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Special issue on Sexual and Gender Based Violence

Awino Okech

2008-07-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/editorial/49427

'We have to think very seriously about what it means to sustain a resistance against the tyranny that is part of everyday life for women' - Andrea Dworkin

The recent passing of UN Resolution 1820 that recognizes sexual violence as a threat to human security has been received with mixed reactions from various quarters. Women’s rights activists note with concern the fact that this resolution is less comprehensive and a duplicate of 1325 that already acknowledges the impunity of sexual and gender based violation and also echoes the fact that amnesty granted in post conflict situations shall not include sexual violence. UN Resolution 1320 and 1325 come in the wake of various other protocols and frameworks internationally and within the African continent.

In addition to the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and CEDAW, others include; The African Union adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa in 2003 and it was ratified and entered into force in 2005. Article 10 of the Protocol calls upon states to ensure women’s participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution at local, national, regional, continental and international levels; while Article 11 urges States to protect asylum seeking women, refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons, against all forms of violence, rape and other forms of sexual exploitation, and to ensure that such acts are considered war crimes, genocide and/or crimes against humanity and that their perpetrators are brought to justice before a competent criminal jurisdiction.

UN Guidelines on Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings (2005) to enable communities, governments and humanitarian organizations, including UN agencies, NGOs, and CBOs, to establish and coordinate a set of minimum multi-sectoral interventions to prevent and respond to sexual violence during the early phase of an emergency.

UNHCR Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons: Guidelines for Prevention and Response (2003) address the problem of sexual violence against refugee women and girls. It recommends the participation of refugees in designing and implementing programmes to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and offers tips on how to monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. In the event of abuse or violence against women, the guidelines detail the various responses required to help victims, including the need for legal redress and access to medical and psycho-social support.

Both the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1994) and the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court (1999) classify rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack as a crime against humanity.

The 2007 declaration from the International Conference of Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Regional Parliamentarians meeting in Kinshasa took cognizance of the important role women play in the promotion of peace, security and development; and acknowledged that gender constitutes an essential factor in the implementation of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region signed in Nairobi on 15 December 2006 by the Heads of State and Governments. It is clear that the question is not about the lack of policy frameworks, but rather an enabling environment within which they can be enforced and lived in order to make a difference to the lives of women.

The pieces that form this special issue of Pambazuka are some of the papers that will form the debate at a Pan African conference on SGBV to be held in Nairobi from July 21 – 23, 2008. This conference reconvenes under the call for a move from Establishing Frameworks and Norms on SGBV to Action. We see this conference as an opportunity to engage substantively on effective strategies to address impunity on the African Continent. We bring together 120 participants, who include members of parliament from the Great lakes region, East Africa and the horn of Africa, policy makers, representatives of regional institutions (ICGLR, SADC, COMESA, EALA) as well as civil society actors and women’s rights activists from across the continent to concretely map out action points at a Pan African and regional level to end impunity on SGBV.

In addressing impunity on SGBV, the conference zeroes in on the question of compensation and protection for survivors of SGBV and one of the frameworks within such analyses have taken place has been within transitional justice paradigms. Prof Mutua’s article serves to unpack transitional justice frameworks that he argues have become en vogue within academic and activist spaces. He acknowledges their value but alerts that they are just that – transitional and that in the context of SGBV, it is imperative to recognize the deeply gendered dynamics that would hamper any chances of justice if attention is not paid to the deeply held misogynistic tendencies in our societies. Lydia Bosire’s piece continues with this thread by looking at transitional justice within the context of three conflict torn countries and how this has played out for women survivors of SGBV in these contexts; what gains and losses.

The sites of activism for SGBV have not only occurred within civil society and Hon. Bernadette Lahai’s piece from Sierra Leone looks at parliament as a site of struggle. She engages us on the progress that has been made through a variety of bills to ensure that survivors receive an element of protection in this post-conflict society. This is complemented by Eileen Hanciles piece from FAWE that examines this organization’s lobbying and advocacy initiatives with policy makers towards the creation of ‘safe spaces’; beginning with a policy and legal framework. Both of these pieces do not shy away from noting that the battle has not been worn and that there still exist opportunities and institutional threats that could hamper enforcement.

Okio’s piece on ACORD’s work in Northern Uganda draws our attention to the complexities of responding to social injustice by speaking to the unique circumstances that survivors of SGBV find themselves in, within the context of this longstanding war. By highlighting the challenges she concludes by noting that not enough has been done to mitigate the effects of this war for those who are returning home.

The intersections between violence against women and issues such as HIV/AIDS, land rights, trade regimes have become common sites within which organizations are developing these struggles. Carolyn Angir and Ayodeji Ajayeoba provide an understanding of compensation and protection in humanitarian settings by engaging with Action Aid’s International – Africa’s interventions in these settings.

As organizations that subscribe to a Pan African agenda whose basic tenets recognizes the need for African solutions to African problems, it is apt that Ambassador Liberata Mulamula’s piece presents us with an understanding of some of the work that the ICGLR has made towards ratification, popularization and enforcement on the ICGLR protocol on suppressing sexual violence specifically in the Great Lakes region. We recognize through this piece that effective strategies can only emerge through multi-sectoral and multi- stakeholder support.

We trust that this issue will be illuminating and not only spur the already existing energies across Africa engaging on SGBV but also enhance the momentum enough towards ending impunity. Indeed the optimism on which Ambassador Mulamula ends her piece is critical to connecting with the words of Andrea Dworkin noted above.

* This conference is organized by ACORD International in alliance with The Kenya Human Rights Commission, The Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace - Amani Forum, African Women’s Development Fund, Action Aid International-Africa, International Planned Parenthood Federation and Urgent Action Fund - Africa.

*Awino Okech is a feminist activist and researcher currently living in Nairobi, Kenya

Transitional justice in sexual and gender-based violence

Makau Mutua

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/49424

It is now fashionable in academic and activist circles to speak of transitional justice in normative, inflexible terms that suggest a utopian certainty. Nothing could be further from the truth. At the outset, we need to understand that transitional justice concepts are experimental – good experiments to be sure – but that they do not offer us tested panacea because they are essentially works in progress. This is not meant to diminish the utility of the concepts or to throw cold water on them as a beachhead for recovering societies with a legacy of traumatic conflict. Rather, it is to recognize their limitation so that we do not stampede to the temple only to find it empty of the goddess of truth. What is more useful for us to do is to imagine transitional notions as one incomplete vehicle through which we can understand and start the recovery of a tormented society. If we keep this perspective, then we are more likely to achieve a more realistic result.

In the last two decades, the concept of transitional justice has come to represent the midwife for a democratic, rule of law state [1]. The script for the construction of such a phase is now regarded as an indispensable building block for sound constitutionalism, peace-building, and national reconciliation in post-conflict societies or societies emerging out of abusive, authoritarian, and fractured periods [2]. In fact, policy-makers and statesmen now increasingly realize that a human rights state that internalizes human rights norms cannot be created unless the political society concretely addresses the grievances of the past. There is no future without a past, and the future is largely a result of the past. Unless we construct a future based on the lessons of the past, we are bound to repeat our own mistakes and retard the development of our society.

The term transitional justice captures two critical notions. First, it acknowledges the temporary measures that must be taken to build confidence in the construction of the post-despotic society. Secondly, by its own definition, transitional justice rejects a winner-take-all approach as a beachhead to the future. In other words, transitional justice calls for deep concessions on either side of the divide. No one party or faction can be fully satisfied. Unyielding, none concessionary demands can only foil the truce that is essential for national reconstruction. But equally important is the realization that transitional justice rejects impunity for the most hideous offenders. To shield egregious perpetrators would only encourage a culture of unaccountability for past abuses. Hence a balance must be struck between justice for the victims and retribution against offenders [3].

The vast majority of states lack the requisite political will to effect transformative transitions. That is why most political transitions are either still born or aborted affairs. For Africa, this calls for soul-searching at all levels of society – within the political class, among the intelligentsia, in civil society, and the general public. In other words, Africans must ask themselves: Is transitional justice a necessity for us if we are to create a democratic polity? If so, what vehicles should we construct to effect transitional justice, and what mandate shall we give such vehicles? But even as we ask these questions, we must remain mindful about the cost of abandoning transitional justice measures. The reason for this is simple: We cannot exorcise the ghosts of the past without confronting them. The past will always be with us.

Even if we accept as a basic premise – which we do – that transitional justice processes and institutions are desirable and indispensable, we would be derelict not to interrogate the internal contradictions of the project. I say so because the human rights project, which encompasses transitional justice, is an incomplete doctrine that is afflicted by gaping holes [4]. One of the blind spots of the human rights movement was for a long time women’s rights. There is no doubt that international law – which includes human rights – as a discipline has historically been inattentive to women’s rights. In fact, Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin, leading feminist scholars, have accused international law of its male, patriarchal construction [5]. For a long time, at least until the 1995 Beijing UN Conference on Women, women’s rights were a backwater in human rights, in spite of the existence of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Only in the last decade have we seen serious attempts to remove women rights from the ghetto of the rights discourse.

This is our challenge at this conference, and in the human rights movement, particularly in the context of transitional justice in Africa. How do we demarginalize women’s rights questions in the construction of transitional justice vehicles? In particular, how do civil society, academics, states, funding organizations, and intergovernmental organizations address – in serious ways – the problems of sexual and gender violence in transitional justice contexts? We know from the historical record that sexual and gender violence is arguably the most predominant abomination in civil conflicts and wars. Yet we also know that this egregious form of violence is either never reported, or rarely attracts the attention of the media. Even more distressing is the fact that gender and sexual violence is almost never calibrated in transitional justice processes, and is usually an afterthought when it is. This has been true in many of the transitional justice processes that have been put in place in the last two decades, although that is beginning to change.

In Africa, as indeed in other parts of the world, women are the pillar on which the fabric of society is built in the home and outside of it. In a very real sense, both the public and private squares are made possible by women, although in the former their invisibility is obscene. This invisibility pertains to the official public square in terms of public power defined as official positions within the state, civil society, and the market. Paradoxically, the invisibility extends to women victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the public square during civil conflicts and wars. The challenge for Africans is to develop both conceptual tools and strategies – at the political and intellectual levels – to smash the walls of invisibility and exclusion so that sexual and gender-based violence can be exposed to the sunlight of the public domain. Without this first critical step transitional justice mechanisms will continue to exclude sexual and gender-based violence.

VEHICLES FOR TRANSTIONAL JUSTICE

Transitional justice measures can be effected through a number of avenues. While truth commissions or similar vehicles stand out, there are many other possibilities. For instance, one could think of institutional reformist measures that are legislative, judicial, political, economic, social, administrative, educational, sectoral, or a combination of some, or all of the above. To complicate the picture, civil society – broadly defined – could also initiate its own transitional justice measures, including peoples’ commissions or mock tribunals. However, in spite of this wide array of possibilities, the truth commission has since the 1980s been regarded as the most effective tool for coalescing the agenda of transitional justice [6]. Even so, cognizance must be taken of the fact that the truth commission has performed its political and social functions with mixed results. The reason for this has not been with the instrument of the truth commission per se. Rather, the varying degrees of success of the truth commission have been in the particular conception and construction of each specific truth commission. In most instances, the truth commission was deeply compromised by former regime elements. In others, the emergent ruling elites were either too timid or hypocritical in their understanding of transitional justice. Most importantly, however, is the reality that most truth commissions have focused on a narrow, limited agenda that did not have the potential to transform society or provide the possibility of social justice.

But truth commissions are not the only vehicle for realizing transitional justice. There is a rich tableau of devices that have the possibility of creating a bridge between an unforgiving past and a hopeful future. Regimes can opt for sectoral reforms that, when put together, amount to an aggressive transitional justice agenda. One can imagine judicial reforms – such as purging corrupt and incompetent judges; aggressively prosecuting perpetrators of past abuses; writing a democratic constitution; repealing repressive legislation; and reforming law enforcement agencies – as a credible transitional justice approach. While all these measures are critical and necessary to reconstruct and heal society, they should not preclude a truth commission, the only omnibus instrument that has the potential to create a cathartic experience for the whole society. To center women’s rights in a transitional justice project, one can imagine the repeal or enactment of laws that make the female gender visible in the legal system. These would include, but not be limited, to laws that sanction without pity sexual and gender-based violence. Or one could think of educational initiatives that develop a gender consciousness in the judicial system such that sexual and gender violence is not an afterthought or absent from the minds of judges.

In this paper, I argue that African states need both truth commissions in certain cases, and the specific, targeted sectoral reforms in other cases to overcome the deep distortions and legacy of despotism and social hatreds that afflict their bodies politic. But I want to argue – rather emphatically – that Africa should avoid the traps of most transitional justice programs that have focused on the so-called human rights violations alone while leaving completely untouched the equally important arena of economic crimes, which are intrinsically connected to sexual and gender based violence.

In fact, I would argue that economic powerlessness – which is connected to political powerlessness – lies at the root of sexual and gender based violence. I regret to say that this blindness of targeting civil and political rights violations while completely overlooking economic, social, and cultural rights is one of the major drawbacks of the human rights corpus. In my view, such an approach cannot address the real causes of powerlessness – which ought to animate the human rights agenda [7]. We must remember that rights are fights over resources, and not abstract struggles taking place in the outer orbit without going to the fundamentals of the human condition. That is why no credible transitional justice program can fail to address the difficult, but necessary, subject of economic powerlessness for women.

In any case, as a matter of logic and conception, it is nonsensical to imagine the human rights corpus as a bifurcated dogma of two unrelated and completely independent categories of entitlements. There can be no watertight distinctions between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social, and cultural rights, on the other. Every right, no matter its ideological categorization, has at its core aspects of both sets of rights. To reduce the argument to the level of absurdity, we may want to ask: Can a person really eat the right to vote? Conversely, how can the right to food be guaranteed if citizens do not have the franchise to elect a responsible and accountable government? The right of women to own land and to control it and other economic resources is central to combating the kind of powerlessness that leads to sexual and gender-based violence. Human powerlessness and human dignity does not know these categories. That is why it would be spurious for us to address one set of rights violations, and not the other [8].

RECONCEIVING WOMEN AND GENDER

In virtually all societies around the world – even in the liberal industrial democracies of the West – women still labor under an avalanche of disadvantages. The patriarchy, a system of social ordering that has historically placed the male as the superior of the female, is the conceptual justification for the insubordination of women to men. Hetero-patriarchy, hetero-normativity, and phallocentrism – or male-centeredness, to be simple – describe a world view in which the male occupies a hallowed place in human civilization. Pseudo-scientific, religious, cultural, moral, and biological attempts to justify this gender hierarchy have held sway over millennia [9]. As a result, discrimination and privation has been the lot of the majority of the world’s women. Not even formal equality and abstract autonomy, the two key tenets of liberalism, have sufficed to combat the deep seat of gender bias and misogyny. Africa’s patriarchal cultures mirror others elsewhere in the world, although they are exacerbated by the continent’s underdevelopment and its grinding impoverishment in an unforgiving global economy. Nevertheless, progress on limiting the cancer of the patriarchy and ultimately eliminating it in Africa is both a conceptual and material task.

But this is a task that is easier said than done. Social transformation is an arduous task. But taking a cue from CEDAW, we can identify several starting points. One cannot overemphasize the importance of early learning in the home. Children initially learn through mimicry and the modeling of those within the home. To raise new men – and women – it is absolutely essential that what is learned at home in the early stages of life is not misogynistic. Keep in mind that both men and women can teach misogyny. This is the first line of defense against the patriarchy. It is important that parents, if they are more than one, model the right behavior in the home for children. This early consciousness about the sharing of labor in the home, the relationships between the genders in the family, and the absence of pre-conditioned male dominated hierarchies within the home is likely to create more gender sensitive progeny. But this begs the question. Where do parents get gender and political awareness that allows them to transmit those values to their offspring? This, I believe, is fundamentally an obligation of the state to create an educational system that forges a citizenship that is averse to misogyny. This requires a curriculum and an instructional faculty in primary and secondary schools that is designed to transform the individual. Waiting to develop a different citizen after these stages is an often futile exercise. NGOs and intergovernmental organizations such as UNESCO and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights can play important roles in curriculum conception and teacher training in gender and human rights. There is new scholarship on masculinities that opens a dialogue on how to create a better man devoid of the hatred of women [10]. In my view, changing worldviews at the earliest stages of human development will be key to reformulating our understanding of sexual and gender-based violence.

