| 10-1-09 THE THIRD WHISTLE
DREAM - I had left home for some reason, and a friend
took me to a rooming house to live temporarily.
I thought the place was quite small, just me and my
friend basically. I had few clothes, but I had my computer which I
treasured, and a radio (shortwave, am, fm, weather, etc.)
I went to the bathroom which was quite long - at
least 20 feet, a nice counter space, toilet, shower, etc. I remarked
to myself that there were five radios in there, which were all on at the
same time so I didn't miss a second of air time on the stations that were
on, because I had to listen and hear it if anyone blew a whistle and if
they blew the whistle - I had to be sure to hear if they blew it three
times.
When I left the bathroom, I looked out the
front window to check out the scene outside and saw that it was raining
out - a rather soft drizzle type - nothing hard. Across the street
was a row of low - one story buildings it seemed - a series of shops, each
selling something different, maybe a small restaurant - small townish
feeling to it.
I turned to my left and must have gone a different
way than the way I had gotten to the bathroom, because I found myself in a
room that had several young men in it off of a hallway. It was quite
dim, but the room had a lot of work benches, computers, stuff with wires
sticking out of it that the men were working on. It seemed like they
were inventing something, but perhaps repairing computers - I really
couldn't tell exactly what they were doing. All the young men looked
up and greeted me when I was standing in the doorway.
I felt quite lost at the moment, because I didn't
know this room was there, nor who the young men were, so I turned around
and behind me was a really large room, and another man standing in a
kitchen type area, making breakfast. Beyond him I could see multiple
desks, computers, radios, televisions, anything anyone might want to work
with or entertain themselves with. It was very office-like - not
home-like.
I asked the man where my computer was, because all my
information was logged on that computer. I couldn't just use anyone
else's because it wouldn't have my information on it.
He said that he had set me up at a desk, and would
show me in a moment where it was.
I didn't want to wait so I set off to find it myself
so he could keep making breakfast.
I didn't see my computer at any of the desks behind
him, so I turned and looked to my right, and saw another large office in
that direction. That was a large office with just one desk in it,
and a man sitting at the desk - a rather executive type office.
The man got up from his desk and came towards me.
He didn't say anything, but he smiled like he knew me from somewhere, and
he looked really familiar to me, and I smiled back. Just then two
other taller men came along and he joined them and they all walked down
the hall.
I kept glancing at each desk to see if my computer
was there - and there were many computers, but they were all different
sizes and configurations and types - none looked like mine.
I turned another corner, and right out in the open, I
found myself in a nail salon - very small with maybe three stations for
having the nails done, and there were women crowded everywhere in this
area mostly middle aged women. One woman was near to tears,
another was laughing, another looked angry. One of the women was
trying to console the crying woman - middle-aged, a little on the chubby
side, bleached blonde hair and so sad. I went up to her, hoping to help in
some way, and she seemed grateful that I was paying attention and stopped
crying for the moment, and wanted to tell me her tale of woe. I
listened patiently for a few moments, then turned her back over to her
daughter. I have no idea why she had been crying originally, she
just seemed generally sad.
My computer obviously wasn't there, and I was now
starting to feel anxious and went back to where the first guy was with all
the desks. He seemed very amused and I asked him where my computer
was.
He rather blew me off, but I could tell he had put it
somewhere and he was keeping me from it.
I went back to the room with the young men in it with
their computers, and I asked them if they knew where my computer was but
one young man said he knew that the guy in the kitchen area knew where it
was, because it was his job to set people up at their work stations.
The other man was still in the kitchen area and he
was still cooking breakfast and I didn't want to interfere with that, but
my anxiety was getting rather high that I didn't have my computer with all
my valuable information on it.
I looked out a window to see if it had stopped
raining, and was shocked to see that I wasn't even in the same building I
had started out in .... I was across the street to the left of it, and I
could see those shops over on the other side of the street, but there was
a side street between me and where I had started, and I didn't know how I
had crossed a street just by going down a short hallway. That seemed
impossible. Now I was feeling really anxious because I didn't know
how to get back to where I started with the bathroom with the five radios
in it.
I finally just got so anxious, I walked over to where
the young man in the kitchen area was, and demanded that he show me where
my computer was hidden, and he just laughed. He said, "I set you up
in your own office so you'd have privacy".
That made me feel a bit better, but I didn't know
where my office was, so I demanded to be shown where it was.
As it turned out, my office was a nice large desk
along the wall to the right of where the kitchen area was, and there was
my treasured computer, looking none the worse for wear, and everything was
set up ready for me to use.
I don't know why I didn't see it the first time I
went past that area. Evidently, the young man had set it up while I was
with the women having their nails done because it wasn't there earlier.
I felt really confused about it and the whole thing, but now I had a place
to sit with my computer and my radios and listen for the third whistle to
blow.
|
| UNITED
NATIONS |
|
E |
|
Economic and Social
Council
|
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CN.4/2002/83/Add.2
11 February 2002
Original: ENGLISH |
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-eighth session
Item 12 (a) of the
provisional agenda
INTEGRATION
OF THE human rights OF WOMEN
AND THE
GENDER PERSPECTIVE
VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN
Report of the Special
Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human
Rights resolution 2001/49*
Addendum
Mission to
Sierra Leone
(21-29
August 2001)
* The executive summary of
this mission report is being circulated in all official languages. The
report itself is contained in the annex to the executive summary and is
being circulated in the language of submission only.
GE.02-10732 (E) 180202
Executive
summary
This report contains
the findings of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women
following her visit to Sierra Leone on official mission, from 21 to 29
August 2001. It addresses the widespread violence against women
committed during the conflict and identifies key measures and
initiatives needed to ensure the rights of women in the aftermath of the
conflict.
As civilians, the
women and girls of Sierra Leone have been subjected to human rights
abuses and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including
killing, amputation, forced displacement, forced conscription, and the
looting and destruction of their property. As women, they have been
subjected to gender-specific abuses, including rape, sexual slavery and
forced marriages to members of the various factions. Systematic and
widespread rape and other sexual violence has been a hallmark of the
conflict in Sierra Leone. Sexual violence has been directed against
women of all ages, including very young girls. Thousands of cases have
been reported, including individual and gang rape, sexual assault with
objects and sexual slavery. These gender-specific violations in
particular have received little attention from the international
community. It should be noted that such human rights abuses have been
committed by all parties to the armed conflict.
The Special Rapporteur
calls on all parties to take measures to protect women and girls from
rape and other forms of sexual violence, including instructing all the
warring factions to respect international humanitarian law. She calls
on them to state publicly that rape in the conduct of armed conflict
constitutes a war crime and may constitute a crime against humanity
under defined circumstances, and that anyone who commits rape will be
brought to justice. She also calls on them to investigate all reports
of rape and other forms of sexual violence and to prosecute those
alleged to have committed such crimes. Furthermore, she urges all
parties to release immediately all girls, women and other civilians who
remain held against their will, and to ensure that no further abductions
take place.
The Special Rapporteur
notes that the failure to investigate, prosecute and punish those
responsible for rape and other forms of gender-based violence has
contributed to an environment of impunity that perpetuates violence
against women in Sierra Leone, including rape and domestic violence.
The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the criminal justice system in
relation to women, and the reported low level of conviction for rape and
other forms of gender-based violence. She urges the Government to
intensify its efforts to combat violence against women, through
comprehensive measures, including gender-sensitive training in the
criminal justice system. The Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court makes explicit that rape and other gender-based violence
are among the most serious crimes of concern to the international
community by specifically defining them as constituent acts of crimes
against humanity and war crimes.
The Special Rapporteur
states that, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000)
of 31 October 2000, women and women’s groups should be fully involved in
the peace process and special efforts should be taken to ensure that
women’s needs and interests are included in the political negotiations.
In this regard the Special Rapporteur commends the efforts of the Mano
River Union Women’s Peace Network towards regional peace.
The Special Rapporteur
stresses that the wartime experiences and post-conflict needs of women
and girls must be fully taken into account in the formulation of
repatriation and resettlement plans, as well as during the
demobilization and disarmament process. The necessary conditions must
be provided to enable those women and girls who were forced to become
the sexual partners of members of the rebel forces (so-called “bush
wives”) to leave demobilized combatants, if they wish to. Financing and
humanitarian organizations also should recognize the special needs of
the dependants of combatants, or camp followers, and not only of the
combatants themselves. Rehabilitation programmes must take into account
the wide extent of sexual assault and rape and formulate programmes to
address the specific needs of survivors. Programmes must also be
developed for the special needs of female ex-combatants. Moreover,
special initiatives must be developed to ensure that the security and
subsistence concerns of war widows and other female heads of household
are adequately addressed.
The Special Rapporteur
also highlights her concern about the appalling conditions in the camps
for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Special Rapporteur urges
all parties to abide by and ensure enforcement of the Guiding Principles
on Internal Displacement. She states that the Government must adopt
effective measures to guarantee that the particular security concerns of
women and children displaced by the conflict are met, including measures
against rape and other gender-based violence. The Special Rapporteur
urges the Government and the international community to take immediate
action to ensure that IDPs have access to basic services, particularly
in regard to food, shelter, health, education and protection.
The Special Rapporteur
makes the following further recommendations.
The international
community should ensure that all reports of rape and other forms of
gender-based violence are fully investigated by the appropriate
authorities in order to identify those responsible and bring them to
justice; this should include:
Providing assistance to
the Government of Sierra Leone in restructuring and training the
police force and establishing a competent, impartial and independent
judiciary with the necessary resources to function effectively and
fairly;
Ensuring the appropriate
training is provided to prosecutors, judges and other officials in
handling cases involving rape and other forms of gender-based violence
in armed conflict and in peacetime in accordance with current
standards of international law - notably the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court and jurisprudence of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia;
Ensuring that any training
of the new Sierra Leone army and the police force includes training in
international human rights and humanitarian law, and that those
dealing with women’s cases have expertise in violence against women
and gender-based crimes.
The international
community should increase funding for programmes that address the needs
of victims of sexual violence, including medical care, trauma
counselling, education, vocational skills training and income-generating
schemes.
The Human Rights
Section of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) should
recruit a gender specialist to, inter alia, systematically monitor and
report on issues of gender-based violence. UNIFEM should also open an
office in Sierra Leone so that women’s issues receive the high-profile
treatment that they deserve.
UNAMSIL should
initiate programmes to inform non-State actors of their obligations
under international humanitarian law.
UNAMSIL should ensure
that United Nations peacekeepers fulfil their mandate to protect
civilians from physical violence, including women and girls at risk of
abduction, rape and other forms of sexual violence; ensure that all
troops deployed by UNAMSIL are fully trained in international human
rights and humanitarian law, and that expertise in violence against
women, including gender-based crimes, is provided within UNAMSIL; and
ensure that cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence continue to
be monitored and recorded by the UNAMSIL Human Rights Section with a
view to the investigation and prosecution of those alleged to be
responsible.
Lastly, the Special
Rapporteur recommends that the International Criminal Court standard
should be applied to the composition of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission and the Special Court. The Rome Statute deals with a number
of structural issues that are particularly important for the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court in Sierra Leone to
ensure that cases involving violence against women are prosecuted and
the perpetrators brought to justice. The specific needs of victims of
rape and other forms of sexual violence during the conflict, and their
right to redress, must be fully taken into account.
Annex
Report of the Special
Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, on
her mission to Sierra Leone (12-29 August 2001)
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
List of acronyms 6
I. INTRODUCTION 1 -
5 7
II. CASES 6 - 20 7
III. BACKGROUND 21 -
41 11
IV. GENERAL FINDINGS 42
- 71 15
V. ACCOUNTABILITY AND
IMPUNITY 72 - 80 21
VI. SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR
VICTIMS 81 - 105 23
VII. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
106 - 129 27
A. At the national
level 106 - 122 27
B. At the
international level 123 - 129 30
Annex: Selective list of
persons/organizations the Special Rapporteur met with her mission
33
List of
acronyms
AFRC Armed Forces
Revolutionary Council
APC All People’s Congress
CDF Civil Defence Forces
CEDAW Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women
COOPI Cooperazione
Internazionale
ECOMOG Military Observer
Group of the Community of West African States
FAWE Forum for African Women
Educationalists
FGM female genital
mutilation
ICC International Criminal
Court
IDP internally displaced
person
IMC International Medical
Corps
IRC International Rescue
Committee
NCDHR National Commission
for Democracy and Human Rights
NCRRR National Commission
for Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reintegration
OCHA Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
RUF Revolutionary United
Front
RVF recto-vaginal fistula
SLA Sierra Leone Army
SLAUW Sierra Leone
Association of University Women
SLPP Sierra Leone People’s
Party
TRC Truth and Reconcilation
Commission
VVF vasico-vaginal fístula
WFP World Food Programme
WHO World Health
Organization
UNHCR Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United Nations
Children’s Fund
UNAMSIL United Nations
Mission in Sierra Leone
I.
Introduction
- At the invitation of the
Government of Sierra Leone, the Special Rapporteur on violence against
women, its causes and consequences visited Sierra Leone on official
mission from 21 to 29 August 2001 to study the issue of violence
against women committed during the conflict and to identify key
measures and initiatives needed to ensure the rights of women in the
aftermath of the conflict. The Special Rapporteur visited Freetown,
Kenema, Bo and Makeni.
- The Special Rapporteur
would like to express her appreciation for the cooperation and the
assistance extended to her by the Government of Sierra Leone.
