Children

In war there are many weapons that may be employed and while the Kalashnikov or IED may be favored arms in modern warfare, there is one weapon all men carry and more often use. Men are choosing to use their bodies as weapons - in fact their manhood - to attack. The victim is raped in an effort to dehumanize and defeat the enemy, leaving an entire society with long-term suffering as victims cascade across generational divides. The scourge of rape as a weapon, affects not only the individual lives of the victims, but the entire family and community in which they live. Leaving their lasting marks on the entire country’s civil society, this in turn affects our globalized world.

The use of rape as a weapon is one of the most violent and humiliating offenses inflicted on the enemy, the brutalization of rape permanently scars the victim’s mind, soul and often body. Rape is often used as a predecessor to murder, where others survive only to serve as daily reminders to those around them of the tragedies of war. Victims are shunned by their families and communities and many become pregnant as a result of their rapes. Rape leaves a permanent reminder of war and of the enemy through the birth of a child, which places both the mother and child in continual victimization and isolation. Rape as a weapon of war affects not only the rape victim, but their entire family, village and community. While rape as a weapon of war continues today, many of the psychological effects have yet to be felt in many communities around the globe.

The situation in Sierra Leone highlights the long-term and lasting effects of the use of rape as a weapon of war. Rape as a weapon of war affects not only the victim, but places all women and girls in fear of sexual violence. Fear dominates the daily life of all woman and girls who are living in a conflict or post-conflict zone. This continual fear leaves victims in constant torment and mental anguish, which causes increased long-term psychological stress and damage. Many physiologists believe the fear alone can cause PTSD. A victim traumatized by the lingering threat of rape, is often too afraid to leave the home to work and lives in constant fear, as with one who is ostracized by their community. For many the war never ends, as the scars and memories of the violence of war haunt them for the remainder of their lives. However most do their best to move on and heal the wounds they can and grow in strength for those which they cannot heal.

The tolerance and standardization of rape as a weapon of war has lead to its international impunity, and thus increased its silence. Impunity regarding the increasingly brutalized use of rape as a weapon of war combined with its effectiveness, only provokes its use, for the perpetrators are less likely to be tried and punished for the use of this weapon, and if convictions do follow the punishment is disproportionate to the crime.

As Nelson Mandela stated:

“Safety and security don’t just happen: they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear. In order to ensure this, we must become tireless in our efforts not only to attain peace, justice and prosperity for countries but also for communities and members of the same family. We must address the roots of violence. Only then will we transform the past century’s legacy from a crushing burden into a cautionary lesson.” (The 2002 World Report on Violence and Health)

There is no doubt that the effects of the use of rape as a weapon of war are effects far-reaching regardless of time, place or culture. Short and long-term support and treatment for victims is substantially lacking, which will only serve to exacerbate the use of rape as weapon of war. Thus an end to the perception that rape is a common and unavoidable tactic of war must occur, making it unequivocally unacceptable. In order to do this there are three main areas of focus which must be in place:

•  One the issue of gender inequality and bias must be removed in all countries, when such programs are in place at peace time it will significantly reduce the stigma and use of rape and gender-based violence in times of conflict.
• Two, there must be a unified international response to ban the use of rape as a weapon of war once and for all, and thus strategies of prevention and awareness must be put into place, including in internally displaced persons and refugee camps and in times of post conflict.
• Three, impunity was come to an end, or victims will continue to remain silent and not seek medical, psychological and legal attention if they feel there is no retribution or care for which they are safe to receive.

If one is listening, victims will talk, thus if aid and government agencies step forward and ask victims to speak out, then they must be willing to not only listen, but provide them both the short and long-term care and support, including providing physical and financial access to services.

When wars end they do not just end full stop, the death and destruction do not suddenly turn to peace and prosperity over night. Peace talks and cease fires alone do not end wars, people end wars and when all of the people cannot find them selves distanced from the war, then the war rages on. That is just the case in Sierra Leone, where Sex crimes continue in peacetime, some eight years later leaving social workers to fear that the situation is worse then during the conflict years.