But this alone will not suffice. The society as a whole needs to undergo a catharsis about women as human beings, and not objects of sex or work. Societal stereotypes which are based on myths of misogyny need to be combated at various levels. For example, there is no reason why women’s rights work is seen as the preserve – or responsibility – of women’s rights organizations. In Kenya, for instance, FIDA and the League of Kenya Women Voters have been tagged as the groups invested with this mandate. Many other human rights organizations have marginal programs on women’s rights. Even when so so-called mainstreaming of women’s rights was all the rage, nothing fundamentally different happened. It was a song for donors without a political commitment. What we realize today is that women’s rights have to be explicitly part of the agenda of every civil society organization. But beyond that, the state in all its iterations must address women’s rights. This means the full inclusion of women in its political, economic, judicial, and bureaucratic structures so that they are not aliens in decision-making where laws and public policies are determined. In other words, the entirety of society must be engendered.

Finally, it is not possible to reconceive women without unpacking the myth from fact about sexuality, gender-based violence, and womanhood in a cultural, legal, social, and political context. In most cultures, including African ones, the woman is viewed primarily as a sexual object for the pleasure of the man. It is not an extreme view to state that many cultures see women as akin to property for possession by men. In such cultures, women’s bodies and their sexualities are not the preserve of the individual, but of the community and the man. In Uganda, for instance, these dehumanized conceptions of women result in rape, defilement, and various brutalities against girls and women [11]. In other cultures, even the concept of rape may not exist within marriage, or outside of it, and sexual assaults and other forms of gender-based violence are blamed on the victim. How does society re-educate men – and sanction them when they deviate – to understand that women’s bodies are not chattel? Many laws on the books either condone sexual stereotypes, men’s control over women’s bodies, or proscribe the ability of women to control their own sexuality. To transform these deep-seated and utterly backward universes will require new constitutional and legal orders, a judiciary and state with the political will to stand up for women, and inclusion of women at all levels of social and political engagement.

UNPACKING SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

In the history of civil conflict and wars, the most vulnerable populations are usually women, girls, and the elderly. However, only women and girls are targeted for their gender. In the most recent conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Darfur in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even in Kenya after the disputed elections in 2007, women and girls have borne the brunt of the atrocities. This is often the case even though women and girls are rarely direct participants in the conflicts, or the bearers of arms. Since women are regarded as property in many cultures, violating them is seen as a diminution of the men who “own” them. That is how women and girls become weapons of war and for which men fight over. This view of the woman as the appendage of the man has deep rooted bases in religion and traditional notions of nationalism. Imagine, for instance, the biblical story of the woman as having been created out of a single rib of a man!

Antiquated notions of masculinity and nationalism still hold sway in forging misogyny. In the case of the former Yugoslavia, for example, Serbians sexually violated Bosnian Muslim women with a view to committing genocide. In one particularly chilling incident, Serbs carried out a massive rape of as many as 20,000 Bosnian Muslim women [12]. Todd Salzman characterized the violations as “an assault against the female gender, violating her body and its reproductive capabilities as a weapon of war [13].” He traced the genesis of these atrocities to a Serbian culture that usurps the female body and reduces the woman to “her reproductive capacities in order to fulfill the overall objective of Serbian nationalism by producing more citizens to populate the nation [14].” According to him, this view of the female body is deeply rooted in Serbian culture, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Serbian official policies. This view of the woman is analogous to some African cultures in which men who are HIV positive defile virgin girls to “cure” themselves. Obviously, infecting the girls is unimportant to them, as long as it “cures” the men.

Sexual and gender-based violence in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and now in Darfur is a sadistic impulse on the part of the perpetrator, and is intended to psychologically “kill” the victim. Frequently, the sexual predator actually physically kills the victim. This certainly was the case in Rwanda, as demonstrated in the famous Akayesu case before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [15]. In that case, it was clear that Hutu attackers targeted Tutsi women and their bodies as an instrument of genocide. The same has been largely true of the atrocities of the Janjaweed in Darfur. However, what has been so disturbing is that public outrage and international opinion still fails to understand the gender dimensions of genocide – that women are targeted at several levels as a racial or ethnic identity in addition to the fact of their gender. This failure to center gender in the understanding of sexual violence erases women from the face of genocide and treats them as non-existent. As a result, responses to women as such are few, if any. This means that women who survive sexual and gender-based violence have no place to turn for their traumas. Their communities often regard them as “damaged” and official transitional justice institutions have generally had little to offer.

LEGAL, POLITICAL, AND STRATEGIC RESPONSES

It is clear a full frontal approach to the problem of sexual and gender-based violence is indispensable to understanding and addressing the problem in whatever transitional justice vehicle is chosen by a country. A number of responses should be contemplated because of the multifaceted nature of the problem. For instance, criminal sanctions against perpetrators are necessary, even in the context of a truth commission. Thus adjudicatory responses form one of the core vehicles. We should keep in mind that adjudication has several purposes – these can be punitive, deterrent, compensatory, or correcting a historical wrong. They can also be civilizational. Some of these focus on the perpetrator, others on the victim or survivor. But others can and should be rehabilitative – that is, seeking to heal the traumas of victims and survivors as well as their families. Here, one of the purposes is to ease the reintegration of the survivors and their families back into society. Sometimes truth telling and public acknowledgement will play a role in this process.

Whatever strategies are employed, it is essential to have a legal and policy framework for addressing these societal deficits. It is clear to us that the law – itself a product of the patriarchy in virtually all states – is woefully underdeveloped in dealing with sexual and gender-based violence. This is doubly the case in the wake of civil conflicts and wars where the fabric of society has been badly damaged or even decimated. Imagine that in peacetime it is virtually impossible to get most societies to deal honestly with sexual and gender-based violence. This is true whether such abuses take place with the home or outside of it in the workplace or other locales. The machinery of the state and law enforcement have never been eager in any society to interrupt the lives of perpetrators. This means that civil society must work extremely hard and remain vigilant to make sure that the requisite laws are passed and that enforcement authorities do their job.

The law has not been a great friend to women. Take for example, the international criminal law in this area. Both the statutes of the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals did not exactly center sexual offenses in their frameworks, although they recognized rape as an egregious offense. That is why the Akayesu opinion, which is a path-breaking ruling in terms of making international law, is so important. It recognized for the first time in such a tribunal the seriousness of rape and other sexual offenses in the context of conflict and war as an element of genocide and crimes against humanity. Why it took so long for an international tribunal to make such a critical finding is ample demonstration of the blindness of international law to gender. This is a blindness that is directly lifted from municipal laws. It is this lacuna that has to be filled at the jurisprudential level if sexual violence is to be addressed seriously.

One of the major challenges for any transitional justice vehicle is finding the facts about sexual and gender based violence. Often, the victims may not report such abuses, even to truth commissions. This was the case with the South African truth commission. Women either refuse to come forward, or minimize their own suffering, when they do. As Priscilla Hayner has written:

Even with a flexible mandate and the intention of fairly gathering information about all patterns of abuse, a commission [truth] may well fail to document certain widely experienced abuses. Perhaps the most commonly underreported abuses are those suffered by women, especially sexual abuse and rape. Many commissions have received far less testimony about sexual abuse than in the numbers or proportion that they suspected took place [16].

This is both a political, cultural, and legal problem. Societies in transition need to de-stigmatize sexual and gender-based violence so that women can come forward to report such atrocities. A number of approaches, such as testimonies given without revealing the identity of the victim may yield better results in more conservative societies. In other cases, women statement-takers may be more successful than their male counterparts in getting information out of survivors. Whatever the case, it is important that transitional justice mechanisms be victim-centered in sexual and gender-based violence situations. Otherwise, women and girls will stay away because they will feel either as a means to an end they do not understand or endorse, or as pawns in a larger political game. There is no substitute for making sure that reparatory measures are put in place to assist victims and to raise public consciousness of the problem. This is true no matter what transitional justice vehicle is adopted. Ultimately states and societies in transitional justice contexts need to arrive at a high national consensus or convergence on the importance of tackling sexual and gender-based violence otherwise nothing much will happen.

CONCLUSION

The invisibility of sexual and gender-based violence in society in general, and transitional justice contexts in particular, is intrinsically bound up with the invisibility and marginalization of women in public life. Until societies decide that women are as important as men – and that human dignity means dignity for all genders – the failure to take seriously and address sexual and gender based violence will persist. Unfortunately, this means that the fundamental reforms that societies emerging out of conflict or war need will not be thoroughgoing. A society’s progress can be measured by the way it treats women. That’s because the patriarchy – the source of most subordination – thrives on the exploitation of the female gender. If transitional justice is to become a bridge to the society of the future, it will have to center the rights of women in its agenda.

*Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at Buffalo Law School, the State University of New York.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

Notes:
1. Priscilla Hayner, UNSPEAKABLE TRUTHS (2000).

2. Desmond Tutu, NO FUTURE WITHOUT FORGIVENESS (1999).

3. Martha Minow, BETWEEN VENGEANCE AND FORGIVENESS: FACING HISTORY AFTER MASS ATROCITIES (1998).

4. Makau Mutua, HUMAN RIGHTS: A POLITICAL & CULTURAL CRITIQUE (2002).

5. Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin, “The Gender of Jus Cogens,” 15 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY 63 (1993).

6. Neil Kritz, Jr., (Ed), TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: HOW EMERGING DEMOCRACIES RECKON WITH FORMER REGIMES (1995).

7. Makau Mutua, “Savages, Victims, and Saviors: the Metaphor of Human Rights,” 42 HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 201 (2001).

8. Makau wa Mutua, “The Ideology of Human Rights,” 36 VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 589 (1996).

9. Sylvia Tamale, WHEN HENS BEGIN TO CROW: GENDER AND PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS IN UGANDA (1999).

10. Athena D. Mutua, ed., PROGRESSIVE BLACK MASCULINITIES (2006).

11. Sylvia Tamale, “How Old is Old Enough?: Defilement Law and the Age of Consent in Uganda,” 7 EAST AFRICAN JOURNAL OF PEACE & HUMAN RIGHTS 82-100 (2001).

12. M. Cherif Bassiouni & Marcia McCormick, SEXUAL VIOLENCE: AN INVISIBLE WEAPON OF WAR IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (1996).

13. Todd A. Salzman, “Rape Camps as a Means of Ethnic Cleansing: Religious, Cultural, and Ethnic Responses to Rape Victims in the Former Yugoslavia,” 20 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY 348, 349-52 (1998).

14. Id.

15. Prosecutor V. Akayesu, Trial Chamber, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 1998, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T http://www.ictr.org/ENGLISH/cases/Akayesu/judgement/akay001.htm

16. Hayner, UNSPEAKABLE TRUTHS, supra note 1, at 77.

Africa’s liberation: Rethinking youth in the 21st Century

Awino Okech

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49419

On the eve of the Pan African Conference on Sexual and Gender Based violence that ACORD and seven other like minded partners [1] deemed necessary in order to re-mobilize energies on ending impunity on SGBV, I would like to engage with the subject through a slightly different lens. The question of violence against women has been a constant pre-occupation of mine; professionally, academically and in the personal space. Perhaps my re-engagement with it was more vivid during the recent post election crisis in Kenya not because the experience unparalleled other contexts but because this was my home and as a woman this became a real fear for me in ways that it never had been before. I would like to concern myself with the young people; those popularly referred to as youth whose Africa’s future is said to rest with.

On the 25th of May 2008, a number of like minded organizations [2] came together in Nairobi to commemorate Africa liberation day. I was requested to contribute to the discussions through a speech on Africa’s liberation and youth. It serves to reason that on this day (and thereafter), a day that we are aptly reminded crystallized the youthful nature of our continent, given that most of our independence leaders were in their thirties, we should take time to problematise this category called youth and what hope or vision it holds for this continent.

I find ‘youth’ a particularly difficult subject to engage with, despite the fact that the UN officially considers me to fall within this category. This difficulty arises due to the transitional nature of the term youth and its very constituency. Further, the connotations of youth particularly in my context (Kenya) are unsavory to say the least. The term youth has for a very long time been used to refer to unruly groups of young men, mobilized by politicians to bully, steal and harass their opponents often in the run up to elections. These outfits then morph into vigilante groups, who in the absence of quick money and a job description linked to elections find alternative ways to exist and this comes in the form of thuggery.
This is an experience that is not unique to Kenya. Whilst conducting my graduate research in peri-urban Cape Town or what are popularly referred to as the Cape Flats, this is an assertion that often emerged. The emergence of American styled male gangs in this context, with territories, symbols and codes cannot be disconnected from historical, economic and social factors of South Africa. Gangs in Manenberg, the context I was working in were seen as extensions of vigilante groups that were established during the apartheid era to make the country ungovernable; a strategy to break the regime. Gangs, vigilante groups or whatever we want to describe them as, then become an expression of social cohesion in peripheral communities and are an integral aspect of both the cultural and economic reproduction of personhood (See Salo. 2005).

This piece does not seek to abstract itself from the socio-economic and political realities that face African’s and its youth in particular. I seek to question the viability of violence as an option for so called democratization or liberation of this continent. I call for an engagement with the criminal activities that are conducted under the veil of democracy and which are subsequently deemed bona fide.

Allow me to do this through four vignettes: Some of the disturbing pictures that did the rounds on the internet, showed large numbers of what we assume to be young South African men, wrecking massive havoc on ‘foreigners’ in this country. Given Thabo Mbeki’s flowery speeches on African Renaissance the term foreigner need not apply to Africans in African countries - but nonetheless it does. Pictures of this nature are not unique to this situation. One of the pictures distinctly reminded me of a scene I witnessed not too long ago in Kenya on the day that the disputed presidential results were announced. This particular scene involved a group of young men with pangas, rungus and other crude weaponry murmuring discontent and who immediately begun an assault on property that they perceived to be owned or rented by the opposition. If they had not mentioned Soweto, that very scene could be transplanted to various locations across this continent and the world for that matter.

Over the last couple years, a number of young black South African women have been raped and brutally murdered by young men due to their choice of an alternative lifestyle. This alternative is manifested in their decision to love other women. A ‘condition’ that is seen as requiring curative rape and in these instances becomes a palpable indication of rising misogyny in this country and in Africa. These are incidences that fly under the radar unless we are directly involved in this activism or engage with said activists.

Two months ago, on Kenyan television we were treated to a rigorous debate between a human rights activist, human rights lawyer and a Kenyan politician on the question of amnesty. At the heart of this discourse were concerted attempts by all parties to problematise the notion of rule of law and its subsequent application within the context of post election violence. While the politician argued that all ‘youth’ (used to refer to young men) arrested during the post election crisis must be freed unconditionally, the human rights lawyer’s position was that this would be going against due process and the rule of law. The human rights activist on the other hand asserted that if government demanded due process by prosecuting all in its prisons, which they had obviously failed because the Kenya’s penal code stipulates that people must be charged and arraigned in court within 48 hours or released. However, she questioned whether government would apply this same principle to the extra judicial killings conducted by its employees- the police.

The point I seek to speak to through these vignettes is the sites on which these struggles for democracy, nationhood and assertion of cultural identity are waged. One of the primary sites remains women’s bodies. During the post election crisis in Kenya, it did not take long before women became targets, either under the guise of policing their sexuality through dress codes or assertion of power through rape. Femininity, its re-construction and maintenance was seen as one of the ways through which a message would be sent to competing groups. When the locus for the argument for amnesty is based on a struggle for democracy; an assertion of citizenship there is a problem. As a citizen, this is a right that I fully participated in acquiring and asserting by being an active participant in the political process. By supporting a call for blanket amnesty, am I not inadvertently arguing for the pardoning of all those who raped and wantonly abused women thereby seeing them as mere casualties in the struggle for democracy? By calling for amnesty are we not asserting that this is part of the struggle; misogyny and disregard for the sanctity of human dignity and especially that of the so called mothers of the nation, the nurturers and all those words that are used ascertain the importance of women – are after all purely that – rhetoric?

