Dominique Strauss-Kahn Friends Trying To Pay Off Accuser’s Family In Africa

With friends like these, maybe sexual assault allegation can disappear! The Post reports that the friends of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn are contacting the overseas relatives of his accuser, “offering them money to make the case go away since they can’t reach her in protective custody… The woman, who says she was sexually assaulted by the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, has an extended family in the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa.” A French businesswoman who knows Strauss-Kahn and his family says the friends “already talked with her family. For sure, it’s going to end up on a quiet note.”

Strauss-Kahn is accused of forcing the maid to perform oral sex on him in his Sofitel hotel suite on May 14. While the Manhattan DA’s office has apparently warned the accuser’s family not to accept calls from his connections, Cyrus Vance’s reach only goes so far. The source continued, “He’ll get out of it and will fly back to France. He won’t spend time in jail. The woman will get a lot of money”—possibly a seven-figure payout.

Fox News reported on the alleged exchange between the 32-year-old maid and Strauss-Kahn, which—allegedly—included him grabbing her breasts and bloody sheets:

The 32-year-old African immigrant repeatedly told her alleged attacker, “Please, please stop. No!” The sources said she had no idea who was staying in the $3,000-a-night junior presidential suite until after the alleged attack, which lasted approximately thirty minutes…The maid said she tried a variety of tactics to get herself out of the room and away from Strauss-Kahn. She said, “my manager is in the hallway,” which he wasn’t — but the former IMF chief wasn’t scared off. The single mother allegedly told the Frenchman that the job was important to her and any conflict with a hotel guest would result in her losing her job.

“Please stop. I need my job, I can’t lose my job, don’t do this. I will lose my job. Please, please stop! Please stop!” she told Strauss-Kahn, according to law enforcement sources.

Strauss-Kahn allegedly responded: “No, baby. Don’t worry, you’re not going to lose your job. Please, baby, don’t worry,” Strauss-Kahn responded, according to investigators. “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know who I am?”

Strauss-Kahn’s DNA was allegedly found on the maid’s clothing. His defense has suggested the encounter was consensual.

Strauss-Kahn, a leading French politician whose libido was apparently legendary in France, has been indicted on numerous charges and is out on $6 million ($1 million cash, $5 million bond) bail. He’s living at 71 Broadway, which has turned into a media circus, while his very wealthy wife is looking for other housing. But real estate brokers tell the Post that no one wants to work with him. At any rate, Strauss-Kahn has proclaimed his innocence.

May 21, 2011May 24, 2011

Strauss-Kahn Accuser’s Journey from Rural Guinea to New York

Mouctar Bah (AFP)

TCHIAKOULLE, Guinea — Nestled in the mountains of northern Guinea, accessible only by foot, lies the birthplace of the maid who says Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in a New York hotel.

With no electricity nor phone lines, the village of Tchiakoulle could not be further from the bright lights of Manhattan where one of its daughters has brought one of the world’s most powerful men to his knees.

In the shadow of steep cliffs in the Fouta Djallon region, home to the Fulani ethnic group, Tchiakoulle boasts seven concrete houses, one built by the alleged victim’s sister, and a few dozen mud huts alongside a river.

The 32-year-old hotel chambermaid at the Sofitel hotel accusing the former International Monetary Fund chief of sexual assault and attempted rape “was born here, her father was born here,” said her half-brother Boubacar, 42, born to the same father.

He was speaking to an AFP journalist who tracked down the woman’s home village after rigourous cross-checking and verification with his own family in New York and those of the victim.

Boubacar said his half-sister lived in Tchiakoulle until the age of 13 before moving to Labe, the main town in the region, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, but returned home to get married at about 17.

The couple had a daughter, but shortly after the marriage, her husband, the son of a rich Fulani marabout, passed away.

It was then that the young women left with her child to the United States, according to her half-brother.

He said her sister Hassanatou, already living in New York, had paid for her journey with the help of her husband, a shopkeeper in the Big Apple. Hassanatou is the owner of one of the village’s seven concrete houses.

Their mother usually lives in the house, but was seeking medical treatment in Dakar at the time of AFP’s visit.

The members of the accuser’s family living in the village describe her as very pretty, but illiterate, having never been to school. She attended a madrassa in the village where she learned to recite verses on the veranda.

