Sexual Violence and Gender Based Violence: 51st UNHCR Executive Committee Meeting

posted: October 2, 2000

Geneva

Binta Mansaray, Sierra Leone

51st UNHCR Executive Committee Meeting
Geneva, October 3, 2000

Madam chair, Madam co-chair, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Good Afternoon. I am going to talk on sexual violence and gender based violence. I have worked extensively on sexual violence as well as gender based violence but whenever I am called upon to talk on this subject, I take the traditional expert analysis approach. Years of on-the-ground-experience have taught me to treat this all too important subject from a different perspective. I will get into that in a moment. Let me move on to my statement

On behalf of the Sierra Leonean refugees and the people of Sierra Leone, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to UNHCR and the family of the victim who was killed in the line of duty. He died protecting the Sierra Leonean refugees – Let him not die in vain. I hope that the UNHCR and the donors will honor this humanitarian hero by providing the maximum protection needs of those he gave up his life for, among whom the majority is women and children.

I would like to commend the UNHCR for its ten-year focus on refugee women as well as for designing impressive guidelines on the prevention and response to sexual violence. This is my area of interest, therefore, the contribution I would like to make in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration, is to highlight the Institutional Protection Practices of UNHCR that inhibit rather than enhance it’s drive to promote the status of refugee women. I will do so by using the Sierra Leone experience as a case study.

Given the perception of women in society as subordinates and sexual objects, which is in sharp contrast to the significant and crucial role Women Pioneers have been playing in advocating and promoting democracy in Sierra Leone, they have been specifically targeted by the rebels for crimes such as rape, gang-rape, sexual mutilation, sexual slavery and abduction. They have been used as beasts of burden, they have been physically assaulted, maimed and killed. Even for crimes such as the amputation of limbs for which they were not specifically targeted, relatively speaking the consequences of such crimes for women are far more serious because of their gender roles. Furthermore, their homes have been burnt and destroyed. These traumatised and war wearied women flee to escape from the horrific atrocities. Some managed to walk for days or weeks to get to the refugee camps in neighboring countries, those who couldn’t make it remained in the country as Internally Displaced Persons. Some of those who make it to the camps are confronted with cumbersome Registration and Verification procedures that leave them without food and shelter for weeks or months and sometimes forever. This increases their vulnerability to sexual exploitation and prostitution.

Let me share with you the experience of a 19-year old girl who was gang raped by twenty men on the spot when the rebels attacked her village. She was abducted and remained in captivity for two months. While in captivity, she was used as a sex slave. She escaped when ECOMOG’s Alpha Jet attacked the rebels. Then she walked for two weeks on a bush path to get to one of the refugee camps in Guinea. When she arrived, she was made to wait for months in order to be verified. As she was in dire need of food she was obliged to offer sexual favors in exchange for a cup of bulgur and a cup of oil inspite of the severe abdominal pain she was suffering from as a result of the gang rape. This exacerbated her psychological trauma as well as her physical pain. Such suffering makes it impossible for women to break the culture of silence about their experiences of rape. There are many such cases among the refugee population. Some women get frustrated to wait for verification so they resort to prostitution in a desperate need to get food and shelter. This has a negative multiplier effect on women in particular and society at large – because of the associated health risks of prostitution in a region where contraceptive is not commonly used to prevent sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDs.

I have discussed this problem with UNHCR staff members who acknowledge that they do not have the institutional capacity to carry out registration and verification in a systematic and timely manner.. Therefore my recommendations in this regard are:

UNHCR should strengthen its institutional capacity by using modern technology to facilitate and expedite the registration and verification process.
UNHCR should solicit voluntary help from INGOs with related interests, Women NGOs and NGOs working on women’s issues.
UNHCR should promote safe sex education and in collaboration with other INGOs provide condoms to camp inmates to avoid the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The other practice that has gender specific consequences is the inadequate and inappropriate food and non-food items that are given to the refugees. The nine-year brutal war has changed the socio-economic status of women. Some are widows, heads of household or single mothers. Some are in poor health, some are infirm and some suffer from war related injuries. And yet they have to take care of large families and orphans. They are in dire need of adequate and appropriate food. The food assistance they get from UNHCR is too little, most times it is bulgur and oil. This is also the case for other women of concern to UNHCR. Fuel is not included in the non-food items that the refugees receive. It is the responsibility of these war wearied and destitute women to prepare meals. If they don’t, they get beaten up by their husbands. So they are obliged to go to the forest to cut and collect firewood to sell in order to buy one or two ingredients and to cook. They use their hand to cut and collect firewood because they don’t have tools. At times they get hurt, attacked or raped on their way to the forest. Those who cannot go to the forest send their children to panhandle, those who have lost their children to the war go panhandle themselves. Single mothers with infants and lots of children to take care of go to the streets and beg in order to survive. Every month, these women are obliged to stay home and go without food for a couple of days when they are having their period because they don’t have sanitary pads or any thing to improvise. They also go without food most times because they give priority to their husbands and/or children when their food supply gets too low.

