We want our dignity back

Horrific acts of violence were committed against women and children during and after the wars in the Great Lakes region. Dieu-Donné Wedi Djamba points to the pain and other injustices experienced by survivors in order to sensitise the regional communities and authorities to become involved with the healing process of the thousands of women and children 'so the words "never again" can have a meaning.

We want our dignity back! Time to wipe tears and heal wounds of women and girls, victims of wars in the Great Lakes region.

All societies that have faced mass trauma and violence have certain things in common, including the matter of perpetrators, bystanders and victims. Perpetrators usually argue that they obeyed orders; and that their actions were not of their own volition. Bystanders usually claim ignorance; that they did not know these things were happening; that they were not given proper information; and therefore, that they are not accountable. Most important are the victims, most of whom want to heal; and some of whom may even be prepared to forgive. [1] In brief, all three groups need a space in the new post-conflict era, in order to live peacefully vis-à-vis society and their own consciences.

But in the Great Lakes region, while the perpetrators and bystanders are living peacefully and comfortably, [2] [3] the victims, particularly women and girls, continue to experience the same nightmares. They have paid a heavy price for the deadly wars, which have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, refugees and displacements, mass human rights violations such as rape, torture, and other atrocities, burning of houses and the looting of national resources by the different armed groups. [4] An aftermath does not seem to exist for them. Indeed, the post-conflict period is the equivalent of the period of the actual conflict.

This paper highlights the pain and other injustices experienced by women and girls during and after the wars in the Great Lakes region. The aim is to sensitise the Great Lakes region community as a whole and the region’s authorities in particular to be involved in the healing process of the thousands of women and girl victims of wars in the region; so that the words ‘never again’ can have a meaning.

The time of hurt

Although having different roots in each Great Lakes country, wars are the main time during which women and girls have been deeply hurt. Indeed, rapes, abductions, tortures, mutilations or burying women and girls alive were different strategies used by belligerents in the different wars which have affected the Great Lakes region over decades.

Protected as a weak sex, women and girls become a weapon for belligerents to destroy both enemy groups and civilians. In this regard, Amnesty International USA [5] has pointed out that rape, sometimes by groups as large as 20 men, has become a hallmark of the conflict, with armed factions often using it as part of a calculated strategy to destabilise opposition groups, undermine fundamental community values, humiliate the victims and witnesses, and secure control through fear and intimidation.

Louise Nzigire, a social worker, at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, stated that rape has been a cheap and simple weapon for all parties in the war, more easily obtainable than bullets or bombs: ‘This violence was designed to exterminate the population’, [6] she added. Juliane Kippenberg, co-author of a 2002 Human Rights Watch report The War within the War on sexual violence against women and girls in the eastern DRC, told IRIN: ‘A lot of women [in eastern DRC] were raped in front of their children. They will be affected.’[7]

Moreover, some survivors of genocide in Rwanda grieve that the rapists told them that they had been allowed to live, but only to die of sadness.[8] But rape is not the only component of the nightmare experienced by women and girls in the region. Sexual slavery, [9] abductions, mutilations, [10] tortures and killings [11] number among this macabre series.

The post-conflict situation

After being deeply affected by several years of conflicts, the Great Lakes region is moving towards peace. There are signs such as the elections in the DRC [12], the peace talks between Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) [13], the peace talks in Burundi between government and the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), the last Hutu rebel group which refused to be involved to the peace process [14]and the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes region, signed in December in Nairobi by 12 countries of the Great Lakes region.[15]

The end of every conflict is the beginning of a new life and a moment of rising hope for many victims of the conflicts. But while others are celebrating the new beginning, women and girls are still carrying the heavy weight of tears, sadness and sorrow. A rape victim in the eastern DRC town of Goma told IRIN [16] how she and her eight-year old daughter were raped by ‘military men’ in front of her husband. The husband later rejected the woman, leaving her deal with her trauma alone.

Jeannette Umurerwa, a widow survivor of genocide in Rwanda said ‘… our past is so sad. We are not understood by society...We are not protected against anything… Widows are without their own families, no homes, or money. We become crazy. We aggravate people with our problems. We are the living dead’.[17]

Furthermore, Consolata, 38, also a genocide survivor and widow says that re-marrying would be impossible for as long as she lives. ‘I was raped several times during the 1994 genocide and I contracted HIV/Aids’, she added.[18]

Moreover, while some are carrying physical and psychological wounds of conflicts, others are experiencing violence in their daily life. Many cases of rape and other violence committed by militia and national army or police against women and girls are reported.

In this regard, Monuc (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo/Mission des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo), the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC [19], reported that the human rights situation in the country continues to deteriorate, as the army and police perpetrate acts of violence against civilians, and the number of reported rapes surges. Monuc also stated that there have been numerous cases in which Congolese soldiers and police have summarily executed and raped civilians, in some cases with apparent impunity. In western Bandundu Province, a policeman with the National Congolese Police reportedly shot a 60-year old woman when delivering a summons to her daughter who had been raped by another policeman.

Other victims are facing stigmatisation in their society. Human Rights Watch [20] has pointed out that the situation of rape victims is made worse by the stigma that is attached to such violence. In many cases these women and girls are ostracised to the margins of society. In some cases husbands have rejected their wives on learning they had been raped, sometimes on the pretext that the woman must have consented to the sexual relations. Thus the word ‘aftermath’ is an empty one for these victims.

