Rape in War: Motives of Militia in DRC (Jocelyn Kelly)

- UN Security Council Resolution (1820) recognizes sexual violence against women in conflict as a threat to international peace and security

- Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

- Mai Mai militia group interview

- They consider themselves as protectors of civilians and their nation, while committing crimes

- Magical belief systems combined with Christianity (even using marijuana) 

- Regard their commander as 'father,' whose orders must be carried out 

- Justify sexual violence as Satan's work

- Those who join military 'ideologically' are less likely to commit crimes since they heavily depend on civilian support 

- They distinguish lust rapes from evil rapes (the former is permissible, acceptable but the later is horrible to their standard: but BOTH ARE CRIMES!! that violate human rights)

- Lack of training militia only produces relentless men with arms

Congo/women : portraits de guerre pour la journée internationale des droits de la femme - Magazine Avantages

Congo/women : portraits de guerre pour la journée internationale des droits de la femme - Magazine Avantages

Website: Paul Carson Partnership

Our Mission

The mission of the Paul Carlson Partnership is to catalyze the growth of self-sustaining families and communities in places of deep poverty in Central Africa. Working together with partners in Africa and elsewhere, we invest in local efforts in health care, economic development, and education.

Distinctives of the Organization

We work in the economically poorest places with people who are rich spiritually and socially.

We work toward sustainability, building both economic and human resources on the ground.

We work from relief towards development, recognizing the core problem presented by deep poverty and identifying strategies to address it.

We work in and through partnerships--with individuals and communities on the ground, with other organizations, with churches, and with volunteers and donors.

We work in Central Africa, believing that our history in Congo had prepared us for future involvement in neighboring countries with similar cultural and economic contexts.

Our work grows out of and is motivated by the Christian faith of our founders and the current board and staff. Independently incorporated and governed, we are affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church.

 

http://paulcarlson.org/home

Varieties of Feminism

1. There are four major varieties of Feminism:
a. Liberal.
b. Marxist.
c. Radical.
d. Socialist (sometimes called "dual system" theory).
Other forms of Feminism include Functionalist Feminism and Black Feminism.
 

2. Liberal Feminism:
a. Gender prejudice is based around individual ignorance. education is seen as a
valuable tool in the battle against discrimination based around ignorance.
b. It is possible to legislate (pass laws) against sexual discrimination as a way of
changing individual attitudes and behaviour. 

For example, the Sex Discrimination and
Equal Pay Acts in the 1970's in Britain.
c. The general position of women in our society has significantly improved in the past
100 years. woman have legal equality with men, although they still do not have status
equality with men (that is, males still tend to have generally higher social status than
women).

3. Marxist Feminism
a. Capitalist class relationships are the root cause of female oppression, exploitation
and discrimination. Men are socialised into exploitative relationships in relation to work
and they carry this socialisation over into the home and their relationship to women.
b. Patriarchy is an ideology (a set of related beliefs about the world - in this instance,
male - female relationships) that stems from male attempts to justify the economic
exploitation of women.
c. The "family system" characteristic of modern societies benefits capitalism (and, by
extension, the men who tend to dominate positions of power and influence) because
women:
- can be forced / socialised into unpaid domestic labour.
- can be forced / socialised into responsibility for child-rearing.
This benefits the Capitalist because they do not have to pay women to perform this role
(the "reproduction of labour power" in society).
This benefits men because women perform a "domestic servant" role for all men.
d. Neither Marxist nor socialist Feminists see men as the "enemy" of women. To create
a Communist / socialist society men and women have to co-operate in to:
Overthrow the Capitalist system of economic exploitation (Marxist Feminism).
Create a more-equal and equitable form of society (Socialist Feminism).
e. For Marxist Feminists, the concept of social class is considered to be more important
than the concept of patriarchy since the latter is seen as a form of ideology that stems from class exploitation. Women are not a "sex class" because the only thing they have in
common is their sex - an upper class woman, for example, has little if nothing in common
with a working class woman. In addition, there is general agreement amongst Marxist
Feminists that the points in the following section are valid.

4. Socialist Feminism
a. Women's work and their social status is highly marginalized by their potential / actual
"dual role" in modern societies (child-rearer and worker). Employers are able to exploit
this dual role to pay women lower wages. Men are able to exploit this dual role by
receiving "unpaid services" within the home.
b. The main reason for women's lower status in relation to men is the fact that they are
generally economically dependent upon their male partner.
c. Male power over women is consolidated by ideological myths about women (that
they are naturally passive, that they have maternal instincts and so forth). These myths
are part of a powerful socialising influence upon women that leads them to define their
major role as that of "mother, housekeeper and child-rearer".

