The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls - UNFPA

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Support from the International Community Few <strong>of</strong> the international NGOs that deal with violence have remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One exception is the International Rescue Committee (IRC). From the beginning, a good programme on reproductive health included protocols for dealing with issues <strong>of</strong> violence. IRC set up the SOS telephone service in Gorazde, and through the local women’s NGO, Anima, has assisted the community in awareness <strong>of</strong> reproductive health and the necessity <strong>of</strong> highquality health services. IRC addressed issues <strong>of</strong> violence against women from the outset. IRC practice is recognized by its grass-roots approach to develop networks among women’s NGOs and to include responsible community members in programme implementation. IRC has also fostered reconciliation between different ethnic groups through its educational programmes in reproductive health. <strong>The</strong> International Police Task Force (IPTF) is not focused on domestic violence. However, it has initiated certain actions to do so. IPTF Public Affairs Officers conducted a domestic violence campaign in June 2001. Local police are encouraged to deal with violence and to improve their attitudes towards the victims. Women have been encouraged to take part. Each police station has local women present who are trained in domestic violence issues. A six-month follow-up provides some data on the incidence and prevalence <strong>of</strong> violence. In each <strong>of</strong> the seven regions <strong>of</strong> Bosnia and Herzegovina, on average two cases are reported monthly (14 cases monthly across the country). An IPTF <strong>of</strong>ficer noted that domestic violence was underreported. Concentration Camp Violence A common practice in concentration camps is to force male prisoners to sexually assault, rape or humiliate one another. In addition, the controlling army’s soldiers rape women. Violence is used as a tool to control the enemy’s civilian population, indirectly to humiliate the enemy’s army and furthermore to destroy their communities. From a sociological point <strong>of</strong> view, violence in concentration camps is a direct assault on an individual’s body and self, the motivation being to “destroy community and demolish the social order upon which the community had thrived for centuries.” 19 In Bosnia and Herzegovina, sadistic rape camps were constructed with the aim <strong>of</strong> shredding the social fabric <strong>of</strong> society. <strong>The</strong> mass rape <strong>of</strong> women and young girls during the war was not a consequence <strong>of</strong> the warfare but a design to destroy families and erode 19 K. Doubt, Sociology after Bosnia and Kosova (New York, Lanham, Boulder; Oxford, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000) p. 2. 70
community. It could destroy a victim’s relation to both her family and community, by prompting her family to reject her. “<strong>The</strong> rape sought to destroy the person’s sense <strong>of</strong> identity and connectedness to those whom she loved. Rape was done knowing that it would likely lead to the person being rejected by her parents or husband.” 20 Organized rape was an effective tool used throughout the war, followed by the crisis <strong>of</strong> reintegrating families, as emphasized by Medica Zenica. Estimates differ on how many women and young girls (some as young as six years <strong>of</strong> age) were raped during the three years <strong>of</strong> war violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. <strong>The</strong> head <strong>of</strong> the European Commissioner <strong>of</strong> Inquiry, Dame Ann Warburton, reported in her study in the former Yugoslavia that 20,000 women had been raped. Catharine MacKinnon, the Michigan law pr<strong>of</strong>essor who worked for the Bosnian victims, put the total at more than 50,000. <strong>The</strong> New York Times correspondent John Burns echoed this total at 50,000 women. 21 <strong>The</strong>re is a large literature on rape in the Bosnia and Herzegovina rape camps and their implications for victims. <strong>The</strong> most tragic were women impregnated by rape and their subsequent conflicted attitudes towards their babies. Slavenka Drakulic, a Croatian writer who worked in 1993 with raped Bosnian women in Croatia, published her findings under the title As if I Am Not <strong>The</strong>re (2000). She reported the testimony <strong>of</strong> a mother-to-be -- a girl raped in one <strong>of</strong> the Serb camps in northern Bosnia. <strong>The</strong> girl, referred to as S, throughout her pregnancy thought <strong>of</strong> killing “that alien thing in her.” At the same time, she thought <strong>of</strong> the baby as a small innocent creature who was not responsible for human cruelty and should be treated with kindness. Even when her baby boy was born, S could not get rid <strong>of</strong> her deeply conflicted thoughts about her mind and her body. She would reject the baby publicly, but alone she would touch and talk to the baby, as any mother would. In Kosovo, the other conflict area <strong>of</strong> the Balkans, rape took on an equally horrific turn. It was used to target families <strong>of</strong> the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) supporters. Serbs were keenly aware <strong>of</strong> rape’s devastating effects on the fighters and their communities. <strong>The</strong>y detained women, the main family members <strong>of</strong> KLA supporters, more than a year before NATO began its air <strong>of</strong>fensive. 