Introduction
Sexual abuse of women has become a trend in most civil wars. Rape is one of the most dangerous weapons today being used in civil wars against women. Some of the countries that have used genocidal rape as a weapon of war are Sierra Leone, Liberia and former Yugoslavia. The emotional hurt from sexual abuse leaves a deeper scar, strips away the dignity and identity of women. Genocidal rape was first recognized as weapon of war in 1992 in the former Yugoslavia and later in Rwanda because of the alarming number of women who were raped. During the three months of genocide in 1994 in Rwanda, 100,000 and 250,000 were sexually violated . Oftentimes women are traumatized from the experience. Rape as a weapon of war was and still is being used in both Congo and Rwanda genocides. Although the Congo and Rwanda genocides occurred at different times, the damages and pain inflicted on women through sexual abuse are the same. Rwanda genocide only lasted a short few months, but Congo genocide on the other hand lasted for over a decade and still is going on. Unfortunately Congo women are still experiencing the brutality and harshness of genocidal rape. In this paper I will examine:
• How women are affected by rape during wartimes by looking at the similarities and differences of genocidal rape in Rwanda and Congo?
• What is being done to empower women to fight against sexual violence?
In the case of genocidal rape, women are not the only ones affected because communities also go under major changes and shifts because children who are born from these rapes and fathered by men from other tribes taints a women’s tribe, destroys families and communities. Unfortunately children produced out of rape are never fully accepted into their mo...
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...n these innocent children are a disgrace either tribes. Besides rape and mutilation, sexually transmitted diseases have proven to be an entirely different battle that victims of genocidal rape have to fight as an aftermath of civil war. HIV/AIDS has left thousands of children in Rwanda and Congo motherless. Some children have also contracted the virus from their parents, which has left the future of these children bleak. International organizations and human rights groups have brought reassurance to Hutu and Tusti women as they walk their journey of recovery from the traumatic experiences that they have been through. Women are given the opportunity to be educated and skills to survive economically. Advocating women’s rights and equality in African communities by international organizations and human rights is helping these women reach goals they never knew existed.
Holloway’s experiences in Mali regarding childbirth and the difficulties of women shed light on the topic of ethical and moral issues in other countries. Prior to reading Holloway’s “Monique and the Mango Rains”, I had only heard about FGM and poverty in Mali. Transforming data and numbers into descriptions of people, Holloway reveals the faces and voices of the people of Mali.
The analysis of the genocides that took place both in Rwanda and Sudan’s Darfur region exhibit some similarities as well as differences. The character of violence was similar in both cases, but in Rwanda the violence was more intense, participatory, and extraordinary. The violence in these two places took place in an environment that had experienced civil wars. It was a period of political transition which was further aggravated by ethnic nationalism and a conflict of ethnic populations that were living in close proximity. However, in the Rwandan genocide, the state is more centralized, compact, and effective. This is what explains the intensity and variation. The international response to these genocides through observers emphasized on using the genocide label to create domestic constituencies especially in the Rwandan case.
Stiglmayer, Alexandra. 1994. Mass Rape: The War against Women in Bosnia-herzegovina. Lincoln: university of Nebrask Press.
Sharlach, Lisa. “Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda.” New Political Science. 22:1 (2000): 89-102. Google Scholar. Web. 28 April 2014.
During the 1900’s two deadly wars were raging on, the civil war in Sierra Leone and the genocide in Rwanda. The civil war in Sierra Leone began in March 1991, while the genocide began in 1994. Combined these two wars killed upward of 1,050,000 people, and affected the lives of all the people that lived there. The conflicts in Sierra Leone and Rwanda occurred for different major reasons, but many little aspects were similar. Politics and Ethnicity were the two main conflicts, but despite the different moments rebellions and the murder of innocent people occurred in both places.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, or as it has been called by the U.N as “the rape capital of the world” has been having problems since almost 1994. The armed group, M23, has committed dozens of war crimes including rape, citizen executions, and forced recruitment of children. Women, and girls have been left with burned flesh, broken bones, and even missing limbs. Even some perpetrators have even shot and stabbed these women in the vagina with shards of glass, rifles, and other objects. The violence in the DRC is unspeakable, many of the survivors have received devastating damage to their reproductive organs. Men have been held at gun point and forced to rape their own wives, mothers, sisters, and even their daughters. Throughout the entire ordeal, the government of the DRC has let many of the perpetrators of these war crimes cross over to neighboring countries, who act as a sanctuary. In turn these people have not been charged for these crimes. The Congolese army and government have been much to blame for the violence and atrocities happening in the country. Back when they made the M23 treaty, they needed to follow through with their promises to the integrated soldiers. The weaknesses in their government ruin attempts to prevent atrocities and protect civilians. With these problems affecting the population every day, they need to start getting help from other countries in order to fix its state and help its people. The Congolese army and government have been much to blame for the violence and atrocities happening in the country because they needed follow through with their promises to the integrated soldiers, the weakness in their government ruin attempts to prevent atrocities and protect civilians, and they need to stop lett...