5. Radical Feminism
a. The concepts of patriarchy and sex class are key ideas in relation to the
understanding of women's position and experience in all societies.
b. Patriarchy has existed in all known human societies and, as such, pre-dates
Capitalist forms of gender inequality.
c. Patriarchal relationships are considered to have paved the way for Capitalist forms of economic and gender exploitation.
d. Sexual inequality is institutionalised in society. It is not possible to achieve sexual
equality through legal means or by "changing people's attitudes".
e. Men are the enemy of women. Women are a sex class in that they share a common
interest in freeing themselves from male oppression.
f. The universal causes of patriarchy are considered to be:
The exploitation of female biology by men (men can exploit women's incapacity
through pregnancy, for example). -> RAPE
Marriage-based family relationships in which men control women's behaviour.
Heterosexual relationships.
g. One solution to the problem of patriarchal exploitation is seen to be lesbian
relationships and female support groups.
h. Some Radical Feminists (e.g. Firestone) argue that female emancipation can be
achieved technologically (women being freed from childbirth and so forth).
i. In general, Radical Feminists see the exploitation of women as involving both the public
sphere (work for example) and the private sphere (the home - marriage as, according to
David Bouchier, an "institutionalised source of female oppression”).
This a dual form of female exploitation not experienced by men.

Source: ã www.sociology.org.uk 2005

http://www.sociology.org.uk/as4i4c4.pdf

Website: Raise Hope for Congo

The Campaign

The RAISE Hope for Congo campaign aims to build a permanent and diverse constituency of activists who will advocate for the protection and empowerment of Congolese women and girls. The Enough Project will collaborate with national, grassroots, and Congolese organizations, across various constituencies and the political spectrum, to build this grassroots movement.

The first step to building a movement is to raise awareness about the crisis in Congo. The campaign provides activists with informative tools to educate themselves and their communities about the conflict in eastern Congo and the epidemic of sexual violence against women and girls.
No matter how much we know or how much we care, we will only succeed if we speak out and demand action from our leaders. The campaign offers a menu of actions that activists can take to raise their voices and call for an end to the conflict and sexual violence in eastern Congo.

Despite the horrific scale of the violence, and the grave consequences of the conflict in Congo, we rarely see it on television, we seldom hear about it on the radio, and we hardly ever read about it in the newspapers. The campaign works with activists to raise the profile of the Congo conflict in the media and demand that the media shine a light on this invisible yet catastrophic crisis.

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/

Journal #17: Rape in war: the humanitarian response

Leslie Shanks, Michael J.Schull (2000), Canadian Medical Association or its licensors 

- Need for sufficient female health care workers

- Need for sufficient number of social workers who can "listen" and have time with women 

   (Allow sufficient time to establish rapport)

- Provide safe and confidential environment for disclosure

- Conduct a full history and physiclal examination

Factors that are connected to continuing sexual violence against women in DRC

Factors that (according to what I have figured out so far) seem to cause/aggravate the sexual violence against Congolese women since civil war in DRC. 

1) Culture

2) Aftermath of Civil War 

3) Economics

4) Access to resource 

5) Feminist Analysis of violence

Journal #16: Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC)

[Culture - Among soldiers]

Abstract: Some stunning thoughts of soldiers are revealed through personal interviews by Baaz in this article. As detectives usually invest much time on discovering strategies of criminals, one who wants to, or feels obliged for the concern of humanity, prevent women from further being suffered, one has to devote efforts to know why, why, why in the world, soldiers commit such horrible crimes. Baaz categorizes different rapes according to the intention of rape, based on the interviews by soldiers in Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), which is mostly blamed for the extensive rape as a war tool. That is,"normal" rape and "evil" rape.

Cynthia Enloe has outlined three main militarized rape: the "recreational rape," "national security rape," and "systematic mass rape."

There were, surprisingly, more stories than it appears to be: the dearth of "normal" sexual encounters in soldiers' own home.

            - Soldiers have told that since they are not paid well and cannot give money to thier wives, resulting declining desire and love of wives toward thier husbands. Accordingly, these soldiers who feel that they have lost their supposedly expressive masculinity go out and "pick up flowers" in the warfield, which is usually villages where vulnerable women reside. 

