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AIDS body investigates violence against women in Zimbabwe
Africa Science News
August 08, 2008

http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=604&Itemid=1

Beginning in the run-up to the June 27th elections, women and girls have been subjected to a wide range of sexual violence including gang rape, beatings, torture and the threat of HIV infection as part of a campaign of violence against the political opposition.

The victims have sustained severe physical and emotional trauma. "We are living through a plague of brutal violence directed at women and girls," said Zimbabwean women's rights activist Betty Makoni, speaking today at a press event at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico.

"Rape is being used as a weapon of political intimidation to instill fear in us, in our families and communities." Makoni reported that marauding gangs tear through villages, moving door to door to wreak violence and humiliation.
Targeted victims have been raped in front of family members, men have been forced to rape their mothers-in-law; some women report having been stripped naked and flogged in public, while others said that pesticide had been shoved into their vaginas.

"The men who have committed these crimes belong in prison," she said.Human rights advocates and grassroots organizations estimate that hundreds were raped between May and July 2008.

Many women have fled to neighboring countries; those who were HIV-positive and on anti-retroviral therapy have seen their life-sustaining treatment interrupted.

At least 53 women and girls have courageously stepped forward to document their cases and demand justice.
Of those, the youngest rape survivor is 13; the oldest is 60 years old; one reported that she was gang raped by 18 men.

"We've all seen the headlines from Zimbabwe about hyper-inflation and voter intimidation," said Noah Novogrodsky, Legal Director for AIDS-Free World.

"The reports of sexual violence tell a story that goes way beyond those crises; they point to crimes against humanity directed at the women of Zimbabwe, and the horror is still unfolding. Our goal, while protecting the identities of the victims, is to preserve the evidence of these politically-motivated mass rapes so that justice can be pursued."

Many rape survivors reportedly went to state hospitals to seek post-exposure prophylaxis treatment to prevent pregnancy, HIV and sexually transmitted infections but were denied treatment, stating that doctors feared repercussions for treating opposition activists.

Police also refused to document their cases. "We will muster every conceivable resource to support the struggle by these courageous women," said Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World and former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

"Impunity in Zimbabwe must end for every rapist and every figure, up and down the chain of command, who has perpetrated, encouraged or master-minded these intolerable crimes."AIDS-Free World also announced that it is preparing to send a team of international human rights lawyers to Africa to interview the rape survivors and document their cases.

The Canadian law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has offered its pro bono support to assist in the investigation of these crimes. Some of the perpetrators are members of the ZANU-PF youth militia, which includes some 20,000 youth between the ages of 18-24 years old.

Militia members have reportedly abducted teenage girls and forced them into sexual slavery. Makoni said that many women who were raped are the wives, sisters, mothers and grandmothers of people involved with the political opposition. Some were told by their perpetrators, 'we are raping you so that you will give birth to ZANU-PF babies.'

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