WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICT - SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS A WEAPON OF WAR

1worldinternational finally returns after a three-month hiatus with a hard hitting piece on the dangers faced by women in war zones the world over. Uche Ndaji, writer, poet and regular contributor to 1worldinternational lends her voice to this most sensitive topic.

In defence of women

Break the silence. When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act."

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary – General

 

Rape. The most heinous of crimes: leaves in its path an indelible shame on humanity. It is too often used as a strategic military assault to terrorise a population in armed conflict yet the international community has struggled to institute robust, preventative measures for the purpose of eradicating one of the greatest scourges of warfare.

The systematic rape of 50,000 to 60,000 women in the former Yugoslavia brought rape to the forefront of international contemplation. Consequently, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was the first in Europe to categorise rape as a crime against humanity and a form of torture.  Similarly, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) emphasised rape as a vehicle through which genocide could be carried out. In the same breath, The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court redefined the term sexual violence to encompass rape; sexual slavery; enforced prostitution and forced sterilisation, but to name a few.

Although it is unquestionable that legal frameworks exist to protect women from sexual violence in conflict, implementation falls below the yardstick set out in myriad international legal instruments. The Continuance of ‘shaking one’s finger at the problem’, excuses the preponderance of impunity. We must consider what type of solutions to offer the 102 women and girls raped by Congolese troops during the advance of the M23 rebel group in November 2012 according to UN estimations.

 

Undoubtedly, the line between violence perpetrated by non-state actors and government troops are blurred, borne out of years of guaranteed immunity, individuals have conducted barbarous crimes and continued to do so without consequences. The ‘Hidden Survivors’ report by Save the Children illustrates that out of 440 child survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 81% of perpetrators were described as civilians and 74% as known to the survivor’s family. In the recent conflict in Cote d’Ivoire only 31% of cases of child rape were committed by armed men.

Moreover, communities are crippled by the assimilation of perpetrators of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) who are often known to victims as neighbours, or friends. In the ICTY case of Kunarac et al. rape victims had either previously known the offender or had come across them after the war had ended. Impunity prolongs the psychological damage visited upon women and girls in conflict.

 

Administering the cruelty of sexual violence on a population instils fear, because women are often gang raped, raped with objects and forced into sexual slavery. Parties use unhinged violence to defuse resistance and demoralises the enemy. Designed to inflict discord, by fragmenting family and communal bond, groups often rape en masse in front of communities to humiliate the victim and the men who are unable to protect them.

An assault presents a cumulative chain of events for victims from: stigmatization to homelessness through to sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies. These occurrences persist even after conflict because communities dealing with hardship and deprivation pre-war have difficulty transitioning from wartime to peacetime as a result of displacements and disintegration of the family unit.

The international community must consider what triggers such callous treatment of women and girls and a case can be made against historical and cultural values that confine the capabilities of women within certain societies which normalises discrimination and perpetuates violence. Human Rights Watch highlighted this fact in a report on post-conflict Rwanda, highlighting that “women's subordinate status in society has long subjected them to a wide array of limitations and restrictions which have discriminated against them in profound and systemic ways.” The idea that women can only be protected by the male figures in their lives encourages a sentiment of ownership which grants women an inferior status in society.

 

 

Nevertheless, it is unfair to dismiss recent developments which have put gender based violence in armed conflicts back onto the international agenda. Foreign Secretary William Hague made a declaration in The G8 Summit Foreign Minister’s meeting held in April, pledging £23 million for “sensitive and sustained support to survivors to build a case against culprits of heinous crimes.” Mr. Hague also promised “deployment of international experts to build judicial, investigative and legal capacity”. Most importantly the assurance that safe havens will be eradicated and perpetrators searched for and prosecuted regardless of nationality was welcomed with positivity by Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura. Ms. Bangura pointed out that “the Declaration of the G8 represents a beacon of light and hope for the many devastated communities in Congo, and the countless other survivors in conflicts around the world.”


