Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

This past Saturday marked three years since Haiti was stuck by a devastating earthquake. There is a place in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, called Cité Soleil. It means Sun City, and it is the poorest place, most dangerous place to live in this hemisphere.

The Women in Public Service Institute at Bryn Mawr College is a two-week program for emerging women leaders from post-conflict countries organized by Bryn Mawr and co-sponsored by Bryn Mawr, the U.S. State Department, and the Wilson Center as part of the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP).

During the Libyan revolution, Gadhafi ordered his soldiers to “rape the women.” He targeted the families of the Freedom Fighters. Gadhafi's goal was to break society apart. Today, many families are suffering. With more than 8,000 rape victims during the war, people are left wondering who is helping the victims and their families.

Last weekend, Saudi security forces encircled and arrested a small group of women who were protesting the long-term detention of relatives without charges on suspicion of terrorism, and the event has touched off nearly a week of unrest in the Saudi town of Buraida.

“The rebels were just at the corner and watching me,” recalls one young Malian girl. “When I came out, they forced me in their vehicle and chained my two arms. They were four in the vehicle and they took me to a dark area. Three other girls were also there. They raped us during two nights and each time they came in groups of three, four and sometimes five.”

One of the distinguishing features of American foreign policy is its claim of moral authority in the field of human rights. Our politicians regularly cite America as a beacon of freedom and as a champion of the cause of human dignity across the globe. Yet, in at least one important instance, America lags behind.

... The women (several of whom had been appointed to the highest level of the MEK hierarchy – the Leadership Council which directly serves Massoud Rajavi and his wife, Maryam), described a bizarre process of preparation for their sexual encounter with Rajavi which was facilitated by and presided over by Maryam Rajavi, who, they said, procured specific women from the membership for Massoud's use.

She was a 23-year-old physical therapy student who boarded a bus in Delhi last month. Six men locked the door, and savagely raped her for hours, including with a metal rod. They dumped her naked in the street, and after bravely fighting for her life, she died last weekend. Across India, people are responding in massive protests to say enough is enough. In India a woman is raped every 22 minutes, and few see justice.

Liberian women from across Liberia have decried the practices of early marriage and Sexual Gender Base Violence in the country.

Though, the women are tirelessly in search to finding a lasting solution to the practices of SGBV and early marriage, they have ended a three day consultative national stakeholder forum with several Liberian women forming part of the initiative.

For the past 16 years at the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, my staff and I have been treating women who have been victimized by sexual violence, which has been systematically used as a weapon of war in the armed conflict that has ravaged our country. Rape is one of the most deadly weapons of war, destroying families and communities and future generations, as well as the women brutally targeted.