The Duchess of Edinburgh has visited the Republic of Chad, becoming the first Member of the Royal Family to officially visit the nation. Sophie visited in her role as a global champion of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and a supporter of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (a cause she has championed since 2019).
This isn’t the first time The Duchess of Edinburgh has been the first member of the Royal Family to visit a country in recent years – she became the first member of the Royal Family to visit Ukraine since the conflict with Russia broke out and also Baghdad in June 2023.
Sophie has become the first member of the Royal Family to visit Chad. (Royal Family)
Sophie witnessed firsthand the impact of the conflict in Sudan, particularly the consequences it has had on women and girls.
The first part of Her Royal Highness’ trip saw her visit Adré, which is 400 metres from the border with Sudan and currently seeing hundreds of refugees from Sudan daily.
Visiting a registration point for refugees, Sophie met a number of humanitarian workers from a range of organisations who are supporting, registering and relocating refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan.
Her Royal Highness met a number of refugees who had fled the conflict in Sudan. (Royal Family).
After visiting a clinic, the mother of two briefly stood to one side on her own outside with visible tears streaming down her face before composing herself and carrying on with the visit.
Sophie has previously spoken about how she can’t help by weep when she hears stories from survivors of sexual violence in conflict because they are ‘dreadful’ and the nature of this work has seen her go to ‘very dark places’ mentally as ‘as it’s traumatising to hear about it’.
Speaking to the Telegraph, who travelled to Sudan with Her Royal Highness, in an interview immediately after the meeting, she said the conversation had been “devastating” and added: ‘I daren’t even describe to you what they’ve been doing to children. 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 people can’t even leave their houses any more. If they leave their houses they get killed’.
Sophie visited as Chad as a global champion of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and a supporter of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative. (Royal Family).
Sophie recalled meeting a woman at the UNICEF refugee registration point who had crossed the border with five children and said: ‘It’s heartbreaking. You have no idea what they have been through. That little girl was so silent and it worried me because of what I’ve just heard now. It really worried me because I haven’t shared with you some of what they told me in there, which was why I was quite wobbly when I came in. What they have all witnessed is complete atrocity.’
We were honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Edinburgh, to Adré in eastern #Chad, on the border with Sudan.
The Duchess was deeply moved by the testimonies of refugee women on the violence, including sexual violence, they suffered & thanked @UNICEF for its work. pic.twitter.com/MaHVpRTOZp— UNICEF Tchad (@UNICEFChad) October 14, 2024
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Then at Adré District Hospital, The Duchess visited the newly established Integrated Multisectoral Services Centre, supported by UNICEF, a centre focused on providing holistic care to survivors of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence.
Her Royal Highness had the chance to speak with hospital staff and survivors about how agencies work together to support them.
While at Adré District Hospital, The Duchess heard about the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa Network and Darfur Women Action Group are supporting affected communities, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
Before departing Adré, The Duchess visited mobile protection units run by Plan International and funded by the UK. Joined by young teenagers who have recently arrived in Chad, Her Royal Highness heard how the project provides safe learning spaces and vital child protection services for children of all ages on arrival in Adré.
Her Royal Highness met a number of humanitarian workers who have been supporting those who refugees. (Royal Family).
Whilst in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, The Duchess was received by the Prime Minister of Chad. HRH also met with local and regional civil society organisations, UN agencies and women-led organisations progressing women’s empowerment and delivering for women in Chad.
Her Royal Highness also met with Amina Priscilla Longoh, Chad’s Minister of State for Women and Childhood Protection to discuss women’s rights and humanitarian issues.
HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh met with Amina Priscilla Longoh, Chad’s Minister of State for Women and Childhood Protection, during her 3 days visit to Chad on October 14, 2024, to discussed about women’s rights and humanitarian issues.
📸 Tchad24 pic.twitter.com/qRrvJHdbjF
— 🌻Sarahsecret (@sarahdiaryz) October 15, 2024
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Earlier this year, The Duchess addressed the Restoration of the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors’ Rights Conference and highlighted how the challenge of conflict-related sexual violence across the world from Myanmar to Ethiopia, from Colombia to Sudan, noting that the current crisis in the Middle East to Ukraine is ‘enormous’ and the ‘landscape seems to be getting worse’.
Speaking about the consequences of conflict related sexual violence, The King’s sister-in-law said that it is not ‘only confined to the survivors and the children born of rape, but is felt by the families as well as whole communities, which is why it is so effective as a tactic of warfare. Survivors experience long-lasting stigma which impacts their livelihoods and tears families apart’, according to Sophie, whose ‘faces and accounts of the many women who have shared the terrible and graphic accounts of their rape experiences’.
