Children

Anyone can look sympathetically upon a photo of someone crying inside their burnt out house, and feel the pain and grief that one would have, but imagine when it is compounded by a whole village. Now add death and rape into the mix, and the images are even more haunting, the images are the reality of Sudan’s genocide in Darfur, and of an international failure to end the continued suffering that has left millions dying in the wake of the conflict.

Tonight in DC a book signing and awareness event was held for, Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan, with editor Leora Kahn, who was joined by Scott Edwards Sudan Country Specialist for Amnesty International USA. The book features the work of eight prominent photographers covering three periods in the Sudan crisis, including images from:

• 1988: During this year, an estimated 250,000Sudanese died of starvation;

• 1992 and 1995: These photos capture the atrocities of a civil war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes to other destinations in Sudan or left the country altogether

• 2005 to present: These images bring to light the severity of the humanitarian crisis underway, with the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias committing systematic violence on the people of Darfur.

The book leaves one haunted by the images of hate, violence, suffering and death; while also leaving one moved by images of courage and hope.

The book is more than a collection of shocking and amazing images, the pages of this work of activism is more than just imagery, as the photos are complemented by the work of leading writers and activists. Contributing writers include Jonathan Alter, Newsweek and NBC News journalist; Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; Mia Farrow, an award-winning actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2001; and John Prendergast, writer and Senior Adviser at the International Crisis Group.

However while books and events like this clearly have an impact, they are sadly not striking deep enough, as the continuous suffering and killing in Darfur rages on. As one who attends many events on Darfur can see many of faces and core group of activists, and while they are making an impact and needed. Just as the people of Darfur can no longer carry the burden of genocide, the activist fighting tirelessly to end the suffering in Sudan can no longer carry this burden alone. As an international community we are failing the people of Darfur, and it appears that we have yet to learn how to deal with genocide, as Sudan mirrors many past failings.

How can you learn more and get involved? Learn more about the U.S.’s Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, and how at the Sudan Divestment Task Force. Join groups and campaigns such as; Save Darfur , Help Darfur Now, 24 Hours for Darfur, Darfur Peace and Development organization, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Amnesty International, Genocide Intervention Network, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and many others.

*All proceeds from the book will benefit the Genocide Intervention Network and Amnesty International USA.

Other eye opening images of the reality of Sudan can be found in The Devil Came on Horseback and Sand and Sorrow.
Please see previous posts such as; Sexual Assault and Rape Continue in Sudan, Despite Increased Aid Efforts We Are Still Failing the Children of Darfur, Attacks in Sudan Targeting Children, and The Children of Sudan.

Recent News on the Crisis in Darfur:

A report by the Darfur Consortium concludes that the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission is near to failing and has done no more since January to bring peace and stability to Darfur than its predecessor mission did (The Guardian (London)).

Sudanese diplomats have advanced on more than a dozen countries, both allies and enemies, in an aggressive charm offensive. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir himself visited Darfur for the first time in a year, promising aid, commiserating over losses endured by the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission, and demonizing the International Criminal Court and prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The public relations effort may be geared at convincing UN Security Council nations such as China and Russia, which have indicated they are sympathetic to the notion that an arrest would threaten the peacekeeping mission (Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The New York Times).

Sudan’s leader indicted for war crimes, good or bad?

In the post Drug Trade Fuels Forced Marriages in Afghanistan, the looming drug culture was brought to attention, as the country drug market has only continued to fuel human rights violations and breed more suffering among the populous, especially children. A recent New York Times article written by Thomas Schweich, a former U.S. counternarcotics official, brought light to the issues as to why Afghanistan losing the battle against drugs. The main issue is that efforts to address Afghanistan’s massive poppy cultivation have been hampered by a seer lack of political will, as large scale corruption remains at every level of the Afghanistan’s political framework. Additionaly an absence of alternative solutions remain for local farmers, leaving them almost forced to continue poppy production. A multi-pronged strategy including pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to cease protection of drug lords, more drug treatment centers and developmental rewards to provinces that become poppy free is needed.

Please also see the post The State of Afghanistan’s Children Almost Seven Years After the Invasion and The Struggle Continues for Afghanistan’s Children

In other news warnings that Afghan insecurity may result in humanitarian catastrophe
are being heard, as millions of Afghans are becoming increasingly insecure and slipping more and more into a state of imminent need. The increase of needy Afghans has increased with the rising attacks on aid workers, which is preventing aid deliveries and could lead to the possibility of a massive humanitarian crisis in the country, according to aid groups. So far this year alone 11 NGO employees have died in over 68 violent incidents involving aid agencies.

