Duchess Sophie was deeply moved during her recent visit to Chad, where she met with refugees who had escaped the devastating civil war in Sudan.
Visibly emotional, the Duchess listened to heartbreaking stories of s*xual violence and the traumatic experiences endured by the survivors.
Sophie, 59, made history as the first royal family member to officially visit Chad, spending three days in the country, including a visit to the Sudanese border, before departing on Monday afternoon.
During a visit to a hospital center in Adre, near the border, Sophie embraced five survivors of conflict-related s*xual violence after hearing their stories. Overcome with emotion, she was brought to tears when speaking to the media following the private meeting, reflecting on the incredible strength and resilience of the survivors.
“People are having to trade food and water for s*x, for rape,” she said, highlighting the use of s*xual violence as a weapon of war. “This is violence being enacted through conflict, used as a bargaining tool.”
The Duchess explained that these women had no choice but to flee their homes. “Even then, they are fortunate if they can escape, as in some villages and towns, leaving their homes means death,” she added. “What they do to the children… I can’t even put it into words.”
Sophie, a mother to Lady Louise Windsor, 20, and 16-year-old James, the Earl of Wessex, admitted she was “quite wobbly” after hearing the women’s stories, which she described as “devastating.”
One of the women Sophie met had fled the western Darfur city of Geneina, where thousands of people were killed in just a few days. She shared that her family had been threatened with death and rape if they attempted to leave their home, while her teenage son and brothers were among those rounded up and taken away.
After arriving in Chad’s capital city, N’Djamena, on Saturday, Sophie flew to Farchana on Sunday, where a military motorcade took her over rough terrain to Adre.
There, she visited a refugee camp housing more than 220,000 refugees, mostly women and children, who had fled the conflict between Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF that erupted in April 2023.
Following her emotional meeting with survivors, Sophie visited a session run by Plan International, which operates mobile protection units to identify vulnerable children in the camps.
The Duchess is a strong advocate for the UN’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) and supports the UK’s Preventing S*xual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI).
