Darfuri women: Nowhere to turn

Cover of the report "Nowhere to Turn"

A report released today by Physicians for Human Rights and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative documents “the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad.”

The report is based on 88 in-depth interviews with women at Farchana Camp (which is just east of Abeche towards the Darfur border on the Chadian side). In cases where rape or other sexual assault or physical assault was indicated, two of the PHR/HHI doctors conducted medical examinations based on the Istanbul Protocol evaluation. To those who persist in saying that these women are fabricating allegations of rape [Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir in October 2008 stated: “”The women inside the camps are under the influence of the rebels and some are even relatives of the rebels. That’s why they make these claims.”], I highlight the following conclusion : “There was no case in which allegations (by the women) were either unsupported or inconsistent with the physical and/or psychological evidence observed.”

It is well worth reading the report in full. As Bob Herbert writes in the NYT today, there is a huge risk that six years into this crisis, one reacts to a report like this with the thought  “What more is there to say?” Not only is there plenty more to say, there is plenty more to be done. The report’s recommendations include:

• vigorous prosecution of rape as a war crime, including support for the International Criminal Court warrants against Sudanese perpetrators;
• increased protection of refugees in Chad by Chadian police and international peacekeepers, including effective firewood patrols;
• legal reforms in Chad to end impunity for sexual violence; and
• provision of effective psychosocial support to survivors.

For me the take-away of the report is that having failed to protect these women in Darfur, this failure is continuing in the refugee camps they now find themselves in. What has happened over the past six years in Darfur is not something to be assigned to the past. It is a lived reality right now today for the millions of Darfuris who remain in camps, unable to even try and begin the process of rebuilding their lives.