- The Special Rapporteur is
especially grateful for the efficient cooperation and support provided
by Mr. Rodolfo Mattarollo, Chief of the Human Rights Section of the
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), and his staff for
ensuring a substantively and logistically successful visit.
- During her visit to
Sierra Leone, the Special Rapporteur met with President Dr. Ahmed Tejan
Kabbah, the Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs,
Ms. Shirley Gbujama, the Attorney-General, the Chairman of the
National Commission for Democracy and Human Rights (NCDHR) and the
Spokesperson of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Mr. Gibril
Massaquoi. In addition, the Special Rapporteur also met with members
of the diplomatic community, the United Nations country team, the
Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, the Deputy
Field Commander and international and local non-governmental human
rights and women’s organizations. She also took testimonies from
female victims of violence.
- The Special Rapporteur
would like to express her heartfelt thanks to all the women who agreed
to tell their very personal stories to her, so that she could attempt
to understand the suffering which they had endured. The Special
Rapporteur would also like to thank the organizations/individuals that
facilitated meetings with women survivors of violence.
II. Cases
- These testimonies
illustrate the different kinds and level of violence that women and
girls have been subjected to throughout the 10-year armed conflict in
Sierra Leone. As civilians, the women and girls of Sierra Leone have
been subjected to human rights abuses and grave breaches of
international humanitarian law, including killing, amputation, forced
displacement, forced conscription and the looting and destruction of
their property. As women, they have been subjected to gender-specific
abuses, including rape, sexual slavery and forced marriages to members
of the various factions. These gender-specific violations, in
particular, have been underreported. It should also be noted that
human rights abuses have been committed by all parties to the armed
conflict.
- HK (16 years old)1
was at home in Kissy, Freetown in 1997 when she heard gunshots. Her
whole family rushed out to see what was happening. The AFRC came into
the neighbourhood chanting “we want peace”. They started killing and
shooting people at random. Her family began running in every
direction. She watched as the AFRC members cut in half the newborn
child of her aunt. Then they told her to vacate the premises and
captured her, while they set fire to the house with everyone else
inside. She was taken to a camp and told that she would have to fight
for the AFRC. When she said that she did not want to fight she was
put in the “looting” contingent and given a weapon and 58 rounds of
ammunition. From then on she went on the operations of the AFRC.
Before they went out, a man called Dr. Prince would inject them with a
substance. The first time it was given to her she passed out. Then
they carved AFRC on her body with a razor. When she was given the
substance, she was always disoriented and did not know what she was
doing. She was a virgin when captured but on the first evening she
was given rum with some tablets. She fell asleep and when she woke up
she noticed that she was completely “messed up” and there was pain
between her legs. After that she was raped repeatedly at gun-point
when any one of the male rebels wanted her. By 1999, she had moved
from the looting contingent to becoming a fully-fledged combatant. On
6 January of that year, she was taken back to Freetown and ordered to
kill people and cause as much havoc as possible. With other child
combatants, she cut off people’s arms, heads and breasts under orders
from the AFRC commanders. They were driven back from Freetown and
they joined the RUF forces and went to Makheni. She stayed there
until she heard that there was “peace” and that anyone who wanted to
go would be released. With another friend she went to Port Loko.
There she found (ECOMOG) soldiers from Nigeria. They took her to the
camp for internally displaced persons in the stadium and later she was
moved to the Grafton camp. At that time she was five months
pregnant. The baby was finally born in the Grafton camp. A few
months later it died - the doctors said that it was because of the
cold and the conditions in the camp.
- PC (18 years old) lived
with her father in Freetown and went to school. In 1996 she went to
Kenema with her father to visit her mother, when the RUF attacked.
Her father took her and her sister and ran but her mother got lost.
To this day she does not know where her mother is. The rebels caught
her, her father and her sister and asked them to accompany the rebels
to Makheni. They made them carry heavy loads. They gave a very heavy
load to her father and when he objected they beheaded him. The rebels
forced her to carry her father’s head all the way to Makheni. She was
15 years old. At Makheni, she and her sister, who was 12, were raped
continuously. Each girl had 8 to 10 men that she had to sleep with
regularly. Her sister died from the repeated rape. PC was with the
rebels for three years. She was pregnant twice but lost her babies.
In 1999 she was pregnant again, when the rebels decided to attack
Freetown. During the attack, she escaped. A young woman took her in
and hid her for six days. Then the young woman bribed officials at
the Grafton camp for 40,000 leons and bought her a place in a booth.
Since she is illegal she has no card and therefore does not get
rations. She braids hair and sells firewood to earn her living. Her
daughter was born in the camp and is always sickly and highly anaemic.
She has no access to health care and her child no access to school.
- FC (40 years old)2
was told by the Kamajors (see paragraph 50, below), after the
intervention in 1998, to leave Kono so that she did not get caught up
in the crossfire between them and the rebels as they tried to secure
Kono. She was three months pregnant. She and her brother, along with
some of her children, left for her husband’s village, Loma, one of the
villages that border Guinea.
- They took a bush path to
try to get to their destination. When they arrived at a village
called Simbakoro they took refuge there and rested for a little while
after an exhaustive walk. On the following day, they heard firing;
they left the village and moved on to another village called Jabayma
Fiama. They stayed at Jabayma Fiama for three days. Then the rebels
(RUF) attacked the village and abducted them. They took all their
belongings and food. They gave them heavy loads to carry and ordered
them to come with them. Her 13-year-old daughter was crying bitterly
because of the heavy load she was carrying. After walking for a few
miles one of the commandos, Ibrahim, ordered her to return to the
village where they came from with her younger daughter, but said he
would not release her 13-year-old daughter. She pleaded with him not
to take her away; and then he scolded her to obey him. She returned
to the village where they were camping and found her brother, who had
escaped the rebel attack, waiting for her. They took another
direction in the forest and continued their journey.
- On their way, they met a
man at a farmhouse who was cooking cassava. She asked him to kindly
share some with them because they were starving. He said he did not
have enough, but he showed them where they could get some fresh ones.
She went and got some. The man allowed them to cook; he went away and
left them at the farmhouse. After cooking, she went to fetch drinking
water from a drain. On the way, she heard a whistle sound and got
scared. She did not know if it was a bird or a human being. She
decided to return to the farmhouse. She heard the same sound again
and was even more frightened. She doubled her steps and quickly
arrived at the farmhouse. As they were about to eat, she heard the
same sound for the third time. Hardly had they heard
the third whistle
sound than they were surrounded by rebels, some of whom wore combat
fatigue and red and white bandannas, others wore plain clothes and
bandannas. All of them carried guns. She was terribly frightened.
Then the rebels started interrogating them about the whereabouts of
the Kamajors and the ECOMOG forces. They said they did not know. The
rebels kept harassing them to tell; they kept pleading in vain that
they did not know. The rebels did not believe them. They accused her
brother of being a Kamajor, he said he was not but they wasted no time
with him. One of the rebels took out his dagger, slashed her
brother’s penis, put it in his mouth, the others beat him up
mercilessly and finally killed him in her presence.
- The rebels continued
interrogating her about the hiding places of the Kamajors. She was
crying and said she honestly did not know. She thought they would
kill her. They said they would rape her because she did not
cooperate. They stripped her naked; and then three of them raped her
violently on the spot in the presence of her four-year old daughter.
As they raped her, they insulted her and used all sorts of obscene
language. As she was about to get up, she was ordered to remain lying
down. She did and was raped for the fourth time. She was extremely
worried and thought she was going to miscarry because she was
experiencing abdominal pain. After the fourth one, one of the rebels
told the others to stop raping her because she was pregnant. Then
they ordered her to get up and carry a heavy load and follow them to a
village called Waima.
- During the journey, the
rebels were insulting her and threatening her that the worst was yet
to come. They accused her of being a Tejan-Kabba, ECOMOG and Kamajor
supporter. They said that they had grievances because they had worked
very hard for the country. Tejan-Kabba had refused to pay them,
instead he had hired mercenaries to kill them, so she would pay the
price for what Tejan-Kabba had done to them.
- They finally arrived at
Waima village at night after a long walk. The rebels gave her and her
daughter food to eat. She told them she did not feel like eating, but
they forced her to. At daybreak they left Waima for Jabayma Fiama.
On the way, they came across a woman carrying a suitcase of her
valuables on her head, apparently trying to escape. The rebels rushed
towards her and scrambled for her belongings. FC noticed that they
had forgotten about her and took advantage of this opportunity to
escape from the rebels. She pulled her daughter hard and sneaked
away. She walked the whole day and arrived at a camp around 4 p.m.
She saw some women she had met before and told them that she was
heading for her husband’s village. They warned her not to proceed
because the rebels were everywhere. They explained that the camp was
a rebel camp for abductees. They were detained as slaves to cook and
carry out any hard labour orders given by the rebels. They persuaded
her that it was safer to stay with them. She decided to join them at
the camp.
- At 5 p.m., the rebels
returned to the camp to have dinner. After dinner one of the rebels
raped FC in the presence of everyone. At night, the rebels took all
of them to a nearby village. They raped all the women at random; some
were raped in the presence of their husbands. Women were gang-raped
or raped multiple times. She was raped by four men that night, in the
presence of her four-year-old daughter.
- In the morning, they were
taken to the camp and given diamba (marijuana) to boil. After boiling
it, they were all ordered, including children and women who were
pregnant (as she was), to drink it. After drinking the diamba, one of
the rebels ordered them to form a queue, which they did. He was about
to kill them, but another rebel stopped him. He ordered them to say
“yes, sir” to whatever he said. He insulted them, as well as their
parents, several times; they answered “yes, sir”. He used all sorts
of obscene and degrading language towards them; they answered “yes,
sir”. He asked if they had all enjoyed the “fucking” they received
last night; they answered “yes, sir”.
- One morning, one of the
abducted men in the camp encouraged them to escape as soon as the
rebels left for their routine tour. They did exactly that; they took
a bush path in the opposite direction the rebels had taken. That was
how FC escaped.
- FC continued her journey
to her husband’s village. She was with her four-year-old daughter.
They walked for a week. She arrived at Loma, sick, with swollen feet
and extremely exhausted. At Loma, she was told that her husband was
in Guinea. She crossed over to Guinea to join him at the refugee
camp. He was very happy to see her. On the third day after her
arrival, she was very much confused and feared that, if she did not
tell him her experience, he would hear about it from someone else.
She mustered courage and confided in him. After he heard her ordeal,
he rejected her and said that her pregnancy was cursed and
contaminated. He disowned her, her four-year-old and the baby that
was yet to be born. He said that the baby was a rebel baby. He
blamed her for the rape and accused her of being promiscuous. He said
she belonged to the rebels, not him. She pleaded with him in vain not
to abandon her, but he was adamant. He threw her out of the house
with her four-year old. Her husband, his other two wives and other
members of the family said she should not stay with them because she
was a shame to the family. She had nowhere to go. She was sleeping
on the verandas and in the kitchens of neighbours with her child.
- They were very ill.
Every morning she went to a nearby hospital to beg for treatment, but
did not receive any. She would hang around the hospital, crying out
in pain and suffering. One day a woman from Action contre la Faim
came to the hospital, found her crying and asked her what the problem
was. She explained to her what she had gone through. The woman took
her to Gueckedou hospital, where she was hospitalized for about four
months until she had her baby. When she had the baby she asked the
nurse to kill her by injecting her, because her husband would never
accept her. She was encouraged by the senior nurse not to. After she
was discharged, she pleaded with her husband again to accept her
because of their nine children; and he did reluctantly. But their
relationship has never been the same. He is maltreating her and he
does not want to see the child. He has warned her not to come close
because she is a disgrace to him. He has no affection for her. She
says it is a very painful life. She is now living at Grafton camp.
- K, a 30-year-old with a
small baby, described how she was raped in the small prison inside the
CDF headquarters:3 “We were in the HQ all
day and then at night they placed us in the guardroom [prison] and
ordered us to pay a bail to be let free. From there they started
picking out the women they wanted to use. About 20 CDF said ‘either
we kill you or we use you. Everything is left to you’. We told them
we are not bad people. Those goods are what we work with, we are
traders not rebels. Then a Kamajor called ‘Z’(name withheld) forced
me into the guard room and raped me on the hard ground and with my
little baby next to me. I begged him and said he was supposed to be
fighting for us, not killing us, but he said: ‘Shut up, there’s no
one who’ll ask me anything. I’m a government man. Even if I kill
you, no one will know’. Next door I could hear my cousin, another
trader from my village, screaming and being beaten. When she came out
she was bleeding from four places on her head where they had beaten
her with a flashlight. She had tried to resist but they still raped
her. They stole all my rice and money and even the clothes I had
bought in Freetown for my children.”
III.
Background
- Sierra Leone is a small
West African country. It covers an area of 71,740 square kilometres,
surrounded by larger neighbours, Guinea and Liberia and bordering the
Atlantic Ocean. Fourteen ethnic groups live according to Islamic,
Christian and animist traditions in Sierra Leone. Geographical-based
tensions between the Mende in the south and Temne and Limba in the
north, manipulated by politicians, were one of the causes of the
progressive collapse of the State system since independence. The
educated Krio minority initially occupied a higher social and economic
position and have traditionally been resented by the other groups.
The Mendes from the south took over control of the Sierra Leone
People’s Party (SLPP); the Temnes and Limbas from the north became
drawn to the All People’s Congress (APC).