Yet solving the problem requires further engagement with communities blighted by sexual violence. Encouraging community leaders to educate men and boys about the damage sexual violence causes to their society. Alex Craig from Women for Women International stressed that “The education and training WfWI provides allows SGBV survivors to achieve economic self-sufficiency through income generation activities - economic empowerment is a very powerful element of recovery and can help to mitigate and possibly prevent recurrent SGBV.”
 

Priority should be placed on extending the mandate of peacekeeping forces to protect civilians caught in the firing line of sexual violence. Furthermore, enacting stronger national and international laws will break the cycle of impunity sending a coherent message that women are not objects of war.

 

THE CONGO: ARE SOME WARS LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS?

This week's post comes from the writer and poet, Uche Ndaji who has produced a polemic on the fortunes, or rather misfortunes, of one of Africa's largest countries, DRC Congo. The piece adopts a multi-faceted approach in its analysis of the Congo with the author avoiding the oft-repeated patronizing tone adopted by many researchers in their attempts to channel or convey the Congo experience to the rest of the world. The piece is worth publication in the very best of the global news outlets across the world and 1worldinternational is certainly privileged to serve as the mouthpiece of this fantastic writer.


When the M23 rebel group audaciously marched into Goma on 20 November a feeling of dread emerged, an oxymoronic combination of expectation and surprise. As MONUSCO, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo shockingly looked on, the M23 captured Goma with little more than agonising stares to contend with.

For the unfortunate population in eastern Congo, a sentiment of déjà vu perseveres: a feeling that a war that never ends begins once more in a conflict that has claimed 5 million lives. Where were the diplomats, the envoys and regional leaders spinning for one side or the other? Did the world leaders lose the memo? If colonial discord is put to one side for the purpose of addressing the country’s recent past, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been in turmoil since independence in 1960.

In recent times, the Congolese population have not known peace because the mineral wealth which it is blessed with including: gold, tantalum, tin, but to name a few has turned into an encumbrance. Decades of political coups d’état and unstable leadership steadily guided a country with abundant natural wealth into the hands of rapacious states.

In a letter presented on November 15 to the Security Council by the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo, light is shed on the carefully coordinated proxy war financed by Rwanda and factions of the Ugandan government. The report emphasises the influence of the Rwandese and Ugandan governments on the conflict through arms and personnel provision. Furthermore, the report stresses the fact that M23 is the only rebel group in eastern Congo that wears Rwandan armed forces uniforms. This deals a big blow to Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s unrelenting denials of his government’s support and connection to the cause of the uprising or the M23 rebel group.

Simmering alongside allegations of Rwanda’s support for M23 are ethnic divisions which stem from Rwanda’s genocidal past and DR Congo’s safeguarding of some of the Hutu administration who devised the 1994 massacre that killed as many as 1 million people according to the United Nations Outreach Programme. In a bid to protect the Rwandan Tutsi minority and its expatriate population within Congo from attacks by Hutu militiamen operating from its border with eastern Congo, the Rwandan government has used the pretext of protecting its citizens to pillage Congo DR’s natural resources.

On one hand, criticising the international community for lack of action against a conflict that has ravaged the lives of millions seems unwarranted, perhaps unfair. On the other hand, the least the UN can do is to take action against systematic human rights abuses for the sake of the 5 million killed; 1.7 million internally displaced people and the rape victims, attacked at the rate of 48 every hour according to the American Journal of Public Health.

A recurring concern remains that warlords capture and retain territory with impunity, executing civilians, looting, raping and forcibly conscripting child soldiers. A prime example of such an aggressor is the M23 leader Bosco Ntaganda, wanted for trial by the International Criminal Court on a warrant issued in 2006 for conscripting, coordinating the recruitment and training of children under 15, as former Deputy Chief of General Staff for Military Operations for the Forces Patriotiques pour la libération du Congo (FPLC).

