WUNRN
SOUTH SUDAN - SEXUAL VIOLENCE SOARS
- ONGOING CONFLICT
JUBA,
13 May 2014 (IRIN) - Sexual and gender-based violence might not be a new
phenomenon in
Outside
the camps, women are often attacked at places like water collection points or
when they venture into the forests to look for firewood. Photo IRIN
“We do know that it [sexual and gender-based violence] is a major issue. Even
though many victims of sexual violence do not report their ordeal because of
the stigma that it carries, wherever we went we met women and girls who told us
that they had been raped by either government or opposition forces,” Donatella
Rovera, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International, told IRIN.
On 8 May, 2014, Amnesty International released a report
in which it documented atrocities committed against civilians, including rape
and sexual violence, by the two warring parties in
“The current militarized environment, where armed men are ubiquitous and
civilian law enforcement is virtually absent, places women and girls at a
heightened risk of sexual violence. Persistent reports of sexual violence
perpetrated by both government and opposition forces strongly indicate that
conflict-related sexual violence is widespread,” Amnesty International said in
its report.
“We received testimonies from women and girls victims of sexual violence from
all the main conflict-affected areas: Juba and areas in Unity, Jonglei and
In its report, also released on 8 May, the UN Mission in South Sudan
(UNMISS) noted that the “conflict has exacerbated the vulnerability of women
and children in
In the report, UNMISS said: “All parties to the conflict have committed acts of
rape and other forms of sexual violence against women of different ethnic
groups. Credible information suggests that sexual violence took place in connection
with the occurrence of human rights and humanitarian law violations before,
during, and after heavy fighting, shelling, looting, and house searches.”
It added: “Women of nationalities of neighboring countries were also targeted.
The forms of sexual violence used during the conflict include rape, sometimes
with an object (guns or bullets), gang-rape, abduction and sexual slavery, and
forced abortion. In some instances, women’s bodies were mutilated and, in at
least one instance, women were forced to go outside of their homes naked.”
In
“For example, in the days following 15 December, Nuer women were stopped in a
street of
Testimony
Monica*, a 27-year-old mother of six, lies on a bed inside a makeshift tent in
a protection of civilians camp in Tomping as she recounts
how she was repeatedly raped in Gudele, a densely populated area in the
capital, by suspected government troops. Just a few hours after the violence
began; troops loyal to the government overran parts of
“They came and kicked our door and got in and they hit us with gun butts and
told us to lie down. They were asking my husband about guns but he didn’t have
any. They wanted to know our ethnicity too. They raped me - each of them. I
don’t know how many they were. They then killed my husband,” Monica told IRIN.
She was five months pregnant when the rape happened. Three months later, she
lost her pregnancy. Monica is still too afraid to return home despite
“I don’t want to go back now. It is scary for me what I went through. Now you
can see I’m sick. I don’t how to start when I go back and I’m not sure this
[the rape ordeal] will not happen again,” she said.
Alcohol and drug abuse
Even those sheltered in UN bases are not safe. A camp manager in Tomping
anonymously told IRIN of cases where women are reportedly harassed.
“Women and girls are harassed at night. Many are even too fearful to bathe at
night or go out to the toilet. Those women who are living alone are constantly
harassed by young men here. It is big problem,” he said.
He added that alcohol and drug abuse had made cases of sexual harassment in the
camps even worse.
“The men and boys here have nothing to do and they get alcohol. When they take
alcohol or abuse other drugs, they become unruly. Husbands are abusing their
wives, and girls are constantly chased in the dark. You can hear noises and
screams at night.”
According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), an estimated 10,000 displaced
women and girls who are currently living in areas which are inaccessible to aid
organizations are at risk of sexual violence.
“There is need to put more attention on the protection of displaced
populations. Unless this can be done, the number of women and girls facing
sexual violence could increase considerably due to high insecurity and the loss
of community protection mechanisms as a result of the conflict. We have reports
of women and girls being raped when they go out to look for food or firewood,”
Julitta Onabanjo, UNFPA regional director, told IRIN.
Aid workers told IRIN that fear to report rape within the community, and
insecurity, had made it even harder to reach or treat survivors.
“It is even harder to reach those women and girls who have been raped and are
living outside the camps. But here in the camp, at least we have a few trusted
community volunteers who have been able to refer cases to us and we counsel and
where possible, we treat survivors,” an aid worker who preferred anonymty ,
told IRIN from a temporary camp in Awerial County in Lakes State.
UNFPA said: “Awareness of the benefits of early reporting of rape cases is
still low among community members, and often cases are reported well after the
72 hours required for administering lifesaving treatments such as
antiretrovirals and emergency contraception.”
Amnesty’s Rovera said: “There are NGOs which are providing medical and
psycho-social assistance to those survivors of sexual violence who are
accessible, notably in the camps for displaced people in UN bases. However,
only a very small percentage of those displaced by the conflict - less than 10
percent - are in the camps in UN bases. The majority are sheltering in remote
rural areas, with little or no access to humanitarian assistance of any kind.”
Over one million people have so far been displaced since the conflict began. On
5 May President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar penned a deal to cease
hostilities for at least one month to allow for the evacuation of civilians
caught up in the conflict.
*Not a real name