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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Sexual violence is the most common form of gender violence. It is considered by many societies as a gross violation of women’s rights. Sexual violence perpetrated in times of peace is aggravated in times of violent conflicts.[1] From ancient wars to modern conflicts, the dehumanization and chastisement of a conquered people have included sexual assault against the enemy’s women, and sometimes its men. However, there are more incidents of women subjected to sexual violence in armed conflicts than men. The evil is perpetrated at various levels, macro, meso, and micro.[2] Some eminent scholars, such as Heineman and Vikman, assent that sexual violence is inevitable in all armed conflicts and as soon as war starts, women and girls are targeted.[3]
Wartime Sexual violence against women encompasses various forms such as coerced undressing, forced nudity, rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, unwanted pregnancy, forced marriage, involuntary abortion, compulsory sterilization and undesirable prostitution.[4] Fighters and other individuals use the availability of arms as an “opportunity” during the breakdown of rules and social norms to attack women of all ages and walks of life including babies, girls, and women as old as eighty years.[5]
It has been observed that the effects of these atrocities on the lives of women persist. For victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts, when the guns are silent, their war continues as they struggle with both physical and psychological injuries.[6] Assessing the overwhelming effects of this unbearable situation, Cammaert strongly declared that “It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict.”[7] Similarly, Ban Ki-Moon affirmed that “Violence against women is a crime against humanity, no crime more brutal.”[8] Thus, national, regional and international bodies are making some efforts to combat the scourge but the perpetration is still visible in almost all conflicts in the world.
It is within this confused state of affairs in conflicts that the Côte D’Ivoire (CI) crisis occurred. It was ten years of political unrest, escalating inter-ethnic tensions and violence that marred Côte d’Ivoire’s former reputation for stability and threw the country into a number of crises. There were two waves of armed conflicts, one set off in 2002 and the other, an aftermath of the presidential elections in 2010. Both led to massive population disturbances, displacing about thousands of people on each occasion.[9] During the conflicts, fighters assaulted several women sexually. The worst-hit areas were the western administrative regions of Cavally, Guenon, and Tonpki, that had the highest concentration of arms. It was often referred to as the “Wild West” by Non-governmental Organizations and journalists.[10] Women endured the hardest of the conflicts with the presence of fighters on all sides including mercenaries from neighboring countries especially Liberia. Usually, women’s fate was either to be killed or to be raped.
According to reports by several international and national NGOs,[11] sexual violence on women trapped in the Ivorian conflict zones was not only unremitting, but became so pervasive and systematic as to have reached dreadful levels of brutality and inhumanity. Higonnet reported that victims spoke of brutal sexual assaults on wives, sisters and daughters, that husbands, brothers and fathers were forced to watch or commit incest. Some were pulled off from transport vehicles and raped en masse. Fighters from both sides had also inserted guns, sticks and other objects into their victims’ genitals. Numerous women were captured and subjected to sexual slavery in rebel camps where they endured different forms of sexual abuse over prolonged periods of time. Resistance to captors was commonly met with awful punishments or death. Some sex slaves, daunted by their captors and other circumstances, felt helpless to escape their life of sexual slavery.[12] Also, the period of active armed conflicts in Cote d’Ivoire is over, however, Human Rights Watch disclosed that there are still cases of sexual violence related to the Ivorian armed conflicts perpetrated by former soldiers, even by peacekeepers.[13]
To address this situation, the Ivorian Government took some legislative and administrative measures. Also, the country adopted a four-year (2008-2012) action plan with regards to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. The UN resolution was the first to address the impact of conflict on women during the conflicts and post conflicts periods. The resolution called on all states to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse.[14] Notwithstanding those efforts, it seems that the measures remain mere resolutions leaving a big gap between de jure and de facto. In Cote d’Ivoire, the war may be over for the majority of the population but for the victims of sexual violence there is no difference.[15]
1.2 Statement of the Problem
It is observed that Ivorian women are still struggling with the consequences of the atrocities perpetrated against them. Some victims are even contemplating suicide. They are stigmatized and rejected by spouses and sometimes expelled from their communities. Therefore, victims have on their hearts, more than the scars of their unfortunate past. Moreover, there are hindrances to the full rehabilitation of the women, categorized as victims of sexual violence in the Western region of Cote d’Ivoire. While it may be easy to attribute the failure of effective rehabilitation to government’s letdown to provide legally responsive measures to the needs of the victims, though there are women’s rights provisions in the Ivorian law, it seems that the enforcement of these laws is ineffective, leaving these women at great risk. Furthermore, according to the UN Security Council report, sexual crimes during the Ivorian conflicts are under-reported and under-investigated.[16] Thus, the magnitude of the ills perpetrated is not fully evaluated.
