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New report documents war-related sexual abuse

    ABIDJAN

    Internally displaced women and girls suffered high rates of rape and other abuses during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said in a report released on Wednesday.

    The report, 'War-Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone: A Population-Based Assessment', said 53 percent of displaced women and girls who had "face to face" contact with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels experienced some form of sexual violence. The rate for women who had had contact with other groups of fighters was six percent. One third of those who reported sexual assault said they were gang-raped, the US-based PHR stated in its report.

    Other types of abuses reported by respondents included sexual slavery, forced marriage and molestation.

    According to PHR, when the total number of war-related sexual incidents is extrapolated to the total female IDP population, 50,000 to 64,000 Sierra Leonean women may have suffered sexual violence. It said the vast majority of reported abuses took place between 1997 and 1999.

    The report, which publishes findings from a survey of 991 households, is the first to evaluate the prevalence of sexual violence during the Sierra Leonean conflict using population-based random sample methods. It was released by PHR with the support of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), the rights group said.

    Among its recommendations PHR stressed the need for education and adequate protection and support for survivors as "thousands of women in Sierra Leone may be willing to testify to the recently announced Special Court and the planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission about these crimes". It urged the Special Court, established on 16 January, "to prioritise crimes of sexual violence and ensure the protection of witnesses".

    The Sierra Leone-based tribunal has the power to prosecute individuals who bear the greatest resposibility for serious violations of international and national law which have taken place since 30 November 1996, the date of a failed peace agreement between the RUF and the government. It will have the power to prosecute those who committed rape, murder and torture.

    The entire report can be viewed at www.phrusa.org

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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