In light of such atrocities, there is an unpleasant impression propagated by the international community that some wars are more important than others. That if your war does not involve terrorism, extremism or a direct threat to the exportation of democracy to the developing world then it must be a trivial conflict to be tucked away into the pile of inconsequential scuffles that just happen. In such cases few resolutions are made except for squabbling between Security Council members, who doubt the motives of intervention even when civilians are trapped in the savageries of warfare: the conflict in Syria comes to mind.

Consider if the fanfare surrounding the recent Israel-Gaza hostilities had been applied to the DR Congo conflict, much progress would have been made bearing in mind that it is in poor taste to compare wars. In the same breath, restrained indifference encourages belligerent forces to continue brutalising villages. The recent UN report also called attention to the slaughter of hundreds of civilians in North Kivu under the instructions of M23, with at least 800 houses burnt down since May 2012.

Although the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO costs an estimated $1 billion a year, its function is yet to be realised. Established in 1999, the mission has done little to prevent widespread killings and rapes in the eastern region of Congo. The purpose of the peacekeeping mission was further called into question when UN personnel stood and watched as rebels took the city of Goma. The frequency of such incursions tells the dismal story of a failed mission but more importantly the innocent Congolese people caught in the middle of MONUSCO’s spineless assignment, leaving civilians to protect themselves.

The $1 billion spent on a protective force that appears futile can be used to prop up the projects of rape victims who assist other victims by providing shelter, medical and psychological care.

Meanwhile, the rebels are aware that the UN mission has run its course, the daring march into Goma emphasises this point and the exasperation of the angry crowd that clapped for the rebels and hurled stones at UN troops is an indication of accepted apathy. The international community must do something to restore confidence, it should either extend MONUSCO’s mandate or create a different structure, active in engaging when rebels show aggression towards civilians.

Also, it is essential to initiate dialogue between the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo. These governments are culpable on some level of arming rebel groups. Perhaps Rwandan and Ugandan governments realise that if the war rages on in Congo they can appropriate more minerals and assure that the status quo of their regimes remain. However, the unpredictability of constant change in leadership and blocs in the respective rebel groups operating in DR Congo shows that nothing is guaranteed.

Despite the announcement on 30 November by International Development Secretary Justine Greening that £21m worth of aid to Rwanda would be withdrawn, it remains to be seen how responsive the Rwandan government and their Ugandan counterparts can be in ensuring that peace finally reigns in DR Congo.

THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, ITS DETRACTORS AND ITS FUTURE

On 15 September 2011, the Non-Governmental Organisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW), published its long-awaited report on the effectiveness of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in prosecuting cases since its founding treaty, the Rome Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002.

The 50-page report titled,“Unfinished Business: Closing Gaps in the Selection of ICC Cases," questioned the effectiveness of the ICC Prosecutor’s office in delivering justice. The investigation, which was based on information garnered from the close monitoring of the ICC over the last eight years and Human Rights Watch’s country investigators, reveal that only a miniscule 17 arrest warrants and nine voluntary summons have been issued following investigations in six countries – Central African Republic, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and lately Libya – and these have only resulted in 10 cases and trials.

The content of the report pass a damning verdict on the world’s first permanent treaty based international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. These crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against aggression. The report is also far from complimentary about the work carried out by the office of the prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Amongst the criticisms levelled at the ICC are claims that its investigations and prosecutions have failed to demonstrate coherent and effective strategies for delivering meaningful justice to affected communities. It goes without saying that issues such as the prolonged trials of the Democratic Republic of Congo suspects in custody, some of which are far from conclusion and the arrest warrant issued for one of the chief perpetrators, Bosco Ntaganda, which is still yet to be executed does little to lend to the credibility of the ICC or to pacify its critics.

