"My daughter is a survivor of sexual abuse, she became pregnant and miscarried, we know who assaulted her, but she has lost hope that she will find justice."
Experiences of sexual and gender based violence like this were suffered on a massive extent a year ago, when Kenya faced the worst political crises since independence: In December 2007 Kenya held its fourth general elections since returning to a multiparty system in 1991. The aftermath of this election brought the country to the brink of civil war. Now – a year later – daily live has more or less returned to normal, the "grand coalition" is in progress and trust in the stability of the political system seems to grow – even if the new government still has to prove that they can handle the upcoming important and not always easy political reforms. Still, women are "paying the price" (CREAW 2008): Sadly, but not unusually in conflict and post conflict times, women faced sexual and gender based violence on a vast scale, the wounds of which will last a long time.
Ethno-politic tensions and the 2007’s post-election-violence in Kenya
To contextualize and understand what had happened in Kenya in early 2008, a brief look into the background of what seemed to be an ethno-politic struggle is necessary.
For the first time since independence from the British Colonialism in 1963, in 2002 Kenyans had voted for a change of government: Mwai Kibaki (Kikuyu) became the third president of the Republic of Kenya – supported by Raila Odinga (Luo), who joined Kibaki's National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) an alliance of opposition parties that successfully challenged the long-established the rule of the Kenya African National Union (KANU).
But the hope for a democratic renewal was rapidly over-shadowed by corruption, abuse of power in government and the allocation of public resources along ethnic lines. Tribalism and ethnicity gained in importance with the return to the multiparty system in 1991 and even more with the Kibaki-era coming up and feelings of inequality and discrimination among ethnic lines emerged. After his victory, Kibaki didn’t keep his promise of sharing power with Odinga, and the Luo – again and as so many times in past – felt neglected. These longstanding ethno-politic tensions – going back to independence period – were aggravated by conflicts over land access and ownership as well as poverty and social inequality. While Kenya's gross domestic product has been growing solidly in recent years, one third of Kenyans continues to live in poverty.
Facing all these unsolved problems and the NARC broken apart, Kenya started its election process of 2007. Kibaki and Odinga – allies in 2002 – became opponents strengthening their political support once again along ethno-regional alliances with the Luo and Kalenjin overwhelmingly supporting Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru supporting Kibaki an his Party of National Unity (PNU). While in autumn 2007, Odinga clearly led the opinion polls, his lead became smaller and smaller in December. Everything indicated an extremely close race. And that is what actually happened.
The delay in the announcement of final results after the elections on December 27, 2007, led to widespread doubts about the validity of the results, and to allegations of systematic fraud. Street protests erupted two days after the election and turned into violent riots just hours after Kibaki was declared winner a day later and (over)hastily sworn-in on December 30, 2007. (1)
In the following two months political and social protests accompanied by violent attacks and the equally violent reaction by the government’s security forces, „ethnic cleansing“ in the Rift Valley and a more general climate of ethnic polarization, which led to uncontrolled self-dynamics of violence and neighbourhood struggles along ethnic lines (Harneit-Sievers / Peters 2008: 133ff), resulted in the killing of more than 1100 people, internal-displacement of at least 350.000 (some estimates are up to 600.000) people and sexual and gender based violence against women on a massive scale. In the beginning of 2008 Kenya nearly stood at the brink of a civil war.
Sexual and gender based violence in conflict and post-conflict time
While violence and killings took place on a vast scale during the post-election conflict in Kenya and is well-documented, the focus of this essay is on the sexual and gender based violence against women and girls. (2)
Sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls has been a feature of virtually all recent violent conflicts, including the conflicts in Sudan/ Darfur, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in the Kivu region. Women and girls face a greatly increased risk of physical and sexual violence; rape and other types of gender based violence seem to be a "rule of war".
But why do women and girls become the target in conflict situations? What is the connection of violence to gender? Before I come to attempted explanations, we need to have a more detailed look at the specific situation on GBV in Kenya during these times.
Few data are available on the total number and extent of sexual and gender based violence during the post-electionconflict period in Kenya; and as in all recent conflicts the total number will remain unknown, not at least due to the fact that most cases remain unreported, because of shame, embarrassment, a lack of awareness on the law and a many other reasons. The Nairobi Women's Hospital Gender Violence Recovery Center, Kenya’s pioneer health institution specialized in women’s health issues, noted that altogether they attended to over 650 cases of GBV related to the post-election crisis. Between late December 2007 and end of February 2008, they alone treated a total of 443 survivors of (S)GBV of which 80% were rape/ defilement cases, 9% were physical assault cases, 7 % were domestic violence cases and 4% were indecent assault (CREAW, 2008, p 5). Gang rape, about 90% of the rape cases the hospital faced during the political crisis, is supposed to be the most common type of sexual and gender based violence during conflicts and war-time. But this may relate to the fact, that this type of SGBV is also the sexual offence most people are aware of and for that reason, is the most reported one. The CREAW study on sexual and gender based violence in Kenya’s 2007 post-election crisis indicated indecent assault as the most prevalent form of sexual violation even, if if such cases were not reported as often as incidences of gang rape because women are not aware of it being a sexual offence and a crime (CREAW, 2008, p. 23).