- Sierra Leone is one of
the poorest countries in the world, despite having rich mineral
resources. Diamonds have been a major factor in the cross-border war
that has engulfed Sierra Leone for the past decade, and have financed
the rebel movements. Years of civil war in Sierra Leone, preceded and
interspersed with periods of poor and sometimes corrupt governance,
have led to major weaknesses in infrastructure and services. Urban
areas have become highly populated as a result of the arrival of large
numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from areas under rebel
control.
History of events
- Much has already been
written on the recent history of Sierra Leone4
and it is not the purpose of this report to provide a detailed
history, but, to provide the context of the current situation, there
follows a short chronology of events.
- Sierra Leone gained
independence from the British in 1961. In 1991, the dire economic and
political conditions in the country were the setting for the emergence
of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which claimed to be a
political movement that had the aim of saving the country from the
corruption of the APC. In 1992, the APC regime was overthrown in a
military coup. Subsequent international and local pressure led to
democratic elections in 1996, which were won by Tejan Kabbah. The
struggle between the RUF and three successive governments raged
throughout the 1990s against the backdrop of three decades of State
disintegration. Under President Kabbah, the Civil Defence Force (CDF),
a pro-government militia, was strengthened to protect government held
areas against the rebels. In May 1997, the Sierra Leone Army (SLA)
overthrew Kabbah, formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC)
and joined forces with the RUF. In March 1998, the Military Observer
Group of the Community of West African States (ECOMOG) ousted the AFRC/RUF
regime and reinstated Kabbah.
- Between 1996 and 1999,
three separate negotiation processes between the Government and the
RUF failed to bring peace to Sierra Leone.
- Systematic and widespread
rape and other sexual violence has been a hallmark of the conflict in
Sierra Leone. Sexual violence has been directed against women of all
ages, including very young girls. Thousands of cases of sexual
violence have been reported, including individual and gang rape,
sexual assault with objects and sexual slavery.
- In January 1999, the RUF/AFRC
invaded the capital, Freetown. During this rebel offensive, there
were hundreds of reports of women and girls being rounded up and
brutally raped. The rebel forces also abducted several thousand
civilians from Freetown at this time. Of the women and girls who were
abducted, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent were raped. Many
girls subsequently released were pregnant, had given birth or had
contracted sexually transmitted diseases.
- In 1999, the
international community brokered a cease fire, which led to the
signing of the Lomé Peace Agreement, a power-sharing agreement between
the Government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) that granted
amnesty to all combatants, except those who had committed crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The United Nations
Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was established to assist in the
implementation of the Peace Agreement. The Peace Agreement brought
about a relative reduction in many of the worst abuses, except for
sexual assault against women and girls, which continued unabated.
- In May 2000, the RUF took
500 United Nation Peacekeepers hostage, sparking renewed fighting. As
the peace process collapsed and fighting escalated once again, all
sides in the conflict - the RUF and rebel militias, and, increasingly,
pro-government forces - committed horrific crimes against the civilian
population, including systematic and widespread sexual assault, rape
and mutilation of women.
- Following this
development, the Security Council adopted resolution 1315 (2000)
on 14 August 2000, in which it requested the Secretary-General to
negotiate an agreement with the Government of Sierra Leone to create a
special independent court. The court will exercise jurisdiction over
those individuals who bear the greatest responsibility for the
commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious
violations of international humanitarian law, as well as crimes under
relevant Sierra Leonean law committed in Sierra Leone.
- In September 2000, the
RUF staged cross-border attacks into neighbouring Guinea. Guinean
armed forces subsequently invaded Sierra Leone to dislodge the RUF.
Two ceasefire agreements were signed between the RUF and the
Government of Sierra Leone. Under the Lomé Peace Agreement, the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is only one of the various bodies
created as part of the framework for national reconciliation and the
consolidation of peace. Among the other institutions are the
Committee for Humanitarian Assistance, the Committee for the
Consolidation of Peace, the National Commission for Disarmament,
Demobilization and Reintegration and the Human Rights Commission.
- In 2001, President
Kabbah’s public declaration of his intent to extend his Government’s
mandate by six months in order to organize elections5
provoked a strong reaction from the RUF leadership, including threats
that they would discontinue participation in the disarmament process
if an interim government was not put in place. At the time of the
Special Rapporteur’s visit the situation remained relatively stable
and the peace process continued. However, there were continuing
reports of CDF attacks against RUF held villages in the Kono and
Koinadugu districts, as well as of an RUF attack against Henekuma
village that had taken place in July 2001.
Status of women
- Sierra Leone ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women in 1990. To date, however, no reports have been submitted to
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government set up a working
committee, including women’s organizations, in order to prepare
reports and to implement any recommendations made by CEDAW. The
Special Rapporteur welcomes the National Policy on the Advancement of
Women and the National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming and encourages
the Government to implement these policies and eliminate any
gender-specific obstacles to the equal enjoyment of rights and
freedoms, in order to make a real difference to women’s lives, in
compliance with its international obligations.
- Even before the conflict,
women in Sierra Leone had been marginalized in all spheres of life.
Some of the reasons for this were low or no literacy, poverty, lack of
capacity to participate in decision-making and cultural constraints,
all of which contributed to the low status of women in society. The
conflict has exacerbated the problem by creating many female headed
households which face, inter alia inappropriate shelter conditions,
family separations and legal inequality, for example discrimination
under the law in regard to property ownership and inheritance rights.
- The Special Rapporteur is
also concerned that harmful traditional practices continue in Sierra
Leone. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is widespread and is part of
the initiation into the “Bundu society”. One survey indicated that it
affected as many as 89 per cent of women.6
Some African defenders of the practice explained to the Special
Rapporteur that this was about “being a woman the African way”. They
felt that eradicating FGM would strike at the heart of Sierra Leone
society. The Bundu society is an integral part of the initiation of
young women and, besides undergoing FGM, they are taught the skills
and practices of Sierra Leone culture. Nevertheless the health
problems associated with FGM have been widely discussed by, amongst
others, the World Health Organization. These problems include pain,
because no local anaesthetic is used; haemorrhage and shock due to the
sudden blood loss and unexpected pain; acute urinary retention, which
leads to urinary tract infection; the use of unsterilized equipment
and the application of local dressings of cow dung and ashes;
septicaemia (blood poisoning), fever, tetanus and death. Other
complications that may arise well after the operation are delay in the
wound healing, infection of the urinary tract, difficulty in urinating
and difficult penetration during sexual intercourse. In terms of her
reproductive health, the circumcised mother may face prolonged and
obstructed labour due to the tough post-circumcision scar, and
unnecessary Caesarian sections. The child may be stillborn or suffer
from brain damage as a result of the prolonged and obstructed labour.
Both CEDAW and the Committee on the Rights of the Child affirm the
right of the girl child to be free from harmful traditional practices,
including FGM. It is therefore essential that the Government of
Sierra Leone take effective action against this practice.
Legal framework
- Sierra Leone is a party
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, as well as to the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Sierra Leone has ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women and signed its Optional Protocol, and has ratified the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court and signed the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or
Punishment. The Government of Sierra Leone signed, on 8 September
2000, the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the
sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. In
addition, the Government has committed itself to prohibiting the
recruitment and use of child soldiers by the army of Sierra Leone.
- Despite its plethora of
international obligations, the accompanying legislation to incorporate
the international obligations in domestic law is reportedly lacking.
- Years of civil war in
Sierra Leone, preceded and interspersed with periods of poor and
sometimes corrupt governance have led to major weaknesses in
infrastructure and services. In particular, the Sierra Leonean
domestic judicial process is weak and gender insensitive; juvenile
justice procedures are barely existent. Police forces and
prosecutorial mechanisms are poorly equipped; legal defence capacity
is weak. The Government of Sierra Leone and the international
community must strengthen the national judicial process as part of
efforts to rehabilitate the country.
- Sierra Leone has a dual
judicial system of formal and customary law. The Constitution
provides for the equal treatment of men and women, but the rights and
status of women vary considerably under customary law. Furthermore,
under the current state of emergency powers the Government has
suspended many of the rights and guarantees which the Constitution
contains. Political prisoners have been detained under the powers
without legal counsel or access to their families.
- Gender discrimination
exists in the law, inter alia in regard to property ownership and
inheritance rights. It has been shown that the denial of inheritance
rights, and the resulting economic vulnerability and tenure
insecurity, often prevent women from leaving abusive situations in
which they are subject to physical, sexual and/or psychological
violence. With the increase in female headed households caused by
male fatalities during the conflict, women and girls often lack either
the legal means or the cultural community support with which to
reclaim their property.
- Rape in the community was
a problem before the conflict, but with the conflict its incidence and
prevalence have escalated. Women often remain silent out of shame,
guilt, fear of reprisals and the futility of reporting given the lack
of redress for gender-based violations. The expectation of impunity
for violations of women’s human rights encourages such violations.
The most effective deterrent to sexual violence is to hold the
perpetrators responsible for their crimes. Similarly, there is no
specific law that protects women from domestic violence. The
Government must take gender-based crimes seriously, in accordance with
its international obligations to prevent, investigate and prosecute
the perpetrators of such crimes.
IV. GENERAL
FINDINGS
- The Special Rapporteur
took individual testimonies from women and girl survivors of gross
violations of human rights committed by all the warring factions.
UNAMSIL, human rights non-governmental organizations and academics
have started to document gender-based violence cases to be submitted
to the TRC and the Special Court, to ensure that violations of women’s
rights are recognized as gross and systematic violations of
International Humanitarian Law. Their data was also shared with the
Special Rapporteur.
- According to statistics
based on 733 testimonies collected from Sierra Leonean women and girls7
72 per cent of them reported having experienced human rights abuses.
Over 50 per cent reported having been subjected to sexual violence;
47.1 per cent reported having been raped; 55.7 per cent reported
having been gang raped; and 1.4 per cent reported having been raped
with a foreign object. Other forms of violence reported included
being forced to strip naked.
- Slightly less than half
of the interviewees (41.7 per cent) were abducted by the various
factions. Of these interviewees, the majority (87.9 per cent)
reported having been raped and subjected to sexual slavery; 8.2 per
cent reported that they were forced to marry their abductor; 1.6 per
cent reported that they were forcibly conscripted.
- Of the 733 interviewees,
19.5 per cent were between 6 and 17 years old. Of these 4.9 per cent
reported that they had been virgins when raped. The youngest rape
victim interviewed was 7 years old, while the oldest was 72 years
old. One hundred and twenty-four interviewees reported that their
husbands had been killed during the conflict. Of these interviewees,
58.1 per cent of them reported having been raped.
- The interviewees also
reported having been subjected to other human rights violations,
including forced labour, amputations, gunshot wounds, burnt dwellings,
looted property and being intentionally burnt.
- Given the widespread
nature of the human rights violations, the interviewees complained of
various conflict-related health problems. Of the 733 interviewees,
26.2 per cent reported such health problems. Of these, 78.6 per cent
reported sexual violence-related health problems. Of the 345 women
who reported rape 32 (9.3 per cent) reported forcible impregnation.
Of the 32 women forcibly impregnated, 12 (37.5 per cent) had given
birth, 3 (9.4 per cent) had lost children, 9 (28.1 per cent) had had a
miscarriage and 8 (25 per cent) were pregnant at the time of the
interview.
- Of the 534 interviewees
who reported human rights abuses, 389 women (72.8 per cent) were able
to identify the faction(s) responsible for committing the abuses and
the year the abuses occurred. Some were able to identify individual
perpetrators in command positions within the RUF and AFRC.
- According to information
provided to the Special Rapporteur, the RUF and the AFRC were the
worst perpetrators of violence against civilians, especially women and
children, during the conflict and in the Northern Province the RUF
continues to hold many abductees, the majority of whom are women and
children. The Special Rapporteur calls on all parties to release all
remaining women and girl abductees in their custody, in accordance
with their obligations under article XXI of the Lomé Agreement.
- Numerous testimonies also
reported cases of gender-based violence, including gang rape
perpetrated by the warring factions loyal to the Government. The
scale and nature of abuses committed by ECOMOG and by the Civilian
Defence Forces (CDF), the largest and most powerful of which are the
Kamajors, differ from those committed by the other warring factions,
but are no less horrific. After the signing of the Lomé Peace
Agreement, abuses by the Sierra Leonean Army (SLA), including rape,
extortion and excessive use of force, increased. The 1991 State of
Emergency Act has reportedly been used by the Government to detain
rebels without authorizing ICRC and other monitoring groups access to
them.
- Women and girls have not
only been victims but also perpetrators. Atrocities committed by a
small number of women have been documented. According to reports
(inter alia, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/21) in January 1999, a local rebel
commander ordered all virgin girls to report for a physical
examination. The girls were checked by a female companion of the
commander, who “verified” whether they were virgins. The role of
women in this capacity has been limited and the testimonies suggest
that most did not act voluntarily. Many claim they were abducted,
forced to watch the execution of their loved ones and then taken and
trained to fight.
- Rape, sexual slavery and
other forms of sexual violence have been directed against women and
girls of all ages, including very young girls. A survey of 226
victims, conducted by the University of Sierra Leone Gender Research
and Documentation Centre in collaboration with the Sierra Leone
Association of University Women (SLAUW), Médecins Sans Frontières,
UNICEF and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE),8
found the average age of rape survivors to be between 12 and 32 years.
- Women and girls were
brutally raped and gang raped by members of the warring parties or
raped with objects, such as burning sticks. In some cases the same
woman was abducted and raped multiple times by different groups. The
crimes of sexual violence were often accompanied by other forms of
violence. Murder or mutilation often accompanied the rape. Many were
forced to work as porters and witness their family members being
raped, having limb amputations, being abducted or being murdered.