               One soldier says, therefore, if they(soldiers) can be rescued from conitnuing poverty, they will not at all imagine committing such crime because the soldiers, as a household who deserves repect from families, will be satisfied sexually and economically. There is no reason for them to go out and kill, rape, and amputate people. 

            - Also, some said that they feel dutiful to do bad things. While reading those words, I couldn't help but thinking that those soldiers have been suffering from mentally and materially unsatisfying lives, which seem endless. They seemed to be shouting that they did not have any other outlet but do such things to, maybe distract from disruptive thoughts and desperative and depreciating live conditions. And thus, they think that they have "rights" to satisfy those desires, while not thinking of the equal "rights" of women. 

Seemingly, their explanation seems to be reasonable enough about why they rape women, something understandable and admittable is undoubtedly different. The soldiers' thoughts have been constantly framed within satisfying their desires while living with other soldiers in the army, but were not trained to sympathize and think of the victims. Yes, it's hard to imagine how they shaped such thought. But they don't feel sexually attracted to female colleagues (soldiers).

Studying Psychology

Well, it's hardly necessary to say this. But everything is related to how humans or individuals in a group think. Every problem and conflict seems to stem from the misleading thoughts of those people, without even realizing what kind of idea they have in mind. Therefore, it seems very important to deeply study psychology to prevent such unfavorable outcome that (to the least extent) harms others. Although there are, indeed, individual differences, I believe in that extensive knowledge of psychology and philosophy humans have invested is still sufficient for me to understand some of inhumane crimes targeting the same species.
- While reading "Why do soldiers rape? Masculinity, violence, and secuality in the armed forces in the Congo (DRC)" - Maria Eriksson Baaz

Journal #15: Do Women Leaders Matter? - Nicholas Kristof

The answer to this question Kristof is giving is yes and no. 

It was deeply disappointing reading that women even in the highest political position less cares about women's inferior status than some males such as Muhammad Yunus and Fazle Abed, (the founder of an extraordinary Bangladeshi anti-poverty organization, BRAC). These advocacies of women's rights have worked for improving women's economic status by "educating"them how to stand independent economically from women. 

Why would female politicians (femocrats) show less intense advocacy for women? Although Kristof pointed that local women leaders are passionate for women's issue and certainly there are women in the highest position who are famous for not only representing the state but women - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (the president of Liberia) - he states that it is true that not all female politicians or leaders indeed take care of difficulties women particualry are facing. 

So, ultimately, it seems that the "gender" per se of a leader does not really matter, doesn't it?

Women's underrepresented position is not primarily because their leaders are males. Changing those leaders to female, either, did not show much improvement for women. Then what made Yunus and Abed consider women's issue so seriously? 

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/do-women-leaders-matter/

Journal #14: Ugandan Feminism: Political Rhetoric or Reality?

Abstract: Having "Women's rights are human rights" as the international feminist slogan, feminist activists in Africa are working. However, still, coherent efforts lack among the feminist organizations. Thus it is hard to reflect the feminists' opinions to improve African women's status in the national policies. In addition, African women, specifically Ugandan women in this article, do not have sufficient knowledge to claim out their rights (the domestic violence by husband is introduced; cases when women are discouraged to preserve their rights to protect themselves are not uncommon). Also, misleading cultural concept led women to tolerate such violence. Some women think that if husbands do not beat their wives, women are regarded not being loved enough by husbands. This traditional cultural idea places huge barrier to save these women. It is harder because the victim thinks that she can and should tolerate such apparent "crime".

Indigenous Information Network (Kenya)

http://librated.com/iin/index.html

Indigenous Information Network (IIN) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to empowering indigenous peoples in Kenya, Africa and worldwide. Based in Nairobi, it was founded in 1996 by a group of indigenous professionals in response to the lack of groups and services addressing the needs of indigenous peoples. IIN works to promote knowledge of the rich cultures and lifestyles of indigenous peoples, and the challenges they face in protecting their rights and livelihoods. 

The underlying issue that prompted the founding of IIN was the exclusion of indigenous and minority peoples from the mainstream development agenda. The lack of understanding of nomadic pastoralist and hunter-gatherer cultures frequently results in unsustainable or culturally inappropriate projects which squander precious resources and further marginalization. 

IIN recognizes that indigenous ways of life are sustainable and worth supporting. We therefore aim to empower indigenous peoples to guide their own development, gain greater political representation and have their rights recognized at regional, national and international levels.

