Published in Free Future

By Shannon Melero-Urena

This year has seen a record number of armed conflicts around the world, with a significant portion of those conflicts taking place in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. Research shows that a total of 12 African nations are currently dealing with extremist violence, civil war, or political instability affecting millions of citizens, especially women and young girls. And yet despite the astronomical numbers of women who have been displaced, killed, or violently abused, advocates there are asking: Why isn’t the world talking about this crisis?

“Both warring parties have systematically targeted women,” said Niemat Ahmadi, the president of the Darfur Women Action Group, during a panel at Free Future 2024. She’s been speaking up for the rights of women and girls in the region for 20 years—and says that it is exactly those women who are doing the work that peacekeepers and the media should be. “When the international community abandoned Sudan,” she said, “[women] became frontline human rights defenders…documenting atrocities to keep the world’s attention and to keep them informed.”

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