The Humanitarian Response to Rape in War - Term Paper Example

The humanitarian response to rape in war Introduction Children and women are susceptible to sexual violence in the tomes of conflicts. Moreover, the risk of sexual violence perseveres even after those women and children have escaped the particular conflict area. The impact of rape in war used to far beyond the instantaneous effects of the particular physical attack. In addition to this it has several long-lasting consequences. However, sexual violence can be considered as long seemed predictable consequences of several civil upheaval and war. The world was shocked in the mid 1990s due to the stories of systematic and widespread sexual violence in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. These specific reports helped to create awareness of occurrences among the public of several areas that are affected by several types of sexual violence and conflict. For example, far-reaching rape of women has been documented in Somalia, Uganda, Bangladesh and Myanmar. However, the problem used to remain hidden for the public and several common community members. In addition to this, these problems are poorly addressed and presented by the humanitarian community to general public. However, the capacity of international community is improving day-by-day. In addition to this, international community is trying to adopt several strategies in order to respond effectively to different types of sexual violence in war. The study will review the current experiences of the efforts of United Nations agencies and nongovernment organizations to prevent these types of conflicts. This particular review will help to medical staffs to provide effective solutions to developed conflicts. In addition to this, this review will increase the awareness of several problems and conflicts in the International Medical community for the better intervention of strategies. The Situation on the Field Women are susceptible to sexual violence during several civil conflicts and war. It is true that women generally have this fear of getting sexually violated while escaping from home, inside the refugee camps or in the midst of fighting. It is true that several families become separated due to the developed confusion and chaos of fight. In this stage, women used to support the families and become easy prey for other men who try to take the advantage of the vulnerability of those women. In addition to this, during the time of border crossings, several women are forced to tolerate rape as this violation can be used as price of border passage (Farwell 21). Even in the refugee camps women are forced to tolerate this violence due to limited economic power and lack of financial strength. Therefore, many women used to find themselves limited protection in the culture of violence fed by several social chaos and conflicts. There are several examples can be considered over this matter. The example of Rwanda in the year 1994 can be discussed in the context of this study. In the year 1994, MSF considered was one of the several important agencies. MSF was working in the refugee camp. This specific agency had sprung up due to the victory of Rwandan patriotic Front. It led to the emigration of near about 800000 refugees into the neighboring Zaire. Suddenly an epidemic of cholera broke out and it took the lives of 20000 people (Salzman 9). The camp was lacking of appropriate securities as the relief agencies started to find it difficult to control the cholera epidemic. The relief efforts and developed strategies were affected due to lack of control of the relief agencies over the epidemic. It had resulted insecurity among the staffs of the mental health centers inside the developed camp (Copelon 16). The women inside the camp admitted and revealed to the doctors of the MSF agency that the center guards started to rape them inside the camp shortly after the healthcare center opened shortly. In this situation, the relief agencies decided to close the camp at night until and unless the administrative, reviewing and advocacy efforts are get succeeded. The incident of Somalia in the year 1990 can be considered in this study in order to provide examples of sexual violation in war. A survey had conducted on several clinics that are run by some private organizations (Meron 7). These clinics regularly treat the women who have been sexually violated by bandits. However, these examples can indicate that women in refugee camps or in several places used to stay in fear of insecurity. It is the morale right of the women to demand and expect security from the society, community and outside world. War and refugee camp can be considered as worst case scenario (Chinkin 15). Therefore, sexual violation by the bandits and camp guards are the example of unethical attitude, behavior and intention of some individuals who are mentally sick. Barriers to Effective Implementation of an Intervention Protocol There are many barriers that exist in the effective implementation of responding to the various episodes of rape in war. One of the most critical barriers to respond or document the various occurrences of sexual violence against women is the reluctance of the reluctance of the rape victims to complain or report about the sexual against done on them. There may be a number of effective steps that can be implemented to ensure that the barriers in the implementation of effective intervention protocols related to sexual assault against women are successfully removed. One of the ways to reduce the barrier can be the employment of more numbers of female workers in health care. These workers in healthcare should be effectively trained to deal with the victims so as to heal the victims physically and mentally. The health care workers should be guided and trained carefully about the different treatment protocols applicable for the victims of sexual assault. Only women workers should be engaged for the medical examination of the sexual assault victims so that the victims do not face any discouragement towards medical examination (Nolan 176). The behavior of the workers should be sympathetic and they should be able to establish rapport with the victims so that the victims can rely on the health care workers. Ideally, 50% workers in health care should be women so that the victim can be open about their problems. Also, same sex medical examination should be ensured as this would be effective in case that the victim of sexual violence belongs to the male sex. Another critical way of ensuring that strict intervention protocols against sexual violence are established is to encourage the reporting of these incidents through robust programs run by different relief agencies to ensure