[NYTr] Burundians Say Peace Must Include Tough Rape Laws

Thu Sep 13 06:15:41 EDT 2007

Womens eNews - - Sep 13, 2007
http://www.womensenews.org

Burundians Say Peace Must Include Tough Rape Laws

By Anna S. Sussman
WeNews correspondent

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (WOMENSENEWS)--At a small rape clinic run by Doctors
Without Borders in Bujumbura, the capital of the small East African
nation of Burundi, young rape victims line up for antiretroviral
medication to treat HIV.

Although the war has ended, the rape crisis continues.

Luk Van Baeren, a field officer at the clinic, says it sees about 10
victims of sexual violence each day, and says he thinks that's only the
tip of the iceberg.

His patients suffer enormous shame and alienation in a country that
still heavily stigmatizes rape.

The family of 15-year-old Nadege Mininani, for instance, expelled her
from her home after her rape resulted in pregnancy and told her she had
brought shame upon them.

She said she would never prosecute; she would be too embarrassed and,
besides, wouldn't even know how.

Van Baeren says only about 1 percent of his patients follow through
with judicial recourse.

"There are no laws for rape," he says. "There is a lack of rule of law
in general."

After 13 years of civil war, 27 years of dictator rule and violence
between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, much of Burundi's infrastructure
is suffering. The long war resulted in a lawless police and army force,
and a judicial system in shambles unprepared to process the huge number
of legal battles piling up at its doors.

Peace-Building Commission

The government, aided by the international community, is attempting to
rebuild the nation. The World Bank has pledged more than $130 million
in aid to finance education and community development. The United
Nations has switched tactics in Burundi from peacekeeping to
peace-building, with the establishment of one of the first U.N.
peace-building commissions.

As part of its reconstruction effort, the country is hoping to stage
tribunals for war criminals and a truth and reconciliation commission,
but no date has been set. The truth commission will be modeled on that
of South Africa, which was hailed for its ability to help heal a
divided country through the simple use of organized, public confession
and forgiveness.

But as Burundi struggles to maintain a delicate peace, women's rights
advocates are calling for nationwide legal and social reforms to
address the countless crimes of sexual violence committed during the
war and to reform the country's legal treatment of rape.

Eugene Nindorera, Burundian activist and former human rights minister,
says the new, post-war government must make substantial changes to its
legal system if it really wants to protect the rights of women,
something it has yet to do.

"We didn't change how to respect human rights, how to have a rule of
law. Rule of law is something that is very fundamental for good
governance."

He says the current government seems to favor ignoring the perpetrators
of human rights abuses, in part because many government officials fear
prosecution themselves for crimes committed during the war.

"We can't accept the impunity that has been acceptable for all these
years, so we have to struggle against impunity," Nindorera says. "We
have to put in jail all these people who are responsible. To strengthen
human rights and the justice is very important, but it's not seen as
very important, according to the resources that are accorded to these
different sections. It's frustrating."

Justice Key to Reconciliation

Nindorera and other activists say Burundi cannot enjoy a lasting peace
until the women of the country see justice for the violence they have
endured. That means any reconciliation effort must prioritize the
criminalization of sexual violence.

"It is important for those who have committed these crimes to be
punished. It is in the interest of the Burundi citizens," said Patricia
Ntahorubuze of the Bujumbura-based Association of Women Lawyers,
Burundi. "All of the violence that was committed against women must be
addressed first."

In Rwanda, the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence committed
during the genocide was deemed so serious and sensitive that sex crimes
were removed from the dockets of the local 'Gacaca' genocide courts and
placed firmly in the jurisdiction of the national courts so as to
publicly acknowledge the gravity of rape crimes, explained Domitilla
Mukantaganzwa, executive secretary of the National Service of Gacaca
Jurisdictions in Kigali, Rwanda.

The biggest obstacle on the road to justice lies in Burundi's historic
laxity toward rape. The rape laws on the books are vague, outdated and
insufficient, says Ntahorubuze. As of today, there is really no law
specifically criminalizing rape.

"There has to be a separate specific law for crimes of sexual violence.
Right now, the law is obscure. Under the reforms of the penal code, the
government must create a specific law which will promote prevention,"
she said.

Strengthening Rape Laws

Her organization, along with others, is petitioning the government to
revise and strengthen the laws around sexual violence and is advising a
special judicial review committee convened by concerned activists. She
says that rape was so endemic during the war that the peace process
will be useless if it fails to properly address the issue.

"The government needs to harmonize the laws so as to make them more
applicable to the events of today and make them consistent with the new
constitution, the peace accords and the International Criminal Court."

In Burundi, as in much of the African Great Lakes region, women's
bodies have served as a battleground for ethnic violence and political
warfare. Official statistics are scarce, but the United Nations and New
York-based Human Rights Watch report that government soldiers and
rebels raped Burundian women and girls in epidemic proportions during
the war.

On a recent visit to the region, U.N. Human Rights Chief Louise Arbor
called the number of victims of sexual crimes in the region appalling.

"In Burundi, there is also a lot of deficit in the capacity or
willingness of the justice system to address these issues," she said at
a press briefing in June.

Ntahorubuze says criminals convicted of petty theft typically serve
longer prison sentences than those convicted of rape.

"It is a problem because there is a tendency to treat these incidents
as lesser crimes. This is a sin because many who are brought to court
on rape charges are immediately released," she said. Many victims don't
bother seeking prosecution because they know nothing will be done.

Often, crimes of sexual violence are resolved in what is locally called
the "friendship way," with an exchange of cows or cash, according the
Bujumbura-based human rights group League Iteka.

[Anna S. Sussman is a print and radio journalist. She currently lives in
Uganda.]

This series is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at
editors at womensenews.org .

For more information:

League Iteka: - http://www.ligue-iteka.africa-web.org/

Human Rights Watch, Rape in the Burundian War: -
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/burundi1203/7.htm

Women's eNews series, Africa's Women Crack Open Its Universities: -
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3062/