News of child suffering in hardly new in any country these days, and the Congo is no stranger to children’s rights violations and suffering. Years of war and economic instability has now lead the country is now find its streets flooded with children, as some estimate there are more than 3,000 street children in the country. The estimates on the actual number of street children in the Congo are most likely given with extreme conservatism, as many fear that they are only seeing more children on the streets.

Why are there so many children? The countries long running civil war, which ended in 2003, engulfed many child soldiers, of which many saw only rise in th past year, as seen in my previous post Child Soldiers in the Congo are Increasing. Many former child soldiers have now been led to the streets, many who lack the demobilization and reintegration support they so desperatly need. The war has also left many children orphans, in increasingly abusive homes and families impoverished, leading many to seek refuge and solace on the streets. Other children have literally been thrown out on the streets by their families and communities for the sins of witchcraft, as you can see more on in my previous post, Children Cast Into the Streets as Witches.

The trafficking of children in the Congo has also lead to an increased presence of children on the streets, as well as an additional burden of child abuses. According to a 2007 UNICEF report (volume one and volume two both in French) an estimated that 200,000 children are victimized by trafficking each year in the central and West African region’s alone. The children are primarily being trafficked from Benin, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Children like 16 year old Lucie find themselves toiling the streets day and night;

“My parents handed me over to an aunt a year ago. During the day I am here in the marketplace. In the evenings I sell cake on the main road,” she told IRIN. “If I complain about being tired or having a headache, I am accused of being lazy or stupid. Sometimes they hit me. I’ve realised I am not like the other children in the house. I am a slave.” (Tackling child trafficking)

While the government has been working to establish programs to curtail the growing problem of street children since 2004, when it introduced reintegration programs, however the continued brake down of the countries family and structure appears to be the leading cause of the growing number of children on the streets. Therefore it would appear that programs must be put into place to address those vulnerable families, who are struggling both economically and socially. If the needs of the family are not addressed the Congo will only see more children turned out on to the streets from abuse and allegations of witchcraft.

The UN called for greater worldwide access to contraception in its observation of World Population Day, on July 11th. The world’s population is expected to grow to 9.2 billion by 2050. According to UN data, supplying voluntary contraception to those who want it would cost about $1.2 billion per year. (BBC)

Albanian officials are actively seeking to counter the country’s centuries-old tribal tradition of the blood feud as part of the country’s efforts to modernize and join the NATO and European Union multilateral alliances. Earlier this year, authorities amended the penal code to criminalize the feuds while helping to fund official mediators and efforts to educate Albanian school children on other forms of conflict resolution. (Der Spiegel)

China’s one-child policy leaves 100 million without siblings. The official Xinhua News Agency, citing a report at a weekend forum in Shanghai, says the figure represents 8 per cent of China’s total population. Critics say the policy also led to forced abortions and sterilizations as local authorities pursued birth quotas set by Beijing, plus a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio, as families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.(The Toronto Star/Associated Press)

A YouTube video depicting doctors desperately trying to rescue premature infants — four of whom died — during a hospital power outage has sparked a fierce debate about the quality of health care and other services in Egypt. Economic growth has benefited Egypt’s elite but inflation has put greater stress on the nation’s poor. (AlertNet.org)

UNICEF and the European Union July 1 launched a joint, four-year initiative to improve water and sanitation facilities in 21 districts across rural Uganda. The new project, launched in Kabarole district in western Uganda, aims to increase access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities and to improve hygiene behavior, focusing mainly on rural schools, health centers and communities. Although access to safe water has improved in Uganda, many regions still have a poor record and diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of infant mortality after malaria. (UN News Service)

The humanitarian situation inside Afghanistan is getting worse, with civilian casualties rising and food prices soaring, the United Nations relief chief said June 29, calling for the international community to revise its assistance plans to the strife-torn country. John Holmes, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said “a very understandable focus” in recent years on making progress on the political, security, development and reconstruction fronts has led to some humanitarian needs being neglected. (UN News Service)

When the leaders of the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, opened their meeting in Japan on 7 July, World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged them to “seize this opportunity” in the face of a crisis that threatened to push 100 million or more additional people into hunger beyond the 850 million already suffering. (IRIN)

Red and white banners along Nile bridges and Cairo streets this month were Egypt’s latest effort to curb an increasingly pressing problem: a population growing faster than the economy can support. Since President Hosni Mubarak took office in 1981, the population has nearly doubled. But most of the country’s 76 million people are squashed in urban areas near the Nile, in an area roughly the size of Switzerland, which is home to just 7.5 million. “Before you add another baby, make sure his needs are secured,” ran the slogan, adding to a string of campaigns over 30 years to encourage family planning. Mubarak told a government-sponsored population conference that cutting population growth was urgent. (Reuters)

In conflict 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 all to often choose to use. Cheap and effective, men are choosing to use their bodies as weapons - in fact their manhood - to attack women and girls.