the mental wellbeing of the victims. The health care workers should be able to spend more time with the sexual assault victims so that they can help the victims to open up and be comfortable to them about discussing such personal experiences and problems. In the refugee camps, it is rarely possible to devote more time to the victims by the health care workers as the camps are organized in adverse weather and on an average a health care worker has to attend to more than a hundred victims per day. In this situation, it becomes difficult for a health care worker to attend a victim for a long period of time required to build up specific rapport with the victim. It becomes difficult for the health camps to provide a supportive and comforting environment to each of the victims because of the huge number of victims that they have to attend to (Serrano-Fitamant 613). This is another major barrier in creating a proper intervention protocol against sexual violence. Since the issue of sexual violence is a sensitive topic of discussion for a woman, it is mandatory for the health workers in the camps to make the victims feel comfortable to discuss these incidents and the problems associated with these incidents (Schull 109).The health care workers have to provide the victims with proper medical treatment to address the health issues related to sexual violence as well as they have to respond proactively and sympathetically to the damaged mental state of the victims. Also, the lack of a proper number of health care workers and resources needed to support and treat the victims act as another critical factor in creating a barrier in the process of the development of a robust intervention protocol. The intervention protocol for sexual assault in women can face major hindrances due to the fact that the mental and physical damages of the victims are very difficult to heal even over a long period of time (Swiss 425). The women and girls who are sexually assaulted are generally terrified and suffer from an intensely damaged mental state. Therefore, a successful intervention protocol would require an effective set up to support the victims with an aim to improve their mental state as well as give proper medical treatment to them. Providing an environment that would ensure the victims of maintenance of their confidential information would ensue that the barriers are reduced. The threat of the confidential information being disclosed would make the victims averse to discuss the incidents and problems related to the sexual violence done to them. This is another critical barrier in the path of the development of an effective intervention protocol against sexual violence (Marschner 91). Advocacy as a Tool It has been discussed earlier that it is quite difficult to imagine the scenario of war and refugee camp as it forces several people to leave their house and search for another shelter. In addition to this, it is a woman that suffers a lot due to several mental and physical tortures by several people in the refugee camp. Therefore, it is important for a country to strengthen its administrative and advocacy strategies and practices to avoid the possibilities of this situation and ensure the security of women inside the refugee camp. First of all, it is important to determine and address the real problem. It is clear from both the provided examples that lack of security in the camp and unethical attitude and behavior of guards had caused the conflicts in the camps (Thomas 12). Therefore, first of all it is highly essential to address the problem of sexual violence during the emergencies. It requires strong advocacy campaign to address the issues and change the circumstances. Improvement of camp security in the refugee camps in Zaire helped to improve the situation. This particular approach helped to overcome the situation as the globally monitored and trained security forces were appointed in this camp after the conflicts which helped to improve the entire affected scenario inside the camp. Public advocacy is an important aspect which is required to control such kind of issues. It is true that public advocacy has done some effective works to change the entire affected situation for the children and women in the refugee camp and in the field. Demographic Republic of Congo was recognized as Zaire. However, the Amnesty International in Democratic Republic of Congo constantly reported in the recent years that conflicts’ both sides are using different types of sexual violence, such as rape in order to violate the stability of the community identity and to extend fear and terror among the populations. In the year 1999, MSF had reported that Conflicts’ both sides and small international reaction in the case of neighboring Brazzaville rejected the total responsibility for the proposed acts of several types of violations against the civilians. It is the responsibility and ethics of the physicians in order to treat the victims and speak out the truth in public in order to enhance the advocacy. It is quite general that the victims avoid speaking out the truth to the doctors and other individuals due to immense fear within them (Toole 9). However, the witness of doctors and victims both are required in order to get success through the advocacy. In several times, it can be identified that the doctors simply that physical wounds without realizing and addressing the broader issue that makes the situation worst. However, it is highly important for the doctors to identify the appropriate reasons and address the issues effectively so that the advocacy process can complete successfully (Brennan 11). It will help entire society and community to reduce the number of these types of violations and conflicts within the society and community. It is true that several nongovernment organizations may involve in the political activities in order to help to end the conflicts. It is highly important for a society to get the political support from government and effective support from other nongovernment organizations that is suffering from the effects of war and breakdown of several important social aspects. However, several places in this world are facing these types of conflicts but always expect better support from the government and improved advocacy to live in peace (Stephens 17). During the time of war, majorly women in the refugee camps or during the crossing of borders used to face several harassments that can be considered as serious shame for entire society and community. However, women staffs in MSF mental hospital have constantly reported that the degree of violation is increasing at a rapid pace. Sexual violation, marital violence and rape can be considered as these types of conflicts. However, the