Uganda: Donors must step up to help agencies address domestic violence

On our mission to northern Uganda we were told that the biggest immediate danger for women in the displacement camps is domestic violence. My colleague, Camilla Olson and I heard that the stressful overcrowded conditions in camps and the lack of livelihood opportunities for men and women contribute to this violence, which puts the physical and mental health of so many women at serious risk.

So I asked in the camps how a woman could find help and protection if she was assaulted by her husband. Some women said that they could go to local council leaders, although others complained that most local council leaders are male and few listen to women enough. We heard that survivors of domestic violence could turn to Community Development Officers, who are employed by local districts to do social work. We heard good reports about the quality of these officers, but they rarely get out to meet people in the communities because the districts have allocated insufficient resources to them.

Many women said that they would be reluctant to go to the police, because they have seen many perpetrators bribe their way out of a situation. Furthermore, the police are so under-resourced that victims have to pay the police their fuel costs to come out to attend to their case.

The UN and international non-governmental organizations have set up programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) and to build up the capacity of local Ugandan systems to take on this work. At the beginning of 2008, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) took over the role of coordinating GBV response in Uganda from the UN children’s agency, UNICEF. It has deployed coordinators but UNFPA does not have dedicated funds to support GBV programs.

UNFPA in Uganda is now seeking funds from donor governments for several aid agencies to continue their activities after the end of the year. They hope to continue providing legal, medical and psycho-social support to the survivors of domestic violence, campaigning to prevent domestic violence, and supporting Ugandan national institutions that can work long-term in the fight against domestic violence. For example, the Government of Uganda has made a major step forward by establishing a National GBV Reference Group where representatives from different government ministries meet and incorporate gender-based violence issues in their planning and programs.

The U.S. government refuses to contribute to UNFPA’s work anywhere in the world, creating a major limitation for the fight against violence against women in Uganda and globally. This policy should be reversed, particularly now that UNFPA has been designated the lead UN agency on GBV in humanitarian crises globally. In Uganda, international donor governments must support UNFPA to ensure the continuation of GBV programming. If these programs have to close for lack of funds this will represent a big step backwards, and a worrying precedent for other countries where UNFPA has taken the lead.

-Melanie Teff

Empowering Women in the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence

Violence against women is an international problem, but many countries and policymakers turn a blind eye to the prevalence of such abuse. Although there are many obstacles to preventing gender-based violence, including misperceptions of rape survivors, lack of funding and the absence of proper sexual assault services, there is hope. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars recently hosted a panel to discuss the real statistics of GBV and plausible models for addressing this problem during conflict as well as within societies rebuilding after conflict.

Heidi Lehmann of the International Rescue Committee shared one approach in Liberia. Since 1989, Liberia’s civil war had created a breeding ground for violence against women. A 2005 survey in 4 countries indicated that 91.7% of 1,216 women and girls interviewed had been subjected to multiple violent acts during Liberia’s conflict. Displaced widows, wives, orphans, children, husbands, and brothers could be found in cramped camps around the country.

The IRC had been training health care and social workers to respond to rape survivors. However, they discovered that the most effective way to prevent gender-based violence was to involve the women in the solution. IRC conducted one-on-one interviews with women and children in the camps, assessing where the more dangerous areas were and what could be done to make them safer. Because of cramped quarters and food shortages, there were more opportunities for physical and sexual assault. Following the interviews, social workers went out into the community empowering women to come forward, seek justice and demand change. They also built a center for a group of local women who have committed to preventing gender-based violence in their community.

Still, more needs to be done in Liberia. When Refugees International was there last fall, we went looking for the text of the Rape Amendment Act that had passed in 2006 – a landmark victory for women’s groups in the country who seek justice for victims of sexual assault. However, few people had a copy of the law and groups regularly complained about its lack of enforcement. Progress in Liberia will not continue -- for women or men -- without substantially improving the nation’s justice system and giving it the resources and expertise necessary to carry out real reforms.

In order to encourage survivors to seek help and justice, it is absolutely necessary to have programs that they can depend on to provide the protective services and justice promised to them.

