Frozen Words: Memory and Sexual Violence Amongst Sudanese Refugee Women in Cairo

Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA] between the North and South. The peace process culminated in a referendum in January 2011, when the people of South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to secede from the North. Despite the CPA, South Sudanese refugees continued to apply for asylum in Egypt between 2006 and 2010 in more or less the same numbers as were recorded in earlier years. This paper is based on fieldwork conducted in Egypt with South Sudanese female refugees seeking educational, legal and psychosocial services at St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in downtown Cairo. The information presented in the paper derives from participant observation, interviews with single South Sudanese women and NGO service providers between August 2011 and February 2012. The author assisted in preparing refugee resettlement referrals to UNHCR throughout the research period and also undertook an analysis of relevant media articles, policy documents, internet blogs and literature produced by UNHCR and the Egyptian government between January 2004 and February 2012. Pseudonyms are provided for all women discussed in this work. Institutional Review Board approval from the University of South Florida was obtained prior to beginning fieldwork.    Read more