Her uncle, Mody, remembers a girl who was “not rebellious”, while another relative in Labe describes her as “a serious, kind girl and no one knew any trouble from her.”

The 60-year-old said that three days ago he heard “on local radio that a white man abused a girl in the United States. I could not have imagined it was my niece.”

Cut off from the world, no one in the village knew what had become of their long-lost daughter, the last of six children — three girls, three boys — born to a father with two wives.

Her father was a poor farmer, but also a respected Muslim cleric in the region until his death at age 90 in 2009. Residents of the hamlet say her family was very pious.

Unlike her sister Hassanatou, the young woman appears to have cut all ties with her home village.

“Since my sister left over 10 years ago, I have spoken to her once,” said Boubacar, her half-brother.

“It was after dad’s death. I was in Bissau. I called to give her my condolences but as soon as she saw the number she realised it was from Africa and said: “don’t bother calling me”.

“She didn’t know who was on the other end of the line but when I told her she agreed to talk to me.”

Her uncle also has had no news from his niece: “Since she left I haven’t received a letter, photos, nothing.”

Thousands of Guineans live and work abroad in other African countries, Europe and the United States because, despite its massive mineral wealth, half of Guinea’s 10 million population live in poverty.

May 19, 2011May 24, 2011

Nafissatou Diallo, Guinean Woman Sexually assaulted by IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Nafissatou Diallo, maid assaulted by IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn

A hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, who says IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her was due to testify before a New York grand jury on Wednesday, as the French presidential hopeful faced growing pressure to resign.

A lawyer for the 32-year-old African widow dismissed a suggestion by Strauss-Kahn’s defense counsel that the incident at the luxury Times Square Sofitel last Saturday might not have been a sexual assault.

“There’s nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room,” attorney Jeffrey Shapiro told NBC’s “Today” show, adding he believed she would testify “at some point today.”

The arrest dashed Strauss-Kahn’s prospects for the French presidency and raised broader questions over the future of the International Monetary Fund. Developing countries, looking to a succession, have questioned Europe’s hold on the post.

The United States, the IMF’s biggest shareholder, said Strauss-Kahn was clearly unable to go on running the global lender from a prison cell, whatever the legal outcome.

“I can’t comment on the case, but he is obviously not in a position to run the IMF,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday, calling for an interim head to be named.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Europe would naturally put forward a candidate to replace him if Strauss-Kahn decided to step down.

Germany, which wants a European to keep the job, said the IMF should deal with its immediate leadership internally and it was too early to discuss a successor to Strauss-Kahn.

French officials said John Lipsky, the IMF’s American number two, whose term expires in August, would represent the Fund at next week’s Group of Eight summit in Deauville, France.

China, Brazil and South Africa questioned Europe’s right to the top job but Europeans said it made sense for them to retain the post while the Fund plays such a crucial role in helping to ease the euro zone debt crisis.

Strauss-Kahn, who denies the charges, is expected to remain in New York’s Rikers Island jail, known for gang violence, at least until his next court appearance on Friday, when lawyers may again request bail. Any trial could be six months away.

If convicted, he could face 25 years in prison. A law enforcement source said he had been placed on suicide watch, but purely as a precautionary measure.

In the U.S. legal system, a grand jury convenes in secret to hear evidence and decide whether to indict the defendant.

In the only public hint of Strauss-Kahn’s possible line of defense, his attorney Benjamin Brafman told his arraignment hearing on Monday: “The evidence we believe will not be consistent with a forcible encounter.”

However, Shapiro said his client, an asylum seeker from the West African nation of Guinea with a 15-year-old daughter, told Reuters she had not been aware of Strauss-Kahn’s identity until a day after the alleged attack.

“She didn’t have any idea who he was or have any prior dealings with this guy,” the personal injury lawyer said.

“She wants to remain anonymous because she’s very much afraid that something could happen to her physically, she feels very threatened by this,” he said of the global attention.

SET-UP?

An opinion poll in France, taken before his first court appearance on Monday and released on Wednesday, showed that more than half the population believe Strauss-Kahn was set up.

The CSA poll found that 57 percent of respondents thought that the Socialist politician, who had been frontrunner for the 2012 election, was definitely or probably the victim of a plot.

Fully 70 percent of Socialist sympathizers took that view. Most French media have dismissed conspiracy theories.

