Presentation: Sexual violence against women and girl refugees

Interreligious Conference of European Women Theologians (IKETH)
Annual Conference, 23–27 September 2016, Kolymbari, Crete, Greece

 Theme: Being on the Move – Experiences of Refugee Women and their Host Communities

Presenting at the Orthodox Academy of Crete

With the war in Syria ongoing, its neighbouring countries as well as Europe are experiencing large numbers of refugees searching safer grounds. My talk will be on women and girl refugees from the Middle East (primarily Syria, Iraq) and their vulnerability to sexual violence in their countries of origin – torn apart by violent conflict; the risk of sexual violence during their flight to neighbouring countries and Europe; as well as risks in the final destination countries. I will explain what sexual violence is, and what dimensions are important in understanding, and responding to, this severe violation of women’s human rights. In order to do so, I always like to use Janie Leatherman’s definition, an American scholar on the gendered dimensions of war, which states that:

“Sexual violence in armed conflict happens in a place, and involves violent acts, perpetrators, victims, survivors and impacts ranging from health to a broad array of social consequences”.[i]

Leatherman reminds us why it is necessary to look beyond the individual victim/survivor, and ask more questions than ‘what were you wearing’, and ‘why were you walking alone at night’. Indeed, in order to understand sexual violence, we have to look at where it happens, what happens, who is the perpetrator or perpetrators (in plural) – including their motive(s), who is the victim/survivor, and what is the impact.

1. Place

If we look at the places where sexual violence acts against women and girl refugees happen, I can be short: it happens everywhere. It happens in the country of origin, it happens in refugee camps, it happens along the refugee and migration route to west Europe, and it happens in the asylum centres in the final destination countries. Moreover, considering the often high levels of intimate partner violence among refugees and internally displaced persons,[ii] we can say that in many cases, not even the home is a refuge from violence.

It is estimated that approximately one in five refugee or displaced women in complex humanitarian settings experience sexual violence.[iii] The real numbers are likely to be higher, as there are multiple barriers that prevent women and girls from disclosing experiences of sexual violence – but I will come back to that. In general, it can be said that when people flee from violence, they risk becoming separated from their family members and losing their protective social networks, in what constitutes a systematic collapse of safe space.[iv]

2. Sexual violence acts

When we talk about sexual violence against women and girl refugees, what exactly happens to them? It is a heavy topic, and perhaps uncomfortable for some, but nevertheless necessary to discuss in order to understand the full extent of women and girl refugees’ experiences. When we talk about sexual violence, we talk about rape (including rape that involves penetration with objects), gang-rape (which is rape by multiple perpetrators), genital mutilation and sexual torture, sexual slavery and human trafficking, forced impregnation or forced abortion, and forced marriage.

But to give you a sense of what some of these women go through, I have a quote from Leila, a young Yezidi woman who was interviewed by Human Rights Watch,[v] an organisation that has documented sexual violence in Yezidi women and girls who have escaped ISIS in northern Iraq. She was ordered to take a bath, but she knew that this often happened before the captured girls got raped:

“I went into the bathroom, turned on the water, stood on a chair to take the wire connecting the light to electrocute myself but there was no electricity. After they realized what I was doing, they beat me with a long piece of wood and with their fists. My eyes were swollen shut and my arms turned blue. They handcuffed me to the sink, and cut my clothes with a knife and washed me. They took me out of the bathroom, brought in [my friend] and raped her in the room in front of me.”[vi]

In the Netherlands and Belgium, a study was conducted in which 223 refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants were interviewed about their experiences of sexual and gender-based violence. Forty-seven interviewees had personally experienced sexual violence (21%), and 141 (63%) knew of someone close to them who has experienced sexual violence. The study found particularly high rates of gang rape and multiple (repeated) rapes. Perpetrators were primarily current or ex-intimate partners (in a third of the cases), or sadly, asylum professionals – and thus persons in positions of power (in 23% of the cases).[vii]

3. Perpetrators

The abovementioned study also gives an indication of who are sexual violence perpetrators? They can be women’s (ex-) husbands, their family members, strangers (for example fellow refugees), and humanitarian actors and asylum officials. Also, sexual violence is committed by state and non-state armed forces in the country of origin. In conflict, is is often used as a weapon of war to “intimidate parties to the conflict destroying identity, dignity and the social fabrics of families and communities”.[viii]

