Legal Assistance Centre-Namibia

Combating The Use Of Sexual Violence As A Weapon Of Conflict In Zimbabwe

December 12, 2008
Rebecca Stubbs*
The Namibian

SEXUAL violence has long been used as a weapon of political suppression by Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe, and is becoming increasingly endemic.

Betty Makoni, a well-known Zimbabwean human-rights activist working with former United Nations Ambassador Stephen Lewis, says she knows of approximately 700 cases of sexual violence specifically targeted against MDC supporters. Since the mid-April elections alone, there have been between 50 and 100 reported cases of rape by government-backed militias against MDC opposition members or their families. However, given the stigma of rape and the fear of retaliation for speaking out, this number probably far underestimates the true extent of the crisis.

A 13-year-old girl told how she was abducted from her home in exchange for a goat. She was then held in a youth militia camp where she was repeatedly raped and beaten. In another case, a 60-year-old woman was raped by 18 militia members who told her they wanted her to have a Zanu-PF baby. Human rights activists tell stories of women having pesticides forced into them for failing to reveal the location of opposition leaders.

These rapes are reportedly being systematically meted out by Zanu-PF forces as punishment for supporting the MDC. The level of coordination and the consistency of the attacks almost certainly confirms high-level involvement, according to Shonali Shome, an attorney for AIDS-Free World (a human rights organization founded by Stephen Lewis).

According to one victim, after raping her, the Zanu-PF soldiers made her crawl on her belly to a bored bureaucrat holding a list and sitting nearby. The bureaucrat ticked off her name from a list to acknowledge that she had been given her punishment. “Mine was the fourth name on the list for that day,” she said. Her name was crossed off and the militia forces moved on, presumably to locate their next victim.

“We’re hearing the same thing over and over, we’re seeing the same patterns in different parts of Zimbabwe: the women tell us about the same words coming out of the perpetrators’ mouths,” Shome said. “The language that’s used, the pattern of how they were abducted, it speaks to a hierarchical level of command.” The systematic and widespread nature of the rapes meets two key criteria for the definition of crimes against humanity.

Hearing such tragic and brutal stories leads to the inevitable questions, what are we doing now and what can we do in the future to combat this atrocity? The international community is taking action. Lewis recently founded AIDS-Free World specifically to bring to justice perpetrators of politically motivated sexual violence in Zimbabwe. AIDS-Free World is quietly collecting testimonies from victims of sexual violence and gang rapes by leaders of the Zanu-PF.

Lewis’s involvement and the work of AIDS-Free World is a powerful addition to existing attempts by civil actors and development organisations to hold the Mugabe regime accountable for such atrocious human rights violations. Despite efforts by human rights organisations, additional action by the international community is necessary. The United Nations in particular must take a stand in opposing Zanu-PF’s use of sexual violence. The recent passage of Security Council Resolution 1820 is a strong signal by the United Nations that sexual violence as a weapon of conflict will not be tolerated.

UN Security Council Resolution 1820
In June 2008, the UN Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 1820, establishing that the Security Council views sexual violence as a weapon of conflict, rather than simply an inevitable outcome of conflict. Politically, Resolution 1820 has been a resounding success. It gives credence to the security threat to women in conflict and provides a clear mandate to international and local governing bodies as well as civil actors.

In Resolution 1820, the Security Council notes “that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide …and calls upon Member States…to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and girls, have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, and stresses the importance of ending impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation…”.

Resolution 1820 marks an important step because it makes sexual violence a security issue and places it on the same political footing as other crimes against humanity in conflict situations. Resolution 1820 also provides an additional channel through which to seek legal redress and prosecution of sexual violence in the International Criminal Court and other international forums.

The practical implications of Resolution 1820 extend beyond the traditional prosecution of war crimes. The Secretary General of the Security Council must report on the implementation of the Resolution by July 2009, specifically identifying countries where sexual violence is being used as a weapon of conflict. Zimbabwe will most assuredly be noted in this report. It is hoped that this Resolution will provide a clearer mandate for collective international action against sexual violence in conflict.

