WAR IS RAPE
Ximena Borrazas in Tigray | Edgar Gutierrez in Tigray
DW
Many survivors of Ethiopia's devastating Tigray war remain optimistic despite the scars left by the conflict.
Many survivors of Ethiopia's devastating Tigray war remain optimistic despite the scars left by the conflict.
The war in Tigray might be over but many survivors have to cope with the trauma
Life at the IDP camp
After this incident, Kebedesh and her daughter's lives became uncertain. For three months, they lived in an internally displaced persons (IDP) center in Adwa.
Adwa, located 160 km (99 miles) north of Mekele, has a population of about 40,500 people. The Adwa Women's Affairs Office states that it has recorded 1,374 cases of rape; 86 of those cases were HIV positive, 72 of whom are children.
But then Kebedesh's life improved after she was picked to be part of a program run by the Don Bosco Mission for victims of sexual violence. Since then, she has been sharing a compound of five rooms with ten people who are also survivors of sexual violence.
Image: Ximena Borrazas
Warning: This article includes graphic accounts of sexual abuse which some people may find disturbing. Please exercise caution before reading on.
Before the outbreak of war in Tigray, life was quite different for 42-year-old Kebedesh and her family in the northern part of Ethiopia. She ran a small hotel and was also involved in small-scale agriculture. Everything was going well for her.
Then, in November 2020, fighting between the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (FDRE) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)broke out. The war — which lasted two years — later saw Eritrean forces and Amhara militia joining hands to support the Ethiopian government forces.
Rape as a weapon of war
A week after the outbreak of the conflict, as Kebedesh and her 8-year-old daughter were walking through Kafta, a rural area near the Eritrean border, five soldiers intercepted them, four from the neighboring country and one from the central government.
"They aggressively asked me, 'Do you have a man at TPLF?' — I said no," Kebedesh recalled.
The five men gang-raped her. At the same time, they stabbed her daughter and poured boiling water on her stomach to silence her cries for help.
After the soldiers left, Kebedesh gathered all the strength left in her and took her seriously wounded child to an Ethiopian military base to receive medical assistance.
Kebedesh was among the estimated 120,000 people subjected to sexual violence during the war in Tigray, according to the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute for the Parliamentary Group on International Law, Justice and Accountability (APPG).
"Some of them have committed suicide because of the stigma," Yirgalem Gebretsadkan, head of the Violence Against Women unit of the Tigray Genocide Commission of Inquiry, told DW.
Warning: This article includes graphic accounts of sexual abuse which some people may find disturbing. Please exercise caution before reading on.
Before the outbreak of war in Tigray, life was quite different for 42-year-old Kebedesh and her family in the northern part of Ethiopia. She ran a small hotel and was also involved in small-scale agriculture. Everything was going well for her.
Then, in November 2020, fighting between the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (FDRE) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)broke out. The war — which lasted two years — later saw Eritrean forces and Amhara militia joining hands to support the Ethiopian government forces.
Rape as a weapon of war
A week after the outbreak of the conflict, as Kebedesh and her 8-year-old daughter were walking through Kafta, a rural area near the Eritrean border, five soldiers intercepted them, four from the neighboring country and one from the central government.
"They aggressively asked me, 'Do you have a man at TPLF?' — I said no," Kebedesh recalled.
The five men gang-raped her. At the same time, they stabbed her daughter and poured boiling water on her stomach to silence her cries for help.
After the soldiers left, Kebedesh gathered all the strength left in her and took her seriously wounded child to an Ethiopian military base to receive medical assistance.
Kebedesh was among the estimated 120,000 people subjected to sexual violence during the war in Tigray, according to the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute for the Parliamentary Group on International Law, Justice and Accountability (APPG).
"Some of them have committed suicide because of the stigma," Yirgalem Gebretsadkan, head of the Violence Against Women unit of the Tigray Genocide Commission of Inquiry, told DW.
Kebedesh's young daughter dreams of becoming a doctor to help her fellow Ethiopians
Image: Ximena Borrazas
Life at the IDP camp
After this incident, Kebedesh and her daughter's lives became uncertain. For three months, they lived in an internally displaced persons (IDP) center in Adwa.