In Lebanon, focus groups with Syrian refugees revealed that women and girl refugees are at high risk of engaging in survival sex, where women and girls exchange sexual favours for food or other goods, or money – for example to help pay the rent which is relatively expensive compared to Syria. Here, sexual violence is intimately connected to families’ desperate economic situations. One focus group member stated that: “If you want other help from other NGOs you should send your daughter or your sister or sometimes your wife… with full make-up so you can get anything… I think you understand me.” [ix]

Likewise, female refugees are also extremely vulnerable to intimate partner violence (IPV). Men may suffer from low self-esteem due to the immense pressure and stress related to what it means to be a refugee – which may lead to them releasing their frustration in a negative way: “I don’t feel that I am a real man after what has happened to me now, and to be honest, I can’t handle it anymore … When my wife asks me for vegetables or meat to prepare food, I hit her. She does not know why she was hit, neither do I.”[x]

4. Victims/survivors and impact of sexual violence

More often than not, sexual violence is still a taboo topic. Global disclosure rates are low, and existing statistics are likely to be gross underestimations. There are various reasons for women to keep their experiences of sexual violence to themselves, as disclosure may have serious consequences. A prominent reason for non-disclosure is our global culture of victim-blaming. A woman who is raped might be blamed by her partner, family, community, and society for having been raped, intensifying not just the pain of the experience, but also feelings of guilt and shame. Subsequently, a victim might face social rejection, discrimination, and retaliatory violence – when a perpetrator takes revenge for the rape having been reported. In certain extreme cases, a woman may be killed for having been raped – this so-called ‘honour violence’, often perpetrated by a family member, aims to restore the family’s loss of honour caused by the rape.[xi]

5. Humanitarian responses

Disclosure could possibly help limit the physical, psychological, and social impact of sexual violence against women and girl refugees. A joint assessment report by the UNHCR, UNFPA and the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) undertaken in Greece and Macedonia in November 2015, found that the way in which governments, humanitarian actors, EU institutions, and CSOs currently address sexual violence against refugees arriving in and crossing through Europe, is inadequate. [xii]

For example, the assessment revealed that both in Greece and in Macedonia, there was no equipment available for evidence collection (to later be used in court), and no post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits. The latter have to be taken within 72 hours after rape in order to minimise the risk of an HIV[xiii] infection. The report also documented the urgent need for female Arabic and Farsi translators and interpreters – which is crucial considering the sensitive nature of sexual violence and the barriers to disclosure.

In the assessment report, some humanitarian actors responded that services for sexual and gender-based violence victims/survivors would not be used by refugees, because they do not tend in stay in any given place for very long. Whereas that may be true for the majority of refugees flowing into Europe,  given that certain measures have to be taken immediately – like evidence collection and HIV prevention – this does not constitute a legitimate reason to not offer such services. Indeed, as per humanitarian guidelines, “Failure to take action against GBV represents a failure by humanitarian actors to meet their most basic responsibilities for promoting and protecting the rights of affected populations”.[xiv] At the same time, female refugees must be made aware of their rights, what health risks are associated with sexual violence, and what services are available, from medical services to psychotherapy and safe houses.

6. Politics of sexual violence

It is remarkable that in Europe, there has been little concern over sexual violence against women and girl refugees – as illustrated by the lack of available services. The aforementioned assessment study showed that European governments generally seem to think that sexual and gender-based violence does not constitute a prominent feature of its refugee crisis – a perception that is likely being reinforced by a general lack of data.

What Europe has been very concerned with however, is sexual violence committed by male refugees and immigrants against ‘European’ women. Various right-wing media have reported on this issue with absurd titles such as “Europe’s Rape Epidemic: Western Women Will Be Sacrificed At The Altar Of Mass Migration“,[xv] and “Rape epidemic in Europe: Why won’t European politicians do anything to stop it?”.[xvi] Many of these reports seem to be more concerned with the fact that women have been raped by ‘non-European’ men than the simple fact that they have been raped.

Sexual assaults like those in the German city of Cologne[xvii] are highly mediatized and create a feeling of “clashing civilisations”, with the civilisation of the Other – and its attitude to women – as the greatest problem.[xviii] This completely ignores the fact that sexual violence has always existed in Europe, and that refugees and immigrants have not ‘brought’ sexual and gender-based violence to Europe.

We come back to what has been mentioned before: the arrival of refugees and immigrants is not the problem. Rather, it reveals and exacerbates problems that already existed. In the case of sexual violence, the lack of concern for women and girl refugees’ safety is telling of how sexual violence is still not taken seriously enough. My question to you as experts in religion and inter-faith dialogue, is, how can religion and religious leaders play a role in acknowledging the importance of addressing sexual and gender-based violence?