“Some of the perpetrators were children during the war and were exposed to rape and sexual violence then and just carried on doing it”.  “The highest numbers of cases come from areas where large numbers of ex-combatants are gathered.”

The extent of the use of rape as a weapon of war in Sierra Leone was so extreme that the rebel forces systematically rounded up girls and women, then took them to rebel command centers, where they were then individually and gang-rape. Those girls, especially the younger ones, who where deemed virgins, were especially targeted more than there older counterparts. Many of the younger girls also faced abductions by the rebels and where then repeatedly assaulted and raped.  The countless victims of sexual assault and rape as a weapon of war in Sierra Leone will never be know, however the effects of the extreme levels of sexual assault and rape during the decade long civil war that saw civilians as the main target.

“We saw rape and sexual violence used as a tool during the war, and now it is morphing into this culture’s society as something that is understood and even accepted,” said Glasgow, head of the IRC.

Children are all to often being revictimized by their families after they have been raped, they are shunned, beaten, verbally abused, and many times even worse.  A harsh fact Hannah Kargbo, a rape counselor, at the Rainbo Centre, a rape and gender-based violence counseling and health clinic in the capital Freetown, knows all too well.

“Parents tend to blame the children, saying they should not have let it happen to them. They don’t take into account the age difference – how is a four year-old child supposed to fight off a 40 year-old man?”…”The beatings are serious. They scald the children, shave their heads, and insert chili peppers into the vaginas. They beat them first to get an explanation of what happened, and then again as a punishment. ” (IRIN) 

At Kargbo’s clinic over half of all of those treated for sexual abuse are between the ages of infancy and 15 years old, who are often raped by someone they know.

The situation in Sierra Leone shows the large gaps in both rehabilitation and reintegration programs, as well as to providing both community support, but also education on gender based violence. Additionally the increasing cases of rape in post conflict show that there is a significant need for in-depth and qualitative studies on the scope and depth of the long-term effects of rape as a weapon of war not only on its victims, but also on the perpetrators themselves.  It is clear that this data would prove substantial in the prevention of its use, as well as understanding the long-term effects on society.

The beginning of the end of the use of rape as a weapon of war is to combat gender inequalities and stereotypes in cultures while in peace time, as a method to prevent and curb the use of rape as a weapon of war. Removing the stigma of rape is the first and foremost crucial step to see that the ripple effects do not continue to haunt our global society in future generations and centuries.

Please see my other post such as Ending Sexual Violence, a Global Priority and War’s Sexual Violence Towards Girls

For more information please see:
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) study, War-Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone
Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Getting Away with Murder, Mutilation, and Rape

I wanted to bring your attention to IRIN’s  latest film, Love, Positively, which follows the lives of four young adults living in Ugandan capital, Kampala who were infected at birth, and explores the challenges they face growing up with HIV and the courage they need to overcome it.  To see this and other IRIN film click here.

Worldwide more than two million children and adolescents are living with HIV. Close to 90% of pediatric infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa.  Read More Here

“Peace is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting. Peace, to have meaning for many who have known only suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health, and education, as well as freedom and human dignity - a steadily better life. If peace is to be secure, long-suffering and long-starved, forgotten peoples of the world, the underprivileged and the undernourished, must begin to realize without delay the promise of a new day and a new life.” - Ralph J. Bunche

The words of Ralph Bunche, reminded me one about the true meaning of freedom. For is one truly free if they must depend on others for the basic essentials of survival and humanity? War’s do no end overnight, homes are not suddenly rebuilt, the land is not suddenly lush, families are not instantly reunited, and so forth. Freedom does lead to peace, but only when freedom is accompanied by sustainable development that is led by those who’s futures depend on freedom and peace. It is this instable rebuilding after freedom that can lead to the demise of peace.

The axe of freedom does not just fall on peace, it falls on injustice and once injustice is gone peace is possible. But peace does not just happen, and it does not happen over night, it takes years to build stable peace. Peace is found on the back of education, gender equality, adequate healthcare, nutrition as well as democracy. Peace is found among children, as they have disproportionately been effected by the ravages of war, and therefore they too must be included in the process of rebuilding their country to ensure that a lasting peace is found. To find true peace no one must be left behind, no one must be forgotten!

