CHAPTER THREE Women and the Armed Conflict in Sierra Leone Introduction 1. Sierra Leone sits on the beautiful west coast of Africa, facing out onto the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and Liberia to the southeast. Sierra Leone consists of a hilly western peninsula and a hinterland abundant in diverse natural riches, including agricultural and mineral resources. Mountains rise to over 6,000 feet in the northeast, while the territory is blessed with plentiful rainfall that yields dense forest vegetation interspersed with swamps. It is a land of staggering natural scenery and personality. 2. Sierra Leone is made up of seventeen different ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Mende of the southern and eastern regions. The second largest is the Temne, followed by the Limba, both of which are dominant in the north. Other groups include the Kono in the east, the northern Koranko, the Mandingo, Loko, Susu, Fullah and Yalunka. Smaller groups include the Bullom, Sherbro, Vai, Gola and Krim, with the Kissi in the eastern hinterland. 3. In the eighteenth century, the abolitionist campaign led to the decision in Britain to relocate freed slaves to Sierra Leone. The British government purchased land from a Temne King in order to settle freed slaves on and around the western peninsula. This new community took on the name “Freetown” and its population became known as Krios. In 1808, the British created the Crown Colony, centred on Freetown and its environs, and in 1896 made the outlying areas into a Protectorate. For over 150 years the British dominated all spheres of life in the country. It was during this period that the Freetown-based Krios advanced educationally and economically at the expense of the people in the hinterland. The Krios developed into a highly educated group of colonial subjects compared to their counterparts in the Provinces. 4. Sierra Leone celebrated its independence on 27 April 1961. However, stability and development were steadily undermined by a series of military coups and attacks on multi-party democracy. Siaka Stevens, who became Prime Minister in 1968, engaged in a systematic campaign to centralise power around his executive. Within ten years he had made himself the President of a One-Party Republic. During Stevens’ rule, corruption and nepotism became entrenched. Rampant unemployment and poverty, coupled with violent suppression of all dissent and opposition, led the population to despise and distrust its ruling elite. Persistent bad governance created the conditions for the outbreak of conflict. 5. The conflict in Sierra Leone, which lasted from 1991 to 2002, was particularly horrific because of the scope and severity of atrocities targeted at civilians. Its other defining feature was its chameleonic character, whereby many of the role players changed sides and allegiances against a background of complex military and political dynamics. The conflict was essentially self-destructive in nature: towns and villages were ravaged; crops and economic installations Vol Three B Chapter Three Women and the Armed Conflict in Sierra Leone Page 85 were destroyed; and a whole generation of Sierra Leoneans was displaced, brutalised and traumatised. 6. Women and girls became particular targets of malice and violence during the conflict. They suffered abduction and exploitation at the hands of the various perpetrator factions. Their vulnerability was deliberately exploited in order to dehumanise them and perpetrate against them the most gross of violations. They were raped, forced into sexual slavery and endured acts of great sexual violence. They suffered mutilations, torture and a host of cruel and inhuman acts. They were taken from their homes and villages by force. Refusal to comply with the demands of their captors often met with death. For those fortunate enough to escape, there followed displacement and separation from families. While some went into exile, many were housed in camps in Sierra Leone and in neighbouring countries. Shockingly, women and girls were not safe even in these camps. Humanitarian workers – meant to offer them respite and protection – also violated their rights. Women and girls were compelled to barter their bodies in order to survive and access aid to which they were rightfully entitled. Girls as young as 12 were forced to pay for aid with sex to secure assistance for their families. 7. Statistics pertaining to the numbers of women affected by the conflict in Sierra Leone remain a huge concern. In 2003, Human Rights Watch published a report in which they stated that as many as 275,000 women and girls may have been sexually violated during the war.1 8. While peace has returned to Sierra Leone, many of the wounds still remain open. Women and girls still bear the scars, both physically and psychologically. Many have borne children from their horrific experiences. These children are a daily reminder of their pain and suffering. Many women and girls are shunned and punished by members of a society who refuse to acknowledge that it is their failures that led to this conflict and their failure to protect women and girls that has led to the plight they find themselves in today. Women and girls who were violated throughout the conflict are ostracised from society for giving birth to children of “rebels”. It is the price they continue to pay, even today. 9. The UN Secretary-General, in his Twenty-first Report to the Security Council on the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, has stated that “violence against women, including sexual exploitation, as well as discrimination against women in law and in practice and the low rate of participation of women and youth in the political and administrative affairs of the country needs to be addressed.”2 Mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 10. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC” or “the Commission”) was founded by an Act of Parliament in February 2000 and its Commissioners were inaugurated in July 2002. Section 6(2)(b) of the TRC Act mandated the Commission to restore the dignity of victims. In this context, there was a duty to afford “special attention to the subject of sexual abuse”. While women are not explicitly mentioned in the TRC Act, given that they were the overwhelming victims of sexual abuse, the Commission interpreted this provision to mean that it should pay special attention to the experiences of women and girls. 1 See Human Rights Watch, “We’ll Kill You if you Cry”, a report on gender-based violence during the conflict in Sierra Leone, Vol. 95, No. 1(a), New York, January 2003 (hereinafter “Human Rights Watch, We’ll Kill You if you Cry”). The full report is available at the website: www.hrw.org. 2 See the Twenty-first Report of Secretary-General on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), UN Doc. S/2004/228, 2004, at paragraph 45. Vol Three B Chapter Three Women and the Armed Conflict in Sierra Leone Page 86 11. The Commission intends in this chapter to capture the experiences of both women and girls in respect of sexual violence, as well as their complete gendered experiences at a political, legal, health and social welfare level. While the majority of the women in Sierra Leone were victims, the Commission recognises that many women took on the role of perpetrators and / or collaborators, out of personal conviction or simply in order to survive. 12. While the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) recorded that 4,751 girls entered the DDR process, actual estimates of female combatants are said to be much higher. Dyan Mazurana and Kristopher Carlson, for example, estimate that 12,056 of 48,216 child soldiers were girls. In their report they note that 44% of the girls they interviewed claimed to have received basic military and weapons training. The UN Secretary-General has also acknowledged that “women combatants did not adequately benefit from the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme, particularly because the fast-tracking of the cantonment period resulted in a loss of focus on special programmes intended for women”. He reported that “no provision was made for female camp followers, most of whom had been abducted by the combatants.”3 13. While women played a strong role in peacemaking, only two women attended the negotiations that led to the signing of the Lomé Peace Agreement in 1999. Nonetheless women are increasingly playing a more prominent role in the public life of Sierra Leone. 14. The Commission, primarily through the testimonies it received from women and girls, seeks to find answers as to why such extraordinary violence was perpetrated against women. Did the origins lie in the cultural and traditional history of Sierra Leone, where women were afforded a subservient status to men? Did the low status of women in socio-political life make them easy targets? Or is it because men still perceive women to be chattels, possessions belonging to them, symbols of their honour, making them the deliberate targets of an enemy determined to destroy the honour of the other? The answers probably lie somewhere in a combination between all of these factors. 15. The Commission believes that it is only when the legal, social and political system treats women equally that they will realise their full potential. Women must be given full access to economic opportunities, which allow for their complete, holistic development. They must be able to participate freely in both public and private life. Developing robust accountability mechanisms for those who perpetrate gender-based crimes is a necessary part of this evolution, in order to ensure that women are never again dehumanised the moment the rules of society break down. 3 See the Twenty-first Report of Secretary-General on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), UN Doc.