War Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone - Amazon S3

155 Pages·2006·0.59 MB·English

War-Related
Sexual Violence
in Sierra Leone
A Population-Based Assessment
AReport by Physicians for Human Rights
With the Support of the United Nations Assistance Mission
in Sierra Leone
© 2002, Physicians for Human Rights
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-879707-37-3
Cover and report Design: Glenn Ruga/Visual Communications
Cover Photo: Kristina Hare Lyons
Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) promotes health by protecting
human rights. We believe that human rights are essential preconditions
for the health and well-being of all people. Using medical and scientific
methods, we investigate and expose violations of human rights worldwide
and we work to stop them. We support institutions that hold perpetrators
of human rights abuses, including health professionals, accountable for
their actions. We educate health professionals and medical, public health
and nursing students and organize them to become active in supporting a
movement for human rights and creating a culture of human rights in the
medical and scientific professions.
Since 1986, PHR members have worked to stop torture, disappear-
ances, and political killings by governments and opposition groups; to
improve health and sanitary conditions in prisons and detention centers;
to investigate the physical and psychological consequences of violations
of humanitarian law in internal and international conflicts; to defend
medical neutrality and the right of civilians and combatants to receive
medical care during times of war; to protect health professionals who are
victims of violations of human rights; and to prevent medical complicity
in torture and other abuses.
As one of the original steering committee members of the Interna-
tional Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace
Prize. PHR currently serves as coordinator of the US Campaign to Ban
Landmines.
The President is Robert Lawrence, M.D.; Vice President is Holly Atkin-
son, M.D.; the Executive Director is Leonard S. Rubenstein, J.D.; Deputy
Director is Susannah Sirkin; Advocacy Director is Holly Burkhalter;
Senior Program Associate is Doug Ford; Director of Communications is
Barbara Ayotte; Director of Finance & Administration is Lori Maida;
Director of Development is Dena Getzie; Director of Campaigns is Gina
Cummings; William Haglund, Ph.D., is Director of the International
Forensic Program; Senior Medical Consultant is Vincent Iacopino, M.D.,
Ph.D.; and the Fireman Health and Human Rights Fellow is Lynn L.
Amowitz, M.D., M.S.P.H., M.Sc.
Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights
100 Boylston St., Suite 702 1156 15th St. NW, Suite 1001
Boston, MA 02116 Washington, DC 20005
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Web: www.phrusa.org Web: www.phrusa.org
iii
UNAMSIL
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was
established by Security Council Resolution 1270 on October 22, 1999
with the broad based mandate of cooperating with the Government of
Sierra Leone and other parties in implementing the Lome Peace Agree-
ment and assisting in the implementation of the disarmament, demobi-
lization and reintegration of the parties in conflict. On February 7, 2000,
May 19, 2000 and March 30, 2001 the mandate and size of UNAMSIL
were expanded. Its current troop strength exceeds 17,000, making it the
United Nations’ largest peacekeeping mission.
In pursuit of its mandate, UNAMSIL combines military and civilian
personnel. The Human Rights Section is part of the civilian component of
the mission and has a threefold approach to its activities. The first is to
monitor the compliance by government and all parties to the conflict of
human rights and international humanitarian law. Secondly, the Human
Rights Section provides technical assistance in building the capacity of
national institutions that can promote respect for the rule of law through
a sustainable culture of human rights. Thirdly, the Section undertakes and
supports human rights and peace awareness programs conducted in
national languages as a means of building popular confidence in, and
understanding of, the human rights principles and their role in peace-
building efforts.
The UNAMSIL Human Rights Section conducts specialist work with
national institutions, the internally displaced and children. It also focuses
on the rule of law and gender issues. The Human Rights Section currently
has 16 international staff members and 4 national staff members
deployed in its three offices in Freetown, Kenema and Makeni.
UNAMSIL
Mammy Yoko, Aberdeen
P.O. Box 5
Freetown, Sierra Leone
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Foreword
The subject of violence against women in Sierra Leone has until recently
been overlooked. I welcome this report by Physicians for Human Rights,
with the support of UNAMSIL, which helps to redefine the role that sex-
ual violence played in the conflict. The findings and data are a clear indi-
cation of the kinds of depravity that war can bring. I visited Sierra Leone
on official mission in August 2001 to study the issue of violence against
women committed during the conflict and to identify key measures and
initiatives needed to ensure the rights of women in the aftermath of the
conflict. In my work as Special Rapporteur on violence against women I
have seen that it is often the need to understand clearly the specific nature
of gender-based crimes, through research and collection of data, that is
required to mobilize civil society, governments and the international com-
munity against such abuses. This report comprehensively documents the
widespread nature of sexual violence in Sierra Leone during the conflict
and is a valuable tool for those who have been fighting for women’s
human rights to be put on the agenda as a matter of priority.