--Kimberly Compton

DR Congo: Conference Highlights Protection From Violence

On Monday we attended a day long conference on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) organized by Congo Global Action. The theme of the conference was "Connect for Congo: Working for Hope and Peace in the DRC."

The conference included different panels on issues related to peace and stability in the DRC. Of particular interest to us was the panel focused on gender-based violence -- an all too common occurrence particularly in eastern DRC. Many of those who are displaced in eastern DRC fled their homes because of human rights abuses, including sexual violence, that have been committed against them by various armed groups.

The panel on gender-based violence included Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere, who runs the Panzi Hospital in South Kivu, recently featured on 60 minutes. At the Panzi Hospital, Dr. Mukwege treats survivors of sexual violence, many of whom suffer from physical and psychological wounds long after they have been raped. This violence is most commonly carried out by the many rebel groups in eastern DRC but also often by soldiers with the Congolese national army. Dr. Mukwege pointed out the disturbing trend that more and more civilians are sexually assaulting women and girls. And there continues to be a culture of impunity in the country for perpetrators of sexual violence.

While women are at the frontline as targets for sexual violence, the impact that rape has had on communities in eastern DRC is immense. Dr. Mukwege explained that women who have been raped are often rejected by their husbands in the DRC. Many men are psychologically traumatized when their wives or daughters are raped because they were unable to help them from being attacked. So the men reject these women out of their own shame and inability to deal with the situation. Men affected by the rape of a spouse or family member clearly also need counseling and support to deal with such a traumatic event.

In addition to medical and psycho-social support, what people in eastern DRC need first and foremost is protection from the armed groups who carry out these acts of violence. Several Congolese speakers at the conference pointed out the urgent need for peace and security in eastern Congo. Even members in the audience from the Congolese Diaspora expressed their frustration at what they said was the inability of the international community to stop the violence in eastern DRC and assist those most in need.

Civilian protection in the DRC rests first and foremost with the Congolese government, but in the eastern part of the country, the government has little control over the various rebel groups or even its own army, the FARDC, who continue to commit abuses against civilians. The international community, including the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the DRC, is working to assist and protect civilians in eastern DRC, but many Congolese still do not feel protected.

We will be traveling to the DRC on an assessment mission in a few days. We plan to speak with displaced people in eastern DRC to learn what their needs are and how best the local authorities and the international community can further assist them so that they will feel safe and able to return to their homes once again. Check back here for our blog posts from the field.

-- Camilla Olson and Mpako Foaleng

International Women's Day: What You Can Do

One woman interviewed on Refugees International’s latest mission to south Sudan said that, "The problem is just beginning; We need help so we can restart our lives here." Our latest report from south Sudan includes a section on the importance of enhancing the status of women throughout southern Sudan, an important step towards the recovery of Sudan as a whole. Women in southern Sudan need support to help their communities rebuild in the aftermath of 20 years of war. Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and this gives us an opportunity to underscore the hardships faced by displaced women everywhere. Last year, Refugees International released reports on how unfair laws affect the women of Darfur and how the international community can protect women in Darfur from sexual violence in the future.

What can you do today? Urge your Senators to support the International Violence Against Women Act. This act includes important provisions that would help increase services for survivors of sexual violence and improve protection for vulnerable women and girls in conflict zones. What better way to celebrate women than by ensuring that those affected by violence and war get all of the help they need.

Send a postcard to friends and family on International Women’s Day and encourage them to support our work!

DR Congo: The Moment of Hope is Dwindling

People say that the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes. In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) taxes are unreliable, and more likely to be extorted in the form of systematic looting than a tax return. Rape, on the other hand, has become another near certainty for women in the Congo, and major efforts are needed to protect these women.

Earlier this year John Holmes (UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs) described rape in the DRC as “the worst in the world” adding “the sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity— it's appalling.”

In a recent Washington Post column, Michael Gerson described the story of one 24 year old rape victim. This young, married woman was kidnapped and gang raped while her brother was forced to watch. She, in turn, was forced to watch while her brother was killed, and then taken as a “wife” – that is, a sex slave – during which time she got pregnant and acquired a sexually transmitted disease. When she finally managed to escape, her real husband had abandoned her for having been used by another man. Now, she lives in fear that it will all happen again, and there isn’t anyone who can promise her that it won’t.

