OpenForum – a blog by the Health and Human Rights community

A new campaign in Cameroon is seeking to bring more attention to sexual violence against women by encouraging survivors of rape to talk openly about their experiences. This campaign, led by the German development group GTZ, focuses on raising awareness of rape and incest, subjects rarely discussed publicly. GTZ estimates that as many as 432,000 women and girls were raped in Cameroon in the past 20 years, one out of five by a family member. To address this widespread violence, the campaign’s opening ceremony in the capital Yaoundé featured approximately 200 rape survivors; many of these women and girls publicly shared their stories. It is hoped that more open and public discussions of the experience and consequences of rape will shift societal views that tend to trivialize sexual assault.

The African women’s organization Akina Mama wa Afrika, which means “solidarity among women” in Swahili, met recently in Kampala to discuss new efforts to prevent violence against women in conflict and post-conflict areas of Africa. This group is seeking to improve legal and judicial systems to better protect the rights of women. They believe improved documentation of women’s experiences is the first step, as there is a critical lack of statistics surrounding these crimes. “Shame constrains many women’s actions,” says Annie Chikwanha, Senior Fellow at the African Human Security Initiative Institute of Security Studies. “Most times you have to seek permission of men to access the woman’s voice. Men insist on listening to the conversation. So the women feel constrained…” Instead, Chikwanha says, “it is women who suffer these atrocities so they should talk about them instead of a third party who can distort the information…let us empower women with skills to have these experiences documented.”

The recent conviction of five men in a Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) military court for the rape and torture of civilian populations is being hailed as a step forward in preventing sexual violence. These men, who committed crimes while in a local militia group, were found guilty of assault and battery, and rape; four were sentenced to life imprisonment and one to 30 years in prison. They are also required to pay significant financial compensation to their victims. Other groups have recently held public demonstrations and protest marches, often the first of their kind, despite possible threats to the women involved. Women’s groups in Chad are also attempting to improve reporting rates, legal prosecution of perpetrators, and laws protecting women’s sexual and reproductive rights.

These efforts come amidst new reports of sharply increasing rape cases in the DRC. The eastern province South Kivu has experienced Rwandan Hutu militia assaults against civilians, which resemble past attacks in South Kivu in 1998 and 1999. The use of rape as a method of war in Africa has grown increasingly common, even in areas where conflict has officially ended.

For further reading:

South African rape survey shock

Tracking the war on women in Darfur: Boston doctors detail accounts of rape, assault

Sexual Abuse: New Study Documents Rape’s Grim Toll

UN: End Rape in War – Sexual Violence Soaring a Year After the Security Council Promised Prevention

Congo’s Bemba to stand ICC trial

Video: Rape in Congo

War Against Women: The Use of Rape as a Weapon in Congo’s Civil War

Child rape survivor saves ‘virgin myth’ victims

Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape (exhibition of personal accounts from female survivors of the Rwandan genocide of 1994)

Nowhere to Turn (PHR report on violence against Darfuri women)

Women for Women International (organization helping women survivors of war)

My Sister’s Keeper (women-led humanitarian action group)