The poll findings highlighted a cultural divide, with French Socialist politicians and commentators denouncing the public parading of Strauss-Kahn, unshaven and in handcuffs, before he has had a chance to defend himself.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed such a display was humiliating and would be unfair if a defendant were to be found innocent. “But if you don’t want to do the ‘perp walk’, don’t do the crime,” he told reporters.

U.S. media have criticized the French for a tradition of secrecy on politicians’ sex lives, and for showing more compassion for Strauss-Kahn than for the alleged rape victim, whose identity some French newspapers have published.

The French daily Liberation said the IMF chief had told its editors in off-record comments last month that he had just the right qualities to lead France, notably a calm manner, in contrast to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Today I fit with everything the French people want — recognized competence, calm, international experience,” he was quoted as having said at an April 28 meeting.

EUROPEAN JOB

The IMF said it had not been in touch with Strauss-Kahn since his arrest but it would be important to do so “in due course.” Two IMF board sources told Reuters the board would ask Strauss-Kahn whether he planned to continue in his post.

In Strauss-Kahn’s absence, Lipsky is temporarily in charge of the institution which manages the world economy and is in the midst of helping euro zone states like Greece, Ireland and Portugal tackle debt woes.

The White House is considering proposing David Lipton, President Barack Obama’s international economic adviser and a former deputy treasury secretary, to replace Lipsky, whose term ends in August, sources familiar with the matter said.

Strauss-Kahn began to lose European support on Tuesday.

“Given the situation, that bail has been denied, he has to consider that he would otherwise do damage to the institution,” Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said.

A European has held the post of managing director since the IMF was created in 1945, and four of them have been French.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is thought to be interested in the post but her prospects have been clouded by a decision this month by a Paris public prosecutor to recommend a full-scale inquiry into her role in awarding financial compensation to a prominent businessman in 2008.

Emerging countries are starting to flex their muscle over who should succeed Strauss-Kahn, who had been expected to leave soon anyway to run for the French presidency.

China said on Tuesday the selection of the next IMF boss should be based on “fairness, transparency and merit.” It marked the first time that the fund’s third largest member has weighed in so publicly on an IMF selection debate.

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and a senior Brazilian government official, who asked not to be named, said the next chief should be from a developing country, pressing a case to give emerging economies a greater say in world affairs.

But Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the affair should not be used to press for changes in the way the IMF head is picked, telling GloboNews TV the discussion “is too premature at this point” and Strauss-Kahn was “probably one of the best IMF chiefs that we had in the past years.”

April 6, 2011October 11, 2011

The Legon Lawlessness Hall of Shame- Watch and Support

Brian Laung Aoaeh

“I promise on my honour to be faithful and loyal to Ghana my motherland.

I pledge myself to the service of Ghana with all my strength and with all my heart.

I promise to hold in high esteem our heritage, won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers;

and I pledge myself in all things to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana. So help me God.”

“God Bless our homeland Ghana,

And make our nation great and strong,

Bold to defend for ever the cause of Freedom and of Right.

Fill our hearts with true humility

Make us cherish fearless honesty,

And help us to resist oppressor’s rule

With all our will and might for evermore.”

As a teenager in secondary school at St. Francis Xavier Junior Seminary in Wa, and Presec, Legon respectively, I recited and sang those words on many occasions. I learned to take them seriously, and I learned to take my duty to our Motherland seriously.

It is my abiding belief in Ghana that has driven my outrage over the incident that occurred at Mensah Sarbah Hall, on the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon on March 31. If you have not yet heard, a young lady was brutally attacked and sexually molested by a mob of men on the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra. They alleged that she stole some cell phones and a laptop. As I write this we do not yet know if her attackers have been apprehended. Her attackers filmed their actions, and distributed it. One of the radio stations in Accra got a hold of the video, and other media outlets in Ghana picked up the story and reported on it immediately after the incident.

Thanks to a childhood friend, I watched the video in shock and horror on Friday while I was at work. What I saw first brought tears to my eyes, and then filled me with outrage. What I saw can only be described as despicable. That such violence was directed against a woman makes the crime all the more monstrous. No Ghanaian, man or woman, should have to endure what the victim went through. No, not in the face of allegations of any kind.

