[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S2610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RAPE AND SEXUAL TORTURE IN SIERRA LEONE
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, in all too many places and in all too
many conflicts in recent years we have witnessed the use of rape and
sexual torture as instruments of war. I am sad to say, some incidence
of rape has always accompanied war and turmoil in human history, but
the record of the past few years, with the use of organized, systematic
campaigns of rape to terrorize civilian populations, suggests a new
chapter in the barbarity of human history has been opened.
It was disturbing to learn there are serious and credible allegations
that rebel forces used systematic rape as an instrument of terror in
the eight-year civil war in Sierra Leone.
While statistics are not yet available, there is clear and credible
evidence that thousands of girls and women, ranging from ages 5 to 75,
were abducted during the civil war and gang raped. Many were used as
sex slaves and forced labor. And it is possible many are still being
held captive, subject to the depravations of their inhuman captors.
This horrific story was detailed in an article in yesterday's
Washington Post. I ask unanimous consent to have the article, entitled
``A War Against Women'' from the April 11, 2000, Washington Post
printed in the Congressional Record following my remarks.
The civilized world must send a strong, unambiguous message that rape
and sexual torture are not acceptable under any circumstances and will
not be tolerated. The United States must be at the forefront of efforts
to help the Government of Sierra Leone bring to justice those
responsible for the systematic rape and sexual torture that took place
during the civil war.
[From the Washington Post, Apr. 11, 2000]
A War Against Women--Sierra Leone Rebels Practiced Systematic Sexual
Terror
(By Douglas Farah)
Blama Camp, Sierra Leone--The women slip one at a time into
a bamboo hut in this displaced persons camp, and most begin
to cry quietly as they tell of being gang-raped and held as
sex slaves by rebels who had sought to overthrow the
government of Sierra Leone.
One 25-year-old woman said she had delivered a still-born
baby the day before rebels of the Revolutionary United Front
attacked her village in 1998. She was unable to flee with
most of the other villagers, and five rebels took turns
raping her, she said. When her husband tried to intervene,
they killed him.
``I thought at first I was dealing with human beings, so I
said I was sad and confused because I had just delivered a
dead baby, I was bloody and weak,'' she said between sobs.
``But they were not human beings. After they left I gave up,
and I wanted to die. I had no reason to live anymore.''
Human rights workers says the woman, who was rescued by a
patrol of government troops, is one of thousands who were
raped by insurgent forces and other armed gangs during the
nation's eight-year civil war. While statistics are not yet
available, rights workers said the rebels' rape campaign was
as widespread and systematic as similar assaults in the 1992-
1995 Bosnian war but has received far less attention.
Unlike at least some of the perpetrators in Bosnia, those
responsible here likely will never be tried because of a
blanket amnesty that was part of the accord that ended the
conflict last July. Even more worrisome, U.N. officials and
government officials say, is that the rebels may still hold
thousands of women in remote strongholds despite the fact
that the peace accord required them to free all captive
civilians.
``The [rebels] perpetrated systematic, organized and
widespread sexual violence against girls and women,'' the New
York-based group Human Rights Watch said in a recent report.
``The rebels planned and launched operations in which they
rounded up girls and women, brought them to rebel command
centers and then subjected them to individual and gang rape.
Young girls under 17, and particularly those deemed to be
virgins were specifically targeted. While some were released
or managed to escape, hundreds continue to be held in sexual
slavery after being `married' to rebel combatants.''
Rose Luz, a physician with the International Rescue
Committee, said that what is most shocking about the hundreds
of rape cases she is documenting is the ages of the victims.
Most were under 14 or over 45--many of whom were too slow or
too infirm to flee. Luz said the youngest victim documented
so far was 5; the oldest was 75.
``It is the ones who could not get away,'' Luz said. ``They
raped whomever they stumbled across.''
With the consent of the women involved, Rescue Committee
officials arranged for a reporter to be present during some
interviews. It was agreed that no names would be used or
photographs taken. The interviews were conducted at this
camp--about 160 miles southeast of the capital, Freetown--
which shelters 22,500 people who were driven from their homes
in eastern Sierra Leone by insurgent forces.
If the rebels considered a woman attractive or physically
fit enough to work, she would likely be taken along with
them--not just to be a sex slave, but a domestic servant as
well, Luz and other aid workers said. Often, they said, a
captive woman would try to attach herself to one leader to
avoid repeated gang rape. In a culture in which rape victims
are often ostracized, such wholesale assaults were effective
not only in spreading terror, but in breaking apart
communities, social workers said.
The first victims began telling their stories to the Rescue
Committee when the aid group started reproductive health
classes here several months ago, said counselor Dolly
Williams. Last month, in an effort to refer the women for
urgently needed medical attention and help them cope with
their shame and humiliation, the Rescue Committee began
documenting their stories. As word of the program spread,
hundreds of women have come forward, waiting their turn
patiently while Williams and Luz record the accounts of other
victims.
``Child and women abductees and victims of gender violence
are far too numerous, and we do not yet even have a clear
picture as to how many there really are,'' said U.S.
Ambassador Joseph H. Melrose Jr., who is trying to arrange
for U.S. funds to help the victims. ``What is clear is that
these victims and their injuries, both physical and
psychological, must not be ignored. If these injuries do not
heal, they will have implications for future generations of
Sierra Leoneans and the success of the peace process.''
Williams said the rate of sexually transmitted diseases
such as syphilis and gonorrhea among the women is extremely
high, a reflection of the 92 percent infection rate found
among demobilized rebels. Neither the combatants nor the
women are tested for AIDS or HIV infection because the cost
is too great and there are no resources to treat anyone who
tests positive.
The first woman to arrive at the palm-thatched interview
room one day last week was a 60-year-old who came to tell how
she was grabbed in her village by a group of raiders because
she was unable to outrun them. When they could not find any
other women, she said, they raped her.
``I begged them not to,'' she said. I told them I was old.
I could be their grandmother,'' but they did not listen; they
just laughed at me. Afterward they let me go because I was
old and useless. Now I have pain when I urinate. I have
sores; I can't sleep.''
A 35-year-old woman said she had been abducted and raped by
four rebels in 1997. When they had finished, she said, they
took her to their commander, who decided to keep her. She
finally escaped three years later, during a firefight between
the rebel unit and government troops.
``I can't have a man again,'' she told the interviewer. ``I
have lost my life.''
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