Once used largely as a military tactic, this behavior has moved beyond strategic application as a weapon of war. Rape has entered the mainstream of expected - and in some grotesque way - acceptable behavior in a place where impunity reigns.

The most culpable of the perpetrators are members of the Congolese national military; the FARDC, whose “courage” President Kabila recently “saluted,” calling them Congo’s “anonymous heroes.” They are guiltier than others, not because their crimes are more prolific than those of the armed rebel groups, but because they belong to an institution that exists to protect the citizens it is brutalizing. Anywhere else, this would constitute a massive breach in trust, except that the Congolese people know better than to harbor any trust for their soldiers.

The other major threats are the FDLR –the anti-Tutsi remnants of the Rwandan genocidaire who fled to DRC in 1994 – the Mayi Mayi militia, and a handful of other armed groups spread throughout the east. Recently, civilians are attacking each other, too, proving – worryingly – that rape is not just a soldier’s prerogative anymore.

With a criminal and predatory military, a weak and poorly resourced police force, and little judicial system to speak of, impunity is the rule in North and South Kivu. Complex structures like a criminal justice sector will take decades to properly develop in the DRC, especially given the fact that North and South Kivu continue to be active war zones. However President Kabila can – and must - begin to take steps to emphasize that rape is unacceptable, and that it will not go unpunished, particularly within the ranks of the FARDC.

Refugees International is also pushing for additional steps by the UN and its peacekeeping force to protect civilians in the Congo from the ongoing violence.

Last year, people voted in the Congo’s first democratic election for president in four decades. This moment of hope is rapidly dwindling with the ongoing violence and brutality in the east. We can only hope the international community won’t write off the country, but continue to stay engaged until real peace, including safety from violence, and recourse to justice is restored.

--Erin Weir

Sudan: Struggling to Show Solidarity

While in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on November 25th I attended the local inauguration of the global 16 days’ of activism against gender violence campaign. In a country which has often taken the official line that sexual and gender-based violence does not exist in its culture, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that such an event was taking place, and was even more impressed to see that it was a government-led event.

In the western Darfur province of Sudan there have been widespread reports of systematic rapes of women and children. Yet, in Sudan, many non governmental organizations (NGOs) have been prevented by the government from running programs that assist rape survivors and have threatened these groups with expulsion for talking publicly about violence against women. But there I sat at an official government event talking about violence against women. There were speakers from UN agencies and even a representative of local NGOs. Looking around the room, I realized that there were in fact very few local NGOs present. Unlike many other countries around the world, there did not appear to be any women’s organizations running public events as part of the 16 days’ campaign against violence against women.

I talked with a few local Sudanese women’s organizations to find out why they were not organizing any public events. I soon came to understand the difficulties that these groups were facing, and admired them for being able to carry on working at all.

I heard about how their staff members were frequently being taken away and questioned by national security and intelligence agencies about their activities and about their funding sources. Often when they organized a workshop to discuss violence against women it would be ruined by such disruptions. I heard about events, such as those organized on International Women’s Day, which were cancelled by government bans of public events on the days in question. I heard about how their organizations’ registration was frequently suspended by the government. And, I heard how many Sudanese women’s organizations that want to work with women in Darfur who are facing so many problems, are not permitted by the government to work there.

I also heard about the funding problems that these groups were facing. Some groups told me that they wanted to organize activities about violence against women on November 25th, but they couldn’t afford to do so. It is really hard for local NGOs to access funds that are much more readily available to international NGOs and UN agencies. Local groups just can’t comply with all the complex regulations involved in applying for such funds. They can often get funded to run individual activities, but not to pay their staffing or administration costs.

As one women’s activist said to me: “What’s the point of funding us to run eight workshops when we can’t pay staff to follow up on anything that came out of the workshops?” She talked about her frustration at the lack of support that international donors are showing towards local civil society organizations. Some of her words stuck in my head. “One day the UN and the international NGOs will leave Sudan. If they don’t invest in groups like ours now, then when they leave all of the advances made will be lost. Sudanese women, particularly Arab Sudanese women like myself, must be enabled to show solidarity with our sisters in Darfur now while they are suffering. If not, then the divisions in our society will never be healed.”

