Rape Camps - A Global Issue
We’ve all heard of the sexual abuse of women in times of war. Rape has long been tolerated as one of the inevitable features of military conflict. What is new about this situation is the recognition of the organized and systematic rape of mass numbers of women in Bosnia, and African countries, such as Rwanda and Zimbabwe. According to further reports from research carried out by organizations such as Amnesty international, The UN, and the European Community, etc, politically motivated rapes are being committed in “particularly sadistic ways to inflict maximum humiliation on victims, their families, and the whole community”.
In many cases, the intention is to “deliberately impregnate women and detain them until the pregnancy is too advanced too terminate”. In many other cases, particularly, in places such as Rwanda, the intention is too deliberately infect women with the HIV virus, by repeatedly raping them. This therefore, inflicts maximum humiliation on the opposition forces.
Women and girls aged anything between 4 and 70 are being held in camps throughout these countries, and are subsequently abused repeatedly by gangs of soldiers. Often, brothers and fathers of these women are forced to rape them as well. If they refuse, they are killed.
In Rwanda, Rwandan rebels target Tutsi women. In some of these instances, mutilation and deliberate HIV transmission also occur. Almost always, soldiers receive impunity from these war crimes, and are almost always guaranteed to walk free. Indeed, the true statistics of these crimes are unknown, as many cases go unreported, because women are often ostracised or blamed, even by their own communities, if they report these crimes. In Zimbabwe, many of these crimes are not only perpetrated by President Mugabe’s “youth militia” (eerily similar to Hitler’s youth in the 30’s) but also by policemen and soldiers. Often women are targeted who are either themselves supporters of the opposition party in Zimbabwe, or who belong to families that are supporters of the opposition party.
In many of these camps, women are often made to do hard labour during the day, and then subsequently abused during the night. And once again, we as a western society refuse to acknowledge or believe the terrible reality that comes from the mouths of not only the victims themselves, but also some of the ‘reformed’ perpetrators, according to many investigative sources. There are even some who deny the existence of what is also known as ‘Ethnic Cleansing’, despite all of the evidence and information collected from investigative journalists and organizations around the world. There are also people who deny the existence of ‘rape camps’ or the political motivation behind them, despite the widespread evidence of these facts. I myself have even spoken to one man, who completely denied the existence of ‘rape camps’, and who also disputed the political motivation against them. There are even some who would imply that the millions of victims themselves were ‘confused’ and so may have distorted the facts. However, is this really surprising, when there are people who still deny the existence of the Jewish holocaust?
The fact is that, one half of the human race is still being subjected to many forms of sexual violence and humiliation. In 2005, it is finally time for both men and women, from all parts of the globe, to campaign against sexual violence, particularly when it is organized in such a systematic and vicious way. There are many ways in which you, the reader, can help to raise awareness and campaign against these war crimes. These include, spreading the message, i.e. holding discussions, debates, and meetings, if possible about these issues. Research also helps to shed light on some of the issues, and some of the links below will help in conducting such research. Also, writing letters to the local newspapers, and also to the governments of such countries, will also help to place them under pressure to end this torture. Of course, this pressure is only as effective as the number of people who are willing to campaign against it. You can find further information by clicking on the first link below, on the Amnesty International site. Then look under the section, “10 ways on how you can end violence against women”, which contains addresses to write to, more information and even a sample letter, on a separate link. Of course there will always be people who deny the reality of such camps, and the motivation behind them, but the evidence speaks for itself.
For more information on the issues in this article, you can visit the following sites:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/svaw/
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1697420.php
http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/indictments/gagovic.html
http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/rape.html
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=5021
There are many more sites, that offer similar information, but it is impossible to list them all.
By Janine Griffiths
