“Nothing Is More Dangerous Than Crimes That Are Not Acknowledged.”

Danai Gurira, Niemat Ahmadi, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, and Nancee Oku Bright discussed gender violence in conflict zones at Free Future 2024.

Advocates speak out on the under-reported humanitarian crises in the African continent

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.”

She and the other panelists also stressed that women in conflict regions aren’t just victims—they’re keys to the solution and must be included in peace talks. In fact, a 2023 UN Security Council report found that “women led many successful negotiations to secure access to water and humanitarian aid, broker the release of political prisoners, prevent and resolve tribal conflicts, or mediate local ceasefires.” Despite all of that they were almost entirely excluded from political talks and peace processes in highly impacted areas like Ethiopia, Sudan, and Libya. 

Fixing that, and calling attention to the power and presence of women on the ground, came up again and again in the panel, moderated by Nancee Oku Bright, with activist and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Danai Gurira and UN Women Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda. Gurira spoke powerfully before the UN Security Council last spring, saying, “the media is our primary filter for shaping our perception and understanding of the scale and the scope of [rape in conflict zones], yet the reality of our news media is that they focus on some places—and certainly not the places where women look like me….We must acknowledge women and survivors all over the world. Nothing is more dangerous than crimes that are not acknowledged, crimes that are unseen and allowed to persist.” And at Free Future, she traced her own commitment to the issue back to her award-winning 2009 play, Eclipsed, which focused on women during the Second Liberian Civil War.

Gurira’s work, and words, remind the world that even in conflict zones, all darkness is temporary—or can be. Women leaders are ready to shine the light if the world is ready to let them do so.