WUNRN
November 23, 2010
Some mass rapes attract more outrage than others.
Two recent atrocities-- separated by just a couple of months--suggest U.N.
peacekeeping jurisdiction can decide the degree to which the violations of
hundreds of girls and women are noticed.
UNITED NATIONS (WOMENSENEWS)--Mass rapes sometimes
attract world notice, sometimes they don't.
Two recent atrocities suggest that the level of
involvement of U.N. peacekeeping forces can be an ingredient in determining the
level of notice.
Gang rapes of nearly 500 women in remote villages in
But when approximately 650 women and girls were
raped in late October--about 800 miles away, along the Democratic Republic of
Congo's western border with
Many of the women raped in the
border attacks were among a group of 7,000 Congolese expelled from
Congolese victims said Angolan security guards repeatedly
raped them while they were held in deportation areas for weeks in cage-like
enclosures, Antonio Mangia, protection coordinator of CISP, said in a recent
phone interview.
Severine Autesserre is a professor at
"So they felt threatened by the charges that they
had not done their job properly and had to be proactive. With the rapes on the
Governments Deny Emergency
The U.N. has charged Angolan and Democratic Republic of
Congo national authorities with investigating the rapes, but these governments
have denied an emergency, according to press reports.
The U.N. is conducting its own humanitarian and
fact-finding missions with international and local aid organizations, but
information is becoming increasingly spotty.
The U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs says CISP is the
only international aid organization that has provided treatment to victims in
the Tembo area of the Democratic Republic of Congo's
Expulsions from both the Democratic Republic of Congo and
"These are illegal immigrants on both sides, but
just because you are deporting someone doesn't mean you can rape them,"
Giuliano said.
Mangia, the CISP coordinator, said many of the victims
are now trying to go back into
Victims Released in 'Middle of Nowhere'
Mid-last month the victims were released "in the
middle of nowhere" in Bandundu, Mangia said, many of them naked. They then
scattered to seek help.
The brutal rapes, which eventually caused one victim to
die, were reminiscent of the attacks in
Given the failure of the nearby U.N. peacekeepers to
respond to warning signs and protect the people, top U.N. officials, including
Margot Wallstrom, the secretary-general's special representative on sexual
violence in conflict, flew to meet with the victims and devise new safety
precautions, such as equipping villagers with cell phones.
But nearly a month after CISP first reported the violent
expulsions to U.N. agencies, basic information--such as whether the rapes took
place in
Wallstrom and other U.N. leaders have condemned the
violent expulsions from
Wallstrom has a small staff and their attention is
shifting to
U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq attributed the difference
between the U.N.'s responses to the two recent mass rapes to peacekeepers' lack
of mandate in
Inquiries Up in the Air
Giuliano, of the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs,
said he is uncertain whether government inquiries into the attacks have begun.
The Angolan and the Democratic Republic of Congo missions to the U.N. could not
be reached for comment.
Mangia, of CISP, says government investigations have yet
to commence.
"Governments are trying to keep a low profile about
this and say that there is no emergency. They are just trying to shut
everything up," he said.
CISP is rare among international aid organizations in
serving the Western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo outside the
capital city
Dalita Cetinoglu, director of the International Rescue
Committee's gender-based violence program in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
doesn't have first-hand information of the border rapes. But she said that like
the attacks in the region where she works, these rapes along the border could
produce a short-term response that overlooks the endemic and less-spectacular
of sexual violence that is a condition of women's daily existence.
"Just being reactive when there's a new event won't
get ahead of the problem because sexual violence is constant and
widespread," she said.
In South Kivu, the International Rescue Committee alone
has supported 5,000 female victims of sexual violence since 2008 and aided
3,700 victims in