War-Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone: A Population-Based Assessment

Saturday, January 1, 2000
Author: 
Physicians for Human Rights
Africa
Western Africa
Sierra Leone

This PHR/UNAMSIL study is one of the first to scientifically document the extent of sexual violence as a result of war. Sierra Leone's decade-long conflict has been one of the deadliest in recent history and has been marked by an extraordinary level of brutal human rights abuses, including abductions, beatings, sexual assault of women and men, being "captured" for less than 24 hours, torture, forced labor, gunshot wounds, serious injuries and amputations. An alarming 94% of 991 households of internally displaced persons randomly surveyed by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported among its members at least one of these serious abuses during the past ten years of conflict.

Document PDF: 

War-Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone, PHR (2002).