Reports have been received that pregnant women were targeted.
Mutilated bodies of pregnant women whose foetuses had been cut out of
their wombs or who died of gunshot wounds to the abdomen were found.
Pregnant women were also forced into labour by the extreme physical
hardship of having to flee their homes, and at times died in flight
from complications in childbirth.
- Many of the incidents of
rape took place when victims were abducted and forced to become sexual
slaves (forced into marriage, domestic servitude or other forced
labour that involves forced sexual activity, including rape by their
captors) or “bush wives” of their captors, as well as being forced to
fight in some cases. Those attempting to resist the abduction of a
family member were beaten, maimed or killed.
- Particularly vulnerable
were young women between the ages of 14 and 18 who were sought after
and targeted for being virgins. The rebels often entered homes and
asked for virgin girls. The virgins were given to the younger
fighters. Girls, some as young as 4 years old, were abducted by rebel
forces and forced to be sexual slaves. Many survivors testified to
seeing girls bleed to death after gang rape. Those who testified to
the Special Rapporteur spoke of being shared among the combatants, who
would rape them on a daily basis. Those who did not manage to escape
often tried to attach themselves to one rebel, to avoid constant gang
rape, be given a certain amount of protection, and be subjected to
less hardship. Many became pregnant, had children and stayed with the
rebels for years, and often suffered other forms of physical violence.
- After rebel forces
attacked Freetown on 6 January 1999 many people reported rape of
groups of girls and women in public places. Girls and women were
rounded up in different parts of the city and forced to report nightly
to rebel commanders. It is reported that in some cases rebel
commanders ordered all girls who were virgins to report for a physical
examination by a female colleague. Those confirmed to be virgins,
mostly aged between 12 and 15 years were ordered to report each night
to the rebel commander and other combatants, who raped and physically
assaulted them. Some of the girls were abducted when the rebel forces
were forced to retreat from Freetown. More than 4,000 children were
reported missing after the rebel incursion into Freetown in January
1999. According to reports received by the Special Rapporteur, more
than half of the children abducted in January 1999 were girls, the
vast majority of whom were reported to have been sexually abused.
- Victims described the
widespread use by rebels of drugs (cocaine), marijuana and alcohol.
Women abductees reported being forcibly cut and injected with drugs,
or being given food and drink laced with drugs.
- Refugees from Sierra
Leone (as well as from Liberia) who sought refuge in Guinea were also
victims of violence. According to information received, following a
statement on national
radio by the
President of the Republic of Guinea on 7 September 2000 blaming
refugees for sheltering armed rebels who had allegedly carried out
attacks on Guinea from Sierra Leone and Liberia, mobs attacked
thousands of refugees in the capital, Conakry. Many refugees were
forced out of their homes and beaten. There were also credible
reports of rape and sexual abuse of women and girl refugees by Guinean
police, soldiers and civilians, in many instances by multiple
attackers. Non-governmental organizations collected numerous
testimonies of victims. Following rebel attacks from September 2000
in the forest region of Guinea, thousands of refugees fled, seeking
shelter in local villages and some opting to return to Sierra Leone
despite the uncertain situation. Before and during the movement back
to Sierra Leone, some of the women were taken by the rebels as sex
slaves. They were subjected to sexual, physical and psychological
abuse. Men were also captured to fight with the rebels or carry
loads, leaving women to head families and exposing them to sexual
abuse and exploitation. Eighty-seven per cent of returnees are unable
to return to their areas of origin because they are unsafe. They are
taken to UNHCR run camp settlements or host communities, depending on
their area of origin.
Social consequences
- The extensive and
systematic sexual abuse of young girls and women is one of the most
painful and traumatic legacies of the conflict. It is also the one
that has been least addressed by the international community, the
focus being on child ex-combatants and amputees. The victims’ trauma
is compounded by social stigma, rejection by their communities and
reluctance to address the issue. A special programme is needed to
address the special needs of this group of victims, including their
health needs. Such a programme should also include a campaign of
sensitization of local communities.
Health
- In addition to the trauma
of the rape itself, which may cause life-long psychological damage to
the victim, sexual assault can result in serious physical injury,
forced pregnancy, disease and death. All victims of rape and other
forms of sexual violence suffer trauma and almost all will require
medical treatment for the physical injuries inflicted on them during
the ordeal.
- A significant number of
the young women and girls who were victims of sexual violence were
impregnated, adding to the growing number of child mothers in Sierra
Leone. Many of the girls are suffering from vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF)
which is clearly identified as a result of rape and child-bearing when
their bodies are still immature. Mothers whose pelvis and birth canal
are not fully developed often endure very prolonged labour. Unless
the mother receives emergency obstetric care, relentless pressure from
the baby’s skull can damage the birth canal, causing breakages in the
wall that allow uncontrollable leakage from the bladder into the
vagina. The same problem may also occur in relation to the rectum,
with leakage of faeces (recto-vaginal fistula or RVF). Fistula
conditions are permanent without surgical intervention to reseal the
tissues. Such intervention may not be sought or may be very hard to
access in Sierra Leone. There is also evidence that FGM practices
that damage the vagina may also increase the likelihood of VVF.
- Obstetric and
gynaecological care for victims of sexual violence and young mothers
must be made available urgently. Poor quality of care and
inaccessibility of services, and high costs are all major obstacles.
The Government must create a gender sensitive health policy and
programme environment to address women’s and girls’ needs, in
particular health needs resulting from the conflict.
- As a consequence of
widespread sexual violence during the conflict, it is predicted that
the number of HIV-infected persons and AIDS-related deaths will rise
dramatically. Reports signal a potentially grave health situation for
the nation if resources are not provided for an intensive and
sustained educational campaign. Access to health care is inadequate
owing to lack of availability of heath facilities and medical
personnel, and the cost of treatment. Furthermore, there is a serious
imbalance in favour of Freetown. In the rural areas the majority of
people use traditional healers and traditional birthing attendants.
- WHO is providing basic
assistance, but it is very limited. The health infrastructure is
non-existent following years of corruption and conflict. Sierra Leone
is in desperate need of international assistance in regard to both
financial and personnel resources. Under the Lomé Peace Agreement,
the parties made a commitment to set up a special fund for war
victims. There is an urgent need for the fund to be established and
it should give particular priority to the special needs of sexually
abused women and girls.
Refugees, the internally
displaced and humanitarian assistance
- International
organizations and local NGOs are working in Sierra Leone to address
the complex humanitarian emergency that has emerged from the ongoing
conflict. The situation of IDPs in Sierra Leone is of serious
concern. As observed by the Secretary-General in his twelfth report
to the Security Council on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
(S/2001/1195), the refugee and internally displaced persons crisis in
and around Sierra Leone is one of the most serious human rights,
humanitarian and political crises facing the international community.
In total, there are over 1 million refugees, internally displaced
persons and other war-affected victims in Sierra Leone, Guinea and
Liberia. According to information from the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as at August 2001
there were some 126,959 IDPs residing in camps, 120,631 IDPs in host
communities (communities that are formally supported by the food
pipeline agencies (the World Food Programme (WFP), Catholic Relief
Services, CARE and World Vision)) and UNHCR was formally
supporting 75,580 returnees with humanitarian assistance.
- The UNAMSIL Human Rights
Section estimates that IDPs in recognized camps number 130,000.
However, there are no statistics for the numerous newly discovered
IDPs in rebel held areas. Although the data has not been
disaggregated by gender, the majority of IDPs are women and children.
- UNHCR has stretched its
mandate to include “returnees”. In this context, a returnee is a
person who has been a refugee outside the country, has returned to
Sierra Leone and is at present in need of humanitarian assistance.
IDPs who are returnees from either Guinea or Liberia would fall into
this category. UNHCR collects Sierra Leonean refugees, brings them
back to Sierra Leone and holds them in returnee camps. This is
supposed to be a temporary arrangement for five days, after which they
will be relocated to their villages or IDP camps. However, people
generally do not want to be uprooted again, and remain in the returnee
camps for many months. According to information received, the
returnee camps have even fewer facilities than the IDP camps and
living conditions in them are very poor.
- The management of the IDP
camps is national, under the NCRRR. OCHA coordinates international
humanitarian assistance.
- The Special Rapporteur
visited Grafton IDP camp, outside Freetown, which has a population of
7,572 officially recognized residents and 1,602 unofficial residents.
Official status means that residents are provided with WFP ration
cards and have access to the food assistance provided. According to
information received, new arrivals remained with unofficial status and
were unable to receive food assistance owing to the fact that at the
time of the previous delivery of food supplies, WFP had come without
the requisite documentation to register them. World Relief is said to
be managing the camp, WFP provides food, Action Contre la Faim
provides water, Médecins Sans Frontières Holland provides health care
and organizes psycho-social counselling, and Plan International
provides educational facilities. The monthly food supply per person
consists of 9 kg of maize meal, 4 cups of beans and some oil. One
booth is given to each family (approximately eight or nine people).
There is one clinic in the camp, with no doctor, just three nurses.
The only guaranteed health assistance is provided by the traditional
birthing attendants. Serious medical cases can be referred to
hospital, where they are treated at the patients’ own cost.
Educational services consist of one primary school with 1,966 students
and 28 teachers, who are IDPs. There is no high school or training
for adults. For the security of camp residents there is one police
post, but residents say that it is rarely manned.
- The conditions in the IDP
camps are desperate. In one of the camps visited by the Special
Rapporteur, the camp manager reported an increase in infant mortality
and reported that two children died a day as a result of the extremely
poor living conditions. Overcrowding and insufficient food and
medical care are among the most urgent concerns. The medical care
that exists is very basic, consisting of traditional birth attendants,
who operate a system of referral to local hospitals which is supposed
to be free but, the Special Rapporteur was told, in practice is not.
Security is another concern. Rape in the camps is common; families
reportedly settle matters themselves through the payment of money.
The majority of the women interviewed by the Special Rapporteur were
female heads of household and were struggling to make a living selling
firewood which they collect in the hills behind the camp. Others said
they were forced to work as prostitutes to have enough food for
themselves and their children to survive. More needs to be done to
provide alternative forms of employment. The ration card system did
not appear to be operating correctly, with one card having to be
shared among numerous persons.
- The humanitarian
assistance provided in UNHCR-run camps visited by the Special
Rapporteur seemed to be much better. A review should be undertaken of
the living conditions in the different camps to urgently improve the
assistance provided, in line with the government and international
community commitments. Projects for survivors of gender-based
violence should be supported and strengthened (see section IV below on
social support for victims).
V.
Accountability and Impunity
- There is growing
recognition of the central importance of combating impunity in order
to achieve a sustainable peace in Sierra Leone. The Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Special Court are being
established in the context of the end of a protracted civil war and
efforts to achieve some form of national reconciliation. The Special
Rapporteur urges all concerned to ensure that a gender perspective is
integrated into the work of the TRC and the Special Court.
- The TRC is in the process
of being established to address impunity, break the cycle of violence,
provide a forum for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights
violations to tell their stories, and obtain a clear picture of the
past in order to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation. In a
spirit of national reconciliation, the Commission will address the
question of human rights violations since the beginning of the Sierra
Leonean conflict in 1991 and will, among other things, recommend
measures to be taken for the rehabilitation of victims of human rights
violations. Membership of the Commission will be drawn from a cross
section of Sierra Leonean society, with the participation of and some
technical support from the international community.9
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General is in the process
of selecting national candidates for the TRC, and it is hoped that it
will be functioning by the end of 2001.
- Pursuant to Security
Council resolution 1315 (2000), there is an agreement between the
Secretary-General and the Government of Sierra Leone for the creation
of an independent special court to bring to justice those persons who
bear the greatest responsibility for the commission of crimes against
humanity,10 war crimes and other serious
violations of international humanitarian law,11
as well as crimes under relevant Sierra Leonean law committed within
the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996. (At the time of
the Special Rapporteur’s visit, the Government had requested that the
temporal jurisdiction of the court be extended, in line with that of
the TRC, to the beginning of the conflict in 1991; at the time of
writing this report a decision had not been made on whether to extend
the temporal jurisdiction or not.) The Office of Legal Affairs at the
United Nations Headquarters in New York is charged with the Special
Court’s establishment. It should be noted that the decision not to
prosecute a person alleged to have committed acts covered by the
Special Court (whether under the minimum age provisions of the court’s
statute or by prosecutorial decision) does not imply innocence or
prevent the person’s prosecution in domestic courts.
- The Special Rapporteur
emphasizes the need to ensure cooperation between the Special Court
and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including with respect to
the involvement of women witnesses in their processes, and to ensure
that a gender perspective is integrated into the work of both bodies,
in accordance with the standards set in the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court (ICC). Given the specific nature of the
human rights violations perpetrated in Sierra Leone it is imperative
that there is compliance with the international standards for an
international court, including a gender-balanced composition, and
judges with specific knowledge of gender-based crimes.12
- The views of the women
survivors who testified to the Special Rapporteur differed on the
punishment of perpetrators. Roughly half of the survivors thought the
perpetrators should be punished, the rest thought the perpetrators
should not be punished. The most common reasons given by the women
for not punishing the perpetrators were, “in the spirit of
reconciliation”, fear of reprisal, lack of confidence in the justice
system or that they wanted to forget the incident. However, the same
women also expressed a fear of meeting the perpetrators in their
villages, so there was a degree of conflict in their responses. The
Special Rapporteur feels that in these circumstances a victim and
witness protection unit is crucial. The ICC Rome Statue makes
specific provisions for a victim and witness unit, which will
“provide, in consultation with the Office of the Prosecutor,
protective measures and security arrangements, counselling and other
appropriate assistance for witnesses, victims and others who are at
risk on account of [their] testimony.” The unit should also include
staff with expertise in trauma, including trauma related to sexual
violence.