Lessons for Zimbabwe
Resolution 1820 is the latest step in an ongoing effort by the United Nations and other international groups to combat gender-based violence in conflict zones. For example, the UN has been working closely with the Congolese authorities to halt the increasing epidemic of sexual violence by military and rebel forces within the Democratic Republic of Congo, through awareness training and the creation of more disciplined and professional units. They have also sought to strengthen the judicial and penal systems within the DRC to effectively prosecute instances of sexual violence. According to the Los Angeles Times, the UN is also working hard to “increase direct assistance to victims, ensure the recruitment of more women in the UN peacekeeping force and strengthen protection efforts for girls and women living in hot-spot areas”. Firewood patrols and night flashes (where UN vehicles leave their lights on during the night so that women can sleep in safety) have been quite successful in providing immediate protection for communities of vulnerable women.

Civil and government actors in other countries are likewise taking action to bring an end to sexual violence in conflict areas by including more women in peace-keeping forces, both in decision-making positions and in ground forces. Women, particularly those who have experienced sexual violence themselves, are much more aware of the special challenges facing women in conflict zones. Female UN peacekeepers reportedly get along better with locals and also improve the behaviour of their male counterparts.

Legal action has also been successful in some situations. Although Resolution 1820 has not yet been used in a court of law, a consortium of civil actors and legal aid organisations in Burma recently called upon the Security Council to enforce the Resolution against the Burmese military junta. Citing numerous cases of un-prosecuted sexual violence offences by the junta, the consortium stated, “For Burma, politics must give way to justice”.

Legal action is already being taken against Zanu-PF forces in Zimbabwe as well. Although the majority of the Zimbabwean judiciary will not risk challenging Mugabe’s forces, some brave judges are beginning to a stand against the impunity of the Zanu-PF. In late October one regional magistrate, Esther Muremba, convicted the commander of a Zanu-PF youth base for violently raping the wife of an MDC supporter. In handing down the 20-year jail sentence, the magistrate said that she deplores the use of sexual violence during an election time and that raping a defenceless woman under the guise of political campaigning was a serious offence. Magistrate Muremba is a rare but shining example of the power of the judiciary to combat sexual violence as a political weapon.

Taking action
Ideally, national governments should have primary responsibility for stopping the use of sexual violence as a weapon of conflict. Sadly, because the Zimbabwean government itself – through Zanu-PF – is perpetrating these atrocious crimes, the international community and civil actors play an increasingly important role.

There are numerous actions that civil actors and human rights activists, in conjunction with the UN, can immediately take to reduce the prevalence of sexual violence in Zimbabwe and around the world.

• Bring women to the negotiating table. Engage women in devising strategies designed to protect them against sexual violence. Incorporate female perspectives in all levels of security, negotiations, armed forces, and peace-keeping operations.

• Strengthen existing national laws and norms by using international legal tools and access points such as international criminal tribunals, regional mechanisms, human rights bodies, security cooperatives, and the Security Council.

• Use the national judiciary as an independent body to enforce existing laws prohibiting sexual violence.

• Exclude sexual violence crimes from amnesty provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes and comply with obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such acts.

• Combat corruption and apathy in the police force, judiciary and prison systems so that perpetrators are effectively apprehended, convicted, and sentenced.

• Form, in conjunction with civil society, permanent taskforces charged with combating sexual violence.

• Provide greater accountability by prosecuting those in command and control positions who allow their forces to carry out such atrocities.

• Engage in awareness campaigns both regionally and internationally about sexual violence in Zimbabwe and the need for greater international involvement, particularly from the UN Security Council.

Ending sexual violence as a political weapon in Zimbabwe will require concerted action. The international community must lobby for more direct action to ensure that sexual violence is not used in conflict situations with impunity, and it must use every political weapon available – including Resolution 1820 – to end the sexual violence against women in Zimbabwe.

* Rebecca Stubbs is a student at Vanderbilt Law School in the United States who has spent the last several months as an intern with the Gender Research and Advocacy Project of the Legal Assistance Centre.

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