-Melanie Teff

Advocate Melanie Teff and Program Associate Camilla Olson recently returned from a mission to Sudan to assess the humanitarian situation in Darfur.

President’s Corner: Combating Rape in Darfur

Thanks to those of you who responded to our request to urge Members of Congress to take a stand against rape in Darfur, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 726.

This vote comes on the same day that The Washington Post front page carried an article headlined “U.S. Promises on Darfur Don’t Match Actions.” The story details the large gap between President Bush’s expression of concern about the violence in Darfur, where he has accused the government of Sudan of genocide, and the lack of effective American action to end the fighting.

During 4 ½ years of fighting, an estimated 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been driven from their farms and villages. Although the causes and consequences of the war are complex, there is a strong ethnic element to the fighting; many of the dead and displaced are African farmers who have been attacked by government and militia forces comprised largely of Arabs.

A number of humanitarian agencies have documented the common use of rape as a weapon of attack when villages are being destroyed. In February, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said that a leader of the Janjaweed, an Arab militia associated with the government of Sudan, “issued orders to militia/Janjaweed and armed forces to victimize the civilian populations through mass rape and other sexual offenses, killings, torture, inhumane acts, pillaging and looting of residences and market places, the displacement of the resident community” and other criminal offenses. Over the summer Refugees International issued a report, Laws Without Justice, that noted that Sudan’s laws protect many of the rapists from prosecution. The report is about to come out in Arabic.

The House Resolution, co-sponsored by Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL) and Brad Miller (D-NC) instructs the State Department to develop programs to help women in need and seeks justice for victims of rape and sexual violence.

I have spoken to rape victims in Darfur, and they have no hope of seeing their attackers brought to justice. But the Resolution is an important expression of U.S. concern and another step toward calling world-wide attention to crimes that are both denied and condoned by the government of Sudan.

--Ken Bacon

Washington Circle: RI at the Canadian Embassy

On Monday, October 15, Refugees International’s Washington Circle presented a fall briefing at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC. Adam Chang reports on the event.

From the eyes of a humble intern standing on a 6th floor terrace looking out on the nation’s capitol glowing at dusk, the Embassy seemed like a great mansion. Guests filled the reception area, spilling out the doors after taking their seats. After a warm welcome from Ambassador Michael Wilson, the evening proceeded with two key note speakers from Refugees International – Human Rights expert and lawyer, Adrienne Fricke and Charles (Sandy) London, former research associate at RI and author of One Day the Soldiers Came.

Adrienne spoke of her report, Laws Without Justice, which details how Sudanese laws do not provide justice for Sudanese women who have been raped. For example, while it is legal for a woman to file a claim against a man who has raped her, current law dictates that she must provide substantial evidence to prove her case – including the testimony of male waitnesses. In filing a claim, she runs the risk of having admitted to a sexual relationship outside of marriage, which is considered adultery.. Under Islamic Sha’ria Law, she then may be charged and handed a sentence that may include whippings, or even death by stoning.

Moreover, Adrienne revealed that the current law makes individuals with government affiliation (guards, soldiers, government workers, etc.) immune from prosecution. Since much of the sexual violence in Darfur is perpetrated by members of the Sudanese armed forces or other government units, this law is particularly problematic. Even if a woman—at the risk of being socially ostracized—can marshal all the evidence to bring her attacker to court, she is barred in this final phase because Sudanese law permits such officials to infringe on the human rights of others.

Following Adrienne’s moving account, Charles (Sandy) read an excerpt about Michael, a boy from a Congolese refugee camp in Tanzania: “‘One day the soldiers came,’ Michael told me. Michael, who was fifteen, fled the Congo almost two years before I met him … ‘I was in the back room when the rebels came,’ he said. The rebels burst into his house, knowing his father was a businessman and would have money. They burst in through the front door armed with machetes and rifles. ‘That’s when I saw my mother and father killed, and all I could do was climb out the window.’”

