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Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women

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Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women NOWHERE TO TURN: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women A Report by Physicians for Human Rights in partnership with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative May 2009 PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN HARVARD HUMANITARIAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE PHR was founded in 1986 on the idea that health profes- The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a universi- sionals, with their specialized skills, ethical commitments, ty-wide center involving multiple entities within the Harvard and credible voices, are uniquely positioned to investigate the community that provide expertise in public health, medicine, health consequences of human rights violations and work to social science, management and other disciplines to promote stop them. evidence-based approaches to humanitarian assistance. PHR mobilizes health professionals to advance health, dig- In 2005, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative was established nity, and justice and promotes the right to health for all. PHR as a University-wide academic and research center, a direct members have worked to stop torture, disappearances, political offshoot of a program on humanitarian crises and human rights killings, and denial of the right to health by governments and established at Harvard in 1999. The demand on the program opposition groups. Using evidence-based methods, PHR inves- for technical expertise and educational and training opportuni- tigates and exposes violations, including deaths, injuries and ties from NGO partners, professionals and graduate students trauma inflicted on civilians in armed conflict; suffering and resulted in the creation of HHI. deprivation, including denial of access to health care caused by political differences as well as ethnic and racial discrimination; The mission of the Initiative is to relieve human suffering in mental and physical anguish inflicted on women by abuse; loss war and disaster by advancing the science and practice of hu- of life or limb from landmines and other indiscriminate weap- manitarian response worldwide. HHI fosters interdisciplinary ons; harsh methods of incarceration and interrogation and tor- collaboration in order to: ture in prisons and detention centers; and poor health stemming • Improve the effectiveness of humanitarian strategies for from vast inequalities in societies. relief, protection and prevention; • Instill human rights principles and practices in these PHR is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization fund- strategies; ed through private foundations and by individual donors. Membership is open to all, not only health professionals. PHR • Educate and train the next generation of humanitarian is a 1997 co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. leaders. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Physicians for Human Rights 2 Arrow Street, Suite 301 Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Tel: +1.617.301.4200 14 Story Street, 2nd Floor Fax: +1.617.301.4250 Cambridge, MA 02138 http://physiciansforhumanrights.org Tel: +1.617.384.8368 http://hhi.harvard.edu Washington DC Office: 1156 15th St. NW, Suite 1001 Washington, DC 20005 USA Tel: +1.202.728.5335 Fax: +1.202.728.3053 ISBN: 1-879707-57-8 © 2009, Physicians for Human Rights ii NOWHERE TO TURN PREFACE “Zeinab”1 lived with her husband, seven children, a son-in- violence to which many women have been subjected as a result law, a grandson and a granddaughter in her Masalit village in of sexual assault. It portrays the tenacity and courage of these Darfur. She owned 11 goats, 15 cows and two donkeys. Every women who have protested gender discrimination and violence morning she had breakfast and worked on the farm all day until in a declaration they wrote proclaiming their lack of freedoms evening, except when the sun was too hot. She grew peanuts, entitled the “Farchana Manifesto,” discussed in this report and sesame, and okra. She brought food and tea with her family to available at www.Darfuriwomen.org. the field. She and her family did this each day, unless it rained, when they returned early. When she came home, she made din- These refugees yearn for the lives they have lost. They long ner, and they went to sleep. She lived off the land and was con- to return to their villages, to regain their livelihoods and the tent and unafraid. daily routines that gave their lives dignity and purpose. Most now live in despair and fear – sexual assault is a continual In 2003, her life became a nightmare. She was forced to flee threat, their future is dim, and their hope is vanishing. her home to escape mass violence and crossed an international border to seek shelter in a camp where she feels neither safe Each day they wait sees a further unraveling of their health nor