Other types of SGBV occurred during the post-election crisis included attempted assault, sexual slavery, survival sex or sexual exploitation of women: Women were forced to exchange sex in order to secure their own or their families’ lives and livelihoods, to gain access to food, shelter or services. Women who fled from conflict-areas and left their home and properties behind were not more secure. They may be assaulted on the way to refugee camps or even inside them. Not only men from the opposite group, tribe, or guerrilla groups, but also the security forces or security personnel, camp officials or aid workers in refugee camps and sometimes men from outside the camp, who can enter unchecked, were among the perpetrators. Women from minority ethnic groups, unaccompanied young women and girls were mostly at risk and attacked due to their lack of protection. Female heads of households, single women and widows also faced this lack of protection and furthermore the necessity to exchange sex in order for their basic needs. Married women were less vulnerable to external sources of sexual aggression, but they remained vulnerable to violence caused to them by their intimate partners. The marital status of women is an important factor indicating the vulnerability of women and girls during conflict periods, but not the only one: age and the dynamics of the area where they are resident are among the others.
All these experiences of sexual and gender based violence and injustice have different bad and harmful (long-term) effects on women. The women affected by it do not only have to suffer psychological traumas and mental tortures on an immeasurable scale – sadly enough; they may become pregnant due to rape. This forces them to abort their foetuses or deliver a child from their rapist who may have even killed their husbands and families and always live with the stigma of being raped. This stigma of unwanted pregnancy or "just" rape may lead to separation or divorce from a husband who might have had to witness his wife being raped. Rape and unwanted pregnancy can also lead to forced unions or marriages (with their rapist) to increase economic support and some sense of safety which then ends up in a cycle of rape and violence, unwanted pregnancies, economic dependence and emotional and mental trauma.
Another problem and consequence of sexual and gender based violence are rising incidences of HIV/ AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Most of the women missed the 72-hour delay during which they could receive medical protection from HIV/sexually transmitted diseases. The HIV transmission rate is unknown and uncountable: not only that many women may have been infected by their rapists and haven’t been tested yet and are now infecting their husbands, some of the women who were raped were HIV positive before that and told their perpetrators, but the latter ignored it and went ahead. So there is a group of people who assaulted others who are HIV positive and therefore have been infected with HIV/ AIDS. This is very dangerous because these young men are planning to marry or have wives and so they may also be spreading the virus (Waki Commission 2008: 261ff)
Many women know their attacker and because of this they had not sought medical attention or legal redress; by not reporting it and not getting medical attention they furthermore do not have any medical evidence gathered for legal prosecution of rapists.
The lack of reporting – 82% of survivors of sexual violence interviewed by the study did not formally report the incidents to the police (CREAW 2008: 33) – is another important aspect of GBV. Barriers to report include the personal level: shame, embarrassment, regarding the issue as a private matter, not defining that what happened as a crime, lack of awareness on the law and understanding of human rights, self blame or fearing blame by others and so on. There are also barriers at the level of the criminal justice system, for example, not knowing how and where to report, gender discrimination and lack of sensitivity contributing to minimal confidence in the way police handle sexual violence cases, fear of the police, and / or the legal process as well as being afraid of no one believing them or thinking that nothing would be done. Some women were even attacked by the police, others knew their perpetrators well, and others again could not identify their rapist – more reasons for not formally reporting. There are limited specific and affordable support services for victims such as legal aid or psycho-social counselling, further reducing the motivation to report the violation. To sum up, most victims reported their attacks to immediate family members, friends or the church, but not to the police, local administration or their husbands.
But the Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence ("Waki Commission") has highlighted the problem and brought the discussion and the dimensions of sexual and gender based violence against women in the post-conflict period into the mainstream of public attention in Kenya. At the policy level, it has thereby provided an opportunity for these women to bring their plight to the ears of the government. Thus, the opportunity of justice exists, but it may be a long journey.
All this demonstrates the dimensions of sexual and gender based violence during Kenya’s 2007 post-election violent crisis. But it should also be noted that violence and inequalities which women face in crises do not exist in a vacuum, but are direct results and reflections of the violence, discrimination and marginalization that women face in times of relative peace. (3) However, there are particular aspects relevant to sexual violence in conflict:
According to Ruth Seifert, sexual violence is not considered to be an "aggressive expression of sexuality” but more a “sexual term of violence": Sexual violence seems to be an inevitable effect of war as compensation of (self-suffered) mortification (Mischkowski 2004). Women’s bodies are battlefields upon which wars are being waged; the violence against them is a way of celebrating conquest; sexual abuse and assault are used as strategies of warfare.