When one of the continent’s most progressive nations (and this is debatable), with one of the most progressive constitutions for all intents and purposes ‘condones’ the murder of a section of its population because they are viewed as deviants even though they are acknowledged constitutionally. Surely, there is need to question what democracy we are speaking about and who the next generation represents in terms of its politics and agenda when these events are occurring under their watch and due to them? I have not seen the ANC youth league, COSATU nor the ANC women’s league rise up in large numbers to defend the rights of their lesbian workers and youth whose lives are being taken indiscriminately. Instead, we see these protests occurring within a very limited community that is asking the government to honour one of the fundamental tenets of its social contract with the citizens; to ensure security. I question whether this is the so-called liberation of the African continent that we desire and whether we are willing to append our names and legacy to this.

Social science research points to the fact that the approach to national and communal struggles has always been to focus on the master narrative, the ‘oppressor’. During the colonial era it was the colonialist whether they were British, French or German, in South Africa this manifested itself in the form of the apartheid regime, recently in Kenya it manifested itself in the various institutions and groups that were seen to represent the ‘stolen elections’ and with the current violent xenophobic wave in South Africa it is an attack on the government through an easy target; the ‘foreigners’. The focus as you will notice is rarely on the ‘sub issues’, which are critical to the master narrative.

I remember an acquaintance at the height of the Kenya crisis, admonishing a new woman member of parliament for prioritizing the need to enact pending gender bills. Her contention was that there are other ‘serious’ issues that need to be dealt with. As shocked as I was that she said this in my presence, this was a statement I anticipated. The fact that it was coming from a young woman only encapsulated the class and not gender dynamics within which we exist in, in cosmopolitan cities like Nairobi. I doubt that a survivor of violence from Kibera, Kondele or Kaloleni who was unable to access adequate care or continues to live with the deep scars of sexual and gender based violence because of a stolen election would share that opinion. Women’s rights as a ‘sub-issue’ within the master narrative are often silenced both at a macro level and the trend continues to the micro level. This is witnessed in the current construction of masculinity on the peripheries of our cities that hinges on violence and territorial warfare as a means of survival. The legacy that young women (in the Manenberg’s, Kibera’s and Kaloleni’s as well as our modern day inhabitants of leafy suburbs such as the Kileleshwa’s and Sandton’s) inherit is a culture of violence; a culture where their voices compete unequally in ongoing discourses; a culture that sanctions rape and abuse as part of the process of democratization; a culture where the so called master narrative continues to supersede other issues that are deemed ‘non-important’.

Fifty years later, I question whether we can fully rely on our young people (women and men alike) to re-invent the nature of politics, governance and leadership on this continent when they have bought into what our fore bearers have sanctioned as how politics and liberation needs to be conducted and won. Our political and unfortunately civil society spaces continue to use African culture and tradition, to thwart and suppress dissenting voices and energies that go against the grain. The deference to age, wisdom and the creation of political dynasties where leadership is seen as automatically passing on from one son to another do not in any way represent potential for change on this continent.

I argue that there are very few public role models. The nostalgia with which some will speak about the Nkrumah’s, Nyerere’s and Lumumba’s of the latter day does not hold with our leaders or immediate former leaders today. We can attempt to deal with the socio economic realities but this is highly improbable when our governments are populated by thugs and individuals who easily resort to thuggery and under hand tactics including but not limited to waging war on women’s bodies ‘to send a message’ and to hang onto leadership. If African youth represent the next generation that will liberate this continent, I dare say our colleagues in the corporate sector are doing much more, whether they will alter political leadership is questionable. If that task is left to the massive social movement that exists across this continent, then we must engage in a much more nuanced way with the principles, values and role models that our youth (read young men and women) are lapping up without scrutiny.


*Awino Okech is a feminist researcher and activist living in Nairobi, Kenya.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/


NOTES:

1] Great lakes parliamentary forum on peace – Amani Forum, Kenya Human Rights Commission, Fahamu, Action Aid International – Africa, Urgent Action Fund – Africa, African Women’s Development Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation.

2] Including but not limited to the Forum for African Affairs, UN Millennium Campaign, Niaje Youth and Fahamu
References:

REFERENCES:

Salo, E. 2004. Respectable Mothers, Tough Men and Good Daughters. Making Persons in Manenberg Township, South Africa. Doctoral dissertation submitted to the Anthropology Department, Emory University.

Salo, E. 2005. Mans is Ma Soe. Ganging Practices in Manenberg South Africa and the Ideologies of Masculinity, Gender and Generational relations. A paper prepared for the Criminal Justice Conference. 7- 8 February.

The limits and possibilities of transitional justice

Lydiah Kumento Bosire

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49421

In considering the wars in the Central African Republic (CAR), Darfur, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the use of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is widespread, this paper seeks to accomplish two tasks. The first task is descriptive: to give an overview of the manner in which the International Criminal Court (ICC) has responded to SGBV in the three countries. The second task is a modest attempt to analyze why SGBV continues to be inadequately addressed. Here, the paper considers the practical challenges that are inherent in transitional justice as a tool, particularly in its preference of some harms and narratives over others.

The paper also considers the conceptual challenges that come with understanding SGBV itself, in particular the implications of a focus on sexual violence over other forms of violence, and that of a focus on women over other feminized identities. The paper concludes with the suggestion of some useful debates for the consideration of scholars and practitioners, including the possibilities of a consideration of rape as torture, and the ramifications of focusing on criminal outcomes of political crises, to the neglect of necessary political solutions. In sum, the paper offers that transitional justice can only make a modest contribution to addressing SGBV, and that complex political crises underlying and causing violence must not be left on the wayside as we advocate around the criminal symptoms.

TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE RESPONSES TO SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)

Between October 2002 and March 2003, CAR President Ange-Félix Patassé invited the forces of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Commander in Chief of Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC) to fight a rebel movement led by François Bozizé, the former Chief of Staff of the CAR army. In February 2003, FIDH referred the case to the ICC, following an extensive field mission to the conflict-affected areas where they found widespread rape, particularly from the forces of Bemba [1].

A key feature of in the CAR conflict was the high reported number of victims of rape. Under the presidency of Bozizé, who won the war, the highest court in the CAR determined that they would not be able to address the rape cases. In December 2004, the CAR government made a state referral to the ICC. According to the OTP, CAR became “the first time the Prosecutor ... open[ed] an investigation in which allegations of sexual crimes far outnumber alleged killings [2].
Evidence was compiled by local women’s groups, which documented over 1,000 cases of rape. An organisation of victims kept a registry of the violations while providing support to the victims of sexual violence, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy. Once the ICC decided to open an investigation into the CAR in 2007, this evidence was handed over. The ICC subsequently deemed 600 of the reports on rape valid, and determined that they could establish from them a pattern [3]. In 2008, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Bemba, for charges including rape, particularly for violations committed in an area called PK 12 and in the town of Mongoumba. Bemba was also charged with committing outrages upon human dignity/ humiliating and degrading treatment in the same locations [4]. “Mr. Bemba’s arrest is a warning to all those who commit, who encourage, or who tolerate sexual crimes,” said the Prosecutor of the ICC, Mr Luis Moreno Ocampo [5]. Ocampo went on to say, “There are no excuses for hundreds of rapes. There are no excuse for the rape of a little girl, with her parents watching. There are no excuses for commanders ordering, authorizing or acquiescing to the commission of rapes and looting by their forces [6].”

This arrest was significant for impunity on at least two levels. First, by arresting the former vice-president of DRC and leader of the country’s opposition, the ICC was making a statement about how high it could go [7]. Second, for NGO observers, this was a crucial case in centralizing sexual violence in international justice. Many observers had started to fear that non-prosecution of sexual violence was leading to a situation where rape was “perpetrated by civilians such as demobilised child soldiers, who saw rape occurring habitually,” resulting in a communities in which rape “permeated into a pattern of conduct in the population [8].” With the case of Bemba focusing on rape, advocates against SGBV saw light at the end of their tunnel.

DARFUR

SGBV violations in Darfur are at least two-fold. First is the abuse by the government forces and the Janjaweed against women and girls, and second are the failures of the laws governing rape, which amount to further abuse: rape is charged as adultery, and therefore those coming forth to report rape are in danger of further victimization, unless they have witness of “four competent men”, a requirement that can be hard to fulfill [9]. In a report done by Refugee International (RI) in 2007, it was reported that not only was rape wide-spread in Darfur, but the government did not acknowledge its existence. For instance, President Bashir was on international media declaring that “it is not in the Sudanese culture or in the culture of the people of Darfur to rape. It doesn’t exist [10].” This happened at the same time as MSF reported treating hundreds of women for rape in Darfur [11].

In March 2007, RI reports that 2 women were sentenced to death by stoning because of adultery. They advocated against the conflation of rape and adultery arguing that it was not an inherently Muslim approach, citing Pakistan where the law had been reformed to allow for such a differentiation [12]. In her March 2008 report, the UN Special Envoy for Sudan also found that rape continued to be widespread in Darfur, and that there was reluctance on the part of victims to report to the police [13]. State military functionaries are immune from prosecution. Victims also lack services, and are unwilling to go to NGOs to receive them: in the atmosphere of strong regulation by the government over the NGOs, victims are suspicious about the neutrality of the NGOs serving them.

The ICC includes rape as part of the charges in the arrest warrants of Ahmad Muhammad Harun ("Ahmad Harun") and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman ("Ali Kushayb") [14]. Both warrants include two charges for rape, both as crime against humanity and as a war crime. The first charge is for the rapes of Fur women in Bindisi and surrounding areas on 15 August 2003. The second count of sexual violence is for the rape of at least 10 mainly Fur women and girls from Arawala town in December 2003 constituting both a crime against humanity and a war crime. They are also charged of contributing to outrage upon personal dignity of the same women. Considering that the arrest warrant of Ali Kushyab has 50 counts and that of Ahmad Harun 42, the two counts of rape are thin charges, but they are there. Again, a hopeful sign for advocates about the possibilities of international law in addressing SGBV.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Of the three cases, rape in the DRC has been by far the most visible. UNICEF says that it happens at “a scale and brutality unparalleled elsewhere in the world.” Women get traumatic fistula after rape is perpetrated with objects including guns. Girls carry colostomy bags because of destroyed internal organs. Particularly in Eastern DRC, organizations like Human Rights Watch have documented many atrocities, and there have been a large number of reports, books and advocacy efforts focused on the subject [15].

However, the DRC is the case where perhaps there has been most dissatisfaction so far with regard to bringing accountability for rape. For instance, the charges against Thomas Lubanga did not include rape, and RadhikaCoomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative on Children and Armed conflict, presented an amicus curiae to the ICC asking them to interpret the recruitment of child soldiers to include sexual violence suffered by abducted girls [16]. She urged the court to “reject” an interpretation of the "using [children] to participate actively in hostilities" clause that excluded girls, citing the fact that the Cape Town principles recognize as child soldiers the girls “recruited for sexual purposes and for forced marriage [17].”

In The Prosecutor v Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, the charges on the arrest warrants include sexual and gender based violence. The two are charged, in particular, with the planning and executing an attack aimed at wiping out the village of Bogoro on 24 February 2003, including rape and sexual slavery of women in that village [18]. Hearings to confirm the charges for which the prosecutor seeks to hold the two accountable started on 27 June 2008. This case so far has demonstrated some of the shortcomings of the international platform of international justice in addressing rape. In late May/early June 2008, IWPR reported that the sexual charges against the two would be scrapped due to contention over how to protect the witnesses whose testimonies would have backed up the charges of sexual violence, provoking outrage amongst activists [19]. The issue of the protection of witnesses- in particular whether the ICC could practice “preventive relocation” for prosecution witnesses, is a discussion between the VWU and the OTP that is still ongoing [20]. The witness’ testimony was later accepted after they came under the protection of the ICC protection system [21]. But the fact that international legal procedures can cause such potential hiccups informs SGBV advocates that the ICC will not the panacea.

LIMITS OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN ADDRESSING SGBV

The paper so far has outlined the efforts to address rape from a judicial perspective. A broader analysis of TJ and SGBV demonstrates challenges arising on at least two levels: a practical level and a conceptual one.

On the practical level, challenges arise from the inadequacies of TJ as a tool to address SGBV. At the level of formal, international justice described in the three cases, only a handful of people will be brought to trial, as part of what Bells calls a paradox of attenuated justice that seems necessary at moments of transition [22]. Further, these perpetrators’ cases may not have central to their charges the SGBV crimes. International Justice takes into account the greatest crimes, and SGBV is seldom considered in that package. The case of Bemba signals a hopeful direction, but the fact that Lubanga case did not consider that some children might be recruited for sexual purposes is a drawback.

Focusing attention away from international justice to regional, hybrid or even domestic justice mechanisms reveals that a variation of same challenges are replicated. Kelsal and Stepakoff demonstrate in their work on Sierra Leone that women may have been psychologically harmed by the manner in which women’s stories on sexual violence were silenced, for the benefit of the “integrity of the proceedings [23]. Formal justice at the national domestic level, while arguably capable of processing more perpetrators, has many challenges that have been adequately addressed elsewhere. At the formal level, transitional justice becomes a national (or international) project and not a moment of individualizing harm and privatizing it [24].

Informal, or restorative justice, is offered as the alternative framework for seeking justice for SGBV, since here accountability is locally defined and understood. However, measures like TRCs are not without their problems. Conceptually, restorative justice focuses on “restoring,” while for most women, a restoration to normalcy would mean giving up the “perverse equality gains” achieved women at moments of transition, and a return to inequality [25]. In a practical example, Rosser shows the shortcomings of the Historical Clarification Commission of Guatemala in narrowly conceptualizing sexual violence and leaving out “reproductive” crimes [26].

Some restorative justice measures have inequalities embedded into them, as Allen has shown with regard to Uganda [27]. Further, these alternative justice measures themselves can have different priorities from those held by private individuals. Others have argued that that the way in which women understand harm, and the manner in which harm may be defined by various transitional justice measures may be different. Women may much prefer to focus on secondary effects of violence, while transitional justice defines the primary [28].

Some conceptual challenges in addressing SGBV arise from the very understanding of the content of SGBV , and consequently, can impact the appropriateness of the tools chosen to address it. In other words, the problem must be well understood in order for the right tool to be applied to it, and the challenge is that there is no consensus about the nature of the problem.

Some scholars have expressed a worry that the focus on sexual violence can draw attention away from other areas of violence in women’s lives. According to Nesiah, a focus on SGBV can hide other important facets of women’s experiences from view. Such neglected experiences may include “internally displaced women, women who became sole breadwinners as a result of human rights abuse against spouses, women refugees who fled to other countries, or women prisoners [29].”

In other words, in writing into the transition story the oft-neglected story of SGBV, we write out many other women’s experiences. Nesiah adds, “while sexual violence is critical, it does not capture the complex and multidimensional ways in which women experience abuse. Moreover, reducing women’s violations to sexual abuse reproduces more widespread prejudices that reduce women to sexual beings alone [30].” In her view, there is a risk that the stories of rape are appropriated for activist agendas, reducing complex women into “just points on a graph that will help us buttress statistics about sexual abuse [31].”

A second conceptual challenge is offered by Skjelsbaek, who argues that sexual violence is not related to intrinsic male or femaleness. She also and rejects theories based on “essentialist” claims of rape as stemming from militaristic masculinity that targets all women or some women [32]. Instead, she considers sexual violence to stem from constructed power relations, where some groups are feminized and others masculinized. She offers that the association of of femininity and victimization is inevitable, so that men, ethnic groups, and other identities in a war zone are feminized and ‘othered’, while the rapist is masculinized. even men can be raped. Such a construction can help us understand why men can be raped and why female soldiers can be instrumental in the capture and subjugation of younger women in combat zones. In this view, then, responses that assume that it is women who are targeted rather than feminized groups are bound be misapplied.

CONCLUDING CONSIDERATIONS

The discussions above illustrate that our challenges are not only in a quest to make transitional justice measures deliver, but also in defining the contours of the problem for which we are mobilizing the transitional justice response. But for the purposes of the practical activist, these debates are incomplete, since they do not provide guidance for one who wants to understand why SGBV elicits such faint responses and what needs to change in order for the problem to be tackled robustly. Here I suggest some discussions that may be more helpful.