My first opinion piece on this matter, titled We Must Hold Ourselves To A Higher Standard, has been greeted with many different reactions. Obviously, I have no quarrel with those that feel as outraged as I over this incident.

I will address some of the rebuttals I have encountered and let you judge if Ghana in which incidents like this seem acceptable is the Ghana whose pledge you recite, and whose anthem you sing.

When the video was posted, many protested on the grounds that sharing it widely violated the dignity of the victim and infringed upon her privacy. I understand that sentiment. If it were obvious that her attackers would be brought to justice no matter what, I would agree with that argument. However, it is not until you feel the horror I felt, or experience the anger that welled in me when I saw the incident in video, not till then will you realize that you can no longer simply sit there and do nothing. You can not just stand idly by and wait for someone else to do something. While I understand the position of those who protested the sharing of the video, I do not know that we had much choice. Seeing the video is what prompted my outrage, an oral or written narrative would have been far less effective.

Another group has suggested that the victim brought this upon herself. What did she expect? It serves her right. It is unfair that these poor students lost cell phones and a laptop through her theft. What about their project work for school that was saved on the laptop? To this group I have one question. Is it their intention to suggest that human life, the dignity of another human being and the sanctity of womanhood is no more significant to our Ghanaian society than the value of some cell phones and a laptop? Do we know that she is in fact guilty of the allegations leveled against her? I vigorously reject the notion that unprovoked and wanton violence that is not in self-defense and dehumanizes any one is ever justifiable, under any circumstance.

Yet another group argues that this has been going on for ages. Mob justice, they say, is nothing new in Ghana, but now that it is a woman people want to make this bigger than it is. Why do we care now? To that I have this response. When I was a boy, I heard stories about mob justice. I could do nothing. I felt powerless and filled with fear. Now I am a man. I can do something. I am not afraid. The point is, mob violence against any person is wrong. I would have felt the same sense of outrage, had the video been one in which a man was attacked and molested by residents of Volta Hall. I hope we can agree that wanton violence against a woman is wrong. Wanton violence against a man is wrong. Wanton violence against any of us is wanton violence against all of us. That cannot be allowed to stand. Shall we stop trying to solve our current and future problems merely because we failed to solve similar problems in the past?

There’s that group that wishes to make this about political affiliation. There is not one notion that could be more wrong. I reject with absolute contempt the idea that we should let our response be governed by our political affiliation. This is about all of us. This is about all Ghanaians. This is about the nature of the society we wish to leave behind for our sons and daughters. This is about the reverence with which we should treat our mothers and our fathers. This is about the respect we should have for one another as children of our Motherland, Ghana. This is about seeking to make our country a more just and equitable one because of our difficult history. This is about revering the sacrifices that others have made on our behalf. This is not about ideology. It is not about ethnicity. It is not about religion. It is not about gender, and it most certainly is not about the current state of our political dialogue. This is about us, all of us, all Ghanaians.

Still another group accuses the police, other law enforcement entities, and those in power of never doing anything to right the ills of Ghanaian society. They seem to assert that nothing should be done about this because many in authority go unpunished for crimes and offenses that far outweigh this. Why they ask should these “small boys” be punished when “big men” get away with far worse? To them I say, we have to start somewhere. Let this mark the day when we stood up as one people, and said we will hold one another accountable. Let us channel President Mills’ outrage at the rampant corruption in sections of Ghana’s Customs Department. Let us say with one voice, in unequivocal terms, that we wish all Ghanaians to be held accountable for their actions. Let us promise ourselves a future in which we are answerable to the constitution and all the other laws of our dear nation.

It is easy to find excuses. It is easy to do nothing. After all the victim is merely an anonymous individual that most of us will never cross paths with. Who cares? We should all care. Rwanda. Liberia. Sierra Leone. Zaire. Uganda. Zimbabwe. La Cote d’Ivoire. Societies slip into sustained, protracted and violent conflict when small injustices are overlooked. Every one looks the other way. People in authority renege on their responsibility to insist that the right thing is done. Society collectively turns a blind eye when wrongs go unpunished, and victims are denied justice. Eventually small injustices become big injustices. Society erupts, and violence upends the idyllic lives that the privileged sought to protect by doing nothing. We must not let that happen. We must start somewhere. We must start today. We can start with this incident.