- The Lomé Peace Agreement
granted a general amnesty for all crimes committed during the
conflict, including sexual violence. The Special Representative of
the Secretary-General made a reservation to the peace agreement
indicating that the United Nations did not recognize the amnesty as
applicable to crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes
and other serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law. On
14 August 2000, the Security Council adopted resolution 1315 (2000),
in which it requested the Secretary-General to negotiate an agreement
with the Government of Sierra Leone to create an independent special
court and recommended that the subject matter jurisdiction of the
court should include notably crimes against humanity, war crimes and
other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Rape by
combatants in the conduct of armed conflict is a war crime and, when
committed on a systematic basis or when widespread, is a crime against
humanity and should come within the jurisdiction of the court. The
Special Rapporteur urges that the Government ensure that sexual
violence, slavery, abductions and mutilations will receive a judicial
response suitable to the gravity of the crimes.
- It should be noted that
while the peace accord offers amnesty to those persons who committed
abuses during the war, such amnesty would pertain only to criminal
prosecutions within the domestic jurisdiction of Sierra Leone, and
only to acts preceding the effective date of the amnesty. Thus,
crimes of gender based violence must be investigated and documented
for possible criminal prosecution in the domestic courts of other
States which may have jurisdiction, and for possible civil action in
Sierra Leone. Once constituted, the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Sierra Leone also should devote attention to documenting
crimes of sexual violence committed during the conflict and should
propose remedial actions to be taken by the Government of Sierra
Leone, with support from the international community.
- Women have been the main
victims of the war and as such must be encouraged to attend the TRC
and the Special Court and to testify either in public or, in
appropriate cases, in camera. Women’s organizations hope that a
gendered approach to women’s testimony and cases before the TRC and
Special Court will begin the process of sensitizing national
institutions/the criminal justice system to the unique problems posed
by gender-based human rights abuses. The TRC presents a unique
opportunity to develop an accurate account of and statistics on gender
based violence and the ways women suffer as a result of armed
conflict. The success of the TRC and the Special Court will depend on
how well they address the needs of women and how actively women
participate in the process.
- The Special Rapporteur
stresses the importance of women’s participation in rebuilding the
country, noting that women have been at the forefront of political
development in Sierra Leone. Their role in national consultative
conferences in 1995, the conferences that forced the NPRC military
government to hand over power to the democratically elected
government, is well known. The TRC and the Criminal Court are an
opportunity for women again to overcome any barriers and raise their
voices.
VI. Social
Support for Victims
Government programmes
- Article XXVIII of the
Lomé Peace Agreement provides for the Government, through the National
Commission for Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reintegration (NCRRR)
and with the support of the international community, to provide
appropriate financial and technical resources for post-war
rehabilitation, reconstruction and development. The Lomé Agreement
notes that women have been particularly victimized during the war and
states that special attention should be accorded to their needs and
potential in formulating and implementing national rehabilitation,
reconstruction, and development programmes, to enable them to play a
central role in the moral, social, and physical reconstruction of
Sierra Leone.
- The Special Rapporteur’s
Sierra Leoneans interlocuters communicated their concern to her with
regard to the overall implementation of the programmes established
under the Lomé Agreement. The non-governmental organizations told the
Special Rapporteur that there was a vast difference between the
Agreement and reality.
- In the rehabilitation
process, special programmes need to be designed for women who have
been abducted - so-called “camp followers”. In resolution 1314 (2000)
on children and armed conflict of 11 August 2000, the United Nations
Security Council underlined the importance of giving consideration to
the special needs and particular vulnerabilities of girls affected by
armed conflict, including, inter alia, those heading households,
orphaned, sexually exploited and used as combatants and urged that
their human rights, protection and welfare be incorporated in the
development of policies and programmes, including those for
prevention, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.
- To date the disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process has overlooked the
protection needs of camp followers, as evidenced by the clear lack of
policy and procedural guidelines on camp followers. The lack of a
clear policy has meant that responsibility for their welfare has
fallen between government institutions (NCDHR and NCRRR) and
implementing agencies, resulting in an ad hoc, inappropriate and
inadequate humanitarian response. For example, ad hoc
arrangements are being made with WFP to treat them as IDPs and
distribute food to them. But a more systematic, holistic package needs
to be designed to meet their specific needs.
- Camp followers can
broadly be defined as female adults and children who have been
abducted by combatants. Adult camp followers include abducted women
who have been forced to marry a combatant (bush wives) and become his
sex slave, as well as perform domestic chores (cook, clean, carry
loads). Many women were originally abducted as girls and coerced into
relationships as bush wives. In addition, many women camp followers
have given birth to children in the bush. Families provide for the
social needs of the combatants and it is therefore often in the
interest of combatants to retain control over camp followers. There
is a need to interview women separately so that they are able to give
their own opinion. This has been done successfully in the form of
pre-discharge orientation for women, which has been introduced in some
demobilization camps.
- Women who want to leave
the ex-combatants have few alternative economic or social options.
They are very vulnerable as a group, with little or no alternative
means of support. They are often unable to return to their villages
of origin out of fear, lack of funds and social stigma, especially if
they have given birth to children in the bush. The women are
therefore forced to remain in situations in which they are vulnerable
to continuing abuse. The lack of alternative means of support
underscores the urgent need for the relevant government departments,
in consultation with donors and implementing agencies, to establish
policy and procedural guidelines on how to provide immediate (shelter,
food, medical care) and longer-term protection (education, livelihood
start-up assistance and employment-based schemes) for this group.
- With the increase in
breakdown of the family structure due to displacement and poverty,
thousands of young girls are turning to prostitution. Many victims of
rape and abduction turn to prostitution as they feel this is the only
option available to them. Controlled by pimps, these girls are
selling themselves on the streets and in bars and hotels. The clients
are military personnel (national and international), rebel forces,
police and other security personnel, expatriate workers, seamen,
miners, truck drivers, etc. Support is needed to facilitate the
economic empowerment of women and girls, including skills training
programmes that will enhance their competitiveness in the market
economy (for example, computer training or training in carpentry,
business management and farming).
- The Special Rapporteur
raised with UNAMSIL the issue of misconduct by peacekeepers. It is
reported that any alleged misconduct by peacekeepers is investigated
by an UNAMSIL committee. At the time of the Special Rapporteur’s
visit, inquiries were being made by the DFC into three cases of
alleged misconduct. ECOMOG troops were also accused of having second
families in Sierra Leone.
Human rights activities of
the United Nations in Sierra Leone
- The UNAMSIL Human Rights
Section is a collaborative venture between the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) based on the Memorandum of Understanding
between the two offices. The Human Rights Section monitors the human
rights situation in Sierra Leone and provides technical assistance in
building the capacity of national institutions. The Section also
assists OHCHR to implement its mandate to establish the TRC and is
working to sensitize the population to the need for the TRC, including
through launching a sensitization campaign. The Section conducts
human rights training for United Nations agencies, the Sierra Leonean
police and the Sierra Leonean army. The training focuses on the basis
of international humanitarian law, with special emphasis on the
treatment of civilians during armed conflicts, the issue of criminal
responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity, gross human
rights violations and the consequences of such violations under
international law. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the
training should be extended to non-State actors.
- At the time of the
Special Rapporteur’s visit in August 2001 the Human Rights Section was
trying to recruit a new gender adviser to the team, but as of the time
of finalization of this report, December 2001, the post has
unfortunately still not been filled. UNAMSIL should recruit someone
who will be able to work with the Government of Sierra Leone to
establish procedures for the TRC and Special Court that are gender
sensitive and to ensure that rape and other forms of gender-based
violence are treated as priority crimes. UNAMSIL is working with the
Government to strengthen the laws that protect women and, in the light
of the poor response to rape cases, UNAMSIL is also working with the
Commonwealth police, who have recently established a family unit to
educate the local police on sexual and domestic violence in the
community.
- UNAMSIL and Physicians
for Human Rights have conducted an assessment of the prevalence and
impact of sexual violence and other human rights abuses among IDPs in
Sierra Leone. The report, “War-related sexual violence: a
population-based assessment”, containing the findings of the study is
due to be released in early 2002.
- Unfortunately, there is
no UNIFEM office in Sierra Leone, despite the enormous problems women
in the country face. Given the UNIFEM mandate relating to violence
against women and armed conflict, such an office would help focus
attention on the needs of women victims and help coordinate strategies
among United Nations agencies with regard to women victims of
violence. The Special Rapporteur strongly recommends the setting up
of such an office.
- UNICEF chairs a committee
on sexual violence comprised of international, local and government
agencies which addresses the problem of sexual and gender-based
violence for children. The Special Rapporteur would encourage the
committee to expand its scope to include all organizations working on
sexual violence, so that they can plan to help all women and girl
survivors. The committee has provided sensitization sessions for
ECOMOG and UNAMSIL, and acts as a referral system for women and girls
who were abducted and raped during the conflict.
- The Women’s Helpline
Centre, which opened in Freetown in July 2001, is an interagency
initiative to address the problem of sexual and gender-based
violence. It consists inter alia of organizations dealing with
gender-based violence, police, lawyers and doctors. At the time of
the Special Rapporteur's visit, it was too early to determine its
success, but the Special Rapporteur supports the aim of the Helpline
to create centres around the country where women survivors of violence
can go for counselling, medical and legal support and assistance.
- UNHCR supports local NGO
programmes to assist returnee women in the reintegration process,
including a programme implemented by the Forum for African Women
Educationalists (FAWE);14
FAWE which stresses counselling and trauma healing, medical, education
and income-generating activities for survivors of sexual and
gender-based violence. FAWE is providing information to returnees at
entry points and in transit centres and settlement areas. Its other
activities include raising awareness about the adverse effects of
sexual and gender-based violence, identifying survivors, and
establishing linkages with partners working on the issue at the port
and in transit centres and settlements.
- In the Guinea-Sierra
Leone operation the UNHCR emergency response teams included for the
first time a gender specialist, who had the task of providing
practical and policy advice to strengthen the gender responsiveness of
the operation.
- Most non-governmental
organizations working on gender-based violence are providing
treatment, although there has been an increase in those documenting
abuses and working to improve the protection and status of women
through education and institutional capacity building.
- The Special Rapporteur
visited Cooperazione Internationale (COOPI) an Italian NGO which helps
children who have been released by the rebels and operates several
interim care centres where family tracing services, medical care,
counselling and skills training are provided. COOPI is working
actively to sensitize communities and families to be more accepting
and supportive of young mothers who have been the victims of violence
and their babies. COOPI has also established psycho-social teams
which make house calls in IDP camps and host communities, and have
created self-help groups in a number of IDP camps. The Special
Rapporteur would encourage donors to fund this and other similar
initiatives to assist women and girl survivors of gender-based
violence.
- The International Rescue
Committee (IRC) is providing comprehensive maternal and child health
services (including sexual and gender-based violence services) and is
operating an interim care centre for former child soldiers in Kenema
district. IRC was the first international NGO to focus on sexual
violence, beginning in November 1999. IRC has been providing SGBV
(sexual-and gender-based violence) services under the umbrella of a
safe motherhood programme, which addresses basic reproductive health.
The IRC team trains core groups of local women, who reach out to their
chiefdoms. They use reproductive and maternal/child health as an
entry point to introduce the subject of gender-based violence.
- Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF), an international medical relief organization, has been
providing a range of health care and psychosocial services in Sierra
Leone. MSF - Holland released a report documenting high levels of
trauma among the population and has since advocated for donors to
provide more funds to treat post-traumatic stress among the general
population. It also identified the need for specialized surgery
for VVF and RVF cases. MSF has been providing referral services
for FAWE and other members of the sexual violance committee and has
supplied medication required by particpants in the programme.
- The International Medical
Corps (IMC) is focusing on providing health care to ex-combatants,
dependents of fighters, the displaced and the community at large.
Reproductive health services, including the treatment of sexually
transmitted diseases, are offered at IMC clinics, IMC health workers
have identified a need among their patients for specialized VVF and
VRF surgery. While the organization has secured a place at Lunghi
hospital, there is a need for an expert surgeon, some additional
equipment, and referral/transport assistance for patients from
Freetown.
- Civil society and the
women’s movement in Sierra Leone, which promoted the 1996 elections,
suffered a setback when many leaders were forced to flee when the AFRC/RUF
took over Freetown. However, at the time of the Special Rapporteur’s
visit women and human rights organizations were again starting to play
an important role in the peace process and in rebuilding the country.
The UNAMSIL human rights training specialist is working with the 50/50
group, a political NGO dedicated to advancing women’s participation in
Sierra Leonean politics, having recently completed a series of
training courses for women funded by the British Council.
- Several NGOs and
academics are undertaking research on and documenting cases of
violence against women. Women’s organizations such as FAWE, the
Sierra Leone Association of University Women (SLAUW), the National
Displaced Women’s Organization, and Legal Access for Women Yearning
for Equal Rights (LAWYER) should be consulted in the process.
