Rape has been used as a weapon of war in many conflict situations. We have witnessed this in Africa in countries such as Rwanda, Burundi and, most recently, Sudan.
In March this year Mukesh Kapila, United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, described Darfur, in the west of the country, as the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. This crisis is caused by crimes against humanity for which the Sudanese government is directly responsible.
”I was sleeping when the attack on Disa started. I was taken away by the attackers, they were all in uniforms. They took dozens of other girls and made us walk for three hours. During the day we were beaten and they were telling us: ‘You, the black women, we will exterminate you, you have no god.’ At night we were raped several times.” This testimony from a female refugee from Disa, west Darfur, echoes that of hundreds of others interviewed at a refugee camp in Chad.
They all describe a pattern of systematic and unlawful attacks on civilians in north, west and south Darfur states, by a government-sponsored militia mostly referred to as Janjaweed (armed men on horses) and by the Sudanese army and air force. In these attacks, men are killed, women are raped and their homes, crops and cattle are looted and burnt. These massive attacks are the response of the Sudanese government to the insurgency of two armed political groups.
This campaign of terror has specifically targeted women and girls, some as young as eight, who are raped, abducted and used as sex slaves. They are attacked, not only to dehumanise them but also to humiliate, punish, control, and inflict fear on the communities to which they belong.
A recent Amnesty International report, Sudan, Rape as a Weapon of War, is based on 250 interviews with refugees in camps in Chad. These first-person accounts make harrowing reading. ”About 15 women and girls were raped in different huts in the village. The Janjaweed broke the limbs of some women and girls to prevent them from escaping. The Janjaweed remained in the village for six to seven days,” said one refugee.
”There was also another rape on a young, single girl aged 17. M was raped by six men in front of her house in front of her mother. M’s brother, was then tied up and thrown into fire,” according to a man who survived an attack on his village.
There have been reports of women whose stomachs were slit open to kill the ”enemy child”. The modus operandi is almost identical to that used by genocidaires in Rwanda in 1994. Violence against women and girls was a well-documented and systematic component of the genocide and war strategy in that country. It is estimated that between 250 000 and 500 000 rapes were committed during the Rwandan genocide.
Women and girls were subjected to extraordinary acts of violence. Many were raped and held as sexual captives. They were humiliated, their bodies mutilated and scarred. In a pattern of systematised brutality and humiliation, Rwandan women and girls suffered gender-specific violence like gang rape, genital mutilation and hacking off of breasts. Some were killed or seriously injured when arrows, spears or other objects were pushed into their vaginas or they were shot in the genitals.ÂÂ
Avega, a Rwandan association for genocide widows, estimates that nearly 70% of women who were raped during the genocide contracted HIV. Ten years later, the aftermath of the violence has not been dealt with adequately by either the international community or the Rwandan government. Survivors of violence still lack medical care and few suspected perpetrators have been brought to justice.
International human rights and humanitarian law provide comprehensive guarantees of the rights of women and girls to protection from sexual violence and abuse. Where states fail to respond to evidence of abuse they send the message that attacks can be committed with impunity.
Perpetrators of sexual violence can be held accountable under international law for acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity.
In terms of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, rape and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity may be considered crimes against humanity when they are committed as part of a widespread or systematic act.
Abuses against women are integral to the conflict in Sudan and are too often neglected. They must urgently be taken into account in responses to the crisis by the Sudanese government and the international community. Amnesty International is urging all parties to the conflict to immediately stop perpetrating violence on women, and for those who have committed these crimes to be brought to justice in fair trials.
Amnesty International is further calling for the urgent provision of medical and psychological care for women affected by violence in Darfur and Chad, measures to enable the communities affected to minimise stigma of these women and work for the reintegration of survivors, as well as preventive measures to reduce the suffering of women in the longer term.
The suffering and abuse endured by these women goes far beyond the actual rape. Rape has a devastating and ongoing impact on the health of women and girls, and survivors now face a lifetime of stigma and marginalisation from their families and communities. The Sudanese army was either directly involved or witnessed almost all attacks on villages.
The international community, including the African Union, must condemn the actions of the Sudanese government and take immediate steps to ensure that human rights violations in Darfur are stopped.
Heather van Niekerk is the executive director of Amnesty International South Africa