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Sierra Leone: Sexual Violence Report
Sierra Leone: Sexual Violence Report
Date distributed (ymd): 010224
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: West Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +security/peace+ +gender/women+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains a statement from Human Rights Watch on the
use of sexual violence in the conflict in Sierra Leone. Although
the statement faults rebel forces in particular for the systematic
use of sexual violence, it also critiques the government and the UN
force for making 'very little effort ... to protect women and girls
from attack by rebel groups', and for not providing sufficient
safeguards against abuses by pro-government forces as well.
HRW argues that sexual violence, as a crime against humanity,
cannot be included under the Lome Accord provisions for amnesty for
combatants 'in respect of anything done by them in pursuit of their
objectives'
On February 22 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague handed down its first convictions of
three Bosnian Serb soldiers for sexual violence - rape, torture and
enslavement in the campaign of ethnic cleansing in 1992-1993.
See: http://www.icty.org and
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/women/icty/
For other background and links on Sierra Leone, see
http://www.africafocus.org/docs00/sl0005a.php
http://www.africafocus.org/docs00/sl0005b.php
and
http://www.africafocus.org/docs01/sl0101.php>
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sexual Violence within the Sierra Leone Conflict
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org
23 February 2001
Throughout the nine year Sierra Leonean conflict there has been
widespread and systematic sexual violence against women and girls
including individual and gang rape, sexual assault with objects
such as firewood, umbrellas and sticks, and sexual slavery. In
thousands of cases, sexual violence has been followed by the
abduction of women and girls and forced bondage to male combatants
in slavery-like conditions often accompanied by forced labor. These
sexual crimes are most often characterized by extraordinary
brutality and are frequently preceded or followed by violent acts
against other family members. The rebel factions use sexual
violence as a weapon to terrorize, humiliate, punish and ultimately
control the civilian population into submission.
The perpetration of sexual violence is often marked by the
systematic breaking of taboos and undermining of cultural values.
For example, Human Rights Watch has documented cases of fathers
being forced to watch the rape of their daughters, middle aged
women being raped by boys as young as eleven, women being raped in
public places, and girls being raped during sacred coming-of-age
rituals. As in other countries, the abuse of women in the Sierra
Leonean conflict is rooted in the persistent human rights
violations that push women into a lower status with limited rights
in all spheres of their lives, from home to work.
The violence has affected thousands of girls and women of all ages.
While members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed
Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC; the renegade members of the
Sierra Leonean Army who led the 1997 coup, now sometimes also known
as the West Side Boys) have been the most common perpetrators,
members of the civil defense forces - the biggest and most powerful
of which is the Kamajors - and the loyal Sierra Leonean Army have
also been implicated.
Following the l999 Lome Peace Accord, there was a marked decrease
in most human rights violations - except sexual violence, which
continued unabated. From the signing in July 1999 to the May 2000
collapse of the accord, Human Rights Watch documented some one
hundred cases of rape by rebel forces. Since the collapse of the
peace agreement in May 2000, Human Rights Watch has received
consistent reports of rape by RUF rebels and AFRC soldiers, and to
a lesser extent by Kamajor militias.
There are no official statistics on the numbers of girls and women
who have suffered sexual violence during the war. This is due both
to under-reporting because of cultural factors, fear of
retaliation, and lack of faith in the criminal justice system, and
to a lack of resources devoted to the problem on the part of the
relevant government ministries. While it is common that women know
the perpetrators of these violations, very few have dared to bring
charges, for fear of reprisals against them and their families.
However, those girls who have either been released or managed to
escape rebel captivity indicate that the overwhelming majority are
sexually abused. According to one 1999 study, there were 1862
female victims of sexual abuse seen for medical treatment and
counseling in one program treating victims raped and/or abducted
during the January 1999 offensive against the capital Freetown. Of
these, according to information received from Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) in March 2000, 55 percent reported having been
gang raped and 200 had become pregnant.
Since April 1999, the Human Rights Watch office in Freetown has
done extensive research on sexual violence and taken hundreds of
testimonies of victims throughout the rebel war and from all areas
of the country.
International Law
Sexual violence within the Sierra Leonean conflict is not only a
war crime, but - given its widespread and systematic nature - is
also a crime against humanity. Rape and other forms of sexual
violence also constitute torture when they are intentionally
inflicted on a victim by an official or with official instigation,
consent or tolerance for purposes such as intimidation, punishment,
or eliciting information. Grave breaches of the laws of war,
torture, and crimes against humanity are crimes of universal
jurisdiction: any nation may prosecute the perpetrators, regardless
of their nationality, the nationality of victims or of where the
crime took place. However, it is not necessary to find that rape
and sexual violence take place systematically or on a wide scale in
order to prosecute the perpetrators under national law. Just as a
single case of murder of a civilian can be prosecuted, so too can
a single rape.
Victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch indicate that the
violence is often premeditated and organized, suggesting command
responsibility on the part of the military hierarchy. That is to
say, officers have either authorized or ordered these abuses, or
they knew or should have known that they were taking place, and
took no measures to control their subordinates. An individual
found to have command responsibility for the crime committed by a
subordinate is deemed responsible at least of the same crime as the
subordinate, that is, if the officer stood by while the subordinate
committed rape, the officer is also responsible for rape.
Perpetrators
Rebel Forces
The rebels (at different times the RUF, AFRC, and West Side Boys)
have perpetrated systematic, organized and widespread sexual
violence against girls and women since the Sierra Leonean civil war
began in 1991. Most of the rapes documented by Human Rights Watch
occurred during attacks against a hamlet, village or town. During
the course of the attack, the victims were most often abducted and
forced to become sexual partners or 'wives' to their rebel captors.
Once captured, victims often described trying to attach themselves
to one rebel so as to avoid gang rape, be given a degree of
protection and be subjected to less hardship. They often become
pregnant, had children and remained with the rebels for years. Some
received military training, were given drugs and later themselves
became perpetrators of serious abuses. Human Rights Watch has
documented several cases of female rebels being involved in
'finding' and later abducting young girls to be later raped by
their commanding officers.
The RUF has made occasional efforts to declare rape a crime within
areas under their control, and discipline combatants accused of
'breaking the law.' Human Rights Watch has documented numerous
cases of combatants being publicly executed after summary trials in
which they have been 'convicted' of rape. Human Rights Watch
condemns such extra-judicial and summary proceedings and
executions. These efforts have in any event failed to deter the
perpetration of sexual violence by rebel soldiers in practice.
Civil Defense Forces
Rape has until recently been very uncommon among the CDF forces,
the largest of which is the Kamajors, primarily because of the
belief that power and potency as a warrior is dependent upon sexual
abstinence. In the last few years the Kamajors have been moved away
from their native areas and traditional chiefs, and given more
responsibility in national security. Once separated from the
influence of the paramount and regional chiefs, they have become
increasingly undisciplined and the cases of rape have become more
common. Human Rights Watch has also documented one case of the
sexual torture to death of a female RUF commander by a senior
Kamajor leader.
ECOMOG and UNAMSIL
Human Rights Watch has not documented any cases of rape by soldiers
serving under ECOMOG, the Economic Community of West African States
peace keeping force, or under UNAMSIL, the U.N. Mission in Sierra
Leone. The UNAMSIL human rights section provides basic training in
international humanitarian law to the officers of all units serving
in the mission.
Consequences of Sexual Violence
The victims of sexual violence can suffer severe health
consequences. Human Rights Watch has interviewed two women who
suffered a prolapsed uterus following rape, as well as several
cases of serious injury among women who have had objects inserted
into their vaginas. The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases
is very high among the victims of sexual violence. The incidence of
HIV/AIDS in rape victims is currently unknown but of great concern
given rising rates of infection generally. There are effectively no
programs available to test for infection. Girls as young as twelve
have fallen pregnant as a result of rape.
According to health practitioners, victims of sexual violence often
suffer anxiety and depression which lasts for years. Sierra Leonean
society attaches a strong stigma to rape, and women are commonly
blamed for having been raped or sexually assaulted. Many women who
had been abducted interviewed by Human Rights Watch told how they
stayed with the rebels for fear of being rejected by their family.
This was particularly the case for those who had become pregnant
and later had a child.
Care for Victims
Until the rebel offensive against the capital Freetown there were
no statistics kept and no programs - either governmental or
nongovernmental - specifically designed to treat the victims of
sexual assault. The January l999 offensive, in which thousands of
girls and women were raped and later abducted by rebel forces,
provoked a response on the part of such organizations as Medecins
Sans Frontieres, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE),
Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI), and UNICEF.
During 1999, a task force on sexual violence was set up, and
several counseling centers and a network of medical practitioners
to treat the victims was established. MSF embarked on a program to
train trauma counselors and COOPI opened a home in Freetown for
abducted girls who had become pregnant. The services within the
provinces, however, remain sorely lacking. The only existing
program outside of Freetown is run by the International Rescue
Committee (IRC) and treats victims living around the provincial
headquarters of Bo and Kenema.
