Sexual violence against civilian populations during armed conflict is recognized as a deliberate tactic of war, the gravity of which determines whether it is considered a war crime, a crime against humanity, or an element of genocide [see Statute of the International Criminal Court art 7.1(g) and art 8.2(b)(xxii); Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (SCR 1325) para 11; Security Council Resolution 1820 on widespread or systematic violence in armed conflict paras 1, 4]. The widespread and systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, and recruitment and kidnapping of civilians is at pandemic proportions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The majority of victims are children. By November 2008, World Vision spokesperson, Kevin Cook, and Save the Children spokesperson, George Graham, considered the DRC to be potentially the world’s worst place to be a child. The Congolese army is the single biggest perpetrator of sexual abuses according to a Human Rights Watch report published in July. This is despite commitments from both the government and the military that those found guilty of such human rights abuses would be punished. However, sexual violence offenses extend beyond the Congolese army to rebel groups, armed actors, and even UN personnel.

The deadliest war since World War II, the forgotten conflict in the DRC as been particularly devastating for women and children, who remain targets of sexual violence. These attacks are frequently exceptionally brutal, including gang rape, rape with a weapon, and rape accompanied by serious bodily harm. The medical consequences include death from injuries, contraction of HIV, pregnancy, or the development of a fistula. The psychosocial impact can be just as serious. Victims face stigma and familial and social rejection or ostracism. This can restrict their access to education or marriage and leave them displaced and at risk of further abuse.

In March 2009, a Comprehensive Strategy on Combating Sexual Violence in the DRC was finalized by the UN Office of the Senior Advisor and Coordinator on Sexual Violence after consultation with key stakeholders. The four strategic components are the following:

1. Combating impunity for cases of sexual violence;
2. Prevention of sexual violence and protection of victims;
3. Security sector reform; and
4. A multi-sectoral response for survivors of sexual violence

Further, the Sexual Violence Research Initiative, an initiative of the Global Forum for Health Research, facilitated its first conference, SVRI Forum 2009: Coordinated evidence-based responses to end sexual violence, earlier this month. Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, the global event assembled 200 experts for the purpose of endorsing research, highlighting good practice in program design, and fostering increased partnership and network building in the field of sexual violence.

Internationally, there is a need to redress the inadequacy with which sexual violence is addressed. The degree to which sexual violence is a gross human rights violation and public health concern is frequently downplayed. This has limited the development of empirically based policy and public health prevention programs and response services.

It is important, therefore, to substantiate the legitimacy of sexual violence as a major public health concern for policymakers, researchers, and programmers by raising the profile of this frequently taboo subject and bringing it into the public arena. Public health scholars and human rights advocates, thus, have a key role to play in directing the research agenda and contributing to institutional capacity building.

Strategies require a systematic, coordinated effort to address sexual violence through increased information exchange, enhanced partnership formation, and further engagement in multi-disciplinary actions. The Interagency Standing Committee Taskforce on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance consisting of over 20 key stakeholders within the UN and NGOs developed cross-cutting minimum intervention guidelines to prevent and respond to sexual violence in humanitarian settings.

Of necessity is the focus on cross-cultural sensitivity in the design and implementation of interventions. Different socio-cultural conceptualizations of mental health and well-being need to be recognized so that measures are directed in a culturally meaningful manner. Ideally, rather than transpose an existing model from a locality with a different value system, programs should foster participatory programming that incorporates indigenous healing principles and existing systems and structures. Furthermore, it is important to focus on inclusion of stakeholders (both male and female) and empowerment. An illustrative example includes the indigenous healing practices utilized for war-affected children in Angola and Mozambique. Purification or cleansing rituals of former child soldiers attended by family and community mark the transition from the “contamination” of war and death to acceptance and validation. These symbolic healing methods address the local conceptualization of psychosocial well-being in terms of appeasing the spirits in a culturally meaningful manner.

An article in the current WHO Bulletin highlights the intrinsic difficulties in developing a national framework and implementing a multi-sectoral program (psychological well-being, physical health, and justice measures) to respond to sexual assault victims. The lesson from the field contextualizes the problem in the resource-poor, horizontal primary health care system present in Kenya. It presents challenges and lessons learned that can be used to inform policy. It is through the dissemination and sharing of such research that the issue of sexual violence receives greater visibility. Increasingly, researchers will be able to build on the body of literature to evaluate, shape, and deliver better services for survivors of sexual violence. It is from such initiatives that activists and researchers can advance sexual violence research, policy, and programs that will translate to meaningful changes in the lives of those affected.