government is trying to take some initiatives in order to reduce these types of conflicts by developing awareness programs for the society and several peace agreements with the women that have suffered from sexual violation in the refugee camps. Dayton peace agreement can be considered as the example of the political settlement between the community and government of the country in order to ensure the security for women within the society. It can help the country to overcome the possibilities of such kinds of conflicts in near future. Progress in International Law It is true that the challenge for the staffs in the medical humanitarian organizations is increasing at a rapid face. One of the major challenges for the staffs is to open the eyes of each and everybody in this world to several forgotten wars (Shanks 1). In addition to this, it is another challenge for the staffs of the medical humanitarian organizations to persist that the states kowtow to the international standards of human rights and humanitarian law. These particular efforts can lead to the change. It is important for government to secure the human rights of people in order to enhance social and communal growth of the country. Violation of human rights and humanitarian law can affect several aspects of a country. It has been discussed earlier that human rights have been violated in Yugoslavia and Rwanda (Jewkes 54). However, the government of both these countries adopted and implemented several unique strategies in order to reduce the number of conflicts and violence. The government has ensured effective international reaction to several atrocities. It helped both the countries to change the international humanitarian law. It is true that several kinds of violence and tortures can be considered under the violation of human rights and humanitarian law. But, each and every individual will accept that sexual violation and rape is far critical and difficult to imagine or tolerate comparing to other kind of violations or tortures. It was important for countries like Yugoslavia and Rwanda to overcome these issues as early as possible as the conflicts like sexual violation can affect the growth of these underdeveloped countries. But, it is the testimony of several courageous women and the international criminal tribunal for both Yugoslavia and Rwanda to success fully overcomes the issue for a large extent. Several organizations helped the women of the country to raise their voice against violations and injustice (Serrano 42). In addition to this, lack of effective and appropriate advocacy influenced the anti-socials and people who are mentally sick to commit these serious crimes. Ultimately it affected the lives of women and that cannot be compensated at all. However, the courage and strength of women forced the legal systems of the country to implement some strict and serious steps in the system and advocacy in order to reduce the numbers and possibilities of future crimes and conflicts (Bedell 124). In addition to this, several organizations from these countries used to support the government as well as community by participating in the awareness program about the developed laws. These developed laws and legal practices helped entire community to gain proper justice from the governmental administrative bodies. However, the above mentioned cases and examples represents that the fraction of the involvement of the women. But, some of these women got justice through the advocacy practices. It is not justifies at all. It is true that government of the countries is developing several legal frameworks in order to overcome the issues (Ward 14). Several nongovernmental private organizations and different nonprofit organizations supported the government to do so in order to maintain peace and sustainability in the social and cultural environment. The government considered statute to develop permanent and effective international criminal court with several clear and transparent provisions. These developed legal frameworks and effective advocacies associated with clear provision helped for the perpetrators’ prosecution of the systematic sexual violence signed by 113 different countries. It is an important and effective initiative. But only 21 countries out of the 113 countries have ratified the legal framework (Vann 28). It is important for the countries to ensure effective advocacy efforts in both local and international level so that the entire community of a country can overcome the issue. Consideration of legal frameworks in both local and international level can help a country prevent several types of sexual violence in the field. This adoption and consideration will help the countries to develop the frameworks and prevent the harassments and violence more firmly. In addition to this, it is also important for a country to achieve aid from several leading international agencies to communicate with the community members in order to create awareness about the developed legal framers. It can help the organizations to overcome the situation and stop the antisocial quite significantly to do such kind of crimes. Conclusion It is true that sexual violence in the war field or in the refugee camps has become one of the critical threats for the society and community of several nations. Day-by-day, the number of these types of crimes is increasing at a rapid pace. Therefore, it is highly important for the entire community along with the government of the country to overcome this particular issue by considering several strict rules and policies for the criminals. It can create fear among the people to commit such kind of criminal activity. Human rights of an individual needs to be secured by the society. It is the prime responsibility of each and every people as a human being. Countries like Somalia and Rwanda saw the brutal incidents of antisocial crimes in the refugee camps after the warfare. In addition to this, several people along with the doctors fail to speak out the threat due to immense fear within them and next possible consequences. However, several international commissions and agencies have started to support the government of these countries. In addition to this, several organizations are trying to develop new awareness programs for the entire society and community in order to create awareness about the developed rules, policies and regulations among the people of the country. These activities undoubtedly reduced the number of crimes and sexual violation on the field. Last but not the least; it is the improved advocacy by the courts that have ensured significant security for the women in the refugee camps and in several medical centers. 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