Thank you for your comments and incite into the subject. I am glad you brought up the issue that, “…violence against women is always a multi-faceted problem with multiple causes…” you are absolutly correct and that is why considerably more needs to be done to evaluate the situation of genderbased and sexual violence in each contry and see that we do not apply a one size fits all solution to the issue.

I am greatful to see you transforming both your and Ade’s comments into a discussion. Dialog is a key factor to ending sexual violence in conflict, post-conflict and non-conflict states. I am happy to hear more view points from both yourself, Ade and others on this issue.

Best,
Cassandra

Thank you for your readership and your comments and views on this issue.

While I do appreciate your view point and I defeinatly do agree with you that “Rape and violence against women is a worldwide, nasty disease”. However I would have to disagree that it has “nothing” to do with the war, especailly as many of those committing rapes in post-conflict used rape as a weapon of war.

Yes, it is true that not all the rapes will be a result of the civil wars legacy.  However the evidence that a disporoportinate number of sexual violence cases are related to those who participated or where effected by the attrocities of rape and sexual violence during times of conflict, including abuses committed as an effort to shun or reject a survivor of such crimes. It goes without saying that much attention needs to be paid to the long term effects of rape on the perpertrator, and that little effors have been put into place thus far.

The high levels of rape and sexual violence against women and girls in non-conflict countries is heavily related to gender descrimination and bias, of which I have referenced in a number of post on this site.  My comments on why its on the increase in countries where there is no war is that it is mainly caused by gender discrimination and stressing the need for education and advocacy campaigns….I have writen on this in a number of previous posts. The silence and impunity of such crimes only gives fuel for thier continuation and increase.

Thank You,
Cassandra

While I appreciate your skepticism regarding rates of rape in postwar Sierra Leone, I disagree that it’s a case of “lazy thinking.” Certainly, people do tend to overblame the deplorable state of Sierra Leone on the war but in the case of rape and gender violence, I’m willing to concede that IRIN may be on to something.

After all, rape was widespread during the war and the social and juridical mechanisms that would protect women from rape in peacetime are still lacking in Sierra Leone, having been seriously undermined and disrupted during the war. Moreover, many of the men involved in wartime rape are still on the loose. It’s possible that the habits they learned in wartime—and in many cases as child soldiers—are dying hard.

Of course, you’re absolutely right to question the causes of the increases in other countries that have not been affected by war. Because violence against women is always a multi-faceted problem with multiple causes, you’re right that war is not the sole cause. But in the case of Sierra Leone, it’s hard to argue that the war’s impact on especially law enforcement and the justice system has not contributed to an increase in rapes.

At the end of the day, the Sierra Leonean government will need to do a lot to rebuild the social and legal infrastructure, with special attention focused on prosecution and punishment of rape. After all, knowing that they can get away with rape probably does little to deter would-be rapists, so in the absence of a reliable prosecutorial system . . . well, you do the math.