I am a son of privilege. My parents are not rich, not by any stretch. But I am a son of privilege because others in Ghana were denied something so that I could go to school. Others were denied something so that I could receive an education. Others were denied hospitals, roads, schools, electricity and many other social amenities so people like me would receive an education and one day make a contribution towards the improvement of our collective future as Ghanaians. That is not a privilege I take for granted. Nor is it a privilege that I should abuse. If you are reading this you are a son or daughter of privilege too. I implore you do not waste that privilege.

We may have our differences on many issues. I am hopeful that we can agree on this. If Amina is guilty of theft, then she must be held to account for her actions. That she is guilty of the allegations against her does not acquit her attackers. I do not accept the notion that our society cannot ensure that justice is served on both sides of this incident. The mob that attacked the victim too must be held to account. In attacking her they attacked all of us. They brought shame to our beloved Motherland. That can not be allowed to stand. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard. Ghana demands that of all of us.

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April 5, 2011July 3, 2012

Molesters of Campus Woman Thief, Amina, to Be Dismissed, Vice Chancellor

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The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana has condemned last week’s sexual onslaught on a lady who allegedly stole a laptop and mobile phones from the Mensah Sarbah Hall annex B.

Some male students of the Hall molested and stripped the young lady entirely, exposing her private parts. Whilst she struggled to extricate herself from the over a dozen young men, others filmed her. The video was subsequently circulated and copies sent to some media houses.

The Vice Chancellor of the University Professor Ernest Ayeetey told Campus station, Radio Universe, that the act was disgraceful and the students involved will be punished.

“what we saw was a criminal behavior and that falls within the ambits of the law enforcement agencies of Ghana. One thing I can assure Ghanaians is that this University would not protect anybody who has broken the laws of Ghana. In the past students assumed that if they committed crimes their behavior could be excused on the grounds of being students and that the university would go and say they’re students so leave them: we will not do that” he stressed.

“If the law enforcement agencies want to pursue anybody, we will collaborate with them and cooperate as much as possible to ensure that justice is served. We will have our own mechanisms for sanctioning, we can dismiss and indeed we will dismiss”he noted.

Meanwhile the Legon Police command says it has identified some students who engaged in the act.

Crime Officer at the Legon Police Station, ASP Emmanuel Basin-Tale told Citi News “arresting the students is not necessarily a challenge but because they are students we just want to go through the school authorities before picking them”.

The young lady (Amina) now in police custody, is said to be responding to treatment. Professor Ernest Ayeetey noted that “there should be two aspects, the university sanctions as well as the criminal aspect being dealt with by the law enforcement agencies. This university would treat students the way the laws of Ghana require and the way our statutes demand”.

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April 3, 2011April 19, 2011

Chromosome-Dependent Justice: The Pervasiveness of ‘Legal’ Violence Against African Women

John 8:10: When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?”

If you have been to church once in your lifetime, you would probably be familiar with the story behind the verse quoted above. A woman was brought to Jesus to be sentenced for adultery. The men who brought the woman to Jesus emphasized that the woman was ‘caught in (the heat of) the act’, perhaps to demand a more severe sentence from Jesus, which would be death by stoning. Jesus gave the permission to go ahead with a condition: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” He then bowed down his head. When he lifted up his head some minutes later, only the woman was left standing.

Late last week, we posted an article here about a Ghanaian woman, Amina, who was sexually molested by male students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the University of Ghana for stealing a laptop and cell phone from one of the dormitories. Amina was stripped naked, fondled and physically maltreated by the college rogues. According to news sources, the University Police who came to the scene arrested the battered woman and put her into custody while the male accusers were let go.

This was not an isolated case of violence against women and chromosome-dependent justice but a well-rooted tradition of male aggression against vulnerable women in most African communities. The village of Gambaga in Ghana has been a sanctuary for women accused of witchcraft. These women are ostracized and exiled from society by their accusers in a disturbing narrative while the Government of Ghana and local authorities watch on. Most of these women are elderly and through decades of neglect, want and lack of medical care are going through physiological and psychiatric disturbances that require counseling and therapy. However, in the absence help, medical or behavioral, the women are beaten and threatened with death and starvation until they confess to be witches under duress. In November of 2010, we reported the atrocious murder of a 72-year-old woman, Ama Hemmah, who was suspected of witchcraft in Ghana. She was beaten, tripped naked and doused with kerosene and then set aflame by her accusers who were also self-professed spiritual healers. The Foreman for the crusade, Pastor Samuel Fletcher Sagoe, asserted Ms. Hemmah was a witch who wished to do him and his family harm. A Gallup survey in Sub-Saharan African found that the belief in witchcraft is widespread. In the Ivory Coast 95% of people surveyed personally believe in witchcraft. In Ghana, the number is 77%, in Niger 75%, Zimbabwe 63% and South African 46%, just to mention a few. Changing these beliefs is a long journey, but changing the way suspects are treated should be attainable.