The first would be a debate on how to rescue SGBV from the realm of ‘soft’ law in which most issues affecting women tend to fall, and into ‘hard’ law [33]. We know that some scholars have raised the issue of rape as torture [34]. Perhaps the rise in attention tothe use of guns and other objects to rape women (and men) as we have seen in Eastern Congo, where the outcome is physical and visible - young girls are walking around with colostomy bags and traumatic fistula because of destruction of internal organs - makes this case more strongly than “traditional” rape. What is the status of this debate on rape as torture, if there is one? Why has there been no active effort to have rape be thus recognized, in order for it to fall under the Convention against Torture, with the benefit of the Convention’s robust sanctions? What would need to be done for such recognition to be given, since it is possible that seeking such recognition would be a more useful direction to apply energy than to yet another document or declaration, or any other ‘soft law’ condemnation?

The second necessary debate would be on what sustainably addressing of SGBV might look like. In advocacy, is it possible that focus on SGBV leads to a decoupling of the criminal outcome from the political conflict from which it originated, even when it is clear that addressing the political conflict is what will sustainably address the needs of vulnerable populations?

Further, given the high stigma for SGBV and the fact that reintegration of victims back into their communities can be one the hardest processes, is it possible that singling out victims of rape for the purposes of redress as understood by the international community, can be disrupting, unless coupled with strategies to support community reintegration of the affected women? On the realm of practical action where advocates capitalize on the victimization of rape to pursue a (necessary) agenda of redistribution and the economic empowerment of women, do we have empirical evidence of how such redistribution is causally related to sustainably addressing SGBV in conflicts? This is not to say that the “symptoms” should not be addressed. But we have a challenge when all advocacy efforts assume they are inherently beneficial, while they may be decrease rather than increase the agency of affected women. Further, it is possible leave the political problem on the wayside, or worse, for advocacy to become an act of “doing something”, a substitute for a political solution.

The last point is that we must also debate – and soul-search- on whether the focus on rape and other criminal outcomes of these political processes criminalizes African wars (and makes them deserving of courts and policing rather than robust diplomacy and political settlements), feeding into an image of Kaplan’s ‘Coming Anarchy’. The problem of rape needs to be solved, but the solution is not another condemnatory declaration. What are the triggers of meaningful action, who are the people at the helm of that trigger, are they being engaged? It might be that activists need to be pitching their tents outside the doors of the political actors who must resolve the conflict, while also looking to formal and formal accountability processes to make modest contributions to the problem. It means that the paths taken by advocates have to provoke and demand that things be different, especially at the level of politics.

I raise these issues not to distract us from the advocacy goal of drawing attention to rape of women, but as a way to point to gaps where scholars and practitioners must engage. At its most modest, transitional justice can be taken to be a process that can help populations to re-imagine the possibilities of citizenship and democracy, bringing into the picture those who have been outside the reach of the state. This is particularly the case of women who have experienced SGBV, who, through transitional justice debates, can be allowed to see themselves as citizens owed protection by the state debate. Beyond that, as discussed above, transitional justice has major shortcomings when it comes to addressing SGBV. Academic and practitioner debates too have left many questions unaddressed. While action is important, such action must be considered within a broader picture, and this broader picture is messy and political, but it cannot be ignored.

*Lydiah Kumento Bosire is a co-convenor, Oxford Transitional Justice Research. She focuses her research on processes of accountability in Africa, with a special interest in Uganda. Previously, Lydiah was Project Manager for the International Center for Transitional Justice, a Technical Officer at the World Health Organization, and a consultant at the United Nations Population Fund.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

Notes:

1. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), “International investigative mission: War crimes in the Central African Republic,” REPORT n° 355 February 2003, Online, http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/FIDH_Report_WarCrimes_in_CAR_English_Feb2003.pdf

2. ICC, “Prosecutor opens investigation in the Central African Republic,” 22 May 2007, Online, http://www.icc-cpi.int/pressrelease_details&id=248&l=en.html

3. Katy Glassborow, “CAR Case to Focus on Sexual Violence,” IWPR, AR No. 113, 24-May-07, Online at http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=335830&apc_state=henh

4. ICC, “Mandat d’arrêt à l’encontre de Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo,” 23 May 2008, Online, http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-05-01-08-1-tENG.pdf

5. ICC, “ICC Arrest Jean-Pierre Bemba – massive sexual crimes in Central African Republic will not go unpunished,” 24 May 2008, Online, http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/371.html

6. Ibid.

7. Human Rights Watch, ICC: “Congo’s Former Vice-President Arrested International Court Should Pursue Other Top Officials in the CAR and Congo”

8. Katy Glassborow, “CAR Case to Focus on Sexual Violence,” IWPR, AR No. 113, 24-May-07, Online at http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=335830&apc_state=henh

9. Adrienne Fricke and Amira Khair, “Law without Justice: An assessment of Sudanese Laws Affecting Survivors of Rape,” Refugee International, 2007, p. i

10. Voice of America (VOA), “Sudan’s President Denies Involvement in Darfur Violence,” VOA News, March 20, 2007 in Adrienne Fricke and Amira Khair, “Law without Justice: An assessment of Sudanese Laws Affecting Survivors of Rape,” Refugee International, 2007.

11. See http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2005/sudan03.pdf

12. Adrienne Fricke and Amira Khair.

13. UN General Assembly, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, Sima Samar,” 3 March 2008, United Nations, A/HRC/7/22

14. ICC, “The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun ("Ahmad Harun") and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman ("Ali Kushayb"),” Case ICC-02/05-01/07

Online at http://www.icc-cpi.int/cases/Darfur/c0205/c0205_pr.html

15. See, for instance, Joanne Csete and Juliane Kippenberg, War within the war: Sexual violence against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch, 2002; International Alert Women’s Peace Programme, “Women’s Bodies as a Battleground: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls During the War in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” International Alert, 2005; and Amnesty International, Democratic Republic of Congo Mass rape: Time for remedies, Amnesty International, 2004.

16. ICC, “Written Submissions of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict Submitted in application of Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence,” 17 March 2008 http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-06-1229-AnxA-ENG.pdf

17. Cape Town Principles and Best Practices 7 (April 30,1997), available at www.unicef.org/emerge/files/Cape_Town_Principles(l).pdf

18. ICC, “Submission of Amended Document Containing the Charges Pursuant to Decision ICC-01/04-01/07-648 26.06.2008,” para 89. Online, http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-07-649-Anx1A-ENG.pdf

19. Taylor Toeka Kakala and Katy Glassborow, “Sexual Violence Charges for DRC Cases Scrapped,” IWPR AR No. 172, 29-May-08,

Online, http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state=hen&s=o&o=l=EN&p=acr&s=f&o=344835

20. See for example, ICC, “Prosecution's Response to "Victims and Witnesses Unit's considerations on the system of witness protection and the practice of 'preventive relocation,” 7th July 2008, ICC-01/04-01/07-664, Online http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-07-664-ENG.pdf

21. ICC, “Decision on the Requests for leave to appeal the Decision on Evidentiary Scope of the Confirmation Hearing, Preventive Relocation and Disclosure under Article 67(2) of the Statute and Rule 77 of the Rules”

22. Christine Bell and Catherine O’Rouke, “Does Feminism Need a Theory of Transitional Justice? An Introductory Essay,” International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol.1 No.1, 2007, p. 337

23. Michelle Staggs Kelsal and Shanee Stepakoff, “ ‘When We Wanted to Talk About Rape’: SIlencng Sexual Violence at the Special Court for Sierra Leone,” International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol.1 No.3, 2007, p.363

24. Bell and O’Rouke

25. Ibid.

26. Emily Rosser, “Depoliticized Speech and Sexed Visibility: Women, Gender and Sexial Violence in the 1999 Guatemalan Comision para el Esclaramiento Historico Report, International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol.1 No.3, 2007

27. Tim Allen, Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord’s Resistance Army, London, Zed Books, 2006

28. Bell and O’Rouke

29. Vasuki Nesiah, “Gender and TC mandate,” International Center for Transitional Justice, p. 2, Online http://www.ictj.org/static/Gender/0602.GenderTRC.eng.pdf

30. Nesiah, p. 2

31. Ibid.

32. Inger Skjelsbæk, “Sexual violence and war: Mapping out a Complex Relationship, European Journal of International Relations, Vol.7 No. 2

33. Fionnuala Ni Aolain and Eilish Rooney, “Undereforcement and Intersectionality: Gendered aspects of Transition for Women, Internatioanal Journal of Tranistional Justice, International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol.1 No.3, 2007.

34. Michael Peel (ed), Rape as a Method of Torture, The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture UK, 2004; Deborah Blatt, "Recognizing Rape as a Method of Torture." Review of Law and Social Change, Vol.19 No.4, 1992; and Inger Agger, `Sexual Torture of Political Prisoners: An Overview', Journal of Traumatic Stress 2(3): 305-318, 1989.

Ensuring protection of women in conflict and emergencies

Untold stories from DRC

Ayodeji Ajayeoba and Carol Angir

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49426

Salome (not her real name) slowly stands up to tell her story after about five other women had spoken. In a clear gentle voice she begins to narrate her own experience that leaves one confused, hurting and the feeling to immediately act.

“My name is Salome. My home is 70 kms away from here in place called Ritchuru. I used to live there in my parent home until things changed for me about 3 years ago. One day when I was coming to Goma town to sell some wares I met about three soldiers on the way to the market. I knew two of them but without saying a word to me they began raping me repeated and then left me for dead. I was rescued by some good Samaritans and taken to the hospital at Heal Africa. There I received treatment and later decided to report these men to the police. These men were arrested and I was told we would go to court.

I travelled back to my village in Ritchuru but when I came back after about two weeks the first people I saw in the market place were these soldiers who were walking very confidently and looked like they did not have any problems. I go t so scared and quickly ran away so that I would go somewhere safe. Do you know why? Because I felt they were even going to do worse things.

After this happened me I began asking myself several questions which I could not answer because a few years before then I saw my own mother being raped. She later died of HIV/AIDS. I have also recently discovered that I am HIV/AIDS positive.
For me what is still not clear for me living in this semi conflict situation that who is supposed to protect people like me. This is just one story from a group of 40 women who have gone through Sexual Gender Based Violence and have formed a support group of Women living with HIV/AIDS who have one message- Who is responsible for protecting us from violence?”

As incidences of emergencies occasioned by natural disasters and conflict are increasing, so have the occurrence of mass large scale targeted violence increased across the world.

In wars as well as in situations of severe political crisis, the targeting of civilians as a strategy of war has increased over the years, such that from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Kenya to Zimbabwe, the number of civilian deaths, causalities, and loss have far outstripped the number of military deaths.

This increased targeting of civilians and non combatants as a war strategy and the increased targeting of non partisan civilians in political crisis situations have combined to raise the question of the protection of civilians in crisis, war and emergencies to the front burner of national, regional and international discourse.

Even in emergencies occasioned by natural disasters, civilian populations, and among these, the most vulnerable groups have become more susceptible and exposed to acts of violence.

Among affected and at risk communities, women, girls and little children, as well as people living with disabilities, and elderly people have become the most vulnerable, and form the bulk of the at risk and survivor communities.

As protection of civilians in crisis and emergencies have become major issues, the role of the state and the international community working through regional and international intergovernmental institutions in ensuring the protection of citizens have been recognised, highlighted, asserted and vigorously promoted.

Thus it is that a consensus is emerging internationally that the responsibility to protect lies with national governments. Alongside this, is also the animated discussion around the concept of the obligation to protect? The debate here is around the fact that the implicit in the responsibility to protect, is the obligation to protect. This means that it is not only the responsibility of the state to protect, in fact the state is obliged to ensure protection.

But it is also a fact that in many instances where protection is a major issue, the state is either unwilling, or unable to protect. In such instances, some including development practioners with a rights based approach, have argued that, where the state fails or is unable to protect, then the international community acting through the intergovernmental institutions such as the UN, AU, and regional sub groupings, should step in to ensure the protection of civilians. Others, in particular state representatives, have argued that this will constitute unwarranted intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states, and undermine the sovereignty and independence of the nation state.

For the state or the international community to fulfil the responsibility and obligation to protect, law enforcement and armed forces need to be deployed, as well as legal experts versed in constitutional and human rights law and conventions at international and national levels.

This is the usual and conventional practice. But experience is showing however that national police and armed forces, deployed to ensure protection and keep or enforce peace, have often times been quite complicit in perpetrating acts of violence against civilian populations, and particularly in perpetrating violence against women. And this is in situations where the state and its armed apparatus are not the ones consciously using violence as a weapon and strategy of war or conflict.

In DRC for example a briefing note prepared by UNICEF in February 2008 reveals disturbing trends in the incidences of violence against women, and the complicity of the state and the international peace keeping force.

The briefing paper revealed that in non conflict zones, the percentage of the total perpetrators of violence against women, who were armed, was 24%, while the share of civilian perpetrators was 76%; In this same situation, 65% of survivors where children. Whereas, in unstable zones, armed perpetrators constituted 65% of the total, while civilian perpetrators constituted 35% of the whole. In this instance, children were 45% of survivors and older women 55% of survivors. The situation became grimmer as we move into highly unstable zones: 81% of perpetrators were armed groups, while 19% of perpetrators were civilians. Here, children, i.e. the girl child, represented between 5% and 40% of survivors, while, older women were 60% to 95% of survivors [1].

In this context, where not only armed groups in conflict, including national armies, but also peace keeping or enforcement missions are implicated in the rising incidence of violence against women, including sexual violence, it is important for civil society and the affected and at risk communities to be empowered to play significant and decisive roles in the protection of civilians.

EXPERIENCE FROM THE FIELD:

In DRC where both the case study and the UNICEF figures were taken from, ActionAid is working with a number of women and survivor groups to facilitate their participation in processes aimed at ensuring their protection.

Here ActionAid partners with a national DRC group made up of women survivors of violence and women activists across the Congo.

Using a simplified adaptation of the protection EGG response model, and integrating women’s rights analytical frameworks into this model, the partnership has been engaging in activities which address responsive; remedial, and environment building actions; as well as addressing the woman as herself, in her family space, and in the public domain [2].

In this scenario, through the collective use of a participatory analytical and planning process called Participatory Vulnerability Analysis [PVA]/participatory conflict analysis framework [PCAF] [3], affected and at risk women jointly identified the most common patterns of abuse, their causes, dynamics and consequences; as well as plan appropriate actions to be taken in response as responsive, remedial and environment building actions.

USING THE EGG MODEL OF RESPONSE IN PRACTICE:

RESPONSIVE ACTIONS: These are immediate actions or steps taken to prevent, stop, reduce, and ameliorate the impact and incidence of violence against women [VAW].

ANAMAD working with the communities, established survivor homes, where victims of VAW were taken. Here they are provided with temporary shelter, they are counselled as individuals as well as collectively. Cases are also reported to the police, and survivors are given first aid treatment and referred to hospitals. In some instances, perpetrators are arrested, and handed over to law enforcement agencies.

In Sri Lanka where ActionAid works with displaced persons, as well as in Sierra Leone and Burundi where there are similar VAW projects, women forums have been established in camps and in communities, which track incidences of VAW, report cases to the police, refer survivors to hospitals, and even negotiate with camp management committees and community leadership structures to establish vigilant groups, and to negotiate with host or neighbouring communities for the security and safety of displaced persons as they go about trying to secure a livelihood in conditions of displacement [in Sri Lanka].

REMEDIAL ACTIONS: These are actions and steps taken to mitigate the impact of the violence, and facilitate the recovery and rehabilitation of the survivor.

Here ANAMAD in DRC, through the survivor homes, continues with individual and group counselling of survivors; facilitate continued treatment of survivors in hospitals; take steps to pursue reported cases in court; organise skills acquisition and livelihoods training and capacity building for survivors [in this instance skills acquisition in sewing]; provides agricultural inputs and assists survivors with farming and other agricultural practices as means of livelihoods; undertakes family mediation to ease the return of the survivor to the family [this involves counselling family members to understand the trauma of the survivor, deal with their own fears and trauma, and ease the re-uniting of family members turn apart by the act of violence]. Meetings of survivors and at risk women with state institutions including legislative assemblies are also facilitated to bring about awareness of the situation and pressure duty bearers to take appropriate actions in response.