Sandy then read about another Congolese refugee boy named Justin: “‘What would you tell someone your age who has never been in a refugee camp so that he could understand what it is like?’ I asked him. Justin thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully. ‘I would like to tell him that living in the camp is very bad. I think about going home, but who will I go back to? Everyone is dead. If I talk to this boy who has never been in a refugee camp I would be happy. I want to find children with hope.’”

The successful event was both informative and moving. As the evening came to an end, I got Sandy to sign my books. One, directed to my thirteen year old sister, was poignantly signed, “Keep reading, keep thinking, keep caring.”

-Adam Chang, Development Intern
Refugees International

Looking for the law in Liberia

A few weeks ago in Liberia, I met with several women’s groups who told me about the new “rape law” which had come into force last year. The passing of this law is a great achievement for the people who had campaigned hard to seek justice for victims of sexual violence in Liberia. The victims are many. A 2005 survey in 4 counties indicated that 91.7% of 1,216 women and girls interviewed had been subjected to multiple violent acts during Liberia’s conflict.

So the women’s groups were understandably proud of the new law, but were disappointed by its lack of enforcement. The Rape Amendment Act has had little, if any, effect on stemming the high incidence of sexual violence so far. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) told me that in just one hospital in the capital, Monrovia, there were 513 cases of rape reported in the first 6 months of 2007, 174 of them involving victims under 12 years of age. The cases reported to MSF are probably only the tip of the iceberg, because of the stigma attached to reporting rape in this society. Aid groups and other non-governmental organizations feel that the police, lawyers and judges do not understand the law, and that rape cases are not being dealt with properly by the courts.

Having heard so much about the rape law, and since I am a lawyer, I decided that I wanted to see a copy of it. So I asked the next organization I visited for a copy, but they didn’t have one. I asked a number of other organizations, with the same reply. Even groups who were running awareness-raising programs with communities about the rape law didn’t have a copy of it! By this time I was beginning to question whether or not a new rape law had really been enacted.

Finally, while visiting Lofa county in the north-west of Liberia one organization gave me a summary of the new rape law, which was a good start. Later, I had the opportunity to sit in on a child protection meeting – where representatives of government, UN agencies and NGOs meet to discuss issues affecting children in the county. Someone talked about a rape case where the victim was a 9-year-old girl and the alleged perpetrator was a 15-year-old boy. The magistrate had thrown the case out of court because he said that this situation was not covered by the rape law, as the boy was under 18 and there was no evidence that the girl had not consented (despite her young age). The magistrate had apparently told the families that they should just talk to the boy and girl and tell them not to do this again.

Many meeting participants were understandably outraged by this decision of the court – surely this situation must be covered by the rape law? Surely the magistrate’s ruling was not a legal one? While a heated discussion raged, it became apparent that, of the gathering of 25 people responsible for child protection in the county, no one had a copy of the rape law. I was a researcher who had just come to observe the meeting, but I ended up sharing my copy of the summary of the rape law with these well-meaning people.

However, it soon became clear that having the “rape law” alone – in full or in summary - was not sufficient to determine legality in any event - since it is an amendment to another law (which does deal with children’s legal incapacity to give consent), and none of us had a copy of that law.

I was puzzled by this difficulty in obtaining the laws of Liberia; there is no Government gazette, and – unsurprisingly in a country that had no electricity for 15 years – no website on which they are posted. So I asked a member of the American Bar Association in Monrovia if he could explain why the law is so inaccessible. He told me that, a while ago, the Liberian government had sought assistance to codify the laws of Liberia. US funding was granted for this undertaking, and the contract had gone to one private company, which had subcontracted to another private company – a Liberian-owned company registered in the US. This company claims to have copyrighted the laws and law reports of Liberia, and is charging US$5,000 for copies of the compilations of the laws. The Rape Amendment Act is not even included in the compilation. So with the puzzle partially solved – I certainly did not have $5,000 to spare -- I left Liberia without fully understanding or analyzing the Liberian laws on rape (although I did at least find an organization with a copy of the rape law amendment).

