Ending sexual violence against women and girls can no longer wait
On 14 April, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented the 12th Annual Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence to the UN Security Council. The report paints a grim picture of the sexual violence and exploitation that women and girls in conflict face, and reveals the little progress made in holding perpetrators (both state and non-state) accountable. Among the 18 country situations highlighted in the Secretary-General’s report — where over 2,500 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence were reported in 2020 — seven were in Africa: the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan.
Despite the adoption of the 1995 Beijing Declaration — which identifies the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls as a global priority, meaningful actions are yet to be taken to protect women and girls from sexual violence, especially in conflict settings.
In the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia, which has so far forced more than 50,000 people to flee into Sudan, there have been multiple reports of rape being used as a weapon of war. According to Dr. Fasika Amdeselassie, the top public health official for the government-appointed interim administration in Tigray, since the conflict began in November, at least 829 cases of sexual assault have been reported at five hospitals in the region. In the Central African Republic, where armed rebel groups have been carrying out attacks against innocent civilians, a 2017 Human Rights Watch report documented 305 cases of rape and sexual slavery carried out against 296 women and girls by members of armed groups between early 2013 and mid-2017. In the DRC, the use of sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war is rampant. According to Congolese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege, who runs the Panzi hospital in the DRC province of Bikavu, rape and sexual violence as weapons of war has become a “real pandemic,” which needs more attention from the international communiy. Dr. Mukwege’s Panzi hospital has so far treated more than 50,000 victims of conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC. The full number of the sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups in these three countries, and across the African continent, remains unclear due to under-reporting by victims and the lack of accurate data collection, often as a result of security threats.
In addition to the violence that women and girls face at the hands of armed groups, in recent years, allegations of sexual abuse and expoloitation at the hands of UN peacekeepers stationed in different African countries have also been reported. Between 2013–2020, UN peacekeepers in the CAR, the DRC, and Uganda have been accused of rape, sexual abuse, and exploitation of women and children. Despite having a “zero tolerance” policy against peacekeepers’ sexual abuse of women and girls, the UN has yet to implement a strategy to effectively address the problem.
A 2015 evaluation report led by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services found that the UN’s “effectiveness of enforcement against sexual exploitation and abuse is hindered by a complex architecture, prolonged delays, unknown and varying outcomes, and severely deficient victim assistance.”
Out of the four UN peacekeeping missions that the report identified as being responsible for the highest number of sexual abuse allegations between 2008–2013, three were in Africa: United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and United Nations Missions in Sudan and South Sudan (UNMIS and UNMISS).
Aid organizations have also been implicated in sexual misconduct and abuse in countries like the DRC. Most recently, 11 staff members of the British non-governmental organization (NGO) OXFAM in the DRC, were suspended for inappropriate behavior, fraud, nepotism, and sexual misconduct. Despite reports of sexual abuse as far back as 2015, no action was taken by OXFAM to look into these allegations. In 2018, OXFAM was accused of covering up an investigation into the hiring of sex workers by its staff working in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.
In September 2020, a joint investigative report by The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed the stories of more than 50 women in the DRC who accused the World Health Organization (WHO), and leading NGOs like the United Nations Children’s Fund and World Vision of multiple incidents of abuse during the 2018–2020 Ebola crisis.
Beyond denouncing sexual violence against women and girls, actions must be taken to ensure that victims are given the proper legal, mental and in some cases, the economic support they need. In addition to dismissing and suspending personnel and staff members who have been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct, organizations must have a clear plan as too how they intend to collaborate with local law enforcement authorities and other parties to ensure that victims get the justice they deserve.
We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye as women and girls continue to be violated in environments where they already face threats because of their gender. As Dr. Mukwege put it, now is the time for the international community “to draw a red line against the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.”
Nani Detti
Communications Intern,
Africa Program