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a.k.a. the DRC, or more commonly “the Congo”, has experienced an endless nightmare of violence, poverty, famine, sickness, and murder for the past 16 years. The constant bloodshed between the national and armed forces has led to countless civilian deaths, or the genocide in the Congo. Before I go on any further, I must explain what a genocide is. A genocide is the attempted destruction of an entire group of people. The most famous example is the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II. It is tragic to say that history has repeated itself and over 5 to 7 million Congolese civilians have lost their lives since 1996. In order to truly understand the events that are transpiring at this very moment, we must look back in the past to the root of this problem, see what is going on at this moment, and try to do something to help stop these atrocities.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
In the story Wild Flower, Nina Smart tells her story of staying in Africa, Sierra Leonean, with her biological father. It unravels to reveal a terrifying truth behind a secretive women's society called Bondo society. When a girl comes of age, parents pay the society to kidnap and initiate their child. Nina soon finds out that initiation means mutilation of her body. Luckily Nina is smart and forms a plan to escape. Once she escapes she becomes a voice for all of the victims who have suffered the fate she avoided. Through her campaign to stop mutilation of the vagin area, she meets a women who tells her story of the trauma she went through. In this mini research, it’ll be based on the long term impacts of the girls mental and physical trauma.
The effects of violence against a culture are catastrophic, and come in all kinds of forms. In the book, “A Long Walk To The Water”, a war was an effect of violence. For example, Sudan’s own government used violence to force one religion upon its people. The war caused villages’ to be destroyed, schools bombed, and families separated. As well as hunger, loss of innocent life, and many other negative effects. Another form of violence against a culture, is the violence against woman. Today violence against woman has grown at an alarming rate. The effects have made woman think twice before going somewhere alone. Women have to be more alert and cautious now of days. Both forms of violence have terrible effects that negatively impact the cultures.
In today’s world, it is of the utmost importance to learn from mistakes of the past. Certain events, especially tragedies that could have been avoided, hold within them the lessons and wisdom that should be used to prevent similar disasters. The 1994 Rwandan genocide resulted in over 800, 000 deaths of the Tutsi people, at the hands of the Hutu; the genocide, and the international response to it, is a lesson about the humanitarian responsibilities, successes, and shortcomings of the United Nations.
On September 5, 1995, Hillary Clinton delivered an influential speech at The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Clinton expresses general concern over escalating violence toward women, in other word’s gendercide. “Gendercide refers to the systematic elimination of a specific gender group, normally female. It’s most common in India, China, and other regions in Southeast Asia” (GirlsKind Foundation). Crimes, such as bride trafficking, infanticide, abandonment, and dowry related murder; often take place within private households, going unnoticed and not even acknowledged. “Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated. Even now, in the late 20th century, the rape of women continues to be used as an instrument of armed conflict Women and children make up a large majority of the world’s refugees” (Clinton 3). By addressing her speech in Beijing, where gendercide is prevalent, Hillary expressed her objective effectively not just the United Nations, but to audiences across the world. Clinton effectively delivered her speech by portraying her purpose for women to achieve equality and better opportunities, with ethical appeals, emotional appeals, and logical appeals.
More than 20,000 women were ganged raped and then stabbed to death by bayonets or shot so they could never bear witness . Women who were already pregnant were raped and then had “their bellies slit open and fetuses torn out” . Some fathers, brothers and sons were made to rape their daughters, sisters and mothers while the rest of the family was forced to watch . The Comfort Women system was later introduced where young Chinese women were unwillingly put into slave-prostitution only for Japanese soldiers .
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women defines gender-based violence (GBV) as, “Any act…that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.” It is also broadly defined as any harm to a person due to the power disparities caused by gender inequality. Gender based violence includes childhood sexual abuse, “prenatal sex selection in favor of boys, female infanticide, dowry deaths, honors killings ,female genital mutilation, trafficking and forced prostitution, forced early marriage, sexual assault and intimate partner violence”