In Kenya and Zimbabwe, where ActionAid and her partners are responding to the political crises in both countries, some of the remedial activities undertaken in response to VAW include, working with affected communities to ensure that women groups participate in the negotiation of safe spaces with neighbouring communities, militia groups, and armed forces to ensure security and safety of affected and at risk communities. These processes also include negotiations with neighbours for safe return as in the Rift province of Kenya, and negotiations with the armed forces and militia groups for security in accessing basic services and livelihoods sources in surrounding areas, as in Zimbabwe.

Similar activities are being undertaken in Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Sri Lanka.

ENVIRONMENT BUILDING ACTIONS: These are actions and steps taken to facilitate the creation of conducive environment that will help to prevent, stop, reduce, mitigate impact, aid recovery and rehabilitation of survivors into the long term.

In Sierra Leone, DRC and Burundi, the response has included working with women forums to ensure that national legislations are enforced, that the capacity of the armed forces and the judiciary are built to enforce the legislations, that funding is provided to resource the institutions established to enforce the legislations, and that reported cases are successfully prosecuted and perpetrators punished, while survivors are rehabilitated.

Other activities have included documenting cases, tracking and monitoring enforcement and compliance rates in order to raise awareness and pressure relevant authorities to take decisive action to ensure the protection of women and children.

So ANAMAD and the other women forums are supported and encouraged to meet with state authorities at local, district, provincial and national levels, to push the case for policies and legislations as well as their enforcement.

In Sierra Leone for instance, as a result of the engagement of women forums with community leadership structures, traditional authorities have passed 3 by-laws, integrates the three national gender acts into customary law and practice.

In Burundi, survivor forums are being supported to network with national civil society and women’s rights movements. By so doing, they are bringing the agenda of protection against VAW into national discourse, and helping to make it the common agenda of women’s movements and women’s rights activists in the country.

USING THE GENDER EQUALITY FRAMEWORK [GEF]:

Using this framework to address VAW enables us to understand and respond to the specific needs and issues of women in the totality of the of the roles and functions of women in society dominated as it is by men.

The woman as a survivor, and as a vulnerable and at risk person and group, is understood in her individual capacity, as well as in her role and place, in her reproductive and productive role in the home/family and in the community at large. It is this which constitutes her three spaces: the self, the private or family, and the public spaces.

So for example, in this community [survivor/at risk or affected community] based approach to protection of women from VAW, highlighted above, responses which include individual counselling of the survivor, capacity building of survivor in livelihoods skills acquisition, civic education of the survivor on rights and leadership; as well as speaking out, taking leadership roles, supporting a girl child to return to school and complete her education, and starting an income generating activity all go to address the woman as self. These activities combined, enable the woman to grow in self confidence, and restore her sense of self worth and her integrity as a human being and a woman.

Also activities such as family mediation and counselling, awareness raising targeting men in their homes, addresses the needs and issues of women in the private space in the family.

Finally, group counselling activities, working together with other women in forums and in skills acquisition, civic and leadership training exercises; participating in demonstrations and campaigns with other women, engaging as a group with state institutions and other relevant stakeholder groups, collectively speaking out, and collectively organising awareness raising activities; as well as collectively monitoring and tracking incidences of abuse and the patterns of enforcement of existing legislations to protect women are all examples of activities which address the woman in the public space.

CONCLUSION:

To conclude, as available statistics and evidence indicates, insecurity and lack of safety, the deployment of violence against civilian and vulnerable groups as a strategy and weapon of conflicts, have become indisputable facts of current emergencies and conflicts.

As these incidences of large scale indiscriminate violence has increased, the need for protection of civilians and particularly vulnerable groups have also increased. It is this which has made protection an imperative concern and agenda of development and humanitarian agencies in conflicts and emergencies.

And whereas the obligation and responsibility to protect remains with the state and the international community, the field experience documented above makes a passionate case for the involvement and participation of affected and at risk communities in their own protection.

The enduring challenge remains how to do this effectively, where the state is complicit in the perpetration and perpetuation of violence.


* Carol Angir is policy coordinator of ActionAid’s multi country Violence against women project, supported by DANIDA; while Ayodeji Ajayeoba [Jaye Gaskia] is the Global conflict advisor of ActionAid International.

*The authors would like to acknowledge the collective efforts of the VAW project team in DRC, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and the international support team.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/


Notes:

1. Briefing note on sexual violence in DRC, by UNICEF, 29th February 2008.

2. This approach that targets the woman in her individual capacity, in her role and place in the family, as well as in her role and place in the public arena, is called the Gender Equality Framework [GEF].

3. The PVA is a participatory multi stakeholder, multi level, multi step and multi dimensional framework for conducting analysis and designing action plans in response to the outcomes of the analysis. As a framework, it is a methodological approach which involves the combined use of various participatory [PRA] tools. It is also an empowering and capacity building process, which promotes self organising and mobilising, as well as alliance building and networking to solve problems. The PCAF is the adaptation of this framework to conduct conflict analysis, and plan collectively for response.

From frameworks and norms on SGBV to action

FAWE in Sierra Leone

Eileen Hanciles

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49425

FAWE is a Pan- African organization with operations in thirty-five countries in Africa. FAWE Sierra Leone was started in 1995, at the height of the civil war. One of the Chapter’s many emergency intervention which was borne from the determination of women to restore dignity to other women and girls is the programme of assistance to victims of gender –based violence in internally displaced camps, returnees and juveniles in domestic settings. In February 1999, after the allied forces regained control of the capital, it was reported that a number of FAWE school students were raped while the rebels were retreating. As some of these victims had already been subjected to rape in their areas of origin, FAWE decided to address the issue of rape once and for all, break the silence and create a culture that says no to violence against women.

The invasion of January 6 necessitated an intervention which included medical and counseling services for abducted girls and later boys too. FAWE’s mandate of helping the girl –child to be educated to her full potential compelled the intervention. After deliberations with other agencies, the Rape victims programme was started. The initial collaborating agencies were FAWE, Sierra Leone Association of University Women (SLAUW), Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs and MSF- Holland. Each local partner contributed counselors while MSF- Holland conducted counseling workshops to help improve skills. Later in the programme, UNICEF also became a strong partner.

The first step of the intervention was public sensitization on radio and television. During the first three months, April –June 1999, the programme was supported by FAWE international with MSF –Holland providing drugs. By the end of June over one hundred and twenty- nine (129) victims have been treated medically and counseled. The need to continue the programme became evident as abductees escaped or were released in batches. After consultations with MSF Holland, FAWE was able to get additional support from them in the form of funding for the whole programme. In collaboration with other agencies the Rape Victims programme started. Different teams were set up - sensitization, medical, counseling and Skills training – to implement the programme. In the end, 2110 abductees benefited from this programme in the western Area of whom 1,168 were raped victims. From 1999 – 2002, a total of seven thousand raped victims from nine displaced camps and settlements in six provincial towns were assisted.
FAWE continued its work in the country encouraging victims of sexual and gender based violence to come before. FAWE partnered with other organizations such as the Rainbo Centre to provide free medical facility and the Lawyers Centre for Legal Assistance (LAWCLA) to provide legal assistance to victims. A case in point is that of a 10 years old girl (at the time of the assault in 2003), who was raped by a 60 year old man in her community. Despite repeated court appearances by LAWCLA personals, the case is still been dragged on because overnight, the files – all the documents – relating to the case disappeared from the magistrate court.

The Rainbow programme of the International Rescue Committee established Centres in different parts of the country. These Centres are safe, private and friendly places were survivors of sexual assaults can get free help after an incident of rape or other forms of sexual assault. In 2007 alone, 1,176 clients accessed these centres (this is up from 989 in 2006) all of whom were women. 760 of them were between the ages of 0- 15 years at the time of the sexual assault. 63% of the clients reported having been raped by people they can identify. The youngest client to access the centre was 2 months old at the time of the assault. Only 13 cases were successfully convicted in Kenema and Kono courts with perpetrators sentenced to between nine months to seven years imprisonment.

The horrific and brutal experiences of women during the war made it necessary to examine whether the laws of Sierra Leone offer adequate protection in relation to sexual and gender based violence. Organizations realized that this epidemic in our societies should be stopped once and for all. This was not an easy thing to do. We were asked to identify the gaps in the laws of the land, areas which are discriminatory against women and which consciously or unconsciously are helping to perpetuate sexual and gender based violence. LAWCLA in collaboration with FAWE and the 50/50 group of women with funds provided by the Westminster Foundation of Democracy came together and put forward an abridged and simplified version of a book entitled “Unequal Rights and Discriminatory Laws against Women in Sierra Leone”. Country wide sensitization campaigns were undertaken. Other organizations also jumped on the band wagon and the out going President during the March 8th International Women’s Day celebration asked that the three Bills be tabled to Parliament through an Emergency Order.

BACKGROUND TO THE THREE GENDER ACTS

The Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act No 20 Of 2007), The Devolution Of Estates Act 2007 (Act No. 21 Of 2007) And The Registration Of Customary Marriage And Divorce Act 2007 (Act no.24 of 2007) commonly known as the Gender Acts were passed into law by the Sierra Leonean Parliament on 14th June 2007 with the full support of all the major political parties. The Bills were drafted through the joint efforts of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee and the Law Reform Commission working with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and Civil Society Organizations. The Bills also benefited from extensive consultation with the stakeholders in all 12 districts, including lawyers, human rights groups, women’s groups, key community figures and grassroots men and women. Finally, all three Bills were considered by the Human Rights and appropriate advice was given. Together, the three new Acts make extensive headway into domesticating the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) signed and ratified by Sierra Leone in 1988. The intention of the laws was to ‘push for a system that safeguards women’s rights and interests more effectively’.

In Sierra Leone, inequalities between men and women are some of the worst in the world with the country being placed bottom of the UNDP Gender Development index in 2007. By the end of her life span, nearly all Sierra Leonean women would have suffered from some form of sexual or gender based violence. In practice, domestic violence is surrounded by a culture of silence. As has been reported earlier, the blame is heaped solely on the survivor, who is generally shamed and stigmatized for reporting incidents and may be divorced by their husband or disowned by their family for doing so. Even when incidents are reported to the Family Support Unit (FSU) of the Police, the formal justice system is chronically weak, beset by delays, human rights abuses and procedural improprieties such that access for the most vulnerable is systematically prohibited. The traditional justice system is the normal recourse for most of the population which is characterized by little or no gender sensitivity. The enactment of the Devolution of Estates Act brought about an end to legalised discrimination against women in the field of intestate succession, but the practice of discrimination continues as traditions have not yet changed. Women in many places are ejected from the home on the death of their husband and not entitled to the joint marital property. Rates of child marriage and forced marriages are high, and women frequently cannot prove customary marriages when they need to rely on them for financial support.

WHAT ARE THESE THREE ACTS?

The three Acts dealt with areas that have been of serious concern to the women folk. They are: Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act, Devolution of Estates Act and the Domestic violence Act.

REGISTRATION OF CUSTOMARY MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ACT:

The recent population census conducted revealed that women constitute about 52% of the Country’s population which is an indication that most women who contract marriages normally do so under customary law and are more vulnerable to most of the problems associated with this type of marriage. Though custom is constitutionally recognized customary marriages vary from tribe to tribe and are mostly unwritten.

The passing of these laws make for certainty thereby indicating very important points:

- The Act has a minimum age of marriage which is eighteen years. The age in the Act is in line with international standard that defines a child as any person who has not yet attained the age of 18 years.

- Certainty in terms age would allow a woman who is mature enough to enter in to a contract; which means, if the husband dies she will be in a position to inherit the property of her late husband.

- The Act is also important as it allows the girl child to have a reasonable education before contracting any form of marriage.

- The Act also aims to reduce maternal mortality rate as girls aged 10-14 are 5 times more likely to die during child birth than women in their 20’s.

- The Act also makes room for the bride’s consent which is absent in most customary marriages contracted.

- The Act now allows women to own property and not as in the past when they the women were considered to be property that can be inherited by their late husband’s brother under certain customary practices.

- The return of the bride price or dowry when a woman divorces has forced a lot of women to stay in unhappy marriages because most of them cannot pay back the money, however the new bill if passed in to law states that the bride price or dowry need not be repaid.

- The registration process will also serve as a means of check in ensuring that the parties are not underage.

DEVOLUTION OF ESTATES ACT:

This has to do with what happens when a man dies without writing a will. Frustratingly even under the general law which is the operational law women have been discriminated against. With the passing of the Act into law, the present law under the Mohammedan marriage law which states that women and girls are not entitled to property, cannot take over the estates of their late husbands and with no specific rule(s) as to how property can be shared will be laid to rest. Within the Administration of Estates Cap.45 of the Laws of Sierra Leone 1960, the man inherits 100% of his wife’s property when she dies, whiles at the death of the husband, 1/3 of the property of the husband’s estate will go to the woman if there are children and half if there are none.

- This Act will also protect illegitimate children or children born out of wedlock and man and woman who have been together for over 5 years.

- Men and Women will be treated equally.

- The Act makes it an offence to remove a surviving wife or child from the property or matrimonial home before the properties are distributed

- Heavy penalty against whosoever that intermeddles with the estates of the deceased without any lawful justification

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT:

Domestic violence is a serious concern in Sierra Leone and it is much more than physical violence. It also comprise of sexual, emotional, psychological and even economic abuse. The prevalence of domestic violence has had a serious effect on sexual violence as wife battering and sexual offence are on the increase. The Police do not normally intervene in domestic violence except if the assault is of a serious nature or leads to death.

The Act defines domestic violence as any act or threat of any such act

1. Physical or sexual abuse

2. Economic abuse

3. Emotional, verbal or psychological abuse including any conduct that makes another person feel constantly unhappy, humiliated, ridiculed, afraid or depressed or to feel inadequate or worthless

4. Harassment; including sexual harassment and intimidation

5. Conduct that in any way harms or may harm another person, including any omission that results in harm and either (a) endangers the safety, health or wellbeing of another person (b) undermines another person’s privacy, integrity or security or (c) detracts or is likely to detract from another person’s dignity or worth as a human being

Punishment for as act as stipulate in the Act (s.3) is a fine not exceeding Le 5,000.000 (approx $1,650) or by imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or by both such fine and punishment.

The passing of this Act, introduces new means of dealing with domestic violence:

- With the court rooms now inundated with too many cases that they can actually handle some minor offences can be dealt with by an out of court settlement.

- With serious offences the matter can be prosecuted by the court of law under a new criminal offence titled “domestic violence” with adequate penalty against the perpetrator/accused if there is a conviction

- The Police that initially treated most of these cases with levity now have a role to play

- Medical personnel are now also involved as both medical and psychosocial therapy will be administered to victims of domestic violence.

THE ROLE OF LOCAL COUNCILS, WOMEN AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTNERS IN THE WHOLE PROCESS

Being the highest political authority by virtue of the Local Government Act No.1 of 2004, Councils as well as other partners have an important role to play in ensuring that these are fully implemented. In May 2004, democratic elections of 19 local councils were conducted for the first time since they were abolished in 1972. These local councils replace the now defunct Management Committees previously appointed by the President.

This new arrangement creates a participatory local governance structure where people (including previously marginalized groups like women) can actively participate in the political process at the local level; though disappointingly only 61 (Sixty One) women are Councillors out of a total of 469 (Four Hundred and Sixty Nine) leaving their male counterpart dominating with a total of 408 (Four hundred and Eight).

The Local Government Act (No 1) of 2004 that was enacted in February 2004, repealed enactments (laws) under which various local authorities were established. Though the Act itself recognizes the important roles that women can play in local governance, not much is given within the Act though in some instances the Act has been gender sensitive.

With a Constitutional Review Committee being set up to review the 1991 constitution, it is imperative that women wriggle their way through the committee to present their case. Chapter three of the 1991 Constitution provides for respect and protection of basic human rights and freedoms of individuals in Sierra Leone. Section 15 states that regardless of (male or female) a person has rights to enjoy all these basic rights. Section 27(1) of the constitution of Sierra Leone provides that:

“No law shall make any provision which is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect”

Unfortunately for the women folk section 27(4) weakens the above mentioned safeguard by stating that the constitution which is the most powerful law in the land can discriminates against women if it deals with Adoption, Marriage, Burial ,Sharing and distribution of property upon death as well, as well as local traditional.