Furthermore by documenting the wartime experiences of women in Sierra
Leone this report will provide a valuable contribution in making the post-
conflict needs of women and girls more apparent. Its findings should be
taken into consideration in the formulation of repatriation and resettle-
ment plans, as well as demobilization, rehabilitation, reintegration and
post-conflict reconstruction programmes.
I often see many situations involving gender-based violence—similar to
the cases so carefully documented in this report—for which perpetrators
go unpunished. Internationally there has been progress, at least in the area
of legal sanction. Perpetrators of violence against women during wartime
are being brought before the courts of justice. Their trial and punishment
is a vindication of many years of effort by many groups and individuals
who have been trying throughout the years to end the impunity of those
who commit the most horrendous acts of brutality. In this regard, I wel-
come the Foca judgment by The International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia, which sets out in detail, the international law and
standards with regard to war crimes and crimes against humanity com-
mitted against women and girls. The Tribunal found that these actions
constituted rape as a crime against humanity, torture as a war crime and
enslavement as a crime against humanity. Their strong judgment is wel-
come and lays to rest all arguments that rape and sexual slavery during
wartime does not constitute international customary law that is in fla-
grant violation of international humanitarian law. The Foca judgement
sets a context by which the wealth of information contained in this report
should be analyzed.
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The International Criminal Court, which was finalized in 1998, is also
a major victory for those who have fought to make international justice
an important part of modern international law. The Rome Statute makes
explicit that rape and gender violence are among the most serious crimes
of concern to the international community by specifically defining them
as constituent acts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. According
to the Statute, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced preg-
nancy, enforced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence also
constitutes a Grave Breach of the Geneva Convention. Similarly, the
Statute defines crimes against humanity to include torture, as well as rape,
sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced steriliza-
tion or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity when
committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against
any civilian population. The Statute also provides that persecution on the
basis of gender may constitute a crime against humanity.
As a result of this Statute and the decisions of the international tri-
bunals in the Hague and in Arusha, the world is slightly more just for
women who have been the victims of sexual violence during wartime. It is
my hope that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special
Court in Sierra Leone will follow this example and ensure that cases
involving violence against women are prosecuted and the perpetrators
brought to justice.
Rarely do human rights organizations undertake and publish such sub-
stantial and detailed studies of sexual violence in conflict. It is in this light
that this report will help the international community to understand the
grave situation in Sierra Leone and the needs of all the conflicts’ sur-
vivors. I encourage its wide dissemination, as this important and timely
report will be of interest to all those who seek to understand or intervene
in the rebuilding of Sierra Leone.
Radhika Coomaraswamy
United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its cause
and consequences
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Glossary xi
I. Executive Summary 1
Purpose of Study 1
Findings 1
Methods of Investigation 4
Characteristics of Assistance Needs among Respondents 7
Reporting Sexual Violence
Beliefs about Justice among Respondents Reporting Sexual Violence 8
Attitudes of Women's Human Rights and Women’s Roles in Society 9
Recommendations 10
II. Background 15
Population and Geography 15
Historical Overview 15
The Role of Diamonds in the Conflict 19
The Lome Peace Agreement 19
Demobilization Effort 22
The Status of Women in Sierra Leone 23
Human Rights Abuses During the War 25
The Humanitarian Situation 28
Health Care Delivery 30
Education 34
Impact of War on Women 35
III. The Prevalence of War-related Sexual Violence and Other
Human Rights Abuses Among IDPs 37
Methods 37
Findings 41
Comments on Survey Findings 56
Limitations 61
vii
IV. Qualitative Comments and Testimonies of Sierra Leonean
Women and Girls 63
Case Examples from In-Depth Interviews 63
Women’s Attitudes about Punishment of Perpetrators 73
V. Application of Relevant International Law 83
Humanitarian Law 84
Human Rights Law 85
Non-State Actors 86
The Special Court for Sierra Leone 87
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission 88
VI. Responses to the Sierra Leone Complex Emergency 91
Humanitarian Assistance 91
International Community Response to the Crisis in Sierra Leone 92
The United Nations 97
VII. The Future for Women in Sierra Leone 99
Responses to Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone 101
VIII. Appendices 103
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Acknowledgements
This report was written by Chen Reis, J.D., M.P.H., a consultant to Physicians
for Human Rights (PHR); Lynn L. Amowitz, M.D., M.S.P.H., M.Sc., Fire-
man Health and Human Rights Fellow, Physicians for Human Rights,
and Instructor in Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Brigham and
Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Kristina Hare Lyons,
M.A.L.D., Program Associate for Physicians for Human Rights; and
Vincent Iacopino, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Medical Consultant to Physicians
for Human Rights. Holly Burkhalter, Advocacy Director for PHR con-
tributed to the Executive Summary and Background sections of the
report. Michele Heisler, M.D., Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar,
University of Michigan Health System, contributed to the chapter on
qualitative comments and testimonies of women and girls. Kelly Askin,
J.D., Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, contributed to the
chapter on Application of Relevant International Law.