- The National Forum of
Human Rights is a consortium of local human rights groups and
organizations working for the promotion of human rights nationwide.
The Forum has been active in the peace process and calling for the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address human rights abuses
committed during the conflict and impunity.
- The Campaign for Good
Governance (CGG) is an NGO that works to facilitate the full
participation of all Sierra Leoneans in the political, social and
economic development of their country. CGG has been at the forefront
of fighting for gender equality and is interested both in improving
women’s lives by enhancing their status as a group and as individuals
and in improving national government and civil society by involving
women at all levels. It played a critical role in the success of the
1996 democratic elections. CGG has also been addressing gender-based
violence in various ways, including through efforts to change trial
procedures, which required victims to testify in front of their
rapist.
VII.
concluding observations and recommendations
A. At the
national level
- The Special Rapporteur
calls on all parties to take measures to protect women and girls from
rape and other forms of sexual violence, including by instructing all
the warring factions to respect international humanitarian law; to
state publicly that rape in the conduct of armed conflict constitutes
a war crime and may constitute a crime against humanity under defined
circumstances; to state publicly that anyone who commits rape will be
brought to justice; and to investigate all reports of rape and other
forms of sexual violence and prosecute those alleged to have committed
such crimes.
- The Special Rapporteur
urges all parties to release immediately all girls, women and other
civilians who remain held against their will, and to ensure that no
further abductions take place.
- In accordance with
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), women and women’s
groups should be fully involved in the peace process and special
efforts should be taken to ensure that women’s needs and interests are
included in the political negotiations. In this regard, the Special
Rapporteur commends the efforts of the Mano River Union Women’s Peace
Network towards regional peace.
- The wartime experiences
and post-conflict needs of women and girls must be fully taken into
account in the formulation of repatriation and resettlement plans, as
well as during the demobilization and disarmament process. The
necessary conditions must be provided to enable those women and girls
who were forced to become the sexual partners of members of the rebel
forces (so-called “bush wives”) to leave demobilized combatants, if
they wish to. Financing and humanitarian organizations also need to
recognize the special needs of the dependents of combatants or camp
followers and not only the combatants themselves. Currently there only
exist ad hoc arrangements made with WFP to cater for them as IDPs.
- Rehabilitation programmes
must take into account the widespread nature of sexual assault and
rape and formulate programmes to address the specific needs of
survivors. Programmes must also be developed for the special needs of
female ex-combatants. Special initiatives must be developed to ensure
that the security and subsistence concerns of war widows and other
female heads of household are adequately addressed.
- The Government, in
conjunction with women’s non-governmental organizations, should launch
a public awareness campaign on violence against women, inter alia to
highlight that the crime of rape dishonours the perpetrator, not the
victim.
- The failure to
investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for rape and other
forms of gender-based violence has contributed to an environment of
impunity that perpetuates violence against women in Sierra Leone,
including rape and domestic violence. The Special Rapporteur is
concerned about the criminal justice system in relation to women, and
the reported low level of conviction for rape and other forms of
gender-based violence. The Government must intensify its efforts to
combat violence against women, through comprehensive measures,
including gender sensitive training of the criminal justice system.
The Statute of the ICC, known as the Rome Statute makes explicit that
rape and other gender-based violence are among the most serious crimes
of concern to the international community by specifically defining
them as constituent acts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
- The Special Rapporteur
encourages the Government to review the formal and customary judicial
systems to ensure that gender discriminatory provisions are removed
and that adequate protection is provided, in line with the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women.
Inheritance rights and legislation preventing domestic violence are
specific concerns.
- The Special Rapporteur
also encourages the Government to pass the necessary accompanying
legislation so that all ratified international instruments are
incorporated in domestic law to ensure that the legal standards
created therein are fully respected and that those who violate these
instruments are held accountable.
- The Special Rapporteur
further encourages the Government to submit a report to CEDAW, in
accordance with its obligations. She recommends that the Government
establish a working committee together with women’s organizations to
prepare reports to CEDAW and help implement any recommendations CEDAW
may make. In this context, the Government should also develop and
improve national systems for the collection of comprehensive data
disaggregated by gender.
- The Special Rapporteur is
concerned about the widespread practice of female genital mutilation
and its harmful effects on the health of girls, and urges Government
to pass legislation banning FGM and undertake preventive information
campaigns. The Government needs to carry out sensitization and
awareness raising campaigns for practitioners and the general public,
to change traditional attitudes and discourage harmful traditional
practices. The Special Rapporteur recommends the adoption of an
alternative practice of a merely ceremonial nature, which does not
involve violating the physical integrity of girls.
- There is poor access to
basic health care across the country and very high rates of child and
maternal mortality, malnutrition and preventable disease. The Special
Rapporteur is concerned that Sierra Leone has insufficient capacity,
both financial and in terms of human resources, to deal with the
health consequences of the conflict, and lacks adequately trained
personnel.
- Urgent and sustained
assistance is needed to address the needs of women and girls who have
been victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence, including VVF
surgery for girl survivors of rape or pregnancy and psycho-social
assistance for those suffering from psychological trauma. The
Government should prioritize this area and seek technical assistance
in this domain. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to invest
sufficient resources and give free health care for those who need it.
The Special Rapporteur requests the donor community to cooperate in
the implementation of this recommendation.
- The Special Rapporteur is
deeply concerned that the incidence of HIV/AIDS has escalated during
the period of the conflict and displacement of the population. The
Government needs to develop a strategy for prevention of the disease,
including information campaigns, and for care of people who are
victims of HIV/AIDS.
- The Special Rapporteur is
concerned about the appalling conditions in the IDP camps. Reportedly
there is a high incidence of rape in the camps. Many of the IDPs she
interviewed said that they had not received a displaced person’s card
which would enable them to benefit from the limited privileges
accorded to displaced persons. The Special Rapporteur urges all
parties to abide by and ensure enforcement of the Guiding Principles
on Internal Displacement. The Government must adopt effective
measures to address the particular security concerns of women and
children displaced by conflict, including measures against rape and
other gender-based violence. The Special Rapporteur urges the
Government and the international community to take immediate action to
ensure that IDPs have access to basic services, particularly in regard
to food, shelter, health, education and protection.
- The Special Rapporteur is
concerned that under the state of emergency powers the Government is
allowed to suspend many rights and guarantees. According to
information received, political prisoners, some of whom are female,
are detained without legal counsel or access to their families.
- The Special Rapporteur is
concerned over high rates of illiteracy among women and low levels of
enrolment in primary education and graduation of girls. She
recommends that the Government make every effort to increase the
enrolment of girls in primary education and graduation rates, inter
alia through the promotion of women’s rights and through the
enforcement of compulsory education requirements.
B. At the
international level
- The international
community should ensure that all reports of rape and other forms of
gender-based violence are fully investigated by the appropriate
authorities in order to identify those responsible and bring them to
justice; this should include:
(a) Providing
assistance to the Government of Sierra Leone in restructuring and
training the police force and establishing a competent, impartial and
independent judiciary with the necessary resources to function
effectively and fairly, and
(b) Ensuring the
appropriate training is provided to prosecutors, judges and other
officials in handling cases involving rape and other forms of
gender-based violence in times of armed conflict and in peacetime, in
accordance with current standards of international law - notably the ICC
Rome Statute and jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia.
(c) Ensuring
that any training of the new Sierra Leone army and the police force
includes training on international human rights and humanitarian law and
that those dealing with women’s cases have expertise in violence against
women and gender-based crimes.
- UNAMSIL should also
initiate programmes to inform non-State actors of their obligations
under international humanitarian law.
- The UNAMSIL human rights
section should recruit a gender specialist to, inter alia,
systematically monitor and report on issues of gender-based violence.
UNIFEM should also open an office in Sierra Leone so that women’s
issues receive the high-profile treatment that they deserve.
- UNAMSIL should ensure
that United Nations peacekeepers fulfil their mandate to protect
civilians from physical violence, including women and girls at risk of
abduction, rape and other forms of sexual violence; ensure that all
troops deployed by UNAMSIL are fully trained in international human
rights and humanitarian law and that expertise in violence against
women, including gender-based crimes is provided within UNAMSIL;
ensure that cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence continue
to be monitored and recorded by the UNAMSIL human rights section with
a view to the investigation and prosecution of those alleged to be
responsible.
- The Special Rapporteur
encourages the ICC standard to be applied to the composition of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court. The Rome
Statute deals with a number of structural issues that are particularly
important for the TRC and the Special Court in Sierra Leone, to ensure
that cases involving violence against women are prosecuted and the
perpetrators brought to justice. The specific needs of victims of
rape and other forms of sexual violence during the conflict, and their
right to redress must be fully taken into account. In the selection
of judges the Rome Statute calls for “a fair representation of female
and male judges”, as well as appointing judges with legal expertise on
specific issues, including violence against women or children. The
Office of the Prosecutor is similarly required to appoint advisors
with expertise on “sexual and gender violence and violence against
children”. The Statute also makes specific provisions for a victim
and witness unit, which will “provide, in consultation with the Office
of the Prosecutor, protective measures and security arrangements,
counselling and other appropriate assistance for witnesses, victims
and others who are at risk on account of [their] testimony. The unit
shall also include staff with expertise in trauma, including trauma
related to sexual violence”.
- The international
community should increase funding for programmes that address the
needs of victims of sexual violence, including medical care, trauma
counselling, education, vocational skills training and
income-generating schemes.
- The international
community should work towards improving the coordinating mechanism
mandated to protect and assist IDPs, so that there can be a quick and
uniform international response to situations of internal displacement
as has been outlined by the Representative of the Secretary-General on
internally displaced persons.