With this constitutional provision in place advocacy for the implementation of these laws will be a mere waste of time .Hence strong representation must be made to the Law Reform Commission to expunge section 27(4)(d)to give these Acts the required effects. The need for strong political will to implement the Acts is also important.

CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION AND STRATEGIES FOR TAKING THIS WORK FORWARD

The new laws could, if properly implemented, lead to a considerable shift in the power dynamics of society. This however will not happen overnight. Putting these laws into practice will require a long –term investment to changing culturally ingrained practices that condone and sometimes perpetrate violence against women and girls. Attempts to change customs are likely to be controversial and inspire resentment and anxiety, particularly among men. If the new acts are to be meaningful, considerable inter-agency efforts will have to be made to bring about significant behavioral change and to strengthen the bodies charged with putting the new laws into action so that redress can be obtained. A three years roll out plan for the MSWGCA and other partners setting out what needs to be done, by when and by whom have been developed. Priority areas are enforcement, public education and data collection/monitoring.

LEGAL TECHNICALITIES: A number of issues are general to the enforcement of all three Acts. Legal technicalities must be put be place. Also, the clarification of the status of the registration of customary marriage and divorce Act which experienced some difficulties in the drafting process should be made. The Gender unit of the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs should be the central coordinating body and in order for it to effectively do this capacity building of the section, social workers and probation officers should be done. The FSU and Sierra Leone police should also be strengthened. Under common law, domestic violence has been illegal for many years and yet very few prosecutions were ever brought. Domestic violence persists and acceptance is prevalent. In order for this to change, potential perpetrators need to see that it is no longer acceptable and that they will be punished if they inflict such harm.

ENSURE COURTS ARE FULLY PREPARED TO HANDLE CASES: Provisions should also be made to ensure that courts are fully prepared to hear cases. Cases under the Acts are heard by various different courts. For example, cases under the domestic violence act go before the magistrate court or the high court or in accordance with the local courts Act can go before the local courts. It is vital that all these bodies are fully equipped to handle all matters before them relating to the three acts consistently and with due expedition. Family cases are particularly sensitive, usually involving strong emotions, and often involving power relations, and need to be handled with care and rapidity. Training of court management staff as required by the Domestic Violence Act (s.23 (b)), is necessary to achieving this.

ENSURE EXPEDITION OF CASES: The MSWGCA should look into the possibilities with regards to special courts being set aside for cases under the gender acts. Cases under the domestic violence Act will also need to be handled with particular expedition and possibly fast-track, as lives may be in danger and the welfare of children will in many cases be seriously disrupted. Under this act, application for protection orders must be held in closed session.

LEGAL SERVICES FOR COMPLAINANTS: As well as the possibility of establishing a special unit within courts to assist on cases, the MSWGCA will work with bodies currently providing some legal aid or paralegal services to ensure that such services incorporate complainants under the gender Acts and that accessibility to such services is as comprehensible as possible and are of a high standard and integrated with other services for survivors.

FREE MEDICAL TREATMENT AND CERTIFICATE: S-7 of the Domestic violence act states a victim assisted by the police is entitled to a free medical treatment. In the context of a severe lack of basic medical care national wide, this will be a considerable challenge. Some of the greatest challenges include distance for sufferers from medical facilities and shortage of medical personnel. S.7 of the Domestic violence Act also entitles victims of domestic violence who are provided by the Police with a medical form to be supplied with a medical report free of charge within 14 days. There being a severe problem of lack of doctors in Sierra Leone, it is already difficult for victims of sexual violence to obtain reports in a timely manner and there is usually a considerable cost attached.

SAFE HOMES: One of the main challenges in cases involving violence within the home is the absence in Sierra Leone of any kind of safe home to which victims can flee and remain safe in terms of emergency. Those who are most vulnerable often have no –one to turn to and are force to return to the home of the perpetrators. Two safe homes are currently being built. There is a need for more safe homes to be constructed. Also additional protection options need to be discussed with chiefs, traditional and religious leaders and women’s groups to develop a system of protection at the village level.

OTHER INITIATIVES: National Gender Based violence committee action- the national Gender Based violence committee is a multi - stakeholders’ body comprising of key players in gender –based violence (GBV) prevention and response in Sierra Leone. In order to ensure that the complex needs of GBV survivors are adequately addressed and in a coordinated manner and to develop new sustainable ways of introducing and integrating GBV services and activities into public health care system and other national structures. Membership comprises of representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Sierra Leone Police, Justice Sector Development Reform Programme, FAWE to name a few. The group is currently working on a national action plan as a framework for the implementation of all GBV activities in the country for final endorsement by the President of the Republic.

ROLLING OUT OF THE GENDER ACTS: Awareness raising campaign of the Gender Acts in the Bombali district was carried out by with funds provided by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives. The active participation of men (as they are mostly the community leaders) and boys was engaged. The programme was officially launched by the first lady of the republic in December. Speaker after speaker spoke of the need for the public to be made aware of the new laws and to ensure they are implemented.

CONCLUSION

Awareness raising, community mobilization and education and training are needed to ensure that all key actors- government officials, educators, employees, media, parents, families and communities work to eliminate attitudes and practices which negatively affect women and girls. The active engagement of men and boys in this work is critical.

No single intervention will end sexual and gender based violence against women. This requires a holistic approach, with interlinked strategies including

1. Revised legal and policy framework

2. Strengthening institutional accountability

3. Changing public awareness through advocacy campaigns

4. Working with community leaders and partnering with men and youth

5. Strengthening social support services and supporting research and data to empower women advocates.

The challenges to be tackled in the implementation of the acts are the provision of material and technical support to the Ministry of gender. There is also a need for a harmonized strategy to carry the act forward.


* Eileen Hanciles, Executive Director of FAWE.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

Sources for this article include:

1. Sierra Leone- Truth and Reconciliation Report

2. UNIFEM

3. UNFPA

4. IRC - Rainbo Centre, Sierra Leone, 2007/2008

5. Reports from National Committee on Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone -2008

6. FAWE News- Stop The Abuse, 2004

7. The ZONTIAN - The Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls -July 2007

The role of Parliament in ending Impunity on SGBV in Sierra Leone

Bernadette Lahai

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49422

As a gender activist and secondly, as a Parliamentarian, I will provide an understanding of the Sierra Leone Parliament by highlighting its work thus far in relation to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). I will give a situational analysis of the prevalence and incidence of sexual and gender-based violence in Sierra Leone before, during and after the war and its consequences on women, girls and society at large. This will be followed by responses of government bodies at ending sexual and gender-based violence. I will then give an insight into the laws of Sierra Leone as far as they relate to sexual and gender-based violence. The role of the Sierra Leone Parliament in addressing sexual and gender-based violence will be next described, followed by a discussion on how Parliament partnered with CSO in this regard and end by making suggestions for the way forward for effective strategies to address impunity in Africa.

PREVALENCE OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN SIERRA LEONE

Domestic and gender-based violence, we all know, has social, economic, psychological, physical and emotional cost both to the individual and society. Yet such cost have been largely under-estimated and ignored, and it is not generally seen as a security issue.

In Africa, in particular, SGBV has been surrounded by a culture of silence and impunity. The range and complexity of the underlying causes make it a difficult issue to address. SGBV not only manifests itself as physical violence such as sexual abuse of women and children, but also includes forms of structural violence such as discriminatory laws and practices that prevent women from owning property or holding positions of authority within their communities.

In short, SGBV has been viewed as a security issue because it is a human rights violation and therefore impacts negatively on the ability of men and women to secure and enjoy their basic rights. It can also feed into broader societal violence and can consequently compromise the country’s development strides.
Sierra Leonean women, like most women in Africa, have suffered domestic and gender-based violence since time immemorial. Traditionally regarded as chattels of their societies, they have been battered, raped and sexually harassed with impunity.

Domestic and gender-based violence increased during the eleven years of civil conflict in Sierra Leone. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) established in 2002 findings reported that women and girls became the target in the brutal conflict in Sierra Leone. They were raped, forced into sexual slavery and endured other acts of sexual violence. The report further stated that many humanitarian workers exploited the extreme vulnerability of women and violated their rights by compelling them to barter their bodies in order to access aid and survival.

Even in post conflict Sierra Leone, domestic and gender-based violence still continues, with little attention given to it in post conflict reconstruction strategies. Newspapers in Sierra Leone carry articles daily on rape of women and girls as young as three years, wife battering leading to either permanent or temporary injury and/or murder.

The consequences of SGBV on Sierra Leonean women are numerous and its effects devastating. These include: high school wastage of girls, poor school performance, increased girl mothers and single parents, high incidence of HIV/AIDS and STIs, discrimination, stigmatization and rejection of raped victims, increased prostitution, high proportion of unwanted and street children, poor health status of women and girls, increasing poverty, low self esteem, trauma,

Patriarchy, high illiteracy levels, extreme poverty, limited access to resources and opportunities and negative cultural norms, perception of the status of women and men, have all worked to discriminate and under-represent women in political and socio-economic decision-making in Sierra Leone.

The TRC recommended among others:

- The repeal of provisions in protection of women and girls Act which links the proposal of sexual offences to “the moral character of the complainants”.

- Launching of campaign to end practice of customary law compelling victim of rape to marry the offender;

- Effecting the provisions of the CEDAW and Protocol to the African Chapter on human and People’s right (ACHPR) on the Rights of Women in Africa;

- Working towards the harmonization of the national laws of SL with the provision contained in the Rome Statutes of the ICC in regards to the evidentiary burden, rules of procedures and evidence in respect of crimes of sexual violence;

- Working towards the enactment of special legislation to address domestic violence. Such laws should facilitate the prosecution of offenders and empower women to access protection orders.

- Creating educational program for the police, prosecutors and judiciary officers raising awareness of issues of gender, educating and training them in the investigation and prosecution of GB crimes and sensitizing them on how to deal properly with complaints.

- Discouraging monetary compensation for the crimes of rape and sexual violence as alternative to reporting the crimes for criminal prosecution; and

- Encouraging communities to pursue prosecution for offenders of sex crimes.

GOVERNMENTAL BODIES RESPONSE ON ENDING IMPUNITY ON SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Created in 1996, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs is the focal point for integrating women’s participation and gender issues into government strategic planning. The Ministry produced, in 2001, the National Policies for the Advancement of Women and Gender Mainstreaming. Both policies condemned sexual and gender based violence and it effect on women’s advancement and call on government to review laws to combat it. In 2004, a Memorandum of Understanding was drawn up between the Family Support Unit (FSU) of the Sierra Leone police Force and MSWGCA to allow them to join forces to monitor and report incidents of domestic violence and child right abuses. Social workers have been trained by the Ministry to collaborate closely with FSU staff at every police station where the Unit existed. Since 2005, the Ministry has undertaken the following strategies to deal with SGBV:

- Provided skills training for abused women; - Provided financial support to homeless and battered women; - Collaborated with the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone Defence of Children international and Lawyers Centre for Legal Assistance (LAWCLA);

- Organised UNICEF-sponsored training for social workers and police to enhance the investigation of domestic violence cases;

- Arranged for periodic visits to families by the staff of the Ministry’s Family mediation Unit;

- Worked with International Rescue Centre (IRC), Cooperatiozione International and GOAL Sierra Leone to assist women and girls survivors of domestic violence by providing care, psychosocial counseling skills training services and temporary safe places for battered women. IRC and its Rainbow Centres, in collaboration with the Ministry, also facilitated access to free medical facilities at the Princess Christian Maternity hospital for sexual violence survivors and; and

- Established Domestic and Sexual Violence Committee at national and district levels and provided training for their members with from UNICEF.

The war saw the looting, vandalisation and destruction of health infrastructure while the remaining facilities are largely dysfunctional especially in the north, with devastating effects on vulnerable women and children. The Ministry of Health has implemented the following to address the situation and these include: the training of health professional on syndromic management of STI and the treatment of rape survivors; Collaboration between the reproductive Health Division and the IRC rainbow Centres to provide services to survivors as well as SGBV, capacity building and resource mobilization; the preparation of a National reproductive health Policy that includes a component addressing-based as a matter of priority; and collaborates with IRC on emergency obstetric care.

With regards to the Security, Police and Peace Keeping Forces have since 2001 undertaken the following:

- Documentation of gender-based violence throughout the country; - Establishment of FSUs in 19 Police Local Command Units (PLCUs) in the four regions of the country;

- Encouragement of women by the FSUs to report their experiences of gender-based violence; establishment of Women’s help Line; investigation of gender-based violence, leading to the conviction of 21 perpetuators, with prison terms ranging from 6 months to 22 years;

- Training of 105 staff members on awareness-raising, human rights, media and communication, record-keeping and files/job-tracking system and joint investigation by police and social workers;

- Development of syllabus for police training;

- Training of peacekeepers on HIV/AIDS/STIs, gender-relations training of trainers;

- Development of Sexual exploitation and Abuse (SEA) policy

WHAT IS THE LAW LIKE IN ADDRESSING SGBV?

It will interest you to know that most of the laws of Sierra Leone dates as far back as the colonial era in the eighteenth century and as such are out-dated. They are inadequate to deal with prosecution of crimes of sexual violence, including rape, sexual harassment and other forms of sexual abuse. The current rules of procedures and evidence in respect of crimes of sexual violence are not only discriminatory but are also offensive to women and girls.

Women and girls, who are sexually violated, rarely lay complaints, as the current environment is not conducive to doing so. This has led to a culture of impunity in respect of crimes of a sexual nature.

Domestic violence against women and girls intensified during the war and endures in the post-conflict period. The laws of Sierra Leone relating to the prosecution of domestic violence are inadequate and offer little protection of women and girls.

Women and girls experience great difficulties in pressing charges in respect of rape and sexual violence as police and the judiciary officials are reluctant to investigate and prosecute such cases.

Customary laws and practices in respect of sexual offences are deeply discriminatory against women and girls and have contributed to a culture of impunity over a long time. For instance, under the customary law, the consent of a minor for sex is not required. Crimes of rape and sexual violence are usually settled directly between violator and the parents or guardians of the girl child without the victim say in the matter. Families usually settle crimes of rape and sexual violence by accepting monetary compensation or by the offender being compelled to enter into marriage with the minor victim.

The Police and other law enforcement agencies until recently when the FSU was set up were reluctant to investigate and prosecute offences that occurred in a domestic relationship. The setting up of the FSU is recognition of the gap in relation to such crimes and even though the creation of the Unit is an important step towards the elimination of violence in the home, the police however still face serious challenges in investigating and prosecuting such crimes. This has resulted in the loss of lives and physical injury to a lot of women and children who have been unsuccessful in their attempt to access justice for the crime they have suffered.

WHAT IS IN THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 2007?

The Domestic Violence Act was enacted in June, 2007. The Bill introduces the crime of domestic violence that covers violence that occurs in a domestic relationship i.e. between couples, partners, parents and children and other family members. The Bill seeks to address the high incidence of domestic violence in Sierra Leone which leads to more violence that sometimes results in death. Some of these acts of violence can be prosecuted under the general law but existing laws do not capture the domestic setting in which the incidence occurs and existing legislation does not provide the mechanism such as a protection order to prevent repetition of the abuse. The situation is further worsened as the victim’s livelihood and survival depend on the continuation of the relationship with the perpetuator.

It is important to note that the bill is gender neutral and includes violence committed by women against their spouses. In the area of protecting children the bill seeks to address violence against children. The bill also seeks to protect victim and potential victims by criminalizing certain acts of violence and providing the court with wider powers to make protection orders to prevent the perpetuator from continuing the violence complained of and to enforce protection orders by the court. Anyone who receives a protection order can apply to the court to set aside the order.

The Bill also seeks to eliminate the culture of silence and impunity in relation to crimes that occur in a domestic relationship.

ROLE OF SIERRA LEONE PARLIAMENT IN ENDING IMPUNITY ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Parliament, as you all know, has as one of its role the making of laws. This is especially so given the fact that most of the laws in Sierra Leone dates back to the colonial era and as such are out-dated, ridiculous, obnoxious and no longer relevant to current situations and realities of the country. But more importantly, the gross violations of human rights, including sexual and gender-based violence during the eleven-year civil conflict, has made it imperative to review existing and/or make new laws.

