[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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