Notes
Annex
SELECTIVE
LIST OF PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS
THE
SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MET WITH DURING HER MISSION
Freetown
Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabba President
of Sierra Leone
Ms. Shirley Gbujama Minister
of Social Welfare, Gender and Children
Mr. Solomon Berewa Attorney-General,
Minister of Justice
Mr. Joe Pemagbi Chairman,
National Commission for Democracy and Human Rights (NCDHR)
Mr. Francis Gabbidon Ombudsman
Mr. Pehrooz Sadry Deputy
Special Representative of the Secretary-General
Mr. Rodolfo Mattarollo Chief,
UNAMSIL Human Rights Section
Mr. M.L. Agwai Deputy
Field Commander
Chief
of Civil Affairs
Chief
Military Officer
United
Nations focal point for women
UNHCR
WHO
UNICEF
Ms. Amy Smythe Researcher/academic
Ms. Binta Mansaray Researcher/academic
Mr. Joseph
Rahall Chairperson, The National Forum for Human Rights
Ms. Memunatu
Pratt Vice-Chairperson, The National Forum for Human Rights
Ms. Marie Bangura Coordinator,
Sierra Leone Market Women’s Association
Ms. Helen Bash-Taqi
Network Movement for Justice and Democracy
Ms. Abu Brima Network
Movement for Justice and Democracy
Ms. Zainab Bangura Coordinator,
Campaign for Good Governance
Ms. Louise
Taylor International Human Rights Law Group
Ms. Augusta Taqi Forum for
African Women Educationalists (FAWE)
Ms. Bola Malcom-Palmer Sierra
Leone Women’s Forum
Ms. Lucinda Amara Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom
Ms. Barbara Bangura Grassroots
Empowerment for Self-Reliance
Ms. Claudia
Taylor President, Legal Access through Women Yearning for Equality
Rights and Social Justice (LAWYERS)
Ms. Martha Chigozie Less
Privileged Women’s Association
COOPI
Planned
Parenthood Association of Sierra Leone
Ambassador
of the United States of America
Ambassador
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
High
Commissioner of Nigeria
High
Commissioner of Ghana
Kenema and Bo
Resident
Minister in Kenema
Resident
Minister in Bo
Mr. Udeme Essien UNAMSIL
Human Rights Officer/ Field Coordinator
Ms. Ada Samai Association
for the Welfare of Women Cooperatives
International
Rescue Committee
Makeni
Mr. Gibril Massaquoi RUF
spokesperson
|
Women's rights
The term women's rights refers to
freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These
rights may or may not be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by
law, local custom, and behavior in a particular society. These liberties
are grouped together and differentiated from broader notions of
human rights because they often differ from the freedoms inherently
possessed by or recognized for men and boys, and because activists for
this issue claim an inherent historical and traditional bias against the
exercise of rights by women and girls.[1]
Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include,
though are not limited to, the right: to bodily integrity and autonomy;
to
vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or
equal pay; to own property;
to education; to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter
into legal
contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights.[2]
Women and their supporters have campaigned and in some places continue
to campaign for the same rights as men.[2]
According to Dr. Jamal A. Badawin "the status which women reached
during the present era was not achieved due to the kindness of men or
due to natural progress. It was rather achieved through a long struggle
and sacrifice on woman's part and only when society needed her
contribution and work, more especial!; during the two world wars, and
due to the escalation of technological change."[3]
Ancient
civilisations
Hindu scriptures describe a good wife as follows "a woman whose
mind, speech and body are kept in subjection, acquires high renown in
this world, and, in the next, the same abode with her husband." In
ancient Athens women were always minors and subject to a male, such
as their father, brother or some other male kin. A women's consent in
marriage was not generally thought to be necessary and women were
obliged to submit to the wishes of her parents or husband. In
ancient Rome a wife was considered "a minor, a ward, a person
incapable of doing or acting anything according to her own individual
taste, a person continually under the tutelage and guardianship of her
husband." Under Roman Law a woman and her property passed into the power
of her husband upon marriage. The wife was considered the purchased
property of her husband, acquired only for his benefit. Furthermore
women in Ancient Rome could not exercise any civil or public office,
and could not act as witness, surety, tutor, or curator. Women were also
not allowed to make a will or
contract.[3]
Islamic marriage contract
Early
reforms under Islam
Effort to improve the status of
women in Islam occurred during the early reforms under Islam between
610 and 661, when women were given greater rights in
marriage,
divorce
and
inheritance.[4]
In 622 the
Constitution of Medina was drafted by the
Islamic prophet
Muhammad, outlining many of
Muhammad's
early reforms under Islam, including an improved
legal
status for
women in Islam, who were generally given greater rights than women
in
pre-Islamic Arabia[4][5]
and
medieval Europe.[6]
Women were not accorded with such legal status in other cultures until
centuries later.[7]
The general improvement of the status of
Arab women included prohibition of
female infanticide and recognizing women's full personhood.[8]
"The dowry,
previously regarded as a bride-price paid to the father, became a
nuptial gift retained by the wife as part of her personal property."[4][5]
Under
Islamic law, marriage was no longer viewed as a "status" but rather
as a "contract",
in which the woman's consent was imperative.[4][5][8]
"Women were given inheritance rights in a
patriarchal society that had previously restricted inheritance to
male relatives."[4]
Annemarie Schimmel states that "compared to the pre-Islamic position
of women,
Islamic legislation meant an enormous progress; the woman has the
right, at least according to the
letter of the law, to administer the wealth she has brought into the
family or has earned by her own work."[9]
According to Professor
William Montgomery Watt, when seen in such historical context,
Muhammad "can be seen as a figure who testified on behalf of women’s
rights."[10]
The Middle Ages
According to
English Common Law, which developed from the 12th Century onward all
property which a wife held at the time of a marriage became a possession
of her husband. Eventually English courts forbid a husband's
transferring property without the consent of his wife, but he still
retained the right to manage it and to receive the money which it
produced.[3]
"French married women suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity
which were removed only in 1965."[11]
In the 16th century, the
Reformation in Europe allowed more women to add their voices,
including the English writers
Jane Anger,
Aemilia Lanyer, and the prophetess
Anna Trapnell. Despite relatively greater freedom for
Anglo-Saxon women, until the mid-nineteenth century, writers largely
assumed that a
patriarchal order was a natural order that had existed.[12]
This perception was not seriously challenged until the eighteenth
century when
Jesuit missionaries found
matrilineality in native North American peoples.[13]
The Enlightenment
In the late 18th Century the question of women's rights became
central to political debates in both France and Britain. At the time
some of the greatest thinkers of the
Enlightenment, who defended democratic principles of
equality and challenged notions that a privileged few should rule
over the vast majority of the population, believed that these principles
should be applied only to their own gender and their own race. The
philosopher
Jean Jacques Rousseau for example thought that it was the order of
nature for woman to obey men. He wrote "Women do wrong to complain of
the inequality of man-made laws" and claimed that "when she tries to
usurp our rights, she is our inferior".[15]
In 1791 the French playwright and political
activist
Olympe de Gouges published the
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen,[16]
modelled on the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789. The
Declaration is ironic in formulation and exposes the failure of the
French Revolution, which had been devoted to
equality. It states that: “This revolution will only take effect
when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of
the rights they have lost in society”. The Declaration of the Rights of
Woman and the Female Citizen follows the seventeen articles of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen point for point
and has been described by Camille Naish as “almost a parody... of the
original document”. The first article of the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and of the Citizen proclaims that “Men are born and remain free
and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common
utility.” The first article of Declaration of the Rights of Woman and
the Female Citizen replied: “Woman is born free and remains equal to man
in rights. Social distinctions may only be based on common utility”. De
Gouges expands the sixth article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen, which declared the rights of citizens to take part
in the formation of law, to:
Australian women's rights were lampooned in this 1887 Melbourne
Punch cartoon: A hypothetical female member foists her baby's
care on the House Speaker
“All citizens including women are equally admissible to all public
dignities, offices and employments, according to their capacity, and
with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents”.
De Gouges also draws attention to the fact that under French law
women were fully punishable, yet denied equal rights.[17]
Mary Wollstonecraft, a British writer and philosopher, published
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, arguing that it
was the education and upbringing of women that created limited
expectations.[18][19]
Wollstonecraft attacked gender oppression, pressing for equal
educational opportunities, and demanded "justice!" and "rights to
humanity" for all.[20]
The 19th Century
In his 1869 essay
The Subjection of Women the
English philosopher and political theorist
John Stuart Mill described the situation for women in Britain as
follows:
"We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have
restored to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile the wife is the
actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal
obligation goes, than slaves commonly so called."[3]
During the 1800s women in the United States and Britain began to
challenge laws that denied them the right to their property once they
married. Under the common law doctrine of
coverture husbands gained control of their wives' real estate
and wages. Beginning in the 1840s, state legislatures in the United
States[21]
and the British Parliament[22]
began passing statutes that protected women's property from their
husbands and their husbands' creditors. These laws were known as the
Married Women's Property Acts.[23]
Courts in the nineteenth-century United States also continued to require
privy examinations of married women who sold their property. A
privy examination was a practice in which a married woman who wished
to sell her property had to be separately examined by a judge or justice
of the peace outside of the presence of her husband and asked if her
husband was pressuring her into signing the document.[24]
Suffrage, the right to vote
Women standing in line to vote in Bangladesh.
During the 19th Century women began to agitate for the
right to vote and participate in government and law making.[25]
The ideals of
women's suffrage developed alongside that of
universal suffrage and today women's suffrage is considered a right
(under the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women).[citation
needed] During the 19th Century the right to vote was
gradually extended in many countries and women started to campaign for
their right to vote. In 1893 New Zealand became the first country to
give women the right to vote on a national level. Australia gave women
the right to vote in 1902, while the USA, Britain and Canada gave women
the vote after the
First World War.[26]
In Britain women's suffrage gained attention when
John Stuart Mill called for the inclusion of women's suffrage in the
Reform Act of 1867 in a petition that he presented to Parliament.[26]
Initially only one of several women’s rights campaign, suffrage became
the primary cause of the British women’s movement at the beginning of
the 20th Century.[27]
At the time the ability to vote was restricted to wealthy
property owners within
British jurisdictions. This arrangement implicitly excluded women as
property law and
marriage law gave men ownership rights at marriage or inheritance
until the 19th century. Although male suffrage broadened during the
century, women were explicitly prohibited from voting nationally and
locally in the 1830s by a
Reform Act and the
Municipal Corporations Act.[28]
Throughout the 19th century women had organised through various groups
until, by 1903, the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the
Women's Social and Political Union had emerged. Leaders in the
struggle were
Millicent Fawcett and
Emmeline Pankhurst with her daughter
Christabel. In 1918 the
British Parliament passed a bill allowing women over the age of 30
to vote, and the voting age for women was lowered to 21 in 1928.[28]
The
Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 formulated the demand for
women's suffrage in the
United States of America and after the
American Civil War (1861–1865) agitation for the cause became more
prominent. In 1869 the proposed
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave
the vote to black men, caused controversy as women's suffrage
campaigners such as
Susan B. Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton refused to endorse the amendment, as it did
not give the vote to women. Others, such as
Lucy Stone and
Julia Ward Howe however argued that black men were enfranchised,
women would achieve their goal. The conflict caused two organisations to
emerge, the
National Woman Suffrage Association, which campaigned for women's
suffrage at a federal level as well as for married women to be given
property rights, and the
American Woman Suffrage Association, which aimed to secure women's
suffrage through state legislation. In 1920 the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women
the right to vote.[26]
Soviet poster celebrates women's right to vote and to be elected.
Nordic countries gave women the right to vote in the early 20th
Century –
Finland (1906),
Norway
(1913),
Denmark and
Iceland
(1915). With the end of the
First World War many other countries followed - the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the
Netherlands (1917),
Austria,
Czechoslovakia,
Poland
and Sweden
(1918),
Germany and
Lunenburg (1919).
Spain
gave women the right to vote in 1931,
France
in 1944,
Belgium,
Italy,
Romania
and
Yugoslavia in 1946.
Switzerland only gave women the right to vote in 1971, and
Lichtenstein in 1984.[26]
In
Canada women's suffrage was achieved first on a provincial level in
Alberta,
Manitoba and
Saskatchewan on 1916, with federal suffrage being granted in 1918.
In
Latin America some countries gave women the right to vote in the
first half of the 20th Century –
Ecuador
(1929),
Brazil (1932),
El Salvador (1939),
Dominican Republic (1942),
Guatemala (1956) and
Argentina (1946). In
India,
under colonial rule, universal suffrage was granted in 1935. Other
Asian
countries gave women the right to vote in mid of the Century –
Japan
(1945), China
(1947) and
Indonesia (1955). In
Africa
women generally got the right to vote along with men through
universal suffrage –
Liberia
(1947),
Uganda (1958) and
Nigeria
(1960). In many countries in the
Middle East
universal suffrage was acquired after the
Second World War, although in others, such as
Kuwait,
suffrage is very limited and still excludes women.[26]
Modern movement
In the subsequent decades women's rights again became an important
issue in the English speaking world. By the 1960s the movement was
called "feminism"
or "women's liberation." Reformers wanted the same pay as men, equal
rights in law, and the freedom to plan their families or not have
children at all. Their efforts were met with mixed results.[29]
In the UK, a public groundswell of opinion in favour of legal
equality had gained pace, partly through the extensive employment of
women in what were traditional male roles during both world wars. By the
1960s the legislative process was being readied, tracing through MP
Willie Hamilton's
select committee report, his Equal Pay For Equal Work Bill, the
creation of a Sex Discrimination Board,
Lady Sear's draft sex anti-discrimination bill, a government
Green Paper of 1973, until 1975 when the first British Sex
Discrimination Act, an Equal Pay Act, and an
Equal Opportunities Commission came into force.[30][31]
With encouragement from the UK government, the other countries of the
EEC soon
followed suit with an agreement to ensure that discrimination laws would
be phased out across the European Community.
In the USA, the
National Organization for Women (NOW) was created in 1966 with the
purpose of bringing about equality for all women. NOW was one important
group that fought for the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This amendment stated that "equality
of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or any state on account of
sex."[32]
But there was disagreement on how the proposed amendment would be
understood. Supporters believed it would guarantee women equal
treatment. But critics feared it might deny women the right be
financially supported by their husbands. The amendment died in 1982
because not enough states had ratified it. ERAs have been included in
subsequent Congresses, but have still failed to be ratified.[33]
In the last three decades of the 20th century, Western women knew a
new freedom through
birth control, which enabled women to plan their adult lives, often
making way for both career and family. The movement had been started in
the 1910s by US pioneering social reformer
Margaret Sanger[34]
and in the UK and internationally by
Marie Stopes.
Over the course of the 20th century women took on greater roles in
society such as serving in government. In the United States some served
as
U.S. Senators and others as members of the
U.S. Cabinet. Many women took advantage of opportunities in higher
education. In the United States at the beginning of the 20th century
less than 20% of all college degrees were earned by women. By the end of
the century this figure had risen to about 50%.[35]
Progress was made in professional opportunities. Fields such as
medicine, law, and science opened to include more women. At the
beginning of the 20th century about 5% of the doctors in the United
States were women. As of 2006, over 38% of all doctors in the United
States were women, and today, women make almost 50% of the medical
student population. While the numbers of women in these fields
increased, many women still continued to hold clerical, factory, retail,
or service jobs. For example, they worked as office assistants, on
assembly lines, or as cooks.[35][36]
The United Nations and womens' rights
In 1946 the
United Nations established a
Commission on the Status of Women.[37][38]
Originally as the Section on the Status of Women, Human Rights Division,
Department of Social Affairs, and now part of the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Since 1975 the UN has held a
series of world conferences on women's issues, starting with the World
Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City. These
conferences created an international forum for women's rights, but also
illustrated divisions between women of different cultures and the
difficulties of attempting to apply principles universally[39]
Four World Conferences have been held, the first in
Mexico City (International Women's Year,
1975), the
second in
Copenhagen (1980)
and the third in
Nairobi
(1985). At
the
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995), The Platform
for Action was signed. This included a commitment to achieve "gender
equality and the empowerment of women".[40][41]
International and regional law
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women
Participation in the CEDAW
|
Signed and ratified Acceded
or succeeded Unrecognized
state, abiding by treaty |
Only signed Non-signatory |
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, enshrines
"the equal rights of men and women", and addressed both the equality and
equity issues.[42]
In 1979 the
United Nations
General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Described as an
international
bill of rights for
women, it
came into force on 3 September 1981. The
United States is the only developed nation that has not ratified the
CEDAW.[citation
needed]
The Convention defines discrimination against women in the following
terms:
Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex
which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their
marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural, civil or any other field.