22 Concentration camp victims initially received some assistance, but they are still in great need <strong>of</strong> food, appropriate housing, jobs and financial assistance. <strong>The</strong>ir psychological needs are even greater, since the authorities have done no systematic needs assessment to organize service provisions for this vulnerable group. 20 Ibid. p. 63. 21 G. Halsell, “Women’s Bodies: A Batterfield in War for ‘Greater Serbia’,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 11, no. 9 (April/May, 1993). 22 G. Igric, ”Kosovo Rape Victims Suffer ZLFH” Balkan Crisis Report 48, une 1999. 71
Page 1 and 2:
A UNFPA Strategy for Gender Mainstr
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FOREWORD The natur
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword List <st
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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
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PART I. CONSULTATIVE MEETING INTROD
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BACKGROUND Women and girls constitu
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information should include document
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BACKGROUND PAPER SUMMARIES Backgrou
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NGOs feel they have the right to wi
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includes the physical, sexual and e
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services to women and by organizing
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parties, including national and int
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WORKING GROUP REPORTS Working Group
Page 27 and 28: 2) Provide technical assistance on
Page 29 and 30: 4) Provide reproductive supplies an
Page 31 and 32: Report of Working
Page 33 and 34: 2) Advocacy: Problem: • Insuffici
Page 35 and 36: • Support, for perpetrators <stro
Page 39 and 40: population groups can be disrupted
Page 41 and 42: • Implementation, monitoring and
Page 45 and 46: • Build advocacy skills, networki
Page 47 and 48: • Coordinate and promote cooperat
Page 49 and 50: PART II. BACKGROUND PAPERS THE IMPA
Page 51 and 52: isolation and brings into the analy
Page 53 and 54: Target Groups Women Women and child
Page 55 and 56: Approaches The Def
Page 57 and 58: and take necessary steps to overcom
Page 59 and 60: Refugees must be involved in defini
Page 61 and 62: Sexually Transmitted Infections and
Page 63 and 64: Return and Reintegration In additio
Page 65 and 66: This will involve much more than th
Page 67 and 68: • Greater attention should be giv
Page 69 and 70: Post-conflict regions have not effe
Page 71 and 72: “Although the particular forms <s
Page 73 and 74: A major premise of
Page 75 and 76: participate refused. 15 In the surv
Page 77: problems. These SO
Page 81 and 82: and Herzegovina. The</stron
Page 83 and 84: IPTF operates geographically throug
Page 85 and 86: WOMEN AND GIRLS IN KOSOVO: THE EFFE
Page 87 and 88: More than two years have passed. On
Page 89 and 90: young girls to attend school, among
Page 91 and 92: to different cultural attitudes tow
Page 93 and 94: opportunities as a result o
Page 95 and 96: average rate of 2.
Page 97 and 98: strict rules and have punished thei
Page 99 and 100: One of the issues
Page 101 and 102: difficult issues such as the budget
Page 103 and 104: Legislative reforms are needed in m
Page 105 and 106: Transitional Council and convinced
Page 107 and 108: • All agencies should have instit
Page 109 and 110: insecurity about the future, unempl
Page 111 and 112: Walking the painful path of
Page 113 and 114: decide to return to their husband
Page 115 and 116: Crises usually affect more women th
Page 117 and 118: • Establishing communication chan
Page 119 and 120: • Supporting grass-roots women’
Page 121 and 122: Women and men have different approa
Page 123 and 124: organized meetings to promote recon
Page 125 and 126: Recommendations Post-conflict socie
Page 127 and 128: 7. Presentation and discussion <str
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The Role o
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Working Group Three: The</s
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Country/City Participant Agency Spe
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Kyrgyzstan Bernara Alimbaeva Nepal
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New York Mohammad Nizamuddin UNFPA-
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United Kingdom Sippi Azerbaijani- M
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John Snow International Research an
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UNFPA: Pamela DeLargy, Emergency an
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ANNEX 5: MINIMUM INITIAL SERVICE PA
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• Staff trained and sensitized on
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220 East 42nd Street New York, NY 1
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The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls - UNFPA

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