The point I am trying to make here is, to give inadequate food to refugees generates its own socio-economic hardship with its attendant psychological stress for women in addition to that caused by the war. This practice perpetuates the subordination of women by reinforcing their gender roles. In other words, it serves as an impediment in breaking new grounds in non-traditional areas for women. It is not consistent with UNHCR’s pronouncement on Good Practices on Gender Mainstreaming as indicated in its publication –"Building Partnership Through Equality". Furthermore it does not fall within the criteria of UNIFEM’s guidelines for Good Practices in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action on Gender Mainstreaming for Gender Equality. Above all, it undermines the collective effort of Women Pioneers worldwide to promote gender equality and the advancement of women. In this regard, I recommend that:

UNHCR design a minimum standard of food and non-food items in its humanitarian assistance package for refugees by taking into account the basic and essential needs of women and children – such as adequate and appropriate food, fuel, shelter and sanitary napkins among other things.
I encourage donors to assist UNHCR by meeting the requirements of the minimum standard of assistance package designed by UNHCR.
UNHCR should, in collaboration with national NGOs and community based organizations encourage and support camp inmates to rehabilitate traditional mediation skills such as forming committee of elders including women to settle disputes. This will reduce the incidence of gender-based violence.

I now move on to repatriation:

The practice of abruptly cutting assistance to refugees in a protracted refugee situation in order to put pressure on them to return home is institutional violence that promotes gender based violence including sexual violence. The most recent testimony to this practice was given by UNHCR’s Head of sub office in Gueckedou, Guinea. In an interview with DIALOGUE in August, she said, I quote –

"As for the Sierra Leonean refugees, we expected to be able to carry out some repatriation this year…the problem is that repatriation has not started and yet we are decreasing the number of beneficiaries. Out of 300,000 refugees, only 190,000 are receiving food." End quote.

My question is, is this assistance fatigue or severe shortage of resources? What ever the answer to this question is, nothing can be invoked to justify such practice because it is not consistent with human rights standards enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, it raises serious questions about the fundamental humanitarian principles upon which the UNHCR was found.

Recommendations:

I recommend that UNHCR operationalise repatriation in a manner consistent with the guidelines outlined in its 1996 Handbook on Voluntary Repatriation in which specific reference is made to the rights of refugee women and their physical safety. UNHCR, in collaboration with the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children as well as other like-minded organizations should educate refugee women on their rights.

Before I conclude, let me make it clear that by using non-traditional approach to discuss sexual violence and gender based violence, I am not trying to diminish the relevance of the application of traditional expert analysis approach. What I am trying to point out is, since the effectiveness of expert analysis appraoch entails testimony-gathering, recommendations for medical as well as psycho-social intervention among other things, it requires the full cooperation and participation of the victims. This becomes impossible when dealing with refugee women as well as other women of concern to UNHCR when their trauma is exacerbated by a heightened sense of vulnerability to further sexual and gender based assault generated by food insecurity, homelessness and statelessness as discussed above.

To conclude - I would like to thank the UNHCR for organising this forum that gives me the opportunity to talk on behalf of my Sierra Leonean sisters. I would like to thank the Campaign for Good Governance, particularly the national coordinator, Mrs Zainab Bangura for giving me the opportunity to be here. I would like to thank the women’s commission for their crucial financial and moral support without which I would not have been able to participate in these consultations. I would like to thank the donors in advance for their kind cooperation in assisting the UNHCR to fully meet the protection needs of the Sierra Leonean refugees as a whole especially the women and children.

I thank you all for listening,

God Bless You!