Republic of Congo Rwanda Sierra Leone
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Country Profiles from Africa Republic of Congo Rwanda Sierra Leone If Not Now, WhenX 19 Post-Conflict Situation in the Republic of Congo January 22-31, 2001 Background aided forces overthrew Lissouba’s government and forced him and Kolelas into exile. Newly established Historical Context as president, Sassou quickly proclaimed his Fundamental Act, which replaced the 1992 constitu- The Republic of Congo (hereafter referred to as tion, and established a transitional council to serve Congo) lies in the western shadow of its imposing as a three-year interim parliament. Violence again and fractious neighbor, the Democratic Republic of escalated, and in December 1998 rebels launched Congo (formerly Zaire, hereafter DRC). To the south, an offensive on the capital, Brazzaville, looting and where the Congo meets the Atlantic Ocean, it shares burning much of the southern part of the city and a small portion of its border with Angola. Both neigh- displacing an estimated 250,000 Congolese. In bors are engaged in seemingly intractable conflicts, early1999 militia-based incursions continued DRC as the central African repository for regional throughout regions south of Brazzaville, further conflict, and Angola as the site of a civil war notable displacing an estimated 500,000.1 for its human rights violations. Against this backdrop, and following a decade in which widespread killing, In his press for peace, Sassou announced in August torture, rape, and detention of Congolese civilians 1999 an amnesty for surrendering militia combatants. were the norm, the Congo entered the new millenni- In November an initial cease-fire agreement was um in a state of relative peace and stability. signed, followed by a more comprehensive accord in December 1999. Signers of the accord agreed to In the early 1990s, suffering a dire economy and rid- demilitarization of political parties, forfeiting of arms, ing the tide of post-cold war global democratization, and amnestied reintegration of all combatants who the Congo made a peaceful transition from thirty fought between June 1997 and December 1999. The years as a Marxist-Leninist single-party state to a reintegration process has resulted in outbursts of vigi- multi-party democracy. The peace was short-lived; lante violence, and the government’s security forces groups opposing elected president Pascal Lissouba reportedly continue to commit smaller-scale human mounted campaigns that by 1993 erupted in violence rights breaches, but there have been no major and established a pattern of militia-based partisan con- affronts to the peace initiative. By the end of 2000 flict that twice more climaxed in broad-scale civil war. most of the 800,000 internally displaced Congolese had returned to their homes.2 Violence exploded from June to October 1997, when an armed militia supporting former single-party presi- Status of Women dent Sassou-Nguesso battled with forces respectively representing the interests of Lissouba and former The Congolese population, however, still suffers the prime minister Bernard Kolelas. Sassou’s Angolan- effects of a decade of conflict. According to the If Not Now, WhenX 21 United Nations, poverty—estimated at 70 percent in traditional interpretation of dowry and inheritance 1997—is currently a “near-universal phenomenon” laws generally restrict women’s ability to divorce or throughout the country.3 Women and children, who otherwise live independently, and domestic conflicts were ongoing targets of the militias’ civilian rampage, are typically settled by male heads within the family continue in peacetime to be at risk. Although the cur- or, in more extreme cases, by local male officials or rent constitution provides for equality of all citizens, chiefs. Forced sex in marriage is often considered the and though the government has ratified the United husband’s right, a conviction exacerbated by the Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms dowry tradition. Sexual harassment and sexual assault of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), per in the workplace and schools are also apparent capita income for women stands at 54 percent of that problems. Although public sex solicitation is illegal, of men.4 Women are underrepresented in the formal remunerated sex is not. The economic collapse sector, and in rural areas they are largely confined to during the 1990s combined with the rise in female- small-scale farming and petty commerce. An analysis headed households may be contributing to the of extended food assistance beneficiaries in reported upsurge in informal prostitution. Brazzaville found that 70 percent were female-headed households, likely reflecting a post-war increase in Early Programming Activities single mothers.5 Although there is a Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reform, and Subsequent to the conflict of 1997, the International Promotion of Women, only two out of twenty-five Rescue Committee (IRC) conducted a baseline repro- cabinet members in the national government are ductive health assessment that tentatively surmised women, and women have virtually no representation “hundreds to thousands” of women may have been at the local level.6 Maternal mortality rates reportedly sexually violated by militia forces.9 The assessment worsened throughout the 1990s, and in its Plan for further concluded that health personnel were general- 2001-2002, the U.N. estimated that only 2 percent of ly uncomfortable discussing GBV with their patients, Congolese women have access to contraception.7 cleaving to a long tradition of silence. Abortions, illegal except when pregnancy poses a danger to the mother, nevertheless appear to be dis- Following from the assessment, IRC instituted the creetly available. According to one local clinic willing first—and, evidently, the only—program designed to to share information anonymously, twenty abortions address issues of GBV in Congolese society. The pro- are performed there per day. HIV/AIDS is currently gram launched a Brazzaville media blitz, using street estimated to be the leading cause of death among theater, songs, radio, television, billboards, posters, the 19 to 45 age cohort.8 These negative indicators pamphlets, and T-shirts to sensitize the population make it difficult for women to recover from the war, about basic issues of sexual violence against women. especially in the wake of well-documented and All the messages—some with very explicit illustra- pervasive GBV. tions of violence—were approved by a Congolese project advisory board comprised of government, local NGO, church, press, and community represen- Gender-based Violence tatives. After several months of sensitization, the IRC GBV program facilitated curriculum development (by Nature and Scope recruiting local experts) and subsequent GBV trainings to health centers and social workers on emergency Although rape outside of marriage is illegal in the reproductive health and psychosocial response. Congo, widespread sexual violence against women Curricula were also created for training judiciary, and children during the Congo’s three waves of police, military personnel, and psychologists. conflict illustrate long-standing cultural traditions supporting the exploitation of women. The Congo During and following the rebel incursion into south is a patriarchal society in which violence against Brazzaville, displaced populations began arriving at women is normative and rarely reported. There are multiple Brazzaville-based reception centers in early no legal protections specific to domestic violence, 1999. The IRC GBV program, primarily in collabo- and marriage and family law discriminate against ration with International Federation of the Red women, allowing polygamy and adultery for men, Cross (IFRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), but prohibiting both for women. In rural areas the provided initial support to victims, ensuring that 22 Republic of Congo survivors received free medical treatment and social Women in Development” project, funding was services. Approximately two thousand women from stalled in early 1999 because of the new fighting. Brazzaville came forward to acknowledge sexual The GBV program has since been operating mostly victimization by militia and military forces, with according to emergency needs. In 1998 and early close to 10 percent reporting related pregnancies.10 1999 NGO and donor interest in issues of war-related Extrapolating from estimates of the numbers of sur- sexual assault was relatively strong, with organiza- vivors who never sought treatment, the U.N. has tions such as the United Nations Children’s Fund suggested that five thousand women in Brazzaville (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund alone were victims of war-related sexual violence.11 (UNFPA) proposing complementary projects with Cases were reported of infanticide and maternal sui- GBV components, but in late 1999 MSF’s internation- cide, as well as rejection by the victim’s husband of al denouncement of the Brazzaville rapes received the unwanted child and its mother. With financial little attention from the international community.12 support and staffing from international organiza- Donor enthusiasm has since waned, perhaps because tions, some twenty-five local NGOs, hospitals, and of increased attention afforded the conflict in neigh- health programs were equipped to provide basic boring DRC. Even so, the ongoing efforts of IRC, GBV counseling and medical management. IFRC, and MSF, in collaboration with local programs, have succeeded in significantly changing the land- During 1999 GBV programming existed