International Women's Day and Slavery in Sudan
On 8 March, the world marks International Women’s Day; a day to celebrate both women’s achievements and potential. It is also presents an opportunity to remember the millions of women around the world who are forced to live in slavery and are denied their basic human rights.
Slavery today takes many forms. Throughout South Asia, millions of women are enslaved as bonded labourers, forced to work as domestics, in agriculture and small factories without pay in return for a loan. In western Europe, thousands of women are trafficked into sexual exploitation. Across the US, Europe and Asia thousands of migrant women are enslaved as domestic workers. And in Sudan, women continue to be abducted and forced into slavery.
Mende Nazer is one of these women. Now in her early-20s, one night when she was 12 her village was raided by government-backed militia. “People were screaming and there was confusion. We didn’t know what to do. We had to run, we had to survive.” In the chaos, Mende was separated from her family. “All the raiders came and took everybody to a place called Geling. I was there for a few days; everyday people came and took children away.”
Mende was taken to Khartoum, where, “one day, a woman came and took me away. This is my new life ... this is a hard time; I stayed with this woman for six or seven years. I had to do very hard work, I had to do everything: clean the house and big yard, wash clothes by hand and look after her children; [over time] there were five. After she saw I was clean she had me cook.
“Everything that was mine was kept separate. I was beaten for every single thing, even for something that was not my fault. At first I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t because there was nowhere to go and I had no money and I could not go to the police.
“From the beginning in my master’s house I didn’t realise I was a slave, I was confused; I wondered why I was there. Later on, my master was talking to her friend and she said two things that made me realise. One was she mentioned she owned me. The other, she called me ‘Abda’ to her friend. She called me her slave. From that time on I understood who I am. From the beginning she treated me badly and beat me; even then I couldn’t understand why. It was only when she said she was my owner and that she called me Abda then I understood.”
After seven years, Mende’s master sent her to work as a domestic for her relative in London. “My master in Khartoum instructed me to behave myself and obey the new master and do the same sort of work I did for her.” Eventually, while her master was away, she managed to escape and, after two years was finally granted asylum by the UK Government.
In Sudan, an estimated 14,000 people, many of them women, have been abducted and forced into slavery since 1986. This abuse is closely linked to the civil war that has raged since 1983. In 2003, the Sudan Government and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army began a series of peace talks to end the civil war, providing a vital opportunity for the Government to stop pro-government militias’ raids against villages in the south and the opening of vital land corridors to facilitate the safe return of rescued abductees and slaves to their villages in the south.
Despite the hope for an end to abductions that these talks have presented, the situation in Darfur, located in Sudan’s west, has worsened. Fighting between government-backed militias and various tribes in the region is continuing and, according to reports, the militias are abducting women and children from north and west Darfur and forcing them into slavery in the region’s south. This is a new development for Darfur, which previously was only a source from which people were taken to be used as slaves in neighbouring areas.
That this is taking place at the same time as discussions on the peace process are going on is particularly worrying.
Anti-Slavery International is currently calling on members of the public to press the Government of Sudan to take action and stop this abuse. The organisation is urging them to ensure that the respect and promotion of human rights forms an integral part of any peace agreement. If you would like to join this campaign and help stop women like Mende Nazer from being abducted and forced into slavery, please contact Sarah Williams on + 44 (0)20 7501 8933 or email s.williams@antislavery.org
Mende Nazer’s full story, Slave, by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis is published in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Anti-Slavery International http://www.antislavery.org
Please also see:
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http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engact770212004
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On 8 March, the world marks International Women’s Day; a day to celebrate both women’s achievements and potential. It is also presents an opportunity to remember the millions of women around the world who are forced to live in slavery and are denied their basic human rights.
Slavery today takes many forms. Throughout South Asia, millions of women are enslaved as bonded labourers, forced to work as domestics, in agriculture and small factories without pay in return for a loan. In western Europe, thousands of women are trafficked into sexual exploitation. Across the US, Europe and Asia thousands of migrant women are enslaved as domestic workers. And in Sudan, women continue to be abducted and forced into slavery.
Mende Nazer is one of these women. Now in her early-20s, one night when she was 12 her village was raided by government-backed militia. “People were screaming and there was confusion. We didn’t know what to do. We had to run, we had to survive.” In the chaos, Mende was separated from her family. “All the raiders came and took everybody to a place called Geling. I was there for a few days; everyday people came and took children away.”
Mende was taken to Khartoum, where, “one day, a woman came and took me away. This is my new life ... this is a hard time; I stayed with this woman for six or seven years. I had to do very hard work, I had to do everything: clean the house and big yard, wash clothes by hand and look after her children; [over time] there were five. After she saw I was clean she had me cook.
“Everything that was mine was kept separate. I was beaten for every single thing, even for something that was not my fault. At first I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t because there was nowhere to go and I had no money and I could not go to the police.
“From the beginning in my master’s house I didn’t realise I was a slave, I was confused; I wondered why I was there. Later on, my master was talking to her friend and she said two things that made me realise. One was she mentioned she owned me. The other, she called me ‘Abda’ to her friend. She called me her slave. From that time on I understood who I am. From the beginning she treated me badly and beat me; even then I couldn’t understand why. It was only when she said she was my owner and that she called me Abda then I understood.”
After seven years, Mende’s master sent her to work as a domestic for her relative in London. “My master in Khartoum instructed me to behave myself and obey the new master and do the same sort of work I did for her.” Eventually, while her master was away, she managed to escape and, after two years was finally granted asylum by the UK Government.
In Sudan, an estimated 14,000 people, many of them women, have been abducted and forced into slavery since 1986. This abuse is closely linked to the civil war that has raged since 1983. In 2003, the Sudan Government and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army began a series of peace talks to end the civil war, providing a vital opportunity for the Government to stop pro-government militias’ raids against villages in the south and the opening of vital land corridors to facilitate the safe return of rescued abductees and slaves to their villages in the south.
Despite the hope for an end to abductions that these talks have presented, the situation in Darfur, located in Sudan’s west, has worsened. Fighting between government-backed militias and various tribes in the region is continuing and, according to reports, the militias are abducting women and children from north and west Darfur and forcing them into slavery in the region’s south. This is a new development for Darfur, which previously was only a source from which people were taken to be used as slaves in neighbouring areas.
That this is taking place at the same time as discussions on the peace process are going on is particularly worrying.
Anti-Slavery International is currently calling on members of the public to press the Government of Sudan to take action and stop this abuse. The organisation is urging them to ensure that the respect and promotion of human rights forms an integral part of any peace agreement. If you would like to join this campaign and help stop women like Mende Nazer from being abducted and forced into slavery, please contact Sarah Williams on + 44 (0)20 7501 8933 or email s.williams@antislavery.org
Mende Nazer’s full story, Slave, by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis is published in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Anti-Slavery International http://www.antislavery.org
Please also see:
Ladies' Dues
Anna Malpas talks with Russia's most outspoken feminist, Maria Arbatova, about where the country went wrong.
http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/index.php?aid=131077
69 ex-'comfort women' demand reparations in court petition
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=290915
Amnesty International launches global campaign to stop violence against women - A cancer and human rights atrocity
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engact770212004
STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN !
http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/index-eng
International Women’s Day
http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2004/
AIDS infection of women in 'terrifying pattern,' Annan says on Women's Day
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10003&Cr=hiv&Cr1=aids
World AIDS Day: Dr. Boyd Graves Asserts that a Cure Already Exists !
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=1231&blz=1