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Politically motivated rape in Zimbabwe
Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU)
April 28, 2011

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Introduction

Women and girls hardly ever literally fight the world's wars, but they often suffer the most as both primary and secondary victims. It is the case that men too suffer, but women carry the differential burden of rape. In both ancient and modern times, rape has been used as a collective punishment for the defeated, but it has increasingly been used by countries not at war to cause terror and humiliation amongst the political dissenters; Zimbabwe is one of these countries.

In the last twenty years, from Bosnia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, rape has been used as a politico-military strategy designed to humiliate and destroy the opposition. Here, two different forms of rape need to be distinguished: the first, rape that occurs during actual war, and the second, politically motivated rape, which can occur outside of war situations, but is used a political tactic against a particular ethnic or political grouping. This report is concerned with the latter since it is evident that a state of war does not exist in Zimbabwe, although it could rightly be described as a "complex emergency".

As a result of the recognition about the increasing use of rape in war and complex emergencies, the United Nations (UN) Security Council promulgated Resolution 1325 in 2000, and followed this up with Resolutions 1820, 1880 and 1960 in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Although Resolution 1325 has been in place for more than ten years, its implementation has been slow; only a small number of perpetrators of sexual violence against women have been convicted and jailed by international criminal tribunals for committing or commanding widespread sexual violence as a war crime.

Since early 2010, the UN Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict has set down a five-point agenda to reduce or eradicate gender-based violence. The agenda calls for an end to impunity for sexual crimes; the protection and empowerment of women and girls to enable them to contribute to peace initiatives; the strengthening of political commitments to ensure that violence against women is "not pigeon-holed as 'just a women's issue'"; and the realisation that "peace negotiations must address sexual violence early and fully to prevent war-time rape from becoming peacetime reality."

Internationally, rape is recognised both as a crime against humanity and a war crime, and it has been said to be a crime of genocide when it is committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a targeted group. The distinction between these three classifications of rape depends on the circumstances pertaining at the time: rape as a war crime would require a state of war, whilst rape as a crime against humanity or genocide could occur outside a state of obvious war. Politically motivated rape could occur short of any of these three situations, but this does not imply that it is any less serious.

The phenomenon of violations against women is not a new thing in Zimbabwean politics; it has been reported in the majority of human rights reports produced both locally and internationally since 2000 when the political landscape changed with the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) posing a serious threat to the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)'s power-base in the June 2000 parliamentary elections. Before 2000 there were reports of rape particularly during the Liberation War and the Matebeleland massacres of the 1980s.There have been frequent assertions in Zimbabwe that rape has been used as a tool for repressing political opposition and winning elections. The reports mentioned above make these assertions, but no empirical study had been undertaken by Zimbabwean organisations until now. Aids Free World was the first to specifically examine the issue of political rape in Zimbabwe. This report was supported by another report by the Medical Foundation in London.

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 womens private parts. In some of the instances, the rape is committed at the instigation of a military leader or war veteran, showing that it is a strategy to intimidate political opponents. Often used during election periods or periods of national importance, it is quite evident that the rape is used as a psychological weapon in order to humiliate the opposition and undermine their morale.

The Global Political Agreement (GPA) acknowledges the fact that violence "dehumanises and engenders feelings of hatred." Violence against women should be addressed to ensure that there are no lingering feelings of hatred and anger in society which can be the cause of future conflict, especially in light of the fact that there is likely to be an election before the end of 2011. Talk of elections is gathering momentum with the latest utterances from President Mugabe that, "We do not want to pass June 2011 without elections. We want acceleration of pace." Therefore Zimbabweans anticipate violence as this is the norm during recent election campaign periods, and it is highly likely that rape will be used again. It has been a successful tactic particularly in the 2008 Presidential election where thousands of women were subjected to all forms of atrocities in the name of politics. None of the perpetrators have been called to account for the violence they committed.

In 2010, the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) conducted a study on politically motivated rape in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) and the Doors of Hope Development Trust, a self-help organisation formed by and consisting of women survivors of politically motivated rape. This study was based on 27 sworn legal affidavits and medical examinations of women who were raped because of their political activity or the political activities of their husbands. The purpose of this study was to highlight the experiences of women during elections, particularly in 2008. The sexual assaults reported by this sample were extremely distressing, with horrific reports of gang rape. Some of the women were raped by numerous perpetrators until they lost consciousness. The medical examinations confirm genital trauma and other physical injuries consistent with rape as well as psychological damage.

The aim of this follow-up report is to raise the legal, social, medical, and psychological concerns surrounding the survivors of rape and how these can be addressed. Although justice was also on the survivors' agenda, assistance to move on with their lives was their top priority. The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare should have a programme catering specifically for victims of rape, and it is important to include the family as part of the healing process; involving the men as well as the children that may have witnessed the rape or those born as a result of rape. Sexual violence should be addressed from the perspective of the survivors as it affects more than the survivors. physical wellbeing, but also impacts upon their psychological, economic and political status. Rape survivors need the co-operation of all sectors - government departments, civil society and development partners - to work together for proper healing to take place. It will also be important to ensure that national sexual violence laws are enforced and the culture of impunity is done away with in keeping with local, regional and international instruments, and that crimes against women will be investigated and prosecuted and the perpetrators brought to justice.

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