The ARNA Region’s statement draws attention to the impact of wars, conflicts, and patriarchy on peasant women

The statement issued by the Arab and North African member organizations of La Via Campesina on the occasion of March 8th points to the impact that genocidal wars, conflicts, and patriarchy are having on women and girls in the region. The statement highlights the severity of the situation in Palestine.

“Women and children are the groups most affected by the war of extermination, as they constitute more than 70% of the missing, whose number has reached over 14,000. 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced, half of whom are women, and 70% of the total wounded, whose number has exceeded 111,000, are women. Women also lack access to health facilities due to their destruction in the war on Gaza, in addition to losing the most basic necessities of life under tents amidst destruction and rubble. The occupation has also cut off aid, destroyed agricultural lands, and prevented women from reaching agricultural lands to continue the policy of starvation and subjugation of the Palestinian people. More than 46,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip, with a rate of 180 births per day, give birth in corridors and tents in the absence of the most basic health facilities,” the statement reads.

It also draws attention to the war in Sudan. “Sudanese women, caught between the hammer of conflict and the anvil of political marginalization, have borne the brunt of this war, as they are exposed to the most heinous forms of violence and violations, including the rape of minors, with tens of thousands of cases recorded. This has led to an increase in suicide rates among women for fear of being subjected to such violations. Four million women and girls are at risk of sexual assault, kidnapping, and the loss of their breadwinner in a context characterized by extreme poverty and lack of medical facilities,” it reads.

The full text of the statement is reproduced below.

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