It is mostly women who are targeted by sexual violation which, therefore, is of a gender-related bias and constitutes an expression of supposedly male dominance and hegemony. Grabber/ Sprung (1999) discuss violence against women in war time as a symbol of excessive masculinity, especially when being related to gangrape. It is also a form of male communication: Rape becomes a symbolic expression of the vilification of the male counterpart to show him his weakness and powerlessness of protecting his wife and children. Women are targeted in violent situations to humiliate their whole communities and their husbands who are often forced to watch the assault. Therefore, considering violence against women it is not only the woman who is attacked but also the men (and even the community) who are targeted.
The role of civil society organizations in the aftermath
After the shock about the post-election violence at the beginning of the year 2008, many civil society organizations, especially women rights organization, changed the focus of their intended projects towards addressing the conflict-related violence. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) played and do play an important role in the process of peace building and reconciliation – as noted above a huge number of rape or other cases of sexual based violence remained unreported to officials. Therefore project partner CSOs and NGOs of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) immediately went in the field to undertake case studies as well as support women, provide social service and legal or psychological counseling. In the following a few projects implemented soon after the crises financially as well as conceptually supported by HBF are highlighted.
The Inter-Agency Gender Based Violence Sub-Cluster group, a network of women rights organizations engaged in post-trauma emergency response, counseling and service provision in various camps for internally-displaced persons, established itself just during the crisis und took up work. The African Women and Child Feature Service (AWC) implemented a project, which compiled real stories of Kenyan women in the wake of post election violence. This documentation “In the Shadow of Death” gives violated women a voice and a platform, where they can share their horrifying experiences (AWC 2008). The bitterness of what happened may better be addressed when people have the opportunity to talk about it and to openly discuss what they underwent. The first Gender Forum in Kisumu (Nyanza) – HBF finally expanded its long -established Gender Forum public debate series to Kisumu in 2008 – not surprisingly was strongly linked to the post-election violence and the impacts on the communities both generally and from a gender perspective. The Forum – intended to serve as a learning platform for greater understanding of gender and human rights and to create a space to put gender in the focus of discussion – debated why women and girls become the target in conflict situations and how a society can be build which takes responsibility for its actions as a means to elimination human rights violations targeted to women and girls. HBF's Gender Forum in Nairobi also addressed dimensions of sexual and gender based violence during the post-election crisis, working together with other women-rights-organization to disseminate documentaries and awareness of women’s human rights. Furthermore the Men for Gender Equality Now Network, a network initiated in 2001 and working to eliminate gender based violence and to turn men into allies in ending unequal power relations, also focused on planning of peace-building and reconciliation through community dialogue forums, inter-gender counseling, healing programs and survivor support services. Regional Women’s Meetings organized by women's organizations, with HBF's long-standing partner organization Coalition on Violence Against Women among them, gave women leaders and women’s rights activists an opportunity to debate and prepare memoranda focusing on women’s rights and the elimination of gender based violence to be presented to the Waki Commission.
Many organizations are going on to work in the post-crisis and reconciliation process to implement a gender perspective in the coming up political reforms and parliament decisions, to review draft bills of parliament and lobby to domesticate international women and human right standards and to localize and adopt them at the local community level.
Conclusions
One year after the crisis, a process of political reforms has started. The explosion of the violence at the beginning of 2008 immediately motivated the international community to act: The former UN-Secretary General Kofi Annan entered the scene and brought together both sides. At February 28, 2008 – nearly exactly two months after election – he finally succeeded in brokering a compromise of power-sharing between Odinga's ODM and Kibaki's PNU. The deal involved the creation of the position of a prime minister – which was given to Odinga – and the sharing of ministries on an equal basis. This agreement instantly stopped the violence, everybody was relieved that the nightmare of the preceding two months had come to an end and a period of enthusiasm that celebrated the re-discovered unity of Kenyans followed – even if many were aware that the implementation of the power-sharing deal would not be easy. (4)
Despite the political renewal, the female victims of the violence are still trying to reconstruct their lives: Physical and emotional wounds remain for a long time to come, children were born out of rape, women may have been infected by HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, became widows or divorced, homeless and impoverished – impacts, that will not allow these women to easily forget the dark period.
Although no compensation can restore these women to what they were, the proposed Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission could ensure that those who perpetrated the violence are brought to justice and the victims are paid compensation. It would be a necessary gesture in the spirit of true healing and reconciliation.
Furthermore, women need to participate in the on-going processes geared towards the reconstruction of Kenya: in the political and constitutional reform processes and in the necessary up-coming decisions concerning land rights, property and not at least the punishment of the perpetrators of the post-election-violence. They have to do so to make sure that their needs and their perspectives are incorporated; otherwise, it is unlikely that the new dispensation will address their historical subordination
As long as women's rights continue to be violated during peace time, violence against women during conflict is inevitable. Therefore we need to address the persistence of patriarchy in Kenya, create "alternative masculinities", which change the way men understand and express their masculinities, as Anyetse Were started a rather new discussion on the drivers of (African) male violence and the