Duchess of Edinburgh speaks to sexual violence victims in Chad

The Duchess of Edinburgh was moved to tears after she met refugees and victims of conflict related sexual violence during the first British royal visit to Chad in Africa on Sunday. 

Sophie, 59, was emotional and lost for words as she visited the nation at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, to help draw attention to the escalating humanitarian crisis.

The mother-of-two, who is a global champion of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) and a supporter of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), arrived in the country on Saturday for a three-day visit before leaving on Monday afternoon.

Donning a flowing blue dress and a floral blouse, the royal swept her blonde locks into a bun and got to work as she witnessed the impact of the conflict in Sudan, particularly on women and girls. 

At a hospital centre in Adré, near the border, the duchess hugged five survivors of conflict-related sexual violence after hearing what they had been through and teared up when speaking to the media following the private meeting.

Through tears Sophie said: ‘People are having to exchange food and water for sex, for rape. That is violence that is being enacted through conflict. It is being used as a bargaining tool.

‘These women have no option but to leave. And, even then, they’re lucky if some of them can get away because some of the villages and towns that they come from they can’t even leave their houses any more. If they leave their houses they get killed.’

She added: ‘What they do to the children is… I can’t even use the words.’

The duchess, who has two children, Lady Louise Windsor, 20, and 16-year-old James, Earl of Wessex, with her husband Prince Edward, admitted she was ‘quite wobbly’ after hearing the women’s experiences, which she described as ‘devastating’.

One of the women who Sophie met said afterwards she had fled the city of Geneina, in the west Darfur region of Sudan, after thousands of people were killed in a matter of days.

The woman said her family had been threatened with death and rape if they left their home, while her teenage son and brothers were among men who were rounded up and taken away. She described seeing bodies piled up in the street ‘like a wall’.

Speaking at a reception on Saturday, the first day of her visit to Africa, Sophie said she hoped to ‘shine a light’ on the situation at the border, where hundreds of refugees are crossing every day to escape the civil war in Sudan.

She said: ‘Whilst the world and its attention is being focused very much on other conflicts around the world, the humanitarian crisis being faced by the people of Sudan, which is landing on Chad’s shores, cannot be ignored.

‘So I’m here to try and help continue to shine a light on what needs to be done, on the work that is being done, but to ask for more to be done.’

The duchess, who spent a day in Adre, at the border with Sudan, thanked the people of Chad, one of the poorest countries in the world, for the support they are offering to refugees.

She added: ‘Really, my job here this next couple of days is to learn more about the issues and to see for myself at the border what is happening so that I may take that message back to the United Kingdom and in my travels more widely to try to create more focus, more attention on the situation that is happening here in Chad as a result of what’s happening in Sudan.’

Speaking to the press during her time in Adre, Sophie said: ‘This is a human catastrophe that is vast, and Chad is having to pick up the pieces when it can ill afford to do so.

‘They’re doing it with a good heart, and we need to help them to do more because, as I say, it’s not enough.’

She said organisations are seeing budgets pulled back because money is being siphoned off to go elsewhere.

She added: ‘Everybody’s need is great but this is pretty desperate. We’ve got to keep the attention on this.’  

During the visit, she travelled to Adré, a town 400 metres from the border with Sudan, which is currently seeing approximately 400 new arrivals from Sudan per day, with peaks of up to 1,000. 

The 18-month conflict in Sudan has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly 11 million people forced to flee the violence in search of safety, including to neighbouring countries. 

As a result of the ongoing conflict, over 820,000 refugees and returnees have travelled to Chad, 87 percent of whom are women and girls. 

At the border registration point for refugees, The Duchess met humanitarian workers from UNICEF, UNHCR, Chad’s National Commission for the Reception and Reintegration of Refugees and Returnees, Chadian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières to hear about their role in supporting, registering and relocating new refugees fleeing the conflict. 

Sophie also met refugees, including women and children, who had recently left Sudan due to the ongoing conflict. 

The Duchess visited the newly established Integrated Multi Sectoral Services Centre, supported by UNICEF, at Adré District Hospital, a centre focused on providing holistic care to survivors of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence. 

After touring the new centre, she spoke with hospital staff, service providers running the centre and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence about the extensive needs of affected communities and how agencies work together to support them. 

While at Adré District Hospital, Sophie spoke with representatives from the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network and Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG). 

The Duchess heard how the two grassroots, women’s rights organisations are delivering support to affected communities, including survivors of sexual violence. 

Before departing Adré, the royal visited mobile protection units run by Plan International and funded by the UK. 

Joined by young teenagers who have recently arrived in Chad, The Duchess heard how the project provides safe learning spaces and vital child protection services for children of all ages on arrival in Adré. 

Fatima Abaulgasim, 15, and 13-year-old Mayada Abdoulgadir Oumar, both refugees from Sudan, were among children who took part in the session.

Speaking through an interpreter from Plan International, Fatima said: ‘We are here but our situation is still awful. We need support for education and support for healthcare.’ Mayada added: ‘Education here is zero, we need education.’

Whilst in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, Sophie was received by the Prime Minister, Mr Allamaye Halina. 

She met the Foreign Minister, Abderaman Koulamallah and Minister for Women, Protection of Early Childhood and National Solidarity, Amina Priscille Longoh. 

Elsewhere the Duchess met with local and regional civil society organisations, UN agencies and women-led organisations progressing women’s empowerment and delivering for women in Chad. 

The eighteen-month conflict in Sudan has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 9 million people facing emergency or famine conditions. This is more than Gaza, South Sudan, Mali, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan combined. 

Over 10 million people have been forced to flee violence in Sudan in search of safety, including to neighbouring countries. This makes Sudan the world’s largest displacement crisis. 

The conflict in Sudan is having a disproportionate impact on women and girls, including through the rates of conflict-related sexual violence. 

The UN estimates that 6.7 million people are at risk of gender-based violence in Sudan. 

The Duchess has for a number of years been a global champion for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and is a supporter of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI). 

She is committed to drawing attention to the situation of women and girls globally, particularly the impact of conflict related sexual violence (CRSV), and promoting positive action to deliver progress on the WPS agenda. 

The Duchess announced her commitment to champion both the WPS and PSVI agendas on International Women’s Day in 2019. 

Since then, she has had the opportunity to visit a number of countries to highlight historical and ongoing issues, including; Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Iraq, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Most recently in April, The Duchess visited Ukraine to demonstrate solidarity with the women, men and children impacted by the war and show to support to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. 

Sophie became the first Member of the Royal Family to visit Ukraine since the conflict began.

The royal met with President Zelensky and his wife – and passed on a personal message from King Charles – as she showed her solitary with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and torture during her emotional one-day trip.

The mother of-two travelled in her role as champion of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

It is understood she was ‘keen to show her solidarity with men, women and children affected by the Russian invasion’.

She arrived in the country on the same day at least four people were killed in a barrage of Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa nearly 300 miles away.

In Kyiv the duchess listened as survivors of sexual violence, both male and female, bravely shared their stories, as well as talking to female IDPs – internally displaced persons – and volunteers who help their communities cope with the trauma of the invasion. 

She also met with children who have now been safely returned to Ukraine, after being forcibly separated from their families and deported by Russia as part of a sustained campaign to erase Ukrainian culture.

And she paid her respects to those who lost their lives in Bucha, two years on from its liberation from Russian forces, and visited the ‘Road to Life’, a bridge which became a key part of the Ukrainian resistance when it was blown up to stop Russian troops proceeding to Kyiv and later became a vital route for people to flee to safety from the Russian occupation.