Protection of Civilians in Sierra Leone Today
The U.N. and its member states have failed to demonstrate the
commitment to the implementation of the Lome peace accord that is
implied by the U.N.'s acceptance of the position of 'moral
guarantor' of the agreement. It took three-and-a-half months after
the signing of the Lome accord for the Security Council to adopt a
resolution creating a peacekeeping force, and further months for
the soldiers authorized under that resolution actually to arrive in
Sierra Leone; only after the crisis caused by the RUF taking U.N.
soldiers hostage in May did UNAMSIL's military contingent reach the
level of 11,100 authorized in February. Moreover, the mandate
granted to the peacekeeping force was too limited for the
conditions facing it, while the troops that have been deployed have
failed to implement even that limited mandate. When UNAMSIL forces
have come under RUF attack since the resumption of hostilities,
they have frequently chosen to make an immediate retreat rather
than attempting to maintain their positions. UNAMSIL and government
forces, including the loyal Sierra Leonean Army and the Sierra
Leone Police, are in control of less than half of the country
In particular, very little effort has been made by the Sierra
Leonean Army, Sierra Leonean Police and UNAMSIL to protect women
and girls from attack by rebel groups. For example, in the months
following the signing of the Lome accord, Human Rights Watch
documented scores of abductions and rapes of girls and women by
AFRC and RUF rebels within villages around the western towns of
Masiaka and Port Loko. The attacks occurred within the context of
food raids and against public transport vehicles along a major
highway. While the rebel activities were well known by UNAMSIL,
ECOMOG (prior to their withdrawal), Sierra Leonean Police and the
Sierra Leonean Army, there was no effort to arrest and prosecute
the perpetrators. Several women were in fact abducted less than a
mile from UNAMSIL and SLA checkpoints.
The UNAMSIL human rights section is currently providing human
rights education to Sierra Leonean Police units. The British army
is training 3,000 members of the Sierra Leonean Army, and includes
education on the laws of armed conflict and child protection within
their training curriculum. There is, however, no specific training
to any military or police force with regard to women's rights,
including women's rights to equality and bodily integrity.
Impunity
Article IX of the Lome Accord required the government of Sierra
Leone to 'grant absolute and free pardon and reprieve to all
combatants and collaborators in respect of anything done by them in
pursuit of their objectives' up to the date of the signing of the
accord. The special representative of the U.N. secretary-general
attached a reservation to the Lome Accord stating that the U.N.
interpreted Article IX not to apply to 'international crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious
violations of international humanitarian law.' All states have a
duty to prosecute the perpetrators of serious violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law, including sexual
violence. Human Rights Watch does not believe that, even under the
terms of the Lome amnesty as currently in force under Sierra
Leonean law, rape and sexual violence should be considered as being
'in pursuit of the objectives' of any of the parties to the
conflict.
Recommendations
Human Rights Watch urges all Sierra Leonean authorities and UNAMSIL
to take steps to protect women from sexual violence, address the
legal and other needs of victims, and bring perpetrators to
justice. In particular, Human Rights Watch urges UNAMSIL to ensure
that its monitoring of human rights abuses includes reporting on
current incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and
abduction of women for forced labor by rebel or pro-government
forces, or by soldiers serving with the UNAMSIL peacekeeping
forces. UNAMSIL should work with the Sierra Leonean government to
put in place disciplinary and other procedures to prevent
violations of international humanitarian law and other abuses,
including sexual violence, by pro-government forces including the
Sierra Leonean Army and the Civil Defense Forces.
Given the widespread nature of sexual abuse within the Sierra
Leonean conflict, Human Rights Watch urges UNAMSIL, and the
Commonwealth training teams involved in training UNAMSIL
peacekeepers, the Sierra Leonean Army and Police, to include
classes within their training to address women's rights, including
women's rights to equality and bodily integrity, with special
emphasis on sexual assault.
The Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health and international
humanitarian organizations should make every effort to address
health issues for women resulting from sexual violence. To the
degree possible, programs for rape survivors should be integrated
into broader programs to ensure that rape survivors are not further
stigmatized.
Human Rights Watch has called for the establishment of an
internationally-supported tribunal to bring to justice the
perpetrators of war crimes and other abuses in Sierra Leone. Any
such tribunal, or trials under Sierra Leonean law, should recognize
and prosecute rape, sexual slavery and sexual mutilation, where
appropriate, as crimes against humanity or war crimes. All
investigations should be done in a manner that has as a priority
minimizing secondary trauma to the victim and assuring her physical
and psychological well-being. The investigations should be done by
investigators with gender and sexual assault expertise and
training.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC provides
accessible information and analysis in order to promote U.S.
and international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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