Adwa, located 160 km (99 miles) north of Mekele, has a population of about 40,500 people. The Adwa Women's Affairs Office states that it has recorded 1,374 cases of rape; 86 of those cases were HIV positive, 72 of whom are children.
But then Kebedesh's life improved after she was picked to be part of a program run by the Don Bosco Mission for victims of sexual violence. Since then, she has been sharing a compound of five rooms with ten people who are also survivors of sexual violence.
Dealing with the trauma and stigma of sexual assault
When her little daughter, who just turned 11, lifts her T-shirt, it is impossible not to feel distressed. A visibly huge scar compounds the stomach problems she carries from the stabbing,
The girl attends a private school that is paid for by the Don Bosco Center.
According to her mother, she has no friends. "Sometimes she is afraid when she walks to the student center [where classes take place], she is afraid that someone will attack her again."
On top of all the experiences endured over the past four years, they suffer from stigmatization.
Now, both mother and daughter live in the shadow of suffering, afraid to speak out because of the stigma and harassment that society tends to impart on survivors of sexual violence. They fear being pushed into a corner and forced to leave the city.
A family separated by war
Kebedesh's husband fled at the beginning of the war, leaving her in charge of four children. He was never heard from again until recently when news came that he had died during the conflict.
Kebedesh shares her room at the compound with three of her four children, the eldest of whom is in Sudan fighting with the TDF (Tigray Defence Force).
"After the signing of the [Tigray] peace agreement (in November 2022), I received a letter from him, so I know he is alive", Kebedesh said with a tone of relief.
Adwa in northern Tigray has become a refuge for many who fled the violence
Image: Ximena Borrazas
Hope for a better future in Tigray
Despite deep physical and psychological wounds, Kebedesh and her children remain hopeful.
"I dream of setting up my own mini-market and sending all my children to study," Kebedesh said.
"My daughter dreams of becoming a doctor to help herself and her people," she added, smiling.
Tigray endured one of the bloodiest wars of the 21st century, with at least 600,000 people killed and more than one million internally displaced. All sides have been accused of escalating the conflict, but the most sustained violence was suffered by Tigrayan women.
Despite a peace agreement signed by TPLF and Ethiopia's federal government in November 2022, the situation in Tigray is still uncertain. Meetings for dialogue between Abiy's ruling Prosperity Party (PP) and the TPLF are ongoing.
Currently, Tigray faces severe famine and extreme poverty, with tens of thousands of civilians living in internally displaced people camps.
Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu and Thomas Mösch
White House unveils new initiatives to combat war-related sexual violence
Event hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris on International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict
By Chris Benson & Allen Cone
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks on conflict-related sexual violence during an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Monday.
Event hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris on International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict
By Chris Benson & Allen Cone
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks on conflict-related sexual violence during an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Monday.
Photo by Rod Lamkey /UPI | License Photo
June 17 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday unveiled new measures aimed at addressing sexual violence in armed military conflicts, including in the Middle East, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
"it is the responsibility of all of us governments, international organizations, civil society, and individual citizens to actively confront conflict-related sexual violence and to work to rid our world of this heinous crime," Harris said during an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "And to do what is necessary to hold perpetrators accountable."
The initiative also will increase women's leadership through the Women, Peace and Security Incentive Fund, among others.
"I especially thank the survivors and advocates that are with us today," Harris said. "You are fearless advocates in the fight for justice, and you remind us of the resilience of survivors."
Harris, along with sexual violence survivors and experts on the topic, "condemned" conflict-related sexual violence and called for the international community to join the United States in advancing justice and accountability for this crime," a White House news release stated.
At the event was Amit Soussana, who was abducted from her home on Oct. 7 and released in March.
Soussana describes her ordeal in Sheryl Sandberg's documentary film Screams Before Silence. The event included a partial screening of the film.
Harris said "women's bodies were found naked to the waist down, hands tied behind their back and shot in the head."
Harris said that released hostages are revealing of the sexual violence they endured in captivity.