The introductory Biblical story suggests that this practice is a prehistoric custom that has lived 1000s of years. In the same vein that the men at Jesus time brought only the woman who was “caught in the act”, the University of Ghana Police apprehended the accused Amina and none of the law-breaking, irresponsible college students. When a person’s chromosomes determine how the law is applied to him or her in our time, Martin Luther King would probably not complain if the color of a person’s skin does the same.

For students in higher education to strip a suspected thief naked, insert their fingers into her private parts, fondle her breast and make fun of it on video is difficult to comprehend. I expect it to carry a more severe punishment that the theft because it was an assault on the woman’s personality and the dignity of more than 50% of human population. Our society needs to realize that illegality will never solve the problem evil.

I implore you to join hands in raising a loud voice against violence towards women in our society. Amina, Ama Hemmah and any of 1000s of the women in the Gambaga Witches Sanctuary could be my sister and your mother.

If you are interested in joining to fight these evils, please send an email to info@talkafrique.com or editorial@talkafrique.com find out how you can help.

We are sending a petition to the University Authorities and other influential sources to press the University to bring the rogues to justice immediately. Please click HERE to sign the petition.

March 3, 2011

DR Congo: UN Report Details Suffering of Rape Victims, Recommends Reparations

3 March 2011 –A United Nations report unveiled today highlights the deprivations endured by thousands of victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including poverty, denial of justice and lack of access to medical and psychological treatment, and recommends the establishment of a reparations fund.

“Remedies and Reparations for Victims of Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” prepared by a special high-level panel appointed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, reveals that the survivors of sexual violence have no recourse to compensation and other forms of remedies or reparations.

During the panel’s visit to DRC from 27 September to 13 October 2010, its members heard from 61 survivors of sexual violence, ranging from a girl raped when she was three years old to a 61-year-old grandmother, about what they perceived their actual needs to be.

“Among the victims with special needs whom the panel met were a girl with sensory disabilities, a young woman who is blind, and four men, two of whom were raped and two of whom were sexually assaulted in other ways,” the report states.

Health care and education were among the highest priorities conveyed to the panel by victims.

“They are determined, but in many cases unable, to send their children to school. Those who have contracted HIV/AIDS are deeply troubled by concern over what will happen to their children when they die. Many victims who met with the panel have been displaced from their homes. They expressed the need for socio-economic reintegration programmes.”

Many women never report the rapes, either due to fear of stigmatization or lack of faith in the judicial system. “There is no point in making an accusation,” one woman said. “I learned by example from most people raped before me that there is no justice,” she said.

The report notes that “these victims expressed great frustration because their perpetrators have escaped from prison while they have not been paid the damages … even in those cases where the State has been held liable.”

The report notes that most victims interviewed were unable to seek justice through the courts because they cannot identify their perpetrators, or in some cases, because perpetrators have not been arrested.

The panel recommends that a fund to support reparations be established as a matter of priority, and that the management of the fund include representatives of the Government of the DRC, the UN, donors, civil society, and survivors themselves.

The panel was comprised of Kyung-wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights; Elisabeth Rehn, former Minister of Defense of Finland; and Denis Mukwege, Medical Director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the capital of DRC’s South Kivu province.

Commenting on the report, Anthony Lake, the Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), who is currently visiting victims in the eastern DRC city of Goma, said sexual violence undermined the social fabric and reinforced a vicious cycle of violence.

(UN News Center)

March 3, 2011March 6, 2011

Victims of Sexual Violence in DR Congo Face Bleak Situation, UN Report

Rape Victims in the Congo — Congo has been described as the rape capital of the world

GENEVA (3 March 2011) – A new UN report, based on testimonies by some of the hundreds of thousands of victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, paints an extremely stark picture of the at best inadequate, and at worst non-existent, resources and efforts to meet their needs, ranging from medical and psychological treatment, to their socio-economic situation, and lack of access to justice, compensation and other forms of remedies and reparations.