Also, there is no record of victims pursuing their cases in courts which may be due to the costly legal fees, the ignorance of their own rights, the shame and stigmatization attached to sexual violence.[17] In rare situations, when victims summon courage to speak out, there are other challenges that they face while seeking justice; the prosecutions of sexual violence are slow or inexistent. Thus, victims are of the view that they are forgotten and that sexual violence is a neglected issue in Cote d’Ivoire.[18] How can these victims, who are waiting for justice see that justice is done, and how can these victims receive adequate rehabilitation for the atrocities committed against them? Thus, the dilemma of women due to the conflicts that occurred in Cote d’Ivoire in which their fundamental human rights were grossly violated and denied. These are the issues that this study seeks to explore in order to offer some recommendations for the justice and effective rehabilitation of the victims of sexual violence in Ivorian wartimes.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The general objective of the study is to examine the rehabilitative measures put in place for the women whose rights were violated by being subjected to varying forms of sexual violence during the armed conflicts in the Western Cote d’Ivoire.
The specific objectives are to:
- examine the scope of sexual violence in armed conflicts and the extant international legal mechanisms established to address the problem of conflict-related sexual violence;
- identify the peculiarities and dynamics of wartime sexual violence committed against women in the Western Region of Cote d’Ivoire;
- appraise the trauma of the women and their rights violated during the perpetration of conflict-related sexual violence in the Western Cote d’Ivoire;
- assess the appropriateness of the legal steps adopted by the intervening bodies to respond to the plight of victims in the Western Cote d’Ivoire.
1.4 Research Questions
The fundamental inquiry of this research is based on the rehabilitative measures put in place for the women whose rights were violated during the perpetration of sexual violence in the Western Cote d’Ivoire’s armed conflicts. This vital interrogation generates the following specific questions:
- What is the scope of sexual violence in armed conflicts and what are the extant international legal mechanisms established to address the problem of conflict-related sexual violence?
- What are the peculiarities and dynamics of wartime sexual violence committed against women in the Western region of Cote d’Ivoire?
- What is the extent of the trauma experienced by women and to what extent were their rights violated through the perpetration of sexual violence during Cote d’Ivoire wartime?
- How appropriate were the legal steps adopted by the intervening bodies to respond to the plight of victims in the Western Region of Cote d’Ivoire?
1.5 Justification for the Study
Women and girls in the Western Cote d’Ivoire who were sexually violated during the country’s armed conflicts are still waiting for justice. They have not yet received adequate rehabilitation for the atrocities committed against them. Therefore, this thesis seeks to address these issues with the expectation that the Ivorian government and other intervening bodies will initiate and sustain necessary steps to correct the wrongs perpetrated against female gender. This study is significant for the victims to showcase that the world is not blind to their plight. Moreover, this work is important for the Ivorian government in its enforcement of national laws and fulfillment of her international legal obligations; it can serve as a basis for the government’s drive to establish cases and laws to help victims of sexual abuse in armed conflict. Lastly, it is a tool for further research, a contribution to existing truth-seeking and initiatives for supporting and recognizing conflict-related sexual violence as a woman-rights violation in other conflict areas in the world.
1.6. Scope of the Study
The study is delineated to the period of armed conflicts in Cote d’Ivoire between the years 2002–2012. In 2002, the country joined the war zones of West Africa, Liberia and Sierra Leone with a failed coup. In 2007, the belligerent parties signed the Ouagadougou political ceasefire agreement, but unfortunately it did not stop the conflict as there were still spots of conflicts throughout the country, the presidential election was postponed six times. Furthermore, in 2010, a disputed election between the current President, Allasane Ouattara and the former president, Laurent Gbagbo, erupted in another rebellion.
During these periods of fights and up to 2012, it was reported that sexual violence was perpetrated against the enemy women and men; nevertheless, women represented the majority of victims. Their fundamental rights were grossly violated therefore, the study focuses on sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls in Ivorian conflicts and post-conflicts situation. The Ivorian region under review is the western part. The zone comprises the “Cavally, Guemon and Tonpki”. The region experienced the most serious sexual abuses that occurred during the war. The area had more perpetrators such as the national armies, the rebels and the mercenaries of the neighboring countries, than the rest of the country. Mixed groups of Liberian and Sierra Leonean fighters operating as mercenaries in support of both the Ivorian government and rebel forces were responsible of the prevalent sexual abuses.
The scope of this work, therefore, comprised women whose rights were violated during the perpetration of sexual violence in the 2002-2012 Western Cote d’Ivoire armed conflicts. However, for a better understanding of the concept of sexual violence in armed conflicts, mentions of the different war zones in the world are made.
1.7 Methodology
In this section, the researcher indicates the research design, the procedure of data collection and the ethical principles followed during the research.
1.7.1 Research Design
The methodology of this research is qualitative in nature. The research gives a systematic description of wartime sexual violence, how it constitutes women’s rights violation and what can be the best method for the rehabilitation and compensation for the victims.