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. Victims are often shunned by their families and communities, permanently scared physically and mentally. Many victims become pregnant as a result of their rapes, leaving a permanent reminder through the birth of a child, placing both the mother and child in continual victimization and isolation.

Recently eyes have fallen on Zimbabwe, as evidence of the continued use of rape as a weapon of war has emerged. While the use of by Zimbabwe’s authoritarian government’s paramilitary National Youth Service, which was established in 2000, is well established little has been done to see its end. Therefore one now finds more news of Zimbabwe militias accused of keeping sex camps at ruling party bases. The some 900 camps were established by the ruling ZANU–PF’S party, as forward-operating bases for the shock troops after the March electoral defeat, for which they served as a base to target the opposition forces and intimidate voters, using violent tactics including murder. However the camps continue to operate despite the controversial re-election of President Robert Mugabe. In the camps the girls and young women captured to serve as sex slaves for the soldiers continue to be raped daily.

One who looks back on the use of rape in conflict is not surprised that the rapes continue, for thought Mugabe’s reign he has used the useful tool to control and wield power, and despite international knowledge of the crimes Mugabe and his forces went unpunished. The silence over the use of rape as a weapon of war, runs as long and deep as its historical use. The use of rape in conflict is rooted deep in world history and well established in modern warfare, however it can no longer remain an issue silenced by suppressive governments, ignorance and fear. The idea that rape is a normal by-product of war, due to its continual use historically and currently, only perpetuates its use. The seeing of it as normal and its continual impunity increases its use as a weapon, the perpetrators are less likely to be tried for rape than murder.

On June 19th, in the wake of 8 recent reports on rape in Zimbabwe by Amnesty International alone, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following the U.N. Security Council debate on a U.S. resolution on wartime rape, led a second session on Zimbabwe, for which she called for more international pressure on President Mugabe. For more on the UN resolution see my previous post War Crimes Against Women and Girls

More on the use of rape in Zimbabwe:
Mugabe thugs raping teens: aid staff
Zimbabwe: Mugabe troops use rape as weapon
Dora, 12, gang-raped by Mugabe’s men for four hours
Zimbabwe’s torture training camps
ZIMBABWE: Focus on rape as a political weapon
ZIMBABWE: Women refugees in South Africa claim rape and torture at home
Reports of Rape and Torture Inside Zimbabwean Militia

Congo warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers set free
Judges at the Hague released a Congolese warlord, held on charges of coercing thousands of children into military service, after prosecutors withheld evidence supplied by the UN that would seem to exonerate him on certain of the charges.

Egypt launches campaign to slow population growth
A new campaign in Egypt attempts to dissuade citizens from having large families as the country struggles with population growth. Birth control is legal but frowned upon by some Egyptians, while abortion remains outlawed and vasectomies are not commonly performed. Egypt’s population has nearly doubled since Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency in 1981.

Fistula crisis in Uganda
Experts say that, though many women in the Teso subregion of Uganda suffer from fistula, many cases are neither known, reported, nor treated, due to ignorance, limited materials, and limited personnel. It is estimated that nearly 3% of Ugandan women suffer from fistula.

Low-tech filters give Sri Lanka safer water
The introduction of clay pots fortified with low-tech filters by the American Red Cross has provided thousands of Sri Lankan families with access to safe drinking water and is helping to prevent the spread of disease. Water-borne diseases are the country’s number one cause of malnutrition.

Abortion rate on the rise in Middle East
Despite legal and religious restrictions against abortion in much of the Arab world, changing social values and economic realities as well as demographic shifts have contributed to an apparent increase in the number of the procedures in the Middle East.

Chinese protest corruption in case of girl’s death
Images of riots in China’s southwestern Guizhou province showed cars burning and cell-phone cameras snapping, as protesters responded with violence to evidence of police corruption. Following the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl by an individual with government connections, police called the death a suicide and brutally killed the girl’s uncle, who pressed for justice. Chinese government officials deployed paramilitary soldiers and riot police after 10,000 individuals took to the streets.

Leaders call for funds for women at Glasgow summit
Some participants at the 8th Civicus World Assembly in Scotland say not enough money is going to aid women in the developing world as outlined under the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals. Activists stress that worldwide gender equality is an integral part of the program’s success.

ZIMBABWE: AIDS organisations still grounded
As Zimbabwe’s political crisis deepens ahead of the presidential run-off election on Friday 27 June, and the status of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remains uncertain, the situation for HIV-positive Zimbabweans is more precarious than ever.

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

“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!

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