After the civil conflict in Sierra Leone, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Special Court (SC) were set up. The TRC was to document and report atrocities committed during the war, identify the causes of the conflict and make recommendations that will prevent a re-occurrence. The SC was to try those who bore greatest responsibility for the war with a view to end impunity. In other words, while TRC sought restorative justice, the SP was retributive. These two institutions were adhoc in nature. There was therefore the need apart from the judiciary, to institute mechanisms that will further the work of these two institutions when their mandate ends. The Lome Peace Accord and the TRC recommended the setting up of a National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) to address cases of human right abuses in the country. However, there was need for a parallel institution in with legislative powers to complement and reinforce the Commission’s work. It was this need that saw the establishment of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights (PCHR) in February, 2003.

The Committee’s initial capacity building and strategic planning seminar took place in August 2003 with support from the Governance Sector of the UNDP. During the seminar members of the Committee, the Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (PCSWGCA), national and international NGOs and CSO partners identified domestication of international human rights treaties as major strategy for achieving the Committee’s goals among which is to establish an enabling atmosphere for everyone to enjoy fully their human rights, regardless of their gender, ethnic origin, class, religion, status and disability.

In pursuant of the above and in response to the needs expressed, the Committee in 2004 summoned a meeting of representatives of women’s organisations at the UNDP office in Freetown to discuss women’s human rights concerns. A major outcome of that meeting was the decision that the PCHR work with women’s groups and NGOs to implement the recommendations of the Women’s Law Reform Agenda Conference of July 2003, particularly to ensure the domestication of CEDAW principles and standards into Sierra Leone’s national law.

A technical group of women experts, comprising lawyers, social workers, gender experts, human right advocates, was convened to work with the PCHR. The Committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA) then embarked on a nationwide consultation on gender issues that took Committee members and their partner human rights and women’s groups to all 12 districts and Western Area to meet with key stakeholders. The consultation sought the opinion of the stakeholders on the CEDAW articles with a view to ascertaining which of the articles had a profound effect on the lives of women irrespective of their culture, location, educational and marriage status, religion and largely accounts for women’s low status and limited involvement in development process. At the end of the consultation, participants were required to rank the three most important articles of the CEDAW for legislation. The report of the final outcomes and recommendations of the consultation were considered by the experts, who developed a framework that was, in turn, passed on to a group of private legal draftspersons.

The Expert Group then produced four-draft Bills-Devolution of Estate, Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce, Matrimonial Causes and Domestic Violence. The four draft legislations were sent to the official Draftsman in the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for his review and comments.

Thereafter discussions with the Law Reform Commission (LRC) led to a harmonization workshop on the 10th and 12th February, 2006 at which MPs of the PCHR and officials of the LRC reviewed all the available draft national legislation on women’s rights issues and produced a single document for each of the bills containing the synthesis of all proposals for legal reform for women.

The product of the parliamentary/LRC harmonization went back to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice once again for a decision to been taken on the draft Matrimonial Causes Bill.

From the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Bills had to be heard in a Pre-legislative Parliamentary Committee. The aim is to allow submissions from interested groups on the Bills, improve Parliamentarians understanding of the draft Bills and to make further recommendations for amendments of Bills, if so desired. Women’s and CSO representatives from all over the country were present during the hearing, and as such put pressure on government and Parliamentarians for the speedy passage of the Bills.

The three Bills were finally laid before Parliament on June 14th 2007 with a Certificate of Urgency from the President. More women and CSO country-wide were in attendance that day all wearing white, with placards carrying various slogans on sexual and gender-based violence and urging the passage of the Bills with threats and blackmail of not voting for Parliamentarians and political parties who opposed the Bills. The Debate on the Bills started at 10am in the morning, with the first reading by the Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. The PCHR led the debate. The Committee Stage of the Bills was witnessed by long and protracted arguments, motions and counter motions, frustrations, and anger. Up in the gallery, the women blackmailed and threatened when motions raised were not favourable to them but applauded when motions were in their favour. At exactly 8pm the three Bills were passed into law with some amendments, amidst jubilations, shouts of joy and cry of happiness.

The Sierra Leone Parliament could not have enacted the Bills on its own successfully. It needed the sustained technical input, advocacy, pressure, regular consultation, education and sensitization by CSOs, especially those whose work are directly related to women’s advancement, empowerment and human rights. Of course the level of CSO participation in the various stages varied, depending on their main thrust, geographical cover, experience, resource-base (human and institutional), size and age. CSOs with legal and human right experts were very instrumental at the conceptualization and drafting stages of the Bills. Once the Bills were drafted, others with expertise in education, awareness raising, negotiation, mobilization, fund-raising and advocacy skills became very instrumental in popularizing the draft Bills. This they did through radio and television discussions, jingles, focused group discussions, seminars and workshops, protest marches, poster displays and exhibitions, roadside shows and newspaper article. For example, the Council of Women Councillors collected thousands of signatories of individual and women’s groups and CSOs and presented them to government, political parties and international organisations with a view to soliciting their support for the Bills.

During the Pre-Legislative hearing, for instance, representatives of women’s organisations and other CSO from all over the country, literate or not swam Parliament, displaying placards with very powerful messages on the situation, effect, causes and strategies to address SGBV and threats. Some women’s groups and CSOs also made salient submissions to the Committee of the Whole House in which they made additional recommendations and amendments to the Bills. On March 8, International Women’s Day, a symposium was organised by the MSWGCA and the PCHR in collaboration with CSOs to discuss and sensitise women and stakeholders on the gender Bills, solicit participants views and comments on the Bills and to develop a plan of action for its speedy enactment, implementation, monitoring and reporting.

- As a result of all the above Pre-legislative activities, the following were achieved:

- Circumventing the Constitutional requirements of fourteen and seven days, respectively, for the gadgeting and tabling of the Bills in Parliament;

- Enacting the three Bills in one day;

- Accompanying of the Bills by Certificate of Emergency from the President;

- Cooperation of male Parliamentarians for fear of losing female votes;

- Cooperation of all political parties in Parliament for fear of losing female votes; and

- Creation of a forum for Parliament and CSO collaboration; and

- National ownership of the Bills.

Even though the input of every Parliamentarian was required during the Pre-legislative and debate stages, yet the contributions of PCHR, PCSWGCA and Legislative Committee were, especially, very crucial in the entire enactment process. Joint meetings were held periodically to review the processes and legality of the clauses in the Bills. The PCSWGCA helped, especially, in the mobilisation of women and women’s groups, given their oversight responsibility of the MSWGCA.

I have given a vivid description of the role of the Sierra Leone Parliament in the enactment of the three gender Bills. You would think that the Bills were handed to us on a silver plate. There were a lot of challenges we had to contend with.

The first challenge was with the Law Reform Commission (LRC), which questioned the Committee’s mandate to make or reform laws, and as such went ahead and developed four similar draft Bills. The Committee drew the attention of the LRC to the law making role of Parliament in the Constitution and threatened to throw out any Bills brought by the LRC to Parliament. Thus a stalemate developed between the Committee and the LRC, which again brought the process to a standstill for several weeks. With the Intervention of the Speaker of the House and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, a workshop was held to harmonize the Bills.

The second challenge had to do with piloting of the three Bills in Parliament. Should it be a private members Bill of the PCHR or government bill of the MSWGCA? The PCHR argued that it was there effort, initiative and inspiration that produced the first ever draft of the gender Bills despite decades of discussion on the domestication of the CEDAW. They also claimed vast knowledge on the whole process and as such were in a better position to defend the Bills and monitor their implementation. The MSWGCA, on the other hand, claimed that the Bills fell under their Ministry and would be the main implementing ministry and therefore should champion their passage. This impasse halted the process for several months. It was finally resolved that the Bills be government-led while the PCHR taking the lead in the debate. By then, the life of parliament was ended, with elections being scheduled for July 2007 and Parliament to be prorogued in June 2007.

The third challenge was the production, gadgeting and tabling of the three Bills in Parliament. The Government Printing Press was under tremendous pressure at the time to produce the electoral Bills for enactment before Parliament was prorogued, given the Press limited resources. According to the Constitution, Bills are published in the gadget and laid before Parliament 14 and 7 days, respectively, before they can be debated. With every delay in printing, gadgeting and tabling in Parliament, the Bills risked not being passed into law before parliament was prorogued. The Committee and women’s groups put a lot of pressure on the political parties and government to prevail on the Press to print and government to gadget the Bills before the end of the life of Parliament or risk losing women’s vote. With this pressure the Bills were eventually printed, published in the gadget and laid before Parliament. That was just a few days before the scheduled proroguing of Parliament. The eleven and seven day constitutional requirements had to be set aside in order to debate the Bills before Parliament was prorogued.

The fourth challenge was how to successfully manage and sustain CSOs-Parliament collaboration, without usurping and undermining each others roles, responsibilities and powers.

The over-enthusiasm of CSOs to see the Bills passed sometimes led to making of unreasonable demands on the Committee and Parliamentarians, more especially women. Often and again CSO accused the Committee of foot dragging; insincerity, of not being committed to women’s causes and as such blackmailed Parliamentarians by threatening to withhold their votes if the Bills are not passed before the elections.

Parliamentary procedures are guided by the Constitution and the Standing Orders. But the CSOs could not understand, for example, the eleven and seven-day stipulation for gadgeting and tabling of Bills, respectively. They also ignored that the gender Bills competed with other equally important Bills such as the Electoral Act, without which elections could not be held on the schedule time. Parliamentarians’ competing duties of constituency representation and over-sighting the Executive tended to also be ignored by the CSOs. The eighteen Women Parliamentarians by themselves could not enact the Bills without forging alliances with their male and yet the CSOs squarely put the responsible on their shoulders.

The CSOs were vehemently opposed to any amendments of the three Bills, particularly, the section on Female Genital Mutilation, which they wanted totally abolished and criminalized. Yet Provincial Parliamentarians, especially women, were under tremendous pressure from their constituents not to abolish FGM and threaten to campaign against any Parliamentarian, who supported the motion. The compromise was to criminalize FGM for children (less than 18 years) and for non-consent, which did not go down well with the former.

Parliamentarians and the Committee countered CSOs accusations by reminding them of their inability to produce a single draft bill despite years of rhetoric, the need to be more organised and focused and sensitive to the numerous and competing demands on Parliamentarians. These accusations and counter accusations at some point became very counter-productive and nearly derailed the process. This necessitated the clarification and delineation of each other roles, responsibilities, powers and rules of engagement in order to forge ahead.

BEYOND THE LAW: WHAT NEXT?

The enactment of the Domestic Violence Act 2007 is just one strategy in ending impunity on sexual and gender-based violence. New institutions need to be put in place and old ones strengthened for effective implementation of the law. For example, sanctuaries to provide temporary or permanent relief for victims and their children need to be provided across the country. Economic empowerment programmes is imperative to reduce over-dependence of women and girls on men.

Every Sierra Leonean needs to be aware of the existence of the Domestic Violence Act and thoroughly understand its contents. To achieve this there is need for a detailed plan of action for its implementation. The Bill should be simplified and made available in every community, public and educational institutions.

Various Committees need to be set up at every level to advocate, educate, sensitize, investigate, monitor and report on the implementation of Act.

The human and logistical resource requirements for the successful implementation of the law are huge. For example basic services such as free legal, medical and psycho-social support needs to be accessible at all times to victims to help them access justice.

Different capacities need to be built and or strengthened at all levels and across sectors for effective implementation. The judiciary, police, investigation bureaus, courts, medical doctors, social workers, communities, women’s groups, civil society and policy makers are all targets for such training.

Alliances need to be built and or strengthened nationally and internationally among and between different interest groups to facilitate the sharing of technical and logistical exchange on SGBV.

Political will and leadership, critical to the commitment of resources and creation of the enabling environment, will be needed to move and sustain the implementation of the law.

There is need for the full participation of the survivors of SGBV and potential victims as well as perpetuators in the design, implementation and monitoring of SGBV programmes.

All the above call for regular, systematic, coordinated and genuine CSO/Legislature interface, devoid of the usual suspicion and antagonism. There is need for the holding of regular national dialogue to exchange views on the SGBV. Joint Public Parliamentary Hearings can be an invaluable avenue for informing each other on the implementation status of the Act. Given the specialist nature of most CSOs, they can make periodic expert presentations to Parliament. Such presentations can greatly enhance the oversight role of Parliamentarians.

A lot of lessons were learnt during the enactment of the gender Bills, which needs to be documented in a post-mortem meeting. Such documentation could serve as useful guidelines in future collaboration. But what is most critical is the willingness of CSOs and Parliament to work together by recognizing and acknowledging each others strengths and weaknesses.

*Bernadette Lahai, a Sierra Leonean politician and educationist is currently a member of Sierra Leone's parliament representing Kenema District.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

SGBV in the Great Lakes Region

Liberata Mulamula

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49420

Let me first and foremost start by emphasizing that the theme: Ending Impunity on Sexual and Gender Based Violence is a befitting one. This conference could not have come at a more opportune moment. The high prevalence of SGBV in our continent and the Great Lakes region in particular has heightened resolve to work together for action, to turn rhetoric to practice.

There have been countless initiatives at international and regional level aimed at putting to an end to Sexual and Gender Based Violence, culture of impunity and other forms of related crime. However, we have not done enough to eradicate these types of crimes and those who have perpetuated these crimes have gotten away with impunity. Therefore this an opportunity to join forces to address the gaps in our actions and accelerate the implementation of the urgent responses to this pandemic problem, ensure prevention, protection, access to care and justice to the victims.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE GREAT LAKES REGION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The International Conference on the Great Lakes region has been the incubator for the formulation of landmark protocol and model legislation for the region in the areas of Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children. The Protocol seeks to fill the legal void that prevails in most of the legal systems in the countries of the region as a response to the systemic rape of women and children in the Great Lakes Region.
The high prevalence of sexual violence against women and children in the Great Lakes Region, its crippling impact and the culture of shame and impunity that has surrounded these crimes has compelled the women of the region to break the silence and to tackle the issue at a regional level within the framework of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. Rape as a weapon of war has become a defining characteristic of the armed conflict in the Great Lakes Region and Democratic Republic of Congo in particular.

The seriousness of the matter has been given attention by the 11 Heads of State and Government of the Great Lakes Region namely: Angola, Burundi, CAR, Congo, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Under the milestone initiative of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (IC/GLR), the Heads of State and Government have committed themselves to set up regional mechanisms to protect women and children and provide legal and material assistance for victims and survivors of sexual violence. This commitment resulted in the adoption of the Protocol and accompanying Project that seeks to punish acts of sexual violence against women and children both during peace time and during armed conflict.

This legislation, the first in the area of protection against sexual violence in time of conflict and post conflict establishes international standards to address the crime of sexual violence in regions affected by conflicts. The legislation further defines the offence of sexual violence based on the definition provided under the Statutes of the international tribunal for Rwanda and Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court. The legislation further establishes links between the crime of sexual violence and the offences of trafficking; slavery, genocide and war crimes. The protocol further incorporates preventive aspects as encapsulated in such statutes as CEDAW, the Africa Union and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Counseling procedures are also provided for as part of the rehabilitation of victims of sexual violence. The protocol also advocate for maximum sentencing as per the domestic legislation of individual states.

RESPONSE TO THE SYSTEMIC RAPE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION

As part of collaborative effort, the ICGLR in collaboration with UNIFEM and other UN Agencies and partners organized recently the High Level Regional Consultation on “Eradicating Sexual Violence and Ending Impunity in the Great Lakes Region” from 15th – 18th June 2008 in Goma. The objective of the consultation was to come with practical approaches aimed at strategizing and seeking the best way to domesticate the ICGLR Protocol and implement the enabling project on the subject. During the four days in Goma, we discussed and debated on a number of pertinent issues regarding the pandemic of SGBV and continued violations of the human rights of prominently women and children, and pervasive impunity in the Great Lakes Region for cases related to sexual violence and exploitation.

We listened to the testimonies from the field by representatives of civil society organizations, traditional and religious leaders, the Medical Doctor of the famously known Panzi hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu, for victims of sexual violence, as well as presentations from representatives of the UNFPA, UNIFEM, the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), the DRC government, United Nations Mission in DRC (MONUC) as well as the Deputy Commander of the 8th Military Region of North Kivu. We also listened to the testimony of one of victims and viewed documentaries on the horrifying stories of sexual violence and exploitation of women and children in Eastern Congo. I would like to commend to you all to watch the documentary film, “The Greatest Silence: Rape in Congo” to appreciate the magnitude of this heinous crime perpetuated by the armed groups in eastern DRC with impunity. The High-level consultation concluded with the adoption of the action oriented Declaration known as the Goma Declaration on Eradicating Sexual Violence and Ending Impunity in the Great Lakes Region. I would like to share this document with you; we have distributed some copies.