Perhaps the most damaging criticism of the ICC relates to its perceived impartiality and unfairness in prosecuting cases. The ICC is alleged to have deliberately avoided targeting military and civilian authorities for prosecution for political reasons on several occasions whilst carrying out some of their investigations. Thus it is inexplicable that the ICC have investigated and issued arrest warrants for the rebel group Lords Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony which is alleged to have abducted children, terrorised, mutilated and killed civilians during its long running conflict with the Uganda government. The ICC have however failed to issue arrest warrants against the Ugandan government who are strongly alleged to have beaten, detained and tortured civilians alleged to be “rebel collaborators”.

The same can also be said lately of Libya where the ICC Prosecutor opened an investigation into the actions of the previous government led by Muammar Gaddafi whilst at the same time turning a blind eye to the wide scale crimes alleged to have been committed by the fighters and leaders of the newly constituted National Transitional Council during the recent civil war. These criticisms do not end at just those levelled by the HRW report. Significantly, Elizabeth Evenson, in her article “Gaddafi prosecution can help ICC complete unfinished business”, published in the Guardian avers that some ICC investigations have often bypassed major perpetrators of the crimes. Hence only the Sudanese President and a few others have been indicted for the commission of mass crimes in Darfur although HRW and various NGOs have clearly identified other significant players. Issues such as this lend credence to the opinion that the ICC is clearly falling short of fulfilling its remit of prosecuting those responsible for grave crimes.

Although the Court has had its share of detractors and critics, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) October 2010 report - “UN Mapping Report” - states that the ICC’s activities in the Congo have contributed to reopening the debate on the fight against impunity in the Congo; in turn, this has given hope to the victims of the violations committed in the region. Also, contrary to the views of some commentators that the indictment of the Sudanese President may damage and undermine the prospects for peace in Darfur, Darfuris have particularly embraced the ICC’s attempts at bringing the Sudanese government to justice. In an article published by the Human Rights advocacy group, Waging Peace, and titled “The ICC and its critics”, the Secretary-General of the Darfur Union in the UK, Khatir Kayabil, expressed huge support for the work of the ICC. Mr Kayabil stated: “We are the victims of the crimes for which President Bashir has been charged and we don’t want this brute appeased. We need justice and we need to be heard”.

In truth, the ICC is hindered by the unbounded ambitions of its Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Thus while the Prosecutor’s intentions to open new investigations into mass crimes in Libya and the Ivory Coast is noteworthy, one cannot help but feel that these new investigations will come at the expense of ongoing prosecutions and investigations which are far from being concluded. If the ICC is to regain its credibility or to be seen by victims of violations to be delivering justice, the need for taking on new prosecutions and investigations must be balanced against the resources available to the ICC for prosecuting and closing cases.

It is also vital that states parties provide the necessary resources, be it financial, political or otherwise, to enable the ICC achieve its aims; without states parties support, it will virtually be impossible for the ICC to operate and to execute its mandate. Also, the choice of investigation and prosecutions initiated by the ICC has drawn the wrath of African leaders who note that only Africans have been indicted thus far by the Court. Perhaps it is also logical to question why the leaders of Sudan and Libya have been indicted by the Court while those of Burma, the United States of America and the United Kingdom – on the basis of crimes committed in Iraq – have not been investigated. Although these countries have not ratified the Statute of the Court, the same applies to Libya and Sudan, albeit in these cases, the United Nations Security Council referred the question to the Court. It is however unlikely that the cases against the UK or the USA will be referred to the UN Security Council as both sit as members on the Council; therefore, it is unlikely that the fears of the African leaders may be allayed any time in the immediate future or at all.

In conclusion, it is hoped that the recommendations made by HRW is adopted by the ICC if the Court is to ensure that the perpetrators of mass crimes will no longer evade justice. The ICC states parties are expected to elect a new Prosecutor at their next annual session in December 2011. The communities who have been subjected to mass crimes, victims and the world wait with bated breath in anticipation that the new Prosecutor will add significantly to the limited gains made by the incumbent. 1worldinternational certainly hopes that the new Prosecutor heeds the mantra that quality, and not quantity only will revive the ailing fortunes of the ICC.