References

[i] Janie L. Leatherman (2011) Sexual violence and armed conflict. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press (p.9)
[ii] Cari Jo Clark, Susan A Everson-Rose, Shakira Franco Suglia, Rula Btoush, Alvaro Alonso, and Muhammad M Haj-Yahia (2010) Association between exposure to political violence and intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory: A cross-sectional study. Lancet, 375, pp.310-316. Accessed 3-10-2016, from: http://www.peacewomen.org/assets/file/Resources/Academic/vaw_politicalviolenceintimatepartnerviolenceoccupiedpalestine_clarketal_jan232010.pdf
[iii] The Prevalence of Sexual Violence among Female Refugees in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Alexander Vu, Atif Adam, Andrea Wirtz, Kiemanh Pham, Leonard Rubenstein, Nancy Glass, Chris Beyrer, and Sonal Singh. Version 1. PLoS Curr. 2014 March 18; 6: ecurrents.dis.835f10778fd80ae031aac12d3b533ca7. Published online 2014 March 18. doi: 10.1371/currents.dis.835f10778fd80ae031aac12d3b533ca7
[iv] Janie L. Leatherman (2011) Sexual violence and armed conflict. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. (p.89)
[v] Human Rights Watch (2015, 14 April) Iraq: ISIS escapees describe systematic rape – Yezidi survivors in need of urgent care. Accessed 25 September 2016, from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/14/iraq-isis-escapees-describe-systematic-rape
[vi] Ibid, section: Suicide attempts.
[vii] Ines Keygnaert, Nicole Vettenburg, and Marleen Temmerman (2012) Hidden violence is silent rape: sexual and gender-based violence in refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands, Culture Health & Sexuality, Vol. 14, No. 5 (May), pp. 505-52. Accessed 22-9-2016, from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ines_Keygnaert/publication/223981415_Hidden_violence_is_silent_rape_Sexual_and_gender-based_violence_in_refugees_asylum_seekers_and_undocumented_migrants_in_Belgium_and_the_Netherlands/links/0c96052a5a6dc41706000000.pdf
[viii] UNHCR (2013, 28 February) UNHCR warns of humanitarian cost of Syrian conflict, especially on the displaced. Accessed 21 September 2016, from: http://www.unhcr.org/turkey/home.php?lang=en&content=433 (paragraph 3)
[ix] Ghida Anani (2013 September) Dimensions of gender-based violence against Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Forced Migration Review 44, p. 75-78. Accessed 25-9-2016 from: http://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/detention/anani.pdf (p. 76)
[x] Ibid, (p. 76)
[xi] See for example: BBC Ethics Guide (2014) Honour crimes. Accessed 3-10-2016, from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/crimesofhonour_1.shtml
[xii] UNHCR, UNFPA, WRC (2015, November) Initial assessment report: Protection risks for women and girls in the European refugee and migrant crisis. Accessed 20-9-2016, from: http://www.unhcr.org/569f8f419.pdf
[xiii] Human immuno-deficiency virus
[xiv] Ibid; and Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) (2015) Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action: Reducing risk, promoting resilience and aiding recovery. Accessed 3-10-2016, from: http://gbvguidelines.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2015-IASC-Gender-based-Violence-Guidelines_full-res.pdf (p.14)
[xv] Anne-Marie Waters (2015, 6 October) Europe’s rape epidemic: Western women will be sacrificed at the altar of mass migration. Breitbart. Accessed 3-10-2016, from: http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/10/06/europes-rape-epidemic-western-women-will-be-sacrificed-at-the-alter-of-mass-migration/
[xvi] M Snyder (2016, January 12) Rape epidemic in Europe: Why won’t European politicians do anything to stop is? Infowars. Accessed 31 January 2016, from: www.infowars.com
[xvii] BBC News (2016, 5 January) Germany shocked by Cologne New Year gang assaults on women. Accessed 3-10-2016, from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35231046
[xviii] Paul Hedges (2016). Rape and Murder among Refugees: A Crisis Point for Europe’s Immigration Policy? (RSIS Commentaries, No. 034). RSIS Commentaries. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. Accessed 21-9-2016, from: https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/bitstream/handle/10220/40235/CO16034.pdf?sequence=1

Resilience and the politics of helping people help themselves

These blogs are written in the context of a new project I am working on about the politics around resilience-focused policy responses to humanitarian emergencies (armed conflict) – based at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This is week 1.

