The scars of gender-based violence run deep in South Sudan – but so does the will to heal

BAHR EL GHAZAL REGION, South Sudan – Tucked between mango trees in a compound in Wau, a town in the western Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan, stands a quiet shelter. On the parched earth, colourful toys are scattered around. A set of swings sways gently in the breeze. But rather than tokens of childhood, these are signs of its interruption. 

This shelter is a safe house where women and girls who have survived gender-based violence can seek temporary refuge. 

“I was beaten and left to die,” said Fatuma*, a child bride who sought safety at the shelter after her husband abused her relentlessly. 

Fatuma was married off when she was just a child. In her community, and many others across South Sudan, girls are treated as property, valued for the income they bring during marriage negotiations.

This practice played a direct role in her family’s refusal to intervene. Having accepted a high sum of money, or ‘bride price’, in exchange for Fatuma’s hand in marriage, they felt the abuse had to be tolerated.

“My partner’s family always reminded me about the cows they gave to my family. That was the price of my silence,” she told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.

The cost of inaction

In South Sudan, women and girls face the overlapping dangers of prolonged conflict, cattle raiding, displacement from climate shocks and harmful patriarchal traditions. With widespread displacement, women and girls are more exposed to rape, exploitation, underage pregnancy and abuse. 

But staying home with their families is no guarantee of protection either, as Fatuma’s story shows. And hers is far from an isolated incident. 

Child marriage remains widespread – more than half of women today aged 20 to 24 were married off while still children – often leading to early and unintended pregnancies, potentially lethal complications during childbirth, and the loss of young girls’ education and future opportunities.

Such practices contribute to attitudes and behaviours that greatly devalue girls and normalize violence against them.

At the same shelter, a six-year-old girl recovers after an act of unimaginable cruelty. She was almost fatally burned by her stepmother and left alone to die, the safehouse manager explained. She was rescued just in time. 

A call to keep the lights on for women and girls 

Supported by UNFPA and the Government of Switzerland, the safe house in Wau is one of the few places in the country offering safety, medical care, psychosocial support and the chance to begin again. Survivors receive free and voluntary access to critical health services, surrounded by counsellors, nurses, social workers, and perhaps most importantly, a community that listens to and believes in them.

As funding for protection services from gender-based violence continues to shrink around the world, the needs are only growing. Now more than ever, the health, rights and livelihoods of women and girls like Fatuma must be prioritized for them to meet their full potential and help build back their communities.

Until there is peace and safety in South Sudan and women and girls can live free from fear, these shelters must remain in place, alongside other programmes providing sexual and reproductive health care, protection from violence and empowerment programmes, such as the 2gether4SRHR programme, supported by UNFPA and partners.

Yet a global shortage in humanitarian funds threatens these and many other critical programmes. UNFPA is calling for awareness, support and funds for the world’s most neglected crises, including South Sudan. 

* Names changed for privacy and protection