pushing thousands of families toward hunger and poverty, and stressed the need to protect agricultural areas, prevent farms from becoming military sites, provide essential agricultural inputs, support rural women’s initiatives in production and food security, and ensure safe access to land and water.

On the political level, the Sudanese Women’s Union demanded an immediate, comprehensive, and sustainable ceasefire to protect civilians and restore basic services, emphasizing that war produces no winners but destruction. It stressed that halting arms supplies is the most effective way to end the war and protect lives, a responsibility of the international and regional community.

The statement also called for launching an inclusive civilian political process, free from weapons and war deals, that addresses the root causes of the crisis, achieves sustainable peace, removes the military from politics, dissolves militias, ensures accountability for crimes, preserves national unity, and guarantees women’s participation as equal partners in decision-making.

The Union reaffirmed its support for peaceful resistance in every neighborhood and every step toward building a revolutionary civilian authority, stressing that there is no legitimacy for a war against the people and that women’s voices are voices of peace.

The statement concluded by renewing its commitment to the revolution as a people’s revolution and to power as the people’s power, raising the slogan: “No to war, yes to a homeland advancing toward freedom and justice