Ahunna Eziakonwas, Humanitarian Affairs Officer, UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, contributed to the recommen-
dations. We are grateful to John Gay for his assistance with the presenta-
tion of statistical analysis.
The report is based on two research investigations. The first research
trip was undertaken by PHR in March 2000 by Adyinka M. Akinsulure-
Smith, Ph.D. and Deborah Dyson-Stocknoff P.A., M.P.S., from the Bellevue-
NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, and Ms. Lyons. The second phase
of research was undertaken by PHR together with the United Nations
Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) between January and
February 2001. Ms. Lyons, Ms. Reis, Binta Mansaray, M.A., a consultant
to UNAMSIL; Beth Vann, M.S.W., a consultant to PHR; Dr. Akinsulure-
Smith; and Louise Taylor, M.B.A., LLM, UNAMSIL Human Rights Officer,
composedthe PHR/UNAMSIL team.
PHR especially thanks Maarit Kohonen, former Gender Specialist,
UNAMSIL Human Rights Section; Mara Bustelo, Gender Coordinator,
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Rodolfo Mattarollo,
Chief of Human Rights Section, UNAMSIL; Patrice Vahard, Human Rights
Section, UNAMSIL; Chris Mburu, former Acting Chief of UNAMSIL
Human Rights Section, and Michael O’Flaherty, former UNAMSIL
Human rights Section staff member, who helped initiate this project.We
also are grateful to Memunatu Pratt for her assistance.
The report was reviewed by Ms. Kohonen; Christina Saunders, Assis-
tant to the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on
Violence Against Women; Corinne Dufka, Researcher in Sierra Leone for
Human Rights Watch; Ronald Waldman, M.D., M.P.H, Director, Pro-
gram on Forced Migration and Health, Center for Population and Family
Health, the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia
ix
University, New York, NY; Leonard Rubenstein, J.D., PHR’s Executive
Director; Susannah Sirkin, PHR’s Deputy Director; Barbara Ayotte,
PHR’s Director of Communications; and Ms. Burkhalter. The authors are
indebted to these people for their thoughtful comments and suggestions.
Ms. Ayotte and Michelle Sachs, PHR’s Internet and Publications Coordi-
nator, edited and prepared this document for production. Christina Deck,
an intern at PHR, also assisted with report production.
The authors are grateful to UNAMSIL and the UN agencies in Sierra
Leone that provided information and support. The authors are also grate-
ful to the organizations that provided referral services without which this
study could not have been done including GOAL, the International Res-
cue Committee, Médecins sans Frontières-Holland, Forum for African
Women Educationalists (FAWE), Concern, Merlin, International Medical
Corps (IMC) and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and
to those which otherwise facilitated access to, and collection of informa-
tion used in this study.
We thank those individuals and organizations working in Sierra Leone
who shared their time and insights with our research team including: for-
mer United States Ambassador Joseph Melrose, Rabih Torbay of IMC,
William Aldis of the World Health Organization (WHO), Glenis Taylor
of UNICEF, the Campaign for Good Governance, Cooperazione Inter-
nazional (COOPI), and The Council of Churches of Sierra Leone (CCSL).
PHR is especially grateful to the women of Sierra Leone who participated
in this study after years of suffering.
PHR and UNAMSIL thank the team of dedicated researchers: Agnes
Conteh, Isatu Fofana, Margaret Ganda, Fatmata Kabba, Joyce Kamara,
Adama Koroma, Abigail Lebbie, Doris Lebbie, Erica Luke, Bondu Mani,
Salley Mansaray, Laurel Mendenkia, Mary Quashie, Fatmata Salisu, Sia
Sandy, Fatmata Sesay, Mariatu Songo-Kanu, Aminata Thorlie, Safiatu
Turay, Mary Vandi, and Rose Vincent whose commitment to the project
and perseverance under very difficult circumstances made this report pos-
sible. The authors also thank Muctar Jalloh.
This report is dedicated to Abigail Lebbie, who passed away in May,
2001. Abigail was a dedicated member of a team of Sierra Leonean field
researchers. We wish to express our heartfelt condolence to her family
and friends. May her soul rest in peace.
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