Tag Archives: sexual assault

Sexual Violence and HIV Transmission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the most pervasive and devastating issues facing the country today. Decades of fighting over the First and Second Congo War have destroyed government and healthcare infrastructure, creating some of the world health and development indicators in the world. The Congo Wars are sometimes referred to “Africa’s World War” because they involved so many neighboring countries, and because studies have placed the death toll around 5.4 million, making it the deadliest conflict since World War ll.

In 2007, UN-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes called raped in the DRC the “worst in the world” in comparison to other states of comparable development levels. In 2010, the U.N.’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict Margot Wallstrom called the DRC the “rape capital of the world.” The U.N. estimates that 200,000 women and girls have been assaulted in the past 12 years, with more than 18,000 cases reported between January and September 2008 alone. Medical experts estimate that thousands more cases are going unreported. Intense stigma associated with being a rape survivor, stressed and inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and inadequate justice and accountability systems make it difficult for women to report instances of sexual abuse.

The majority of these rapes are not occurring randomly, but rather they are systematic attacks on women and girls in a conflict which increasingly targets civilians. An April 2010 report by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative revealed that 60 percent of rape victims in South Kivu were gang raped by armed militias. Settings for these rapes include forced incest, gang rape, rape in public, rape with foreign objects, and urogenital mutilation. Female rape victims are at a high risk of contracting HIV because tearing, cuts and bruising within the vulva and vagina facilitate the transmission of the virus, according to Doctors Without Borders. The fear of HIV increases stigmatization of rape victims within their communities.

Stigmatization is one of the key elements to understanding the patterns of social isolation and rejection after a victim is raped. In a report by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the Open Society Institute, researchers found that stigmatization after rape was an overarching pattern in communities. Women with children born of rape, women who have been gang raped, women with fistula as a consequence of rape, and women testing positive for HIV are especially vulnerable to social isolation. The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and The Open Society Institute found that 1 in 3 women reported being rejected by their husbands and 1 in 15 reported being rejected by their communities.

After they are raped, women are perceived to be “contaminated” by their attackers, and many times they are turned out by their husbands and by their communities. This is directly correlated to fears of HIV and STI transmission.

Due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure, thousands of victims are unable to seek treatment or testing for HIV and STIs. Treatment at this time is more essential than ever, due to the fact that beyond needing medical attention, many women rejected by their husbands have no where else to turn.

It is important we acknowledge the significant impact conflict and systematic rape has on the lives of thousands of women and men, as this understanding will only broaden our ability to be able to positively affect the global discourse surrounding HIV AIDS transmission.

Please Note: Although this article primarily concerns women, both men and women have been the targets of rape in DRC. I focus on female victims in this article because the rape of women occurs proportionally at a much higher rate, and because much of the research on social isolation and sexual violence treatment centers focuses on female victims. Understanding how rape impacts male victims is one of the understudied aspects of the DRC conflicts.

Suggestions for further reading:

“Characterizing Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Final Report for the Open Society Institute. August 2009. Accessed 12/6/2011. <http://hhi.harvard.edu/programs-and-research/program-on-humanitarian-effectiveness/54-democratic-republic-of-congo>.

Mawathe, Anne. “Haunted by Congo rape dilemma.” BBC News – Africa. Mary 15, 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8677637.stm>.

MONUSCO, the U.N. Stabilization Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. <http://monusco.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4072>.

“Sexual Violence.” Doctors Without Borders. <http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/issue.cfm?id=3466>.

“UN official calls DR Congo ‘rape capital of the world’ ”. BBC News – Africa. April 28, 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8650112.stm>.

Sexual Assault Prevention: South Africa Style

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Sexual assault is a huge concern worldwide. Currently in the United States, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in the lifetime. But even more surprising is that in South Africa, a country with the highest incidence of sexual assault worldwide, one doctor has decided to do something about it.

According to an INTERPOL study conducted in 2006, it has been estimated that every 17 seconds a woman is sexually assaulted in South Africa and that in 2009, there were 20,000 sexual assaults and only 8% of those were convicted. It’s shocking numbers like these that led Dr. Sonnet Ehlers to create the “Rape-aXe”, a sexual assault prevention device that looks oddly similar to a receptive condom except for one thing: it has teeth.

The “Rape-aXe” is essentially a receptive condom, made out of latex, that is to be inserted the same way a regular receptive condom would be before a woman goes walking alone at night or goes to an unfamiliar part of town. The device contains rows of jagged teeth-like plastic hooks that latch on to an unsuspecting perpetrator’s penis during a sexual assault. The device is unique in that the penis can still withdraw from the victim, but the device will still be attached and requires medical personnel to remove it. The device causes extreme pain and the perpetrator would not be able to urinate with it on, let alone walk very far without extreme discomfort. This is supposedly to allow the victim time to get away and allow police to be able to make an arrest while medical personnel remove the device. The device does not draw blood, however, and has been proven “safe” to use in the extremely HIV+ country. Engineers, gynecologists and psychologists throughout the country worked on the innovative design of the device to ensure safety. 30,000 of these devices were distributed for free to women in South Africa during the World Cup games in 2010 as a trial run and were supposedly to be sold for $2 a piece after the trial period. These devices have not been sold to the public thus far and are not available in the United States.

Seems like a great idea, right? Some people aren’t so sure. There are several criticisms of the device. For one thing, although the device is supposed to allow the victim time to get away by immobilizing their perpetrator, it has the potential to enrage them even more, making victims more vulnerable to violence and presenting them with a sense of false security. The device also does nothing to help deal with the psychological trauma that often occurs after an assault. The biggest criticism of the device is that it is merely a risk-reduction technique, and that by wearing the device everyday, victims are just in anticipation of an assault—which is something no one should have to go through. The device is a constant reminder of the victim’s vulnerability.

Although South Africa has certainly taken a unique approach to the prevention of sexual assault, we need to remind ourselves that it is more important to focus on primary prevention techniques, instead of simple risk-reduction ones. Instead of teaching people ways to not get sexually assaulted, we should be focusing on teaching people not to sexually assault.

Want to read about the “Rape-aXe” further? Check this article out:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/study-abroad/100326/south-africa-rape-axe