HRP Clinical Advocacy Fellow Adrienne Fricke comments on problem of rape in Darfur with new report from Refugees International
Human Rights Program (HRP) Clinical Advocacy Fellow Adrienne Fricke (2006-2007) has spent the last five months working closely as a consultant with Refugees International (RI) on a report looking at rape laws and the extent of rape in Darfur. The report, Laws Without Justice: An Assessment of Sudanese Laws Affecting Survivors of Rape, is based on extensive interviews with activists, attorneys, NGO representatives, and members of parliament during a March 2007 field mission to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
The report calls on Sudan’s government to urgently reform its rape laws, concluding that current laws governing rape expose victims to further abuse, and that prosecution of rape is functionally impossible because Sudan grants immunity to individuals with government affiliations.
“The extent of rape in Darfur has been well-documented in both the media and in human rights investigations,” says Fricke. “What has received much less attention are the voices of the human rights workers in the field who struggle against a legal system that all but forecloses prosecution of perpetrators. Unless we start to ask systems-based questions, little will change for women in Darfur.”
The report concludes that mass rape, often perpetrated by members of the Sudanese armed forces and affiliated militias, is endemic in the Darfur region of Sudan. Moreover, rape victims suffer from an almost complete lack of access to justice, while the Sudanese government is more likely to take action against those who report and document rape than those who commit it, the report says.
“The current law exposes a woman to a potential charge of adultery where she is unable to meet the impossibly high evidentiary standards invoked in defining rape,” says Fricke.
Laws Without Justice concludes that women who report being raped but are unable to prove that they did not consent to the rape become at risk for being charged with adultery, which can result in a conviction of 100 lashes for unmarried women, or a death sentence for married women. The report also notes that legal action cannot be taken against members of the military, security services, police, or border guards, including many members of the Janjaweed who are integrated into the Sudanese Popular Defense Forces.
Among its recommendations, the report says that current laws and procedures for documenting rape are in dire need of revision. The report urges the government of Sudan to publicly acknowledge that rape occurs in Darfur, including a high incidence of rape perpetrated by members of the armed forces and affiliated militias, and to establish protocols for documenting rape using best international practices. The report further calls for a decree directing that women not be prosecuted for adultery if they have alleged that they have been raped but cannot meet evidentiary standards, and that Sudan’s Criminal Code be amended so that the crime of rape is not defined in terms of adultery.
To view a PDF of the entire report, go to: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/publication/detail/10070. For more information on Refugees International, visit http://www.refugeesinternational.org.
Media Coverage of Laws Without Justice, including comments from Adrienne Fricke