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No
hiding place: Politically motivated rape of women in Zimbabwe
Research
and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for
Human Rights (ZADHR)
December
09, 2010
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Executive
Summary
Politically
motivated sexual violence against women in Zimbabwe takes many forms.
These include extreme violence, gang rape and insertion of objects
(bottles and sticks) into the women's genitalia. This report is
the first coming out of Zimbabwe focusing particularly on politically
motivated rape; the aim of the study was to provide a valid and
reliable description of cases of politically motivated rape. Since
this was a clinical rather than an epidemiological study, there
was no attempt to determine either the prevalence of political rape
or to establish how representative the sample was.
The sample was chosen
from women members of a voluntary network set up to provide support
for female victims of politically motivated rape. A total of 34
women were interviewed, but 7 were excluded from the study as they
could not be traced on follow-up for medical examinations and finalizing
and signing affidavits. Hence, the data is drawn from a final sample
of 27 women.
Rapes were reported as
occurring in 2001 [1], 2002 [1], 2003 [1], and 2008 [24]. Hence,
most rapes [89%] occurred in 2008, but, of course, there is no suggestion
that rape was actually more common in 2008 than in any other year.
There have been
many reports about the use of "bases" as places where
violations take place, but, for this sample, the rape was just as
likely to have taken place at or near the victim's home [15] as
at a base [12].
Most [21] were beaten
prior to rape, some quite severely.
Over three-quarters [21]
were victims of multiple rape, with an average of three rapists
per incident. One woman reported a total of 13 perpetrators, and
14 women reported 3 or more perpetrators to their rape. One woman
reported 3 separate rape incidences in June 2008 by a total of 13
perpetrators.
A distressingly high
number of the rapes [11] took place in public, at or near the victim's
home, and witnessed by the victim's family and children.
Ten women reported that
their estimate of the number of perpetrators was only certain for
a specific number, and that there could have been more than the
number they specified as they had fallen unconscious, or had lost
count as they seemed to be so many. They could be certain, however,
of at least the number of perpetrators that they specified.
Most [23] did
not report the rape to the authorities at all.Only 4 reported the
rape.
Most of the women did
not receive appropriate care for the trauma that they had experienced.
Only one of the women reported having received therapeutic care
for psychological consequences of the violence following the sexual
assault. This is in contrast to the high proportion of study participants
displaying symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
the presence of some with symptoms suggesting psychotic depression.
Women in the study exhibited
high levels of sleeplessness, nightmares, flashbacks, and hopelessness.
A third of the women reported these symptoms, which are commonly
associated with experiences of trauma. For some, flashbacks are
triggered by large gatherings, particularly where political slogans
were being chanted while others had recurring nightmares during
which they relived the rapes. Traumatic memories may continue for
extended periods of time.
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