345 suspects, of which an estimated 290 where adult women charged as prostitutes, have been arrested in a child-sex sting.  How many of the women arrested where actually victims of trafficking is unknown.  In addition some 21 children where rescued as a result of the raids. Over a period of five days, in 16 cities, the FBI,  have been conducting sting operations to catch the those involved with these criminal networks, which prey on young and vulnerable children. The cities targeted in the sting operation where: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, MD.; Oakland; Phoenix; Reno.; Sacramento; Tampa; Toledo and Washington.

The stings which are dubbed, “Operation Cross Country”, is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, which combines efforts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is now in it’s 5th year. This is the largest operation of this type in the initiatives history, however some 308 individuals have been convicted and more importantly the initiative’s efforts has see the recovery of 433 children. The Innocence Lost Initiative was established in 2003 in an effort to tackle the increasing problem of child sex trafficking and prostitution in the United States.

“Child trafficking for the purposes of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale or trade,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st Century slavery. We are proud to have worked hand-in-hand with the FBI and Justice Department in a partnership that is unprecedented, historic, and working” (FBI press release).

In an FBI statement Our Criminal Investigative Division partnered with the Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice and with the nonprofit National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to bring together state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers. The initiative’s 24 task forces and working groups have recovered 433 children to date and seized over $3 million in assets.

At a press conference, an excerpt of which can be seen in the video below, FBI Director Robert Mueller said ;

“The sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes. What is different as we stand here today is that we are faced with the increasing use of social network sites and other advances in technology to carry out these crimes and facilitate these criminal enterprises.”

While the efforts and scale of the Innocence Lost Initiative are grand, the full scale of the problem remains even more imposing than one could imagine. The US government has stated that there are some 17,500 victims of sex trafficking in the United States each year, more than half of which are children. Just how many more have been funneled through this high commodities market over the years is unknown, and each child is one child too many. Please see my previous article,Trafficking and Slavery in the US, for more information.

Please see my other posts on Child Trafficking. Please also see my pages on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Links, Human Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and Documentaries, and Slavery and Trafficking Related Books for more information.


In other US news the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, June 25, 2008, that child rape doesn’t merit capital punishment . In a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision, which overturned death penalty laws in Louisiana and five other states. See more in the NY Times article, Justices Bar Death Penalty for the Rape of a Child.

On July 6 at 8 and 11 PM ET on CNN, the US Fund for UNICEF will air, “The Survival Project: One Child at a Time”. UNICEF is encouraging supporters to not only to watch the broadcast, but to host a viewing party to discuss these important issues of child survival. UNICEF has developed a viewing party guide to help you to easily host a party. The first 100 parties registered will receive a packet of materials including UNICEF signs and buttons. Register your party today!

The broadcast will be hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, who will highlighting progress and challenges in child survival. In the broadcast CNN will explore why 26,000 children die every day from preventable causes, and what UNICEF doing to save young lives. The show will look at four areas where UNICEF works on-the-ground to save children’s lives:

• Child protection in Iraq
• Water and sanitation in Laos
• HIV/AIDS in Peru
• Child survival interventions in Ethiopia

New polio threat prompts mass vaccination campaign, as seven million children in nine of the 11 provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being vaccinated against polio, a disease thought to have been eradicated in the vast country. The campaign, which began on 19 June, targets children up to the age of five, the age group worst affected by polio. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, according to the WHO.

Condom use not catching on among youth, in spite of massive spending on efforts to counter HIV/AIDS, experts warn that many young Thais are still having unsafe sex. “Many people know HIV is transmitted by having sex,” he said. “We also know we should stand up and give our seat to old people on the bus, but we don’t do it,” Sittichok Chaisupasin, a 16-year-old peer educator.

Typhoon Fengshen death toll rises to 224, as it moved out of the Philippines on 23 June towards China, leaving at least 224 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless, according to the Philippine National Red Cross and Office of Civil Defence. Heavy rains and winds of up to 195km an hour caused landslides, flash floods and storm surges.