And I was further perplexed by another piece that my friend from the American Bar Association added to the puzzle. He informed me that one of the directors of the company that claims to have copyrighted Liberia’s laws has been nominated to become the country’s new Minister of Justice! There ought to be a Liberian law on conflict of interest - but how to afford a compilation of the laws of the country?

What does this strange story say about the situation in Liberia? Well, it’s just one example of the many areas in which the Liberian government has taken bold steps forward to try to address injustices, but where the resources and expertise are just not yet there to back up their initiatives. And there are idiosyncracies – like the copyrighting and commercial sale of copies of Liberia’s laws – that compound the problem. Passing the rape law was a very progressive move for which the Liberian government should be congratulated, but it will not translate into greater protection for survivors of rape if the law is not widely disseminated and if the people who have to implement the law are not trained to understand it.

The good news is that the American Bar Association has come up with a proposal to post all Liberian laws on the internet – and at least the international agencies in the country have generators and access to the web. Of course, this proposal will have to be approved by the Liberian government – specifically, the new Minster of Justice…

--Melanie Teff

Advocates Melanie Teff and Mark Malan recently returned from a mission to Liberia

Happy International Women's Day

From Senior Advocate, Sarah Martin:

Today is International Women's Day and the theme is Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Children. This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. For the past ten years, I've been very interested in this topic and trying to find ways to help the survivors of rape. Refugees International has allowed me to pursue this passion and along the way, I've met some absolutely amazing refugee and displaced women, as well as the humanitarians who risk their lives to help them.

My very first mission for Refugees International was to Guinea and Liberia in November 2003. This is where I truly learned how widespread the problem of gender-based violence is during conflict. A mental health worker in a camp in Guinea let me sit in on a small counseling session of Liberian refugee adolescents who talked about the atrocities they had seen and discussed ways to deal with their anger. One of the most powerful articles I've ever read about the widespread problem of abuse of women in Liberia is Kenneth Cain's "The Rape of Dinah" in Human Rights Quarterly. I would urge you to read it. Liberia has made great strides - electing Ellen Sirleaf Johnson as the first democratically elected woman president in Africa but it's still slowly recovering from the civil war that tore it apart. There is still not enough being done to address the impunity that the rapists in Liberia enjoy.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, I visited the site of the infamous UN sexual exploitation and abuse scandal in Ituri. The UN was desperately trying to address this problem and there was nary a uniformed man in sight at the bars and restaurants there. There I met Mirella, an Italian aid worker who ran a psycho-social program for raped women in the Congo and tried to help them put their lives back together. The ICC actually indicted Thomas Lubanga Dyilo - the former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, a group notorious for abducting child soldiers and for rape. This action gives us hope that the women of the DRC will see some justice.

In Sri Lanka, I met with young women who were former soldiers in the LTTE: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. When these young women are taken for the LTTE, their hair is cut off - something rare for women in Sri Lankan society. These young women often hide out for months until their hair grows out so as to avoid being stigmatized as former combatants. With the war in Sri Lanka raging again, more girls and boys are being abducted into the LTTE and rapes by government soldiers continue.

The most difficult mission I undertook while at RI has to be the mission to Darfur in 2004 where we focused on the problem of gender-based violence there. Amna and Maha, two Sudanese aid workers who took my colleague Mamie and I underneath their wings and translated for us, introduced us to women, and even cooked us dinner. The warmth and the hospitality of Darfuri women has to be experienced to be believed. I've spent many afternoons sitting in IDP camps drinking tea with women listening to their stories about the abuses and the rapes that they endure.

For my last act at RI, I'm helping to field a mission of two lawyers that specialize in gender-based violence who are going to Sudan. By focusing on the laws and implemenation (or lack thereof), we hope to hold the Government of Sudan accountable for their appalling actions. Even if women are able to register a complaint about rapes, they are rarely investigated, or the defendents fail to show up for trials. By shining a bright light on the government of Sudan's inability to end the rapes in Darfur and punish the perpetrators, RI hopes to engage women's organizations around the world to stand up and demand justice.

So for all of you out there reading this, thank you for your support in helping us fight impunity for violence against women in every country that we work in. The women need to know that their voices are not being ignored.