By Cassandra Tse
“It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier, in an armed conflict.”
Patrick Cammart, Former Division Commander of the UN Organisation Mission in the DRC
“Violence against women has reached hideous and pandemic proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict.”
Ban Ki-moon, Chief of UN
“Women’s bodies [are] a battleground in times of war.”
Rachel Maranja, UN adviser on Gender Issues
The statistics are devastating. There were an estimated 500,000 rapes during the Rwandan genocide, 64,000 in Sierra Leone, 40,000 in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Gender-based violence causes more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war.
Sexual violence is used shamelessly and appallingly as a military tactic in several conflicts areas around the world. It is used to humiliate and demoralise women and shatter communities. Horrifyingly, corrupt or inept legal systems often ignore, tolerate or even condone this atrocious practice. Rape may not even be viewed as a crime, meaning that there are no means to bring the perpetrators to justice. .
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) provides some of the most horrific examples of gender-based sexual violence as a common war tactic. Last year, in one province of the DRC alone there were almost 400 rapes a 
month. Even during ceasefire, the war against women continued to rage on and it only worsened when the conflict reignited. And the blame cannot be laid on just one group– perpetrators can be government soldiers, rebels or deserters. To the victim, the identity of their abuser doesn’t matter as he will most likely never be punished.
“Despite many warnings, nothing quite prepared me… a sexual violence so brutal it staggers the imagination and mocked my notions of human decency.”
John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, after visiting the Congo
Even if a woman survives being raped and manages to receive medical attention, there is no guarantee she will be accepted back into her community. Victims of sexual violence are often ostracised and rape is stigmatised.-Even though it is now devastatingly commonplace, people deal with sexual violence by ignoring it and pretending it does not happen in their community. A common view taken by Congolese officials is that the woman “asked for it” and so she is to blame, rather than her attacker.
“When we got to the hill, one of the soldiers pushed me to the ground. He put the blunt side of his machete on my neck and the handle of his rifle on my chest. Then he raped me. When he was finished, he called the other soldier and he raped me too… As I fled, they shot their rifles into the banana plantation. I fell to the ground, pretending I was dead. They then left and I ran back to my family.”
Testimony of Marie , twenty-year-old Congolese woman
Rape is a brutal crime against humanity that stays with the victim long after the physical pain has subsided. Victims, like Marie, may have to deal with the emotional trauma of their attack alone, without any support. In their home village, they no longer feel secure. After subjection to sexual violence, women like Marie may live the rest of their lives in dread. The stigma attached to rape can break community ties with the victim, and in towns like Shabunda, North Kivu where the majority of the town’s women have suffered sexual violence, this can lead to a breakdown of the entire community and a permanent state of fear.
“Every woman in the village leaves at night to sleep in the bush because of the raping. They still loot but if they can’t find us they can’t rape us.”
Woman in DRC
As a battle tactic, rape can create more terror than terrorism, and is far more widespread. It’s a crime of the strong against the weak, the armed against civilians. Yet despite this, it was not officially seen as a war crime until mid 2008, when the United Nations Security Council put forward a resolution that called for the ‘immediate and complete halt to acts of sexual violence against civilians in conflict zones’. Though the UN hopes this resolution will be implemented by June 2009, it will not be that simple. For rape as a weapon to finally come to an end, and for its perpetrators to receive their deserved punishments, a complete turnaround in thinking is required. As Rachel Mayanja, UN advisor on Gender Issues, stated at the Security Council meeting, ‘Sexual violence in conflict, particularly rape, should be named for what it is: not a private act or the unfortunate misbehavior of a renegade soldier, but aggression, torture, war crime and genocide.’
There is still a long road to travel before communities in countries like Congo feel the impact of international law. If we want rape to stop being used as a military tactic, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond, not only laws but attitudes must change. Only when the victims of sexual violence are supported, not stigmatised, and when the culprits are condemned, not condoned, we will see sexual violence as a weapon finally come to an end.
TAKE ACTION!
- Find out more about this issue- try the links above.
- Go to www.saynotoviolence.org and sign the petition calling for an end to violence against women.
- Start a photo petition. Go to www.stoprapenow.org to find out about the cross-armed gesture, symbolising an end to rape as a weapon.
- Mobilise your local media. Write letters to the editor or talk about this issue online- get people informed.
LEARN MORE
Sites about rape as a weapon:
Stop Rape Now www.stoprapenow.org
Sites about women’s rights and gender equality:
UNICEF’s Gender Equality Division www.unicef.org/gender/index_3993.html
Women Watch www.un.org/womenwatch
Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/women’s-rights
OIYP is a three year programme, which aims to build the capacity of the Action Partners (the name given to Youth Partners) by providing us with support and resources, and creating opportunities for dialogue, networking and learning. Our first opportunity came in October this year at Kaleidoscope, a festival where all of the Action Partners come together in Sydney, for nine days of workshops, dances, performances, art, theatre and meeting a zillion new people.
The welcoming ceremony took place on the first night, hosted by the Darug people, the indigenous people of the area. There was Aboriginal song and dance, which was responded to by various groups such as Aotearoa New Zealand, Bangladesh, India, and First Nations of the Americas. It was an incredible start to the event, and was at times very emotional.
During the week there were six plenary sessions, along with around fifty workshops, some of which were led by Action Partners. Some of the workshops were only two hours long, while others were four hours over two days. Topics ranged from project management, indigenous rights, land rights, to access to health, access to education, gender and equality, gender and sexuality, and using photography and film. They were helpful, although complaints arose due to their brevity and lack of international or easily transferable context. A complaint from the Latin Americans was that there was too great a focus on Western culture and issues, rather than a diverse representation
We had several opportunities to explore Sydney, predominantly in the evenings, although we did have one free afternoon. Many of us went to a salsa club on Friday night and some gay clubs on the Saturday. Art and dance was a significant part of Kaleidoscope, with Oxfam wanting to explore the power of various forms of art as a tool for development. There were large canvases for painting, dance, song, beat-boxing performances, all with opportunities to try it yourself. A particular highlight for me was watching dancers from Brazil, along with Capoeira performers.