Landmines impede civilians’ return to volatile Arghandab, as dozens of landmines have been discovered in Arghandab District, in the southern province of Kandahar. It is estimated that some 60 people, many of which are children, are killed each month in the country by landmines. Millions of landmines were dumped across Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s, killing and wounding over 70,000 people so far, according to the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMAC). In other news, insecurity, uncertainty stop return of Afghan refugees, from Pakistan. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has repatriated 3.3 million Afghans since 2002, including 120,000 from Pakistan in 2008, but some two million registered Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan. The number of unregistered refugees is unknown.

US accuses LRA of abuses, calls for a quick peaceful solution. “The United States condemns the recent LRA attacks on Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Army forces at Nabanga, Sudan, and elsewhere, as well as the LRA’s abductions and other abuses of innocent civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Southern Sudan,” said a statement issued on 18 June. Along with four of his commanders Kony is charged by the ICC with carrying out abductions, killings, rape and conscription of Ugandan children as fighters among other war crimes. Some 30,000 children in northern Uganda have been abducted and forcibly inscripttion into the LRA. Government welcomes Kony’s “change of heart” but rules out more talks; “We only hope that he will put his pronouncement into practice. We note, however, that negotiations were concluded and there will not be a re-opening of the negotiations whatsoever,” Capt Chris Magezi, spokesman for the government delegation, said on 23 June.

Countries which are involved in conflict and strife are seeing an increasing use of violence against children, including kidnapping, torture and even murder. UNICEF issued a statement on the continued abduction, torture and rape of children around the world, saying;

“It is everyone’s duty to ensure children are safe from harm, and governments have a responsibility to enact and enforce measures that provide a protective environment for all children”.

Countries for which UNICEF has reported similar ochering incident in a number of countries including Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq and Haiti.

In CAR armed gangs have profited from the conflict ridden countries vitality and instability, focusing on rural communities for which their terrorizing often includes kidnapping children and holding them for ransom. Earlier this month both CAR and Chad had agreed to the Release of Child Soldiers , however a number of armed groups continue to increase their ranks of child soldiers.

The DRC has seen thousands of children forcibly recruited by armed militant groups to be used as child soldiers, porters and sex slaves. UNICEF has estimated that some 30,000 child soldiers are in place in the DRC, many are girls and the situation has been noticeably on the increase as seen in my post, Child Soldiers in the Congo are Increasing

In Iraq the number of reports of children recruited and used by militias and insurgent groups are increasing, as is the abduction of girls who “are increasingly subject to murder, kidnapping and rape, or are being abducted and trafficked within or outside Iraq for sexual exploitation”.

UNICEF has paid particular attention to the Impoverished of Haiti, where kidnappings have become all too common. Since the beginning of 2008 alone more than 50 children have been abducted, more than half of which where girls. Earlier this month on June 4th UNICEF made a nation wide call to halt the kidnappings of Haitian children, the call came after a recent incident where a 16-year-old hostage was murdered and other hostages, including infants, where lynched and rape. The call from UNICEF was joined by Haitians demonstrating against the kidnappings in the streets of Port-au-Prince. UNICEF estimates that some 2,000 children are trafficked each year to the Dominican Republic, and another 1,000 are working as spies, messengers or soldiers for armed gangs in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

According to the Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 issued by the Secretary General of the United Nations, the number of armed groups and government forces using child soldiers increased from 40 in 2006 to 57 in 2007. The issues, such as poverty, disease and economic destabilization that face children in conflict countries are only compounded by the increasing violence against children. As the use of rape as a weapon of war, conscription of child soldiers, and other violence, including gender based violence, that directly targets children, not only exacerbates the conflict itself, but impedes the post conflict recovery for not only the children, but their entire community and the country on the whole. Therefore it is essential that individual states and the international community on the whole end the long running impunity of these violent crimes, and take greater steps to see that children are no longer used as the weapons and pawns of war.

“Any woman or girl who falls victim to this sort of violence, especially rape, is really having her possibilities for contributing to society greatly diminished.” -Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Liberia, Ellen Margrethe Løj (UN News Service).