CHALLENGES

The challenges are enormous. The continued presence of rebels and illegal armed groups in the Great Lakes region and in the continent as a whole remains a recipe for rape and other forms of sexual violence. The abject poverty among our population has subjected the people to gross violation of their human rights and untold atrocities. It is undoubtedly that there are gaps in the administration of justice which need to be addressed. While we might be lacking to stop sexual violence or criminality we should never allow it to go unpunished. Should the problem be legal, the laws must be changed and new ones enacted where they don’t exist; should it be political, advocacy programs to mobilize political will should start in earnest; should it be patriarchal and cultural, men and boys should be targeted for behavioral change and rehabilitation. Should it be systemic and structural then we need structural transformation with alternatives to protect and empower the vulnerable.

At the local level concerted action is required to see to it that the victims are provided with legal and medical assistance and are fully reintegrated into society. The complicated legal procedures should be streamlined to facilitate access for the victims. Alternative traditional justice systems, other than the conventional and intimidating legal procedures, should be encouraged as long as they are in line with the rules of natural justice. The medical structures need to be strengthened so that it is easier to obtain medical certificates necessary and as required in courts of law. In courts we expect hearings to be confidential in matters related to sexual violence so that the victims who are mostly women are not traumatized twice. There is need to heighten advocacy and awareness targeting men, women, boys and girls and make it possible for the victims to seek redress, for the perpetrators to be apprehended and punished and for communities to protect the vulnerable.

PROSPECTS

With the entry into force of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, the Protocol on Sexual Violence, which is an integral part of the Pact, has now the force of law. In essence this means we have strong legal basis for full implementation of the Programme of Action for Eradicating Sexual Violence in tandem with the Peace and Security project on Disarmament and Repatriation of all armed groups still operating in Eastern DRC. In the framework of these ICGLR programmes of action, the Conference Secretariat has been consulting experts, the stakeholders and our partners on how to effectively implement the enabling project on SGBV. At the Workshop held here in Nairobi organized by the Conference Secretariat the experts and stakeholders agreed on a road map for implementation that was adopted by the Regional Inter-ministerial Committee of the Great Lakes region at their meeting in Brazzaville in May 2008. The project and road map will be shared with you by my Colleague, Mr. Nathan Byamukama in his presentation.

The adoption of the UNSC resolution 1820 (20080), which considers rape and other forms of sexual violence as a war crime, a crime against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide is a welcome development. Other regional initiatives also provide opportunities in the search for a durable solution to the problem of armed group and sexual violence. These include; the Nairobi communiqué of 9 November 2007 signed between DRC and Rwanda; the Tripartite Plus Joint Commission (Burundi, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda) as well the Goma Accord (L’Act D’Engagement) of 21 January 2008 signed between the DRC and Congolese armed groups.

Finally, the ICGLR framework provides a comprehensive approach and follow up mechanism in support of all efforts and initiatives in the search for lasting solution to this longstanding crime of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the Great Lakes region. For the Conference Secretariat our task is to coordinate, monitor and evaluate both policy and legislative initiatives in the region for prevention and eradication of sexual violence, exploitation, abuse and gender based violence. We do this in partnership with other stakeholders as ACORD, as well as in a participatory and inclusive manner.

We are determined to ensure that all forms of sexual violence are prevented, eradicated and punished. To succeed we as ICGLR count on everyone’s commitment and determination to contribute in a number of areas to eradicate this vice. For the Civil society and NGOs( both national and international) there is need to heighten advocacy and awareness targeting men, women, boys and girls and make it possible for the victims to seek redress, the perpetrators to be apprehended and punished, and for the communities to protect the vulnerable.

This conference should renew our determination to act, to rout out sexual violence out of our continent, our region, our countries and our communities. Above all, we must stop the conditions that generate sexual violence namely war, poverty, instability, marginalization and impunity. In this regard, collective effort is much more needed in addressing these challenges. There is need for a multi-pronged and coordinated approach to tackling the problem whilst promoting synergies in action in preventing this heinous crime against humanity. We clearly need a joint communication strategy to achieve our common objective. It is important to strengthen our partnership in fighting this crime and assist the victims.

CONCLUSION

The Great Lakes Region of Africa has had the worst record of perpetrators of sexual violence, as well as biggest numbers of their victims, from the Eastern Congo, to Central Africa Republic, Northern Uganda and Darfur, to mention a few. The ICGLR Protocol is one of the major tools to fight sexual violence and impunity in the Great Lakes Region. It is a homegrown legal instrument responding to the grave realities of our time.

When the leaders and people of the Great Lakes Region prioritized the project and the legal framework to fight sexual violence, it was because the extent and gravity of the problem was well known. The question is why does the problem continue unabated? Why are the perpetrators not arrested? If they are arrested why they are not prosecuted? If they are prosecuted why the sentence is so lenient compared to the offence? Above all why are the cases not reported?

It is against this backdrop that the initiative taken by the Pan African Conference steering group on SGBV to gather all the stakeholders here in Nairobi in the search for common and effective strategies to address impunity in Africa is commendable. We are here as ICGLR because we believe in partnership and a coordinated approach in tackling this problem. The call for this conference is to move from establishing frameworks and norms on SGBV to Action, which ICGLR fully subscribes to. It can be done if we all play our part!

*Ambassador Liberata Mulamula is the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

War and sexual based violence in Northern Uganda

Florence Okio

2008-07-14

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/49418

Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) became involved in Uganda in 1979. This was immediately after the “Liberation war” which saw the departure of Idi Amin’s regime. The first programme was in the North of the Country based in Gulu district. ACORD was majorly responding to the emergency needs as a result of the war. ACORD has now expanded its programme in the whole of Acholi sub region, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, West Nile sub region, Adjumani and Moyo and the Western part of the country Mbarara programme all under ACORD in Uganda programme. The main intervention currently is focusing on developmental issues and to address the injustices in service delivery by using the right based approach to development as a strategy. ACORD is also engaged in Advocacy and Lobbying for the voice less society in the region to present their issues to the policy makers for a better life. In 2004, ACORD conducted a research to find out the relationship between HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Gender Based Violence. The result of the study showed very strong linkages between the two.

The war in Northern Uganda started in August, 1986 when the Ex-UNLA soldiers who fled into Sudan following their defeat by the National Resistant Army (NRA). In January they crossed back into Uganda and attacked NRA detaches in Gulu district. The attackers returned under the auspices of Uganda Peoples’ Democratic Movement/Army (UPDM/A). This report was presented by; Charles Asowa Okwe Makerere University-Kampala during a two days international conference that was organized by ACORD in February 1997. This event opened a volatile situation in as far as security in Uganda was concerned. The war resulted to massive population dislocation as people flee from the war zones to the safer areas within their districts and beyond.

In some of the affected districts, the situation was more pathetic. People were not only displaced, but some were forced to commute between their homes and trading and urban centers on a daily basis. Children as young as two years old used to commute from their homes to the trading centers looking for shelter. The situation increased cases of defilement and rape as young girls were at the mercy of the older men for material support. The younger boys were too being exploited by older women and sugar mammies and being promised easy life if they accepted their demands.
In the course of this war, family life has inevitably suffered most. Parents were separated from each other or from their children. In some cases other members of the families were caught up in cross fire and got killed or maimed. As a result, the problems of orphans, disability and trauma have emerged in the region. The most affected social groups are women and children. Often defenseless, these people have been victims of abduction, rape and other forms of abuses meted out by the rebels and other parties involved.

The 22 years conflict has recorded the “worse humanitarian crisis” a statement by Jan the representative of the UN during his visit in Northern Uganda. There were high levels of human right abuse which greatly affected women in the war tone zone. The women are still experiencing, psychological, spiritual and physical health trauma as a result of the long conflict in the region.

Young Women were abducted indiscriminately and the young girls were defiled, rape and given to the rebel commanders as wives without any objection. They were also trained as soldiers to fight in the battle filed with the Uganda Peoples Defense Army. Many lost their lives while others who tried to escape were killed when others are looking. The abductees were always picked randomly to carry out the killing of those who tried to escape as a psychological tool to scare the others from escaping

“Young Girls were defiled, raped and made pregnant by the so called husbands and delivered in the bush without any proper medical attention. The young women fought with their babies at their back, others were killed in the cross fire and the lucky ones found their ways to escape and came back home”. The young women lamented.

Back home, the young women, are still faced with sexual abuse, psychological, Emotional and economic violence both from the family members and the community. The kind of life still reminds them of the nasty experience they went through while in captivity. They all have a similar condition and stories to tell about their problems and that is why they believe that the only solution to their problems is for the government and NGOs is recognize their problems and also provide them with protection and compensation in order for them to settle with their children.

Majority could not go back to school although some of them are still interested but can not afford due to lack of money. All these young mothers were at school by the time of the abduction. Some of them were abducted on the way to school, back home, while others abducted at night from their homes during the raid in the villages by the rebels.

In Ongako, one of the sub-county were ACORD operates, 42 child mothers shared their experiences while in the bush and they had this to say;

“Ocwee Rose, not real name said she was abducted in 1992 and stayed in the bush for 7 years. Rose said she was just a very young girl by the time of the abduction. While in the bush, Rose was given to one of the commanders to be her care taker as well as a husband. By the time she escaped and came back home, she already had a child and was also pregnant with the man. While on her way back home, she stepped on a foot land mine that affected both legs and was rescued and taken to the hospital. With GOD’s Grace, she later on had a successful delivery. She is now disabled and moving with crutches for support. Rose decided to get married to another man and now has got 3 children with him making five including the one’s she came with. Rose said she had a lot of mistreatment from this man and worse still he has decided to marry two more ladies after her. His friends and family members are now telling him to chest her away from his home because she is a rebel. Rose said she cannot now go back home with all this children because she lost both parents. She is even worried that her relatives will not allow her to settle in their land with these children even if she decided to go back home.”

“Aber Monica said she was abducted three times. The first time she was on her way to school and stayed in captivity for two and half years before she could escape and come back home. Her mother decided to take her to one of the Catholic Mission to stay with the Nuns for her safety. But after some time, Monica said she decided to come back home and was abducted again for the second time. I was known to be braved and fight so well while in the bush and that is why they kept on following me, she said. Monica went and stayed for one year before she could again escape but before she could stay any longer than she was abducted for the third time. Monica’s role was to always be on the alert by climbing trees to spy on the enemy and each time she sense a danger, she shots the first bullet to alert the rest to take cover or run away before she can follow them. She did this several times and she was such a free lady who was not so much guarded. This kind of freedom gave her the opportunity to escape from the rebels. She said she lost one of her close friend in the battle field and was now taking care of her daughter which she could not leave behind. Monica got married but faced with the same problems of violence in the home from her husband and the relatives. Fortunately or unfortunately she

Some of the contributing factors to the high levels of sexual and gender based violence include war and displacement, poverty, HIV/AIDS, culture and tradition, limited availability of resources such as food, changes in gender roles as women became the bread winner, collapse of traditional society and family support, too much consumption of alcohol, design or social structure of the camp among others.

The consequences of sexual and gender based violence in the internally displaced camps is associated with psychological/emotional outcome like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, depression and many others. The social outcomes of sexual and gender based violence results to social rejection and isolation, social stigma, rejection by husband and community etc. Other non-fatal outcomes will include unwanted pregnancy like for the case of the child mothers, STI including HIV/AIDS, disability, injury to mention but a few.

Among the women I talked to, only few managed to come through the rehabilitation centers like GUSCO, World Vision International Caritas and other CSOs who were at that time providing counseling and material support to the formerly abducted children. After staying for some months at the center, the children were then re-united with their relatives and care taker. Some of them did not get the opportunity to come back home through the counseling center which made it very difficult for them to cope up with the home life.

By the time of my interaction with them, almost all the child mothers tried to get new husbands but could managed to stay because of the violence caused by the men and the frequent stigmatization and name calling from the community and have decided to remain single. The young women said they have always been abused as “rebels not fit to be wives because they have committed atrocities and their children too should not mix with other children”. This kind of attitudes the women feel has resulted to discrimination of the formally abducted children who should have instead been incorporated in the society.

The young mothers said they are denied financial support by their husbands because of the other children they came back with from captivity. The men according them beat up the children which from time to time bringing violence between them with a lot of bitterness in their hearts. The child mothers said it was not their interest to go to the bush to join the rebels, so why should they and their children be treated like that. The men they produced with while in the bush were just given to them forcefully without a choice and there fore should not be blamed for that. No woman will ever leave her child behind even in difficult times and that is why they have decided to come home with them, the women lamented. Some of the men where killed while others remained in the bush and since they did not know where their homes are and were not introduced officially, they cannot trace the family of the father of their children.

The constant stigma and discrimination and the name-calling is something that the returnees have been subjected to which needs to be addressed. Even if these women try to abandon their marriages because of the constant violence, back in their families and neighbors they still face the same kind of attitude.

There are increased reports of rape/defilement in the affected districts from both the Police and NGOs, largely as a result of increases sensitization to gradually break the silence of the issue. A total of 116 cases were reported by COOPI, one of the implementing partners during the SGBV sub cluster meeting that happened between April and August 2007.The survivors suffered from trauma and physical damage and at risk of unwanted pregnancy and HIV/AIDS infection. In case of pregnancy the girls drop out of school and face stigma from their friends, families and the community. Psychosocial support in this case is very essential together with specific skills to work with the survivors, their families and communities. Some of the NGOs including ACORD have been responding to these in their operational areas, but the demand has increased due to the inadequate service providers in the District as well as referrals from the few specialized interventions. There is need to expand response coverage in particular within an effective district referral system.

The low status society attaches to women is the major cause of domestic violence, aright activist has said. “Right from the day a girl is born to the time she completes school, society looks at her as inferior “Said Hope Tuyasingura, a director at the centre for domestic violence prevention. In Acholi culture for example, children are given names according to the situation and usually most names are associated with SGBV like “Akanyo” meaning the women has gone through a lot of hard ship.

The situation in Northern Uganda is now improving with people moving back from the mother camps to their original ancestral homes. But the SGBV scenario seems to escalate with the struggle for land ownership between the people. Widows, single women, orphans and other vulnerable children are being denied access to land. In Acholi culture, women do not have control over land but can access it through the clan leaders and their husbands. The traditional justice system is not doing enough to protect the rights of women and children. Many NGOs are trying to support the local government by sensitizing the community about the need to promote and protect the fundamental human rights and provide justice though fair trials.

STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IN THE IDP CAMPS

- Strengthen capacity of community groups, CBOs, schools (including students, teachers, parents, PTAs) and Local Government to raise awareness on SGBV, causes and consequences, SGBV guiding principles and referral pathways for response.

- Work with SGBV protection committees, women groups and other community stakeholders to identify prevention strategies and support their implementation.

- Implement outreach activities with mobile teams in order to cover return sites.

- Build on the existing network services to develop referral pathways for survivors with due regard to confidentiality in return areas.

- Create an emergency hot line and provide emergency transport in order to respond to 100% of SGBV survivors to access medical and justice services.

- Develop strategies in conjunction with the Local Authorities and communities to increase ownership and sustainability.

- Develop a media strategy for public education and advocacy on SGBV.

- Conduct a research and study to generate data and information for effective planning, programming, advocacy and Policy advocacy

- Develop Advocacy strategy for dialogue and engagement with duty bearers for the prevention and protection of survivors and adequate dealings with perpetrators; law enforcement to prevent violation and punishment of perpetrators.

- Enhancing Sexual and Gender Based Violence sensitivity in Health Sector and Community Development Department.

Although Sexual and Gender Based Violence against women is a global problem, adequate and comprehensive SGBV programs are still lacking. All SGBV programs must include both prevention and response strategies in order to be most effective. Prevention activities target the root cause and contributing factors of SGBV while response activities target the consequences, or outcomes, of SGBV.


*Florence Okio is Gender Justice Programme Officer for ACORD Gulu.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

Fahamu