January 2011 - Blackherbals.com

Continued from page 21 –Uganda: Sexual Crimes GoUnpunishednot afford to take victims for medical examination or totransport the police to the crime scene. As a result, theyopt to negotiate with the perpetrator. Criminal justice inUganda requires any person who has been a victim ofsexual violence to have a medical test, which is pertinentto the success or failure of a case.However, only authorized police surgeons can carry outthe examination. Not only are the police surgeonsinsufficient but victims must also pay between US$15and US$25 to be examined."This is the greatest injustice that the survivors of sexualviolence are subjected to in Uganda," says Judy Kamanyi,a consultant in gender and development issues.Rebecca Kadaga, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliamentconcurs. "It cannot only be a police surgeon that canexamine a victim if we are to deliver justice. Theexamination services should be even carried out bymidwives so that women stop paying so much money toaccess justice."Kamanyi says government should put in place shelters forwomen whose lives are in danger and also come up withan emergency plan for abused women and children thatcaters for their safety.Access to justice for survivors of gender-based violenceis also limited by the fact that sexual offenses are onlytried at high court level and these are found in only infive regions of the country. Victims travel long distancesto access the courts only to find there is no police surgeonpresent for the hearing. As a result, sexual offenses casescan take years to be heard.According to CEWIGO, these gaps in delivery of justiceto women victims of sexual violence show that Uganda isfar from implementing regional and internationalinstruments meant to safeguard women's lives, especiallyin the case of war time rapes.Miria Matembe, a founder member of CEWIGO sayswomen must continue to pressure governments,especially in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, toimplement resolution 1325."This resolution remains extremely important for us ...We are a continent still infested with conflict with highlevels of gender based violence," she says.The LRA rebels remain active in DRC, Central AfricanRepublic and South Sudan where they continue withabductions.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012021041.html☻☻☻☻☻☻-22- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Congo-Kinshasa:Women's Bodies'Battleground' in NationTanya Castle7 December 2010Bukavu — Maria Malele, 20, looks down at her handswhile she explains in her native Swahili how she wasgang-raped by rebels in her home in Eastern DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (DRC), six months ago.I had returned home in the morning from our hiding spotin the forest to get some food. Two rebels entered thehouse and two stayed outside, they asked me, ˜where’syour husband and I said ˜he’s not here, and then theygrabbed me, threw me to the ground and raped me. I triedto fight them off but they were much bigger than me andI was nine months pregnant. So, I couldn’t and three ofthem raped me. All of this time my child was sitting nextto me crying and calling for his dad.When they left, Malele was left bleeding and semiconsciouson the floor of her home. Shortly after, shewent into labour with her husband and child at her side.She gave birth to a stillborn baby.Half a year may have passed since her rape, but forMalele, the pain has not gone away. She lost her child,her strength, her dignity and potentially her husband andlivelihood.Malele is from the mineral rich region of Shabunda inSouth Kivu Province, Eastern DRC. For years, the bodiesof women in Eastern DRC have provided thebattleground for armed groups.Rape is a cheap, effective and easy weapon used byforeign and local armed groups, as well as the Congolesenational army. During the 20 years of fighting in DRC,hundreds of thousands of women and girls have beenraped. On average more than 1,500 women are rapedevery month by armed groups in Eastern DRC andincreasingly by civilians, as rape has become a rule andnot the exception.As soon as an armed group considers that the civilianpopulation it is confronted with is against its presence, itwill commit crimes against it, including sexual violence.It is a form of terrorism that is employed by armedgroups, specifically in areas where there is no authority,says Aziza Aziz-Suleimani, of the United NationsPopulation Fund, the UN agency tasked with mappingsexual violence in DRC.Continued on page 23