"These testimonies, I fear, will only increase as more hostages are released," she said. "We cannot look away, and we will not be silent. My heart breaks for all these survivors and their families."
At Monday's event, the United States' first woman vice president launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative.
The White House says the initiative will focus efforts on investigating and documenting conflict-related sexual violence in line with the Murad Code, which is named for Nobel Laureate and survivor Nadia Murad.
Described as a "holistic program," it will be supported by a $10 million investment from the State Department and will "support justice for survivors by promoting accountability for crimes punishable under international law."
The United Nations General Assembly on June 19, 2015, proclaimed June 19 of each year the "International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict" to raise awareness of "the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence," and to honor the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the globe, according to the United Nations.
This year's International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict will focus on healthcare.
The White House cites President Joe Biden's 2022 memorandum on promoting accountability for conflict-related sexual violence, which states that it is U.S. policy "to promote accountability for perpetrators of acts of" conflict-related sexual violence "through relevant existing sanctions authorities, where applicable, and to ensure that these authorities are used to the fullest extent possible to target perpetrators of acts of CRSV and their enablers."
Harris outlined a series of administration actions that will be taken consistent with Biden's 2022 memo, including: incorporating gender-based violence prevention into humanitarian responses; supporting survivors of sexual violence in Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine; "expanding atrocity prevention"; increasing women's leadership roles in Sri Lanka and Sudan; supporting other U.N efforts and a series of sanctions on Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Iraq and Syria.
June 17 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday unveiled new measures aimed at addressing sexual violence in armed military conflicts, including in the Middle East, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
"it is the responsibility of all of us governments, international organizations, civil society, and individual citizens to actively confront conflict-related sexual violence and to work to rid our world of this heinous crime," Harris said during an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "And to do what is necessary to hold perpetrators accountable."
The initiative also will increase women's leadership through the Women, Peace and Security Incentive Fund, among others.
"I especially thank the survivors and advocates that are with us today," Harris said. "You are fearless advocates in the fight for justice, and you remind us of the resilience of survivors."
Harris, along with sexual violence survivors and experts on the topic, "condemned" conflict-related sexual violence and called for the international community to join the United States in advancing justice and accountability for this crime," a White House news release stated.
At the event was Amit Soussana, who was abducted from her home on Oct. 7 and released in March.
Soussana describes her ordeal in Sheryl Sandberg's documentary film Screams Before Silence. The event included a partial screening of the film.
Harris said "women's bodies were found naked to the waist down, hands tied behind their back and shot in the head."
Harris said that released hostages are revealing of the sexual violence they endured in captivity.
"These testimonies, I fear, will only increase as more hostages are released," she said. "We cannot look away, and we will not be silent. My heart breaks for all these survivors and their families."
At Monday's event, the United States' first woman vice president launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative.
The White House says the initiative will focus efforts on investigating and documenting conflict-related sexual violence in line with the Murad Code, which is named for Nobel Laureate and survivor Nadia Murad.
Described as a "holistic program," it will be supported by a $10 million investment from the State Department and will "support justice for survivors by promoting accountability for crimes punishable under international law."
The United Nations General Assembly on June 19, 2015, proclaimed June 19 of each year the "International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict" to raise awareness of "the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence," and to honor the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the globe, according to the United Nations.
This year's International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict will focus on healthcare.
The White House cites President Joe Biden's 2022 memorandum on promoting accountability for conflict-related sexual violence, which states that it is U.S. policy "to promote accountability for perpetrators of acts of" conflict-related sexual violence "through relevant existing sanctions authorities, where applicable, and to ensure that these authorities are used to the fullest extent possible to target perpetrators of acts of CRSV and their enablers."
Harris outlined a series of administration actions that will be taken consistent with Biden's 2022 memo, including: incorporating gender-based violence prevention into humanitarian responses; supporting survivors of sexual violence in Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine; "expanding atrocity prevention"; increasing women's leadership roles in Sri Lanka and Sudan; supporting other U.N efforts and a series of sanctions on Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Iraq and Syria.
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