IDP Action calls for increased protection and support for internally displaced women in Africa

By Stephanie Brancaforte, Director of Research and Legal Affairs, IDP Action

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, IDP Action urges governments, inter-governmental organizations, donors, humanitarians and policy makers around the world to strengthen their support and assistance for women and girls suffering as a result of internal displacement in Africa. Over 75% of all persons forcibly displaced by war, conflict, climate change and other factors are women and children. As well as experiencing the traumas associated with forced displacement, women and girls find themselves at the extremes of vulnerability, exposed to the continuing threat of violence and sexual exploitation, trafficking, and sometimes reduced to making a living by selling the only asset they have left — themselves.

Gender-based violence can cause displacement, just as displacement exposes women and girls to gender-based violence. Fear of rape and other abuses can drive many women, girls and their families from their homes, leaving them exposed to further violence even as they seek out greater protections. Gender-based violence affects displaced women of every age – from young children to elderly women. In several African countries, notably Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rape continues to be used as a weapon of war and as a means of ethnic cleansing.

Brandi Walker, a correspondent for IDP Action working in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu in DRC, reports, "The rapes of internally displaced women and girls are occurring on all sides — from the Congolese national army, militia groups and civilians. Most of the women at the hospital who were raped are displaced, and they cannot go home, either for security reasons, or because their husbands have abandoned them. Some women fear repeat rapes, particularly if they return to their home areas." Displaced women and girls in DRC have been abducted and used as slaves for sex, for agriculture or housework.

One fifteen-year-old girl, F., at Panzi Hospital was recovering from two surgeries to remedy injuries caused by a full year of enslavement at the hands of the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda). F. endured a year of repeated rape, death threats and the still-birth of a baby before she managed to escape. F. was improving after surgery but said she would not return to her village for fear of identification and reprisals at the hands of FDLR soldiers.

All parties to the conflict in DRC – the Congolese national army, the FDLR and the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP, National Congress for the People's Defence) forces of Laurent Nkunda — have been responsible for violence against civilians, looting and causing large-scale displacements.

For many women and girls, life does not significantly improve once they have fled the immediate source of their threat. Life in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) brings its own dangers for women. Often packed together with those who have fled with them, IDPs typically live in flimsy structures that leave women and girls vulnerable to attack and sexual assault. They are typically reliant on food aid and other forms of assistance, which are often scarce or wholly insufficient. To feed themselves and their children, some women and girls resort to transactional sex in exchange for paltry amounts of food or money. While alleviating the family's immediate subsistence needs, transactional sex exposes women and girls to the risk of contracting HIV and other serious diseases, as well as to the possibility of violence. Many aspects of camp life intensify the cycle of poverty and vulnerability for the entire family.

According to Boniface Njiru, a correspondent for IDP Action in Kenya, women in Kenyan IDP camps have been forced to grant sexual favours to officials in exchange for food. The Kenyan police has since formed a task committee of thirty-two female policewomen to investigate some of these allegations.

In northern Uganda, NGOs point to gender-based violence as one of the most neglected areas of humanitarian programming, despite its continued prevalence. Although IDPs in northern Uganda have begun to return to their home areas, gender-based violence remains a significant problem during this transition phase.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that displaced women in Galkayo, Somalia face rape on a daily basis, while on their way to work, to market or at home because they do not have doors to lock out intruders.

IDP women and girls who find refuge in urban settings often face challenges similar to IDPs living in camps or settlements, as they seek shelter and protection and attempt to eke out a living on the fringes of the economy.

Gender-based violence is generally under-reported and often a cause for great shame for the survivors. Many women who are raped forfeit their opportunity for marriage, while married women and their children are often abandoned by their partners. A spiral of destitution, vulnerability and further victimization often follow for the woman, and any children she might have.

In spite of all the challenges and hardships they face, internally displaced women and girls can be powerful forces for improving their own lives and advocating for the assistance they need. Policy makers and humanitarian officials should actively seek out their perspectives and reflect their concerns in designing assistance programs.

Recommendations

IDP Action joins the call for the deployment of additional United Nations peacekeepers to eastern DRC to protect civilians, prevent gender-based violence against IDP women and girls and allow IDPs to return safely to their homes.

IDP Action urges national governments, inter-governmental organizations, donors and the humanitarian community to implement fully the provisions in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement that seek to safeguard women and girls from gender-based violence, as well as guaranteeing equal access for IDP women and girls to assistance and services. The Guiding Principles explicitly call on governments to provide protection for women and girls.

IDP Action also calls upon the African Union to continue the process of adopting a strong Convention for the Prevention of Internal Displacement and the Protection of and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in Africa through the addition of specific, enforceable provisions to protect women and girls and to ensure their access to assistance and services. IDP women should be included in the development, implementation and evaluation of the programs that affect their lives.

Finally, IDP Action reminds governments, inter-governmental organizations, donors and humanitarians of some of the measures that would ensure better protection of, and assistance to, displaced women and girls:

• Prevent gender-based violence and other abuses that may cause women and girls to become displaced;
• Pay special attention to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls during displacement, including through the provision of medical and psychological care;
• Ensure that women and girls benefit equally from the provision of humanitarian support and services, including education;
• Ensure that women and girls benefit fully from resettlement and reintegration programs;
• Assist returning IDP women to regain family property. (Women may return from displacement as heads of household, but sometimes lack the right to inherit what is considered solely their husbands' property);
• Fully investigate allegations of gender-based violence perpetrated by United Nations peacekeeping forces or other protection forces and punish these appropriately;
• Involve women in decision-making at every stage of the displacement cycle — in the prevention or mitigation of events or circumstances which may cause people to flee; the content and mechanics of assistance provided to the displaced; whether, when and how IDPs should be resettled; and the nature of assistance provided during return and reintegration.