Selected links for additional reading:

Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

BBC News Africa, Country Profile DRC

GBV Prevention Network

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

IASC Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action

Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG)

Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence

Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium

Sexual Violence Research Initiative

Stop Rape Now

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW)

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

VDay, 2009 Spotlight: DRC

WHO Gender-Based Violence Site

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)

Watson’s Atlas Map of Indian Territory (1886)

A startling 1 in 3 American Indian women will experience rape in her lifetime, according to the US Justice Department. Yet only federal attorneys can prosecute felonies like rape committed on tribal land – attorneys that are also responsible for terrorism and drug cases. The result: US attorneys decline to prosecute 75% of American Indian rape cases every year, according to NPR. Even if tribal authorities were able to prosecute rape cases, they would still only be able to prosecute members of federally recognized tribes. This poses a severe dilemma, since 86% of assailants are reported to be non-Indian. To address these issues, Congress is now attempting to strengthen the control of tribal authorities and increase the accountability of responsible federal agencies with the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009.

While tribes maintain sovereignty through tribal police departments and tribal judiciary systems, the federal government holds the purse strings, and federal law still preempts tribal law in civil rights and criminal jurisdiction. Tribal law enforcement officials can’t prosecute non-Indian offenders, and even if a crime is committed by an American Indian, they can’t prosecute felonies like rape. Underfunding has also led to inadequate tribal law enforcement; in 2007, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation had only 5 Bureau of Indian Affairs officers patrolling an area the size of Connecticut.

This may change — if the new bill passes. Introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, the bill would increase the authority of  tribal police by allowing them to make arrests for all crimes committed on tribal land, and to transfer prisoners to the Bureau of Prisons where the tribal government reaches an agreement with the Bureau.  It would also increase the accountability of federal agencies by establishing an “Office of Indian Country Crime” dedicated to enforcing federal criminal law committed on tribal land, among other provisions.

The bill specifically addresses the epidemic of domestic violence and sexual assault in that it would require the Indian Health Service (IHS) to implement policies and procedures for victims, establish concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute sexual assaults at the request of a tribe, and require the development of victim training programs for law enforcement and IHS personnel. The bill may not be a panacea, but giving tribes the authority to arrest non-Indians for federal crimes such as rape is an essential step in the protection of American Indian women against sexual violence.

See more links below the fold:

Summary of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009 – US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Blog post: Combatting Violence Against Indigenous Women - Native Legal Update, Apr 2009

Pt 1: Rape Cases On Indian Lands Go Uninvestigated – NPR, July 2007

Pt 2: Legal Hurdles Stall Rape Cases on Native Lands – NPR, July 2007

Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA – Amnesty International, 2007

Recently, Human Rights Watch released a report that documents the unique struggles women face in accessing health care in detention. It documents reports of women who suffered from affronts to their health and dignity during detention, including inadequate care during pregnancy, having to beg and plead to get enough sanitary pads not to bleed through their clothes, or not being offered counseling after testing positive for pregnancy. In “Access Denied,” The Texas Observer highlights the denial of reproductive rights for the large number of detainees who are sexually assaulted; they are not identified when they come into ICE’s custody, nor are they informed of their options if they become pregnant.

According to Human Rights Watch, the failures of the detention medical system to adequately respond to women’s health issues “implicates fundamental human rights, including international legal protections to the right to health, the right to non-discrimination, and the rights of detained persons.” The U.S. government has a responsibility to provide quality medical care to the thousands of immigrants it has chosen to take into its custody while they wait for their hearings. Human rights advocates also suggest a long-term solution to the crisis: using an alternative to the costly process of detention, such as intensive supervision appearance programs. In being detained, immigrants should not be denied their right to health.

See also:

Dying for Decent Care: Bad Medicine in Immigration Custody – Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Mar 2009

Careless Detention – four-part series in Washington Post, May 2008

U.N. Special Rapporteur Denounces U.S. Immigration Detention System – National Immigrant Justice Center, Mar 2008

Briefing Materials Submitted to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants – National Immigrant Justice Center, August 2007