One of the biggest obstacles in the support and rehabilitation of survivors of sexual violence is finding them adequate shelter. However in Liberia they are looking to ease that burden, as The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has built a new safe house for survivors of sexual violence in the capital, Monrovia. In addition to the safe house UNMIL has also worked to refurbish a former jail in an effort to ease overcrowding in country’s strained prison system. The safe house, who’s operations where handed over to a local NGO, was built as part of a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) supported project, costing $24,000. The safe house is more than just a house for the survivors of sexual violence, as they also receive psychosocial support, basic literacy skills development, vocational training and information about reproductive health and HIV/AIDS awareness.

Liberia’s long running civil war, saw an all too common use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. Since the end of the conflict in 2003, peace has not erased the scars of violence from the girls and women who where raped and assaulted, due to both the nature of the crimes, for which one never truly recovers and the standing impunity to prosecute the perpetrators of such horrific crimes. It has been estimated that more than half of all women and girls where victims of gender based sexual violence during the 14 year conflict.

The battle against sexual violence is far from over, but the new safe haven is a ray of hope in a dark world which plagues millions of women in Liberia and across the globe. Gender based discrimination and violence remains prevalent in many countries worldwide, especially in West Africa, and the building of a safe house and the establishment of support services in conjunction with sustainable life skills training programs is an example one hopes to see springing up in all countries of conflict. However safe havens and support programs alone should not be seen as the key to end sexual violence, as the roots of gender violence and discrimination must be tackled and overcome before we are to see true progress and advancement of the women of the world. Therefore it is vital that education and awareness programs be put into place, especially in rural communities, to educate families and communities on the realities and long term effects of gender discrimination. Additionally the long standing impunity over gender based crimes, especially the use of rape as a weapon of war, must come to an end.

In recent months I have brought you a number of posts regarding gender-based violence, including the use of rape as a weapon on war. While the subjects of of gender-based violence and rape warfare are nothing new, their voice has continually been silenced by impunity and rarely a massive topic of world leaders. However this month the UN has taken measure to target the use of rape as war crime.

Earlier this month, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called for international action to bring gender-based violence to an end. Migro stressed that the end to gender-based violence will allow women who have been impeded women, the opportunity aid in the peace building process, stating that women are a, ‘a powerful weapon in the fight for peace, development and human rights’ (UN).

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on led the debate on war crimes against women and girls, including the atrocities of rape and mutilation, which have become all too common strategic tools of combat. The discussions led the United Nations Security Council to pass the U.S.-sponsored resolution on June 19th, declaring that rapes can constitute war crimes. A similar effort to pass a resolution last was blocked by China, Russia and South Africa, all of which argued that sexual violence did not warrant the attention of international peacekeepers.

The countries at particular focus with the renewed vigor of the international community are countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, where rebels continue to strategically use rape as a weapon of war.The resolution comes at a critical time when the use of rape as a weapon of war rages on in Sudan, and continued reports from UN peacekeepers in Darfur have warned that systematic rapes of women and children continue to plague the region. Thousands of women and girls have been raped, and aid groups are state that the practice continually being used as a strategic form of ethnic cleansing (CNN).

Ines Alberdi, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) writes in a letter to The New York Times;

A resolution is set to address this challenge. Often called “a war within the war,” sexual violence occurs in private spaces rarely patrolled by police or peacekeepers, often at times when security actors are scarce.

The letter was in response to the June 15th article, “The Weapon of Rape,” by Nicholas D. Kristof, where he stated;

World leaders fight terrorism all the time, with summit meetings and sound bites and security initiatives. But they have studiously ignored one of the most common and brutal varieties of terrorism in the world today.

It appears that world leaders have finally begun to hear the silenced cries of women and girls across the globe, across the centuries, who have been the countless victims of the use of rape as a weapon of war. While all the steps taken this week are a great step in the right direction, the long running impunity of rape as a weapon of war leaves many skeptical about the reality of the resolutions effect.

More news on the recent international effort to end gender-based violence:

Rice leads UN debate on war crimes against women

Ban leads call for greater efforts to end ‘silent war’ of sexual violence in conflict