A buzzword. The first entry on Google offers the following definition: “a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context”. Merriam-Webster defines it a little less diplomatic: “an important-sounding usually technical word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen”. Can we label resilience a buzzword? That it is currently fashionable is difficult to contest, but whether it is really an empty catch-phrase might be too early to say – exactly because its meaning has not yet been properly established. Moreover, without really knowing what resilience is, how do we know where vulnerability ends and resilience begins?

Resilient refugees? From “Five ‘happy refugee’ pictures that went viral”, BBC News, 16 September 2015 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34257055

From the natural sciences and engineering to psychology and psychiatry, resilience has now caught the interest of multi-disciplinary sciences, which have placed it within a human-environment interaction context. One discipline that has prominently picked up on it, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that of natural disasters preparedness and response. Resilience has firmly taken root within this academic, policy, and practice community, within which it refers to how local communities and societies at large cope with, and successfully adapt to new post-disaster realities. It is interesting to see how in this context, resilience reminds us of the idea of ‘preparedness’. If a community is prepared for imminent disaster (e.g. has the resources to withstand such an event), it might indeed be easier to rebuild life after disaster has passed. Being resilient, then, means being better prepared and better able to adapt. Reading carefully, this seems to suggest that resilience might be the much sought-after bridge between short-term relief aid and long-term development efforts.

Now, resilience has also swept through the discipline of human security. Although ‘protection’ is very relevant to situations of natural disasters, within the context of security it primarily refers to keeping civilians safe in situations of man-made insecurity: violence, terrorism, armed conflict, civil war. Here, resilience refers to mechanisms of self-protection, recognising that within any insecure situation, people themselves are the first responders. It encourages us to explore how communities and the society at large can protect itself against violence? What is particularly interesting here is that whereas the idea of resilience seems to have been taken up by other disciplines fairly painlessly, within the field of human security it is causing a lot of heated debates.

For some, resilience has a very negative, almost insulting undertone: a focus on people’s self-protection used by governments as an excuse to cut security budgets. Some feel that a focus on resilience comes down to ‘leaving them to their own devices’, ‘them’ referring to people assigned a vulnerability label. States however, have a responsibility to protect. But how does that play out on the ground? States – especially fragile ones – do not always have the capacity or the willingness to protect their populations, or those fleeing from neighbouring countries. Is ‘resilience’ then a government’s apologia for not meeting certain standards as mandated by international law? Again, where does state protection end and self-protection begin?

Is the appeal to resilience a confession from heads of state that human security is unattainable in practice? This is not an unthinkable sentiment, especially as European leaders are now confronted with the grim reality that they cannot keep civilians safe from the unpredictable devastation of violent ideologies. But what message is being sent when Europe promotes resilience among its citizens, when it is Europe that has played a large part in creating instability and insecurity in its neighbouring regions as a remnant of colonial times?

From “Five ‘happy refugee’ photos that went viral”, BBC News, 16 September 2015 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34257055

In fragile states, the responsibility to protect is transferred to the international community, which intervenes – by military means or by providing relief aid – to protect communities from violence, conveniently taking over the responsibilities of an unwilling or unable leadership – if there is any. With an increasing focus on resilience in humanitarian policy circles, empowering communities to protect themselves will become an important activity of the larger, western-based relief organisations – even though their donor governments are themselves intricately implicated in the instability of many of these regions. What message is being sent when western-based NGOs ‘teach’ a Syrian woman how to protect herself from violence, when it is our bombs that have driven her to flee her home in the first place? Does resilience in any way allow for a more genuine involvement of grassroots organisations and acknowledgement of local knowledge systems? These are questions that beg for an answer before we let resilience disperse through humanitarian discourse, policy, and practice.

What does resilience mean in terms of security, peacekeeping, and humanitarian action? We are living in violent times and self-protection mechanisms may indeed be more important than ever. But can resilience be imposed from above, by the very institutions that created the situation that requires our resilience in the first place? My gut feeling is that perhaps, resilience thinking in the context of insecurity and humanitarian emergencies has not reached its full potential yet. It will be exciting to explore what that potential is, notwithstanding the power relations at play between states, the international community, and those affected – to which resilience relates in the first place. I do think it is of utmost important to recognise that people will pull through no matter what, and to not see ourselves (westerners) as the crucial link between ‘vulnerable’ people and their survival.

From “Five ‘happy refugee’ pictures that went viral”, BBC News, 16 September 2015 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34257055