Zenab for women in Development (Sudan)

http://z-w-d-s.org/en/

MADRE :: Demanding Rights, Resources & Results for Women Worldwide

Useful Websites ^^

MADRE :: Demanding Rights, Resources & Results for Women Worldwide

Vulnerable status of women seem to be universal in developing countries...
http://www.madre.org/images/uploads/misc/1298672373_Haiti_Report_Final_ENGLISH.pdf

Journal #13: Rwanda: Women Hold up Half the Parliament - Elizabeth Powley

Abstract: Rwanda has the greatest number of women in national parliament. After brutal civil war, Rwandan women have not yet acquired equal status in education, employment, and access to natural resources as men. However, increasing number of women's seats in parliamentary is the first step to proceed to better representation of women in politics and in nation as a whole. Currently, the Pro-Femmes (Collectifs Pro-Femmes/Twese Hamwez: NGO for Rwandan women) is the only women organization to improve Rwandan women's social standing in the country. It has worked on drafting the constitution and obtain opinion from population by directly reaching them - This is indeed a very innovative way to make illiterate women to engage in politics and be aware of their potentiality in participation in society as a whole. This article, however, only addresses relatively optimistic view of Rwandan women's future - mainly through their large representation in parliament. (I was expecting some shortcoming that professor Ackerly talked about.) 

The only things for these - now femocrats - women in Rwanda to work on is to extend the scope of their legislations to national policies as a whole rather than focusing on gender issue. 

Although the gender equality would be their priority, it is also important to gain national popularity among men. Representation of women in politics is not to divide men and women but to equally give women to stand in the same position with male politicians to negotiate about social issues. One thing, currently in Rwanda, that questioned me was that for instance, the reserved 24 seats for women are only selected by women. I would allow this way in the beginning of transition period, but in order to get legitimacy and achieve the "real" equality in politics, the female deputies should be equally treated as male candidates. 

However, as a whole, I think, for this small country which has not yet totally recovered from 1994 genocide and civil war, this is a big first step for women to improve thier rights and strengthen their status economically and socially. 

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia

“AFRICA AND ITS PLACE IN THE WORLD”

Internationally known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” President Sirleaf is the continent’s first elected female president and a leading promoter of peace, justice and democratic rule. She has lead her war-torn nation of Liberia in the restoration of peace and freedom, while enacting economic, social and political change. In 2009 she chronicled her journey, from an abused young wife to a powerful political figure, in the memoir This Child Will Be Great.

BACKGROUND

When Ellen Johnson was just a baby, an old man in the neighborhood pronounced, "This child shall be great." Although she and her siblings would often giggle as the story was recounted, the words proved prophetic. Young Ellen grew up to become the African continent's first elected woman president, indeed the world's first elected female black head of state.

The struggles of her amazing life--from abused wife to political prisoner to exile to leader--mirror the struggles of her nation and the African continent as they search for their place in the 21st-century global, political and economic landscape.

Liberia was founded and colonized by freed American slaves under the sponsorship of the American Colonization Society. In 1847, Liberia was founded as the first African republic, and in 1848 Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a freeborn African American from Petersburg, Virginia, became the nation's first president. President Sirleaf herself has spent time in the Commonwealth, living in Northern Virginia while working for the World Bank in the 1980s.

While Liberia's first president was a member of the so-called Americo-Liberian minority elite (importance of education for women!) that would lead the nation for many years, President Sirleaf is a descendant of Liberia's indigenous tribal people. Mutual mistrust and hostility between the "Americans" along the coast and the "natives" of the interior was a recurrent theme in the country's history, culminating in 1980 when Samuel Doe, a member of the indigenous Krahn ethnic group, seized power in a bloody military coup in which the Americo-Liberian president was assassinated and 13 members of his cabinet executed. Sirleaf was a member of that cabinet, but her tribal blood and popularity enabled her to narrowly escape the same fate. She was, however, imprisoned twice for speaking out against the abuses of ensuing governments, and she ultimately fled into exile to save her life. Mounting conflict in Liberia led to 14 years of brutal civil war that would arm the nation's children, claim hundreds of thousands of lives and decimate the nation's infrastructure, economy and world image.