The healing process

The pain and sorrow ruining the daily life of the women and girl victims of wars in the Great Lakes region push them to scream bitterly ’we want our dignity back!’ – the dignity which was taken away from them by rapists, tortures, killers, stigmatisation or insults.

It is time to wipe away the tears and heal the wounds. All those injustices women and girls in the Great Lakes region suffer must be corrected so that the long mourning they bear can end. To do this, those responsible for the mass abuses have to be held accountable in order to break the cycle of violence against women and girls, to send a deterrent message to the potential perpetrators, and to heal the wounds of victims. The second step will be the granting of reparations to the women and girl victims of wars.

Accountability for the perpetrators

Accountability for human rights violations is an important instrument in breaking the cycle of violence and impunity. It is an indispensable component of the process of healing the wounds.[21] In this regard, Alex Boraine argues that legal prosecutions have at least three additional advantages: firstly, prosecutions in most cases prevent high-ranking perpetrators from returning to positions of authority; secondly, tribunals and special courts aim to punish those who bear the greatest responsibility for human rights violations and thus assist in breaking the cycle of collective reprisals; and thirdly, due process avoids summary justice.[22]

In the post-conflict era, accountability for mass human rights abuses can be held through a judicial and a non-judicial process. Indeed, mass human rights violation occurred with the involvement of numerous of individuals. Thus it becomes almost impossible to set a trial for all those who were involved. Only those who bear heavy responsibility can stand trial. But still, it is possible to hold all perpetrators accountable by pressing them to recognise their wrongdoing and to show remorse. This can be done through a non-judicial forum, such as a truth and reconciliation commission.

Through a legacy of conflicts and repressive regimes, the Great Lakes region countries are characterised by a judicial system which is in a state of disarray,[23] or which does not guarantee a fair trial. Meanwhile in many of the countries where truth and reconciliation has not already completely failed, as it has in the DRC,[24] truth commission forums are still debatable.

However, the presence of a special tribune such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the last decision taken by Rwandan government to abolish the death penalty [25] are strong signs of the fight against impunity. Indeed, the abolition of the death penalty from its judiciary arsenal will enable Rwanda to capitalise on the fight against impunity. Countries that reject the death penalty will be able to extradite to Rwanda exiles responsible for genocide and also to carry on with the trial after the ICTR ends in 2010.

But if a step is made in the fight against impunity through the Rwandan case, the Great Lakes region still has a long way to go to end impunity. Indeed, in the DRC, despite the mass human rights violations committed during and after the wars, only some isolated cases of trials are mentioned, while many accused of mass human right abuse are awarded in name of peace.[26] In Uganda, the population is waiting for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate abuses in the government army[27], which is accused of having committed many atrocities in northern Uganda. While in Burundi, an agreement about creating a special criminal tribunal [28] for mass human rights violations was reached, though more still has to be done to establish it. A boost to the fight against violence against women and girls may be expected from the UN, which chose the end of impunity for violence against women and girls as theme for the International Women Day 2007.[29]

Reparations

Granting reparations for past abuses will not bring the dead back to life. Nor will it cancel out the harm already suffered by victims. But it will provide them with some relief.

In this regard, Margaret Mathew[30] argues that reparations should be paid to victims as a form of redress to demonstrate that the state recognises the harm done against them. She has argued for broader rehabilitation programme dedicated to healing communities and strengthening the nation’s social-political fabric.

Indeed, women and girls who have been raped and otherwise sexually abused have been psychologically damaged as well as physically injured by these crimes. Many will never fully recover. A significant number of women and girls have become pregnant as a result of being raped. An unknown number have been infected with HIV, dramatically altering their future lives, livelihoods and prospects.[31]

Therefore, the granting of reparations to those who suffered from past abuses boosts the healing process of their wounds. But to be efficient, the reparation process for women and girls victims of violence in the Great Lakes region must be made at two levels: direct and indirect reparations.

Direct reparations will include the granting of money or rebuilding of housing as compensation, and free medical treatment for those who suffer by trauma or any disease such as HIV/Aids. In this regard, the establishment of a special fund by the Great Lakes region countries is a step to be applauded. This fund can be used to pay compensation to the victims of wars. Indirect reparations will include capacity building for all the victims to empower them to face many challenges arising in their post-conflict life.

Furthermore, there is a need for the Great Lakes region countries to work together in policy making around gender issues. A common policy for all violence against women and girls will show real political will not only to end the current and prevent future violence. This step can also boost the healing process of current victims by seeing through the words ‘never again’ to violence against women and girls.

Conclusion

After being a war torn and deeply devastated region through several years of conflicts, the Great Lakes region is moving towards peace. But while others are celebrating the new beginning, women and girls are still carrying the heavy weight of tears and sadness.

It is time to heal their wounds and to wipe away their tears. The long mourning must end. To do so, those responsible for violence against women girls have to be held accountable. Reparations have to be granted to those who have experienced harm.

Thus the word ‘aftermath’ may have a meaning for all the women and girl victims of war in the Great Lakes region.

* Dieu-Donné Wedi Djamba is a lawyer (advocate) at the Lubumbashi Bar association in the DRC, an independent consultant in transitional justice, a human rights activist, an assistant lecturer in a college of law in Lubumbashi in the DRC and a writer.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

References: see link below.