welcome. and well-being. Their precarious grip on survival may be fur- ther imperiled by the possible influx of new refugees from That nightmare continues today for Darfuri refugee women Sudan in the wake of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s ex- and their families in Chad, where it has been more than five pulsion of major humanitarian agencies from Darfur in March years since most of them fled their burned villages, ransacked 2009. homes and ruined fields, and streamed across the Sudan border. They have suffered prolonged and unimaginable traumas and As the authors indicate, comprehensive justice for these sur- losses and are now effectively trapped in a place of perpetual vivors most certainly includes holding al-Bashir’s regime ac- insecurity and tenuous survival. countable. But it must also entail a commitment by the interna- tional community to protect these women from sexual assault Nowhere to Turn amplifies the voices of some 88 women now, and to effectively care for those who have already been in the Farchana refugee camp, some of them breaking their si- victimized. lence for the first time. They spoke about the sexual assaults visited upon them both in Darfur and in the environs of the Most of all, the findings in this report should work to compel refugee camps in Chad, and about their lives and difficulties in a just solution to the crisis in Sudan that allows these survivors the camp. The report reveals the profound stigma and physical to return home. 1 As PHR/HHI did not collect any names in this study, this is a pseudonym. FAILURE TO PROTECT, SUppORT AND AssURE JUSTICE FOR DARFURI WOMEN iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Physicians for Human Rights . ii Harvard Humanitarian Initiative . ii Preface . iii Acknowledgements . v Executive Summary . 1 Background . 8 Research Methods . 11 Findings . 14 Discussion . 35 Recommendations . 47 Prevention And Protection 47 Justice And Accountability 47 Support To Survivors 48 Appendix A: PHR / HHI Methods – Background . 50 Appendix B: A Snapshot of the Current Aid Operation in Darfur, Sudan . 51 Appendix C: Rape in Darfur: A Weapon of War . 52 Appendix D: MINURCAT’S Mandate . 53 Appendix E: International Criminal Law and the Darfur Crisis . 54 Appendix F: Survey Instrument . 57 Glossary . 64 Acronyms . 65 iv NOWHERE TO TURN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Karen Hirschfeld, MA, Director, Physicians for Human PHR and HHI are especially grateful to the Darfuri women Rights’ (PHR) Sudan Program, was the lead author of this and other Sudanese in the diaspora who reviewed our instru- report. Co-authors include Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, Co- ment and provided valuable advice about the research design Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and Principal and strategy. PHR and HHI would like to thank the offices of Investigator of this research project; Sondra Crosby, MD; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for its lo- Linda Piwowarczyk, MD, MPH; Julie VanRooyen, MD; Gregg gistical support as well as the many NGOs in Chad who took Greenough, MD, MPH, Research Director, HHI; Susan Bartels, time from their busy schedules to host the field team and re- MD, MPH, Research Coordinator, HHI; Adrienne Fricke, MA, spond to our many questions. We have enormous respect for JD; Susannah Sirkin, Deputy Director, Physicians for Human the humanitarian workers who serve in this remote and inse- Rights; Lynn Black, MD, MPH; Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD, cure environment, overcoming logistical and environmental PHR Senior Medical Advisor and Kevin Lanigan, JD. It was re- obstacles to provide life-saving assistance to refugees. viewed by PHR Board Members Frank Davidoff, MD, and H. Jack Geiger, MD, MPH and also Rebecca Hamilton, JD, MPA; PHR would like to thank our donors for their generous fi- and Eric Reeves, PhD. Irit Tamir, JD, LLM; Breese McIlvaine, nancial support and their constant encouragement: Humanity BA; and Josephine Lee, PHR’s Communications Associate, as- United; The Pond Foundation; Carol Richards; Sudan Aid sisted with the editing. Gurukarm Khalsa, PHR’s Web Editor, Fund; the MacArthur Foundation; the Harvard Humanitarian prepared the report for publication. Initiative (also a partner on this project) and the Global Fund for Women. We would especially like to acknowledge PHR The survey instrument was developed by Iacopino, Board member Justice Richard Goldstone, who generously do- Greenough, Leaning, Bartels, Crosby, Hirschfeld, Fricke, nated a portion of his 2009 MacArthur Award for International VanRooyen, Black, and Piwowarczyk. The study was imple- Justice to support this project. mented in the field by Hirschfeld, Crosby, Piwowarczyk, and VanRooyen. The PHR field team took most of the photographs We owe a deep debt of gratitude to the women of the published in this report. Richard Sollom, MA, MPH, prepared Farchana Camp who sat with us and took the time to tell us the team
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