Under mounting international pressure and charges of "crimes against humanity," President Charles Taylor, who had overthrown Doe in another coup, finally resigned in 2003.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf returned from exile and successfully campaigned for president on a vision of peace and national renewal. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and First Lady Laura Bush attended Sirleaf's inauguration in 2006 as she took over leadership of one of the world's poorest nations, with 85% unemployment, a crippling national debt, and a seeming hair trigger that could plunge the nation back into bloodshed.

In August 2010, Newsweek included President Sirleaf in its list of ten global leaders who have "managed to win serious respect," dubbing her "the Rebuilder."

Since taking office, she has preserved the peace while working aggressively to restore Liberia's world image and secure forgiveness of the overwhelming international debt that would otherwise prohibit the rebuilding of the nation. Sirleaf's leadership style is reflected in the two affectionate nicknames given her by the Liberian people: "Iron Lady" and "Ma." Earlier this year, she announced that she will seek a second term in 2011.

Her 2009 memoir, This Child Will be Great and is dedicated to "all the people of Liberia who have suffered so much and now look forward to reclaiming the future."

Source: http://www.richmondforum.org/bio-ellen-johnson-sirleaf.aspx

The State of the World’s Children 2011 – Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity

Jean's story: An adolescent girl’s belief in education provides hope in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, 25 February 2011 – When we met Jean Bernite just six weeks after the January 2010 earthquake here, she was living in a tent with four family members. She was no longer attending school but was eager to return to the classroom.

Africa's First Elected Female Leader

Journal #12: "Femocracy": Best Medicine for Africa - Gbemisola Olujobi

Abstract: This was a very hopeful story for someone like me who thinks the education for women is the most solution because - although it will take some time to realize "femocrats" and universalize it across the continent of Africa - the education changes women's thought and let them more actively face numerous problems from which women have suffered. Olujobi introduces such optimistic cases that are happening in Africa.

A recent World Bank reserach submits that numerous behavioral studies have found women to be more trust-worthy and public-spirited than men. Consistent with this hypothesis, it has been found that the greater the representation of women in parliament, the lower the level of corruption.

-> Would this be a biological difference between women and men? Or is this a temporal phenomenon only because women have not yet enjoyed obtaining political control as men have? 

The world's parliamentary body with the biggest share of women is found in Rwanda, where women hold 48.8% of the seats. 

Corruption reduces national budget resources. It also reduces the amount of public spening on health and social security, for instance, which affects women disproportionately. 

Many say it is the dawn of the new day for Africa' democracy and governance. 

"Femocracy" - democracy headed by women - nurtures, mothers, wives, sister,s daughters and granmothers like Mama Ellen Sirleaf (the current president of Republic of Liberia)

Liberia is Africa's oldest republic.  

Journal #11: Human Rights: Promoting gender equality in and through education

Abstract: Behind what is being shown regarding the gender inequality in education, Duncan clarifies what could be the causal factors for it and several terms that should be considered to approach this problem more accurately and uniformly.

Achieving gender 'equality' is equally important as promoting gender parity. Parity is a quantitative concept; equality is a qualitative one.

UN Speicial Rapporteur shows that availability, accessibility, and adaptability of education are important. 

Availability: (surprisingly) includes the single sex schools 

Acceptability: boys and girls should be treated as same, without any stereotype of women as "unsuited to academic achievement". 

Adabtability: Education should not reinforce extant societal patterns that discriminate certain groups

Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest group of countries that do not have compulsory educational legislation. (DRC is one of the 40 countries which do have no compulsory education)

Some suggestion: it is important to keep this 'gender equality' in selecting teachers. 

In all regions of the world the proportion of female teachers at secondary and higher education levels is lower than that at the primary level. This can explain for lower enrollment of girls in education, where parents refuse to allow their female children to be taught by male teachers, as Egypt has reported. 

Raise the wage of teachers.

Studeis of earnings have revealed that in some major cities around the world (Lagos, Jakarta, and Sao Paulo), bus drivers earn more than teachers. 

  

Ensure security of girls at school: Abused at school

Sexual abuse and physical violence against girls are particularly invidious dangers. 

Girl students are dropping out because of excessive bullying and terrorizing - and rape (Ohsako, 1997, p.36). 

Protect pregnant girls from being excluded in education 

In many countries pregnant girls face expulsion from formal education. Even unmarried teachers can be fired owing to pregnancy. 

Define the minimum age of marriage to protect girls 

Marriage is repeatedly asserted as one of the principal reasons for female desertion, or exclusion, from education. Egypt and Morocco report that female drop-out in rural areas can be attributed in significant degree to early marriage.