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Darfur: both sides against the
middle (2)
By Mike Oberabor and John
Lar Wisa
Massive human rights
violations committed in the region include: extra-judicial executions,
unlawful killings of civilians, tortures, rapes, abductions, destruction
of villages and property, looting of cattle the destruction of the means
of livelihood of the people attacked and forced displacement. These human
rights violations have been committed to a systematic money by the
Janjawid, often in coordination with Sudanese soldiers and the Sudanese
Air Force, with total impunity and have targeted minority tribes in
Darfur. Many of the crimes committed in Darfur constitute war crimes and
crimes against humanity. There is a large amount of information pointing
at the responsibility of the Sudanese government in the human rights
violations committed in Darfur. In addition to the military and logistical
support and the impunity it provides to the Janjawid, the Sudanese
government has used a policy of repression to deal with the problems of
Darfur. It has engaged in arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions,
disappearances and torture in order to punish human rights activists,
lawyers, leaders and members of communities in Darfur. The Sudanese
government has also used unfair and summary trials, using confessions
sometimes extracted under torture punishments such as amputations,
floggings and the death penalty.
Women, in particular, bear the
brunt of the government�s repression. In many cases, the Janjawid have
raped women in public, in the open air, in front of their husbands,
relatives or the wiser community. Rape is first and foremost a violation
of the human rights of women and girls; in some cases in Darfur, it is
also clearly used to humiliate the woman, her family and community. In
some cases, women has resist rapes are beaten, stabbed or killed. Even
pregnant women are not spared. In other cases the Janjawid have tortured
women in order to force them to tell where their husbands are hiding.
Pulling out of nails is a common method of torture during interrogation of
women. Some victims of rape have had their legs broken to prevent them
from escaping. Rapes have been committed in the context of attacks on
villages and also during smaller raids, usually at night before attacks on
villages took place. Women in Darfur are primary targets for violence and
are more vulnerable in the context of armed conflicts because, in Darfur,
it is the women who are responsible for the children and other family
dependants. Women are the main caregivers, which renders them more
vulnerable during attacks and flight. Women are more accessible to
aggressors during attacks because they usually stay closer to the village,
compared to the men who tend to herd cattle, further away from the
village. The Janjawid have raped women at checkpoints or while chasing
people who have escaped attacks on their villages. Rape in itself is a
heinous human rights violation, but victims are likely to suffer further
because of the shame and stigma associated with it. This is the likely
explanation for why so may women who have been raped are said to remain at
the border between Chad and Sudan or to have sought refuge in camps in
Darfur, far from the eyes of their community and close relatives. Women
who have become pregnant as a result of rape are most likely to suffer
further abuses of their rights. There is the trauma of the rape itself as
well as the difficulties associated with care for the child, who is the
result of violence. In the specific social context of Darfur, in a society
where rape is considered a taboo and a shame for the survivor of this
violence, the child who is a result of rape will mostly be considered as a
child of the enemy or a Janjawid child. Survivors of rape and their
children are most likely to be ostracized by their community and married
women most likely to be rejected by their husbands. Women may feel forced
to abandon the child who is result of rape and face another traumatic
decision to make. The communities of the women raped do not seem ready to
accept the need to provide their full support for these women are
circumcised and many women are infibulated. This increases the risk of
injury during rape and consequently increases the risk of contracting
HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted illness. This is the picture of
women in Darfur today. Welcome to Darfur, the sore of Africa, where life
is cheap, raiders are armed by the government, rape is routine and help is
far.
In the home and in the
community, inn times of war and peace, women and girls are beaten, raped,
mutilated and killed with impunity. Violence and the threat of violence
affect the ability of women to exercise their rights and diminish all our
lives. As long as violence against women continues, the promise to humanity of a life free from
fear and free from want cannot be fulfilled. Countless women face physical
sexual and mental abuse at the hands of close relatives as well as
strangers. All too often, communities tolerate violence against women and
deny women the freedom to choose how to live their lives. Local, regional
and national authorities fail to prevent and punish acts of violence and
do not provide an environment free from violence. In conflict zones, both
government and armed opposition groups commit atrocities against women
with impunity. Violence against women is never normal, legal or acceptable
and should never be tolerated or justified. Individuals, communities,
governments and international bodies have a responsibility to put a stop
to it and to redress the suffering it causes. Change must come at
international, national, and local levels. International treaties must be
respected, laws must be adopted or abolished, support systems must be put
in place and above all attitudes, prejudices and social beliefs that
foster and reinforce violence against women must change. Violence against
women diminishes humanity.
�Oberabor and Lar-wisa run
Amnesty International Office in Warri.
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