The 55-page report, published Thursday by a special high-level panel appointed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, is the product of a 17-day field visit by the panel’s three members and their support team to seven locations in three different provinces and the capital Kinshasa.

During their visit, the panel heard directly from 61 survivors of sexual violence, ranging from a girl raped when she was three years old to a 61-year-old grandmother, about what they perceived their actual needs to be, and what they felt about the remedies and reparations currently available to them. Many of them also described in graphic detail to the panel members what had happened to them and to other victims in their neighbourhoods. In each location, the panel held talks with provincial and local government officials, and convened roundtables with officials in the justice sector, members of civil society and UN representatives.

The panel met with some individuals and groups, the report says, “including victims who had contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of rape, victims who had become pregnant and had children as a result of rape, victims whose husbands had rejected them following their rape, child victims of rape, victims of rape who had taken their cases to court seeking justice, and victims of rape by civilian perpetrators. Among the victims with special needs whom the panel met were a girl with sensory disabilities, a young woman who is blind, and four men, two of whom were raped and two of whom were sexually assaulted in other ways.”

Peace and security are seen as the precondition to any restoration of normal life, the report says, noting that “victims expressed concern that whatever they are given now to restore their lives can be again destroyed if there is no peace.”

Health care and education were among the highest priorities conveyed to the panel by victims. “They are determined, but in many cases unable, to send their children to school. Those who have contracted HIV/AIDS are deeply troubled by concern over what will happen to their children when they die. Many victims who met with the panel have been displaced from their homes. They expressed the need for socio-economic reintegration programmes.”

“The panel was struck by the difference between the urban centres and the villages it visited,” the report says. “In remote areas there is so little infrastructure that access to any form of assistance or reparation is virtually non-existent. Most women outside the cities are unable to get medical assistance within 72 hours of rape. Nor are there prisons and courts within reachable distance, making detention and trial of perpetrators very challenging and rendering justice unattainable.”

Even in Bukavu, the main city in South Kivu, the panel noted that “the police officer responsible for sexual violence investigations has only a motorcycle, which makes it impossible for her to transport arrested persons to detention facilities.”

The panel also met victims who have been able to overcome the many challenges of bringing a case to court and getting a judgment that condemns the perpetrators and awards them reparations in the form of damages and interest.

However the report says “these victims expressed great frustration because their perpetrators have escaped from prison while they have not been paid the damages…even in those cases where the state has been held liable.”

“This is a matter of widespread concern to judicial officers and provincial government authorities, as well as civil society and the victims themselves. The failure to pay these awards is undermining the judiciary and the confidence of victims in the justice system,” the report states, calling for immediate action to pay awarded damages.

The report notes, however, that most victims interviewed were unable to seek justice through the courts because they cannot identify their perpetrators, or in some cases, because perpetrators have not been arrested. “Victims have a right to reparations, which include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. There is a need to highlight the responsibility of the government in this regard, with support from the international community.”

The panel heard many views on the relative benefits and drawbacks of individual vs. collective reparations, and repeatedly the suggestion was made that both collective and individual reparations should be provided for. The panel recommends that a fund to support reparations be established as a matter of priority, with the governance of the fund to include representatives of the Government of the DRC, the United Nations, donors, civil society, and survivors themselves. Such a fund should benefit victims of sexual violence in all parts of the country.

“Shifting the stigma from the victims to the perpetrators would have a great impact on the ability of victims to reclaim their dignity and rebuild their lives,” the report says. “Breaking the silence and mobilizing public support for these victims could be the single most important form of reparation.”

The organization of the hearings, including the identification and selection of victims who met with the panel, was undertaken jointly by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Panzi Hospital, in consultation with the Joint Human Rights Office of the UN mission in DRC (MONUSCO). The potential security risks to each victim were assessed, and measures were taken to ensure their safety and confidentiality. Psychologists were hired to pre-screen each witness and to be available to the witnesses before, during and after the hearings.

The panel was composed of Kyung-wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Elisabeth Rehn, former Minister of Defense of Finland and co-author of the UNIFEM report on Women, War and Peace, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, Medical Director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu.

(UNHCR)