It also establishes an agenda of action for putting an end to
sex-based discrimination for which states ratifying the Convention are
required to enshrine
gender equality into their domestic legislation, repeal all
discriminatory provisions in their laws, and enact new provisions to
guard against discrimination against women. They must also establish
tribunals and public institutions to guarantee women effective
protection against discrimination, and take steps to eliminate all forms
of discrimination practiced against women by individuals, organizations,
and enterprises.[citation
needed]
Maputo Protocol
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on
the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the
Maputo Protocol, was adopted by the
African Union on 11 July 2003 at its second summit in
Maputo[43],
Mozambique. On 25 November 2005, having been ratified by the
required 15 member nations of the African Union, the protocol entered
into force.[44]
The protocol guarantees comprehensive rights to women including the
right to take part in the political process, to social and political
equality with men, and to control of their
reproductive health, and an end to
female genital mutilation[45]
Reproductive
rights
Reproductive rights are rights relating to
sexual reproduction and
reproductive health.[46]
"Reproductive rights" are not recognised in
international human rights law and is used as an umbrella term that
may include some or all of the following rights: the right to legal or
safe
abortion, the right to
control one's reproductive functions, the right to access quality
reproductive healthcare, and the right to
education and access in order to make reproductive choices free from
coercion,
discrimination, and
violence.[47]
Reproductive rights may also be understood to include
education about
contraception and
sexually transmitted infections, and freedom from
coerced sterilization and contraception, protection from
gender-based practices such as
female genital cutting, or FGC, and
male genital mutilation, or MGM.[46][47][48][49]
Reproductive rights are understood as rights of both men and women,
but are most frequently advanced as women's rights. The
United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) and the
World Health Organization (WHO) advocate for reproductive rights
with a primary emphasis on women's rights. The idea of these rights were
first discussed as a subset of human rights at the United Nation's 1968
International Conference on Human Rights. The sixteenth article of the
Proclamation of Teheran recognises
reproductive rights as a subset of
human rights and states, "Parents have a basic human right to
determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their
children."[48]
Abortion
Women's access to safe and legal
abortions is restricted in law or in practice in most countries in
the world. Even where
abortion is permitted by law, women may only have limited access to
safe abortion services. Only a small number of countries prohibit
abortion in all cases. In most countries and jurisdictions, abortion is
allowed to save the pregnant woman's life, or where the pregnancy is the
result of rape
or incest.[50]
Human Rights Watch considers
abortion within the context of
human rights, arguing:
- "Abortion is a highly emotional subject and one that excites
deeply held opinions. However, equitable access to safe abortion
services is first and foremost a human right. Where abortion is safe
and legal, no one is forced to have one. Where abortion is illegal and
unsafe, women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term or
suffer serious health consequences and even death. Approximately 13%
of maternal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe
abortion—between 68,000 and 78,000 deaths annually."[50]
Furthermore, they argue that "...international human rights legal
instruments and authoritative interpretations of those instruments
compel the conclusion that women have a right to decide independently in
all matters related to reproduction, including the issue of abortion."[50]
Human Rights Watch argues that "the denial of a pregnant woman's right
to make an independent decision regarding abortion violates or poses a
threat to a wide range of human rights." Basing its analysis on the
authoritative interpretations of international human rights instruments
by UN expert bodies Human Rights Watch states that where women's access
to safe and legal abortion services are restricted, the following
human rights may be at risk: the
right to life, the
right to health (or health care), right to
freedom from discrimination, right to
security of person, the
right to liberty, the
right to privacy, the
right to information, the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment , the right to decide the number and spacing of
children (reproductive
rights), the right to
freedom of thought, and the right to
freedom of religion.[51][52]
Other groups however, such as the
Catholic Church, regard abortion not as a right but as a 'moral
evil'.[53]
Rape and
sexual violence
Main articles:
Rape and
War
rape
Rape, sometimes called
sexual assault, is an
assault
by a person involving
sexual intercourse with or
sexual penetration of another person without that person's
consent.
Rape is generally considered a serious
sex crime as well as a civil assault. When part of a widespread and
systematic practice
rape and
sexual slavery are now recognised as
crime against humanity and
war
crime. Rape is also now recognised as an element of the crime of
genocide when committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a targeted group.
Rape as an element of the crime of genocide
In 1998, the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda established by the
United Nations made landmark decisions that
rape is a
crime of
genocide under
international law. The trial of
Jean-Paul Akayesu, the mayor of Taba Commune in
Rwanda,
established precedents that
rape is an
element of the crime of genocide. The Akayesu judgement includes the
first interpretation and application by an international court of the
1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The Trial Chamber held that rape, which it defined as "a physical
invasion of a sexual nature committed on a person under circumstances
which are coercive", and sexual assault constitute acts of genocide
insofar as they were committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a targeted group, as such. It found that sexual assault formed
an integral part of the process of destroying the
Tutsi
ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated
against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent required for
those acts to constitute genocide.[54]
Judge
Navanethem Pillay said in a statement after the verdict: “From time
immemorial, rape has been regarded as
spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to
send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war.”[55]
An estimated 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.[56]
Rape and sexual enslavement as crime against humanity
The
Rome Statute Explanatory Memorandum, which defines the jurisdiction
of the
International Criminal Court, recognises
rape,
sexual slavery,
enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy,
enforced sterilization, "or any other form of sexual violence of
comparable gravity" as
crime against humanity if the action is part of a widespread or
systematic practice.[57][58]
Rape was first recognised as
crime against humanity when the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia issued
arrest warrants based on the
Geneva Conventions and Violations of the Laws or Customs of War.
Specifically, it was recognised that Muslim women in
Foca
(southeastern
Bosnia and Herzegovina) were subjected to systematic and widespread
gang rape, torture and
sexual enslavement by
Bosnian Serb soldiers, policemen, and members of paramilitary groups
after the takeover of the city in April 1992.[59]
The indictment was of major legal significance and was the first time
that sexual assaults were investigated for the purpose of prosecution
under the rubric of
torture
and
enslavement as a crime against humanity.[59]
The indictment was confirmed by a 2001 verdict by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that
rape and
sexual enslavement are
crimes against humanity. This ruling challenged the widespread
acceptance of rape and sexual enslavement of women as intrinsic part of
war.[60]
The
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found
three Bosnian Serb men guilty of
rape of
Bosniac (Bosnian Muslim) women and girls (some as young as 12 and 15
years of age), in
Foca,
eastern
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Furthermore two of the men were found guilty of
the crime against humanity of
sexual enslavement for holding women and girls captive in a number
of de facto detention centres. Many of the women subsequently
disappeared.[60]
See also
References
-
^ Hosken, Fran P., 'Towards a Definition of Women's Rights'
in Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 2. (May, 1981), pp.
1-10.
- ^
a
b Lockwood, Bert B. (ed.), Women's
Rights: A "Human Rights Quarterly" Reader (John Hopkins
University Press, 2006),
ISBN 9780801883743
- ^
a
b
c
d
Dr. Badawi, Jamal
A. (September 1971), "The
Status of Women in Islam", Al-Ittihad Journal of Islamic
Studies 8 (2),
http://iaislam.tripod.com/TSOWII.htm
- ^
a
b
c
d
e Esposito (2005) p. 79
- ^
a
b
c
Majid Khadduri, Marriage in Islamic Law: The Modernist
Viewpoints, American Journal of
Comparative Law, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 213-218
-
^
Encyclopedia of religion, second edition, Lindsay Jones, p.6224,
ISBN 0-02-865742-X
-
^
Lindsay Jones, p.6224
- ^
a
b Esposito (2004), p. 339
-
^ Schimmel (1992) p.65
-
^
Interview with Prof William Montgomery Watt
-
^ Badr, Gamal M.
(Winter 1984), "Islamic Criminal Justice", The American Journal
of Comparative Law 32 (1): 167–169
167–8,
doi:10.2307/840274
-
^ Maine, Henry Sumner. Ancient Law 1861
-
^
Lafitau, Joseph François, cited by Campbell, Joseph in, Myth,
religion, and mother-right: selected writings of JJ Bachofen.
Manheim, R (trans.) Princeton, N.J. 1967 introduction xxxiii
-
^
Tomory, Peter. The Life and Art of Henry Fuseli. New York:
Praeger Publishers, 1972; p. 217.
LCCN
72-77546.
-
^
Lauren, Paul Gordon (2003).
The evolution of international human rights: visions seen.
University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 29 & 30.
http://books.google.com/books?id=gHRhWgbWyzMC&dq=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Man+and+of+the+Citizen&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
-
^ Macdonald and Scherf, "Introduction", 11–12.
-
^
Naish, Camille (1991).
Death comes to the maiden: Sex and Execution, 1431-1933.
Routledge. p. 137.
ISBN 978-0415055857.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OHYOAAAAQAAJ&dq=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Woman+and+the+Female+Citizen&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
-
^
Brody, Miriam. Mary Wollstonecraft: Sexuality and women's rights
(1759-1797), in Spender, Dale (ed.) Feminist theorists: Three
centuries of key women thinkers, Pantheon 1983, pp. 40-59
ISBN 0-394-53438-7
-
^ Walters, Margaret, Feminism: A very short introduction
(Oxford, 2005),
ISBN 978019280510X
-
^
Lauren, Paul Gordon (2003).
The evolution of international human rights: visions seen.
University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 32.
http://books.google.com/books?id=gHRhWgbWyzMC&dq=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Man+and+of+the+Citizen&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
-
^
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/marriedwomensproperty/a/property_1848ny.htm
-
^
http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/geweb/PROPERTY.htm
-
^
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/366305/Married-Womens-Property-Acts
-
^
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_womens_history/v012/12.2braukman.html
-
^ Krolokke, Charlotte and Anne Scott Sorensen, 'From
Suffragettes to Grrls' in Gender Communication Theories and
Analyses:From Silence to Performance (Sage, 2005)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e "Women's
Suffrage". Scholastic.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=5193.
Retrieved 20 July 2009.
-
^
Van Wingerden, Sophia A. (1999).
The women’s suffrage movement in Britain, 1866-1928.
Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-2.
ISBN 0312218532.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0oLxK_NHI6kC&printsec=frontcover.
- ^
a
b Phillips, Melanie, The Ascent of
Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement (Abacus, 2004)
-
^
"www.jofreeman.com/feminism/suffrage.htm".
http://www.jofreeman.com/feminism/suffrage.htm.
-
^
The Guardian, 29 December 1975
-
^
The Times, 29 December 29 1975 "Sex discrimination in advertising
banned"
-
^
"The
National Organization for Women's 1966 Statement of Purpose".
http://www.now.org/history/purpos66.html.
-
^
"National
Organization for Women: Definition and Much More from Answers.com".
http://www.answers.com/topic/national-organization-for-women?cat=biz-fin&nr=1.
-
^
"Margaret
Sanger".
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1676.html.
- ^
a
b "WIC
- Women's History in America".
http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm.
-
^
"www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/16229.html".
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/16229.html.
-
^
"UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Division for the
Advancement of Women".
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/.
-
^
"Short
History of the Commission on the Status of Women" (PDF).
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/CSW60YRS/CSWbriefhistory.pdf.
-
^ Catagay, N., Grown, C. and Santiago, A. 1986. "The Nairobi
Women's Conference: Toward a Global Feminism?" Feminist Studies, 12,
2:401–412
-
^
"Fourth
World Conference on Women. Beijing, China. September 1995. Action
for Equality, Development and Peace".
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/index.html.
-
^
United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women: Introduction
-
^
"Universal
Declaration of Human Rights".
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/.
-
^
African Union: Rights of Women Protocol Adopted, press release,
Amnesty International, 22 July 2003
-
^
UNICEF: toward ending female genital mutilation, press release,
UNICEF, 7 February 2006
-
^
The Maputo Protocol of the African Union, brochure produced by
GTZ for the German
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
- ^
a
b Cook, Rebecca
J.; Mahmoud F. Fathalla (September 1996). "Advancing
Reproductive Rights Beyond Cairo and Beijing". 'International
Family Planning Perspectives' 22 (3): 115–121.
doi:10.2307/2950752.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0190-3187%28199609%2922%3A3%3C115%3AARRBCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E.
Retrieved 2007-12-08.
- ^
a
b Amnesty
International USA (2007). "Stop
Violence Against Women: Reproductive rights". SVAW.
Amnesty International USA.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/Stop_Violence_Against_Women_SVAW/Reproductive_Rights/page.do?id=1108242&n1=3&n2=39&n3=1101.
Retrieved 2007-12-08.
- ^
a
b Freedman, Lynn
P.; Stephen L. Isaacs (January - February 1993). "Human
Rights and Reproductive Choice"". 'Studies in Family
Planning' 24 (1): 18–30.
doi:10.2307/2939211.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0039-3665%28199301%2F02%2924%3A1%3C18%3AHRARC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A.
Retrieved 2007-12-08.
-
^
"www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/zavales4.html".
http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/zavales4.html.
- ^
a
b
c "www.hrw.org/women/abortion.html".
http://www.hrw.org/women/abortion.html.
-
^
"www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/".
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/.
-
^
"www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/#issue".
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/#issue.
-
^
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2271.
-
^ Fourth Annual Report of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to the General
Assembly (September, 1999), accessed at
[1].
-
^
Navanethem Pillay is quoted by Professor Paul Walters in his
presentation of her honorary
doctorate of law,
Rhodes University, April 2005
[2]
-
^
Violence Against Women: Worldwide Statistics
-
^ As quoted by Guy Horton in
Dying Alive - A Legal Assessment of Human Rights Violations in Burma
April 2005, co-Funded by The Netherlands Ministry for Development
Co-Operation. See section "12.52 Crimes against humanity", Page 201.
He references RSICC/C, Vol. 1 p. 360
-
^
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
- ^
a
b
Rape as a Crime Against Humanity
- ^
a
b
Bosnia-Herzegovina : Foca verdict - rape and sexual enslavement are
crimes against humanity.
22 February 2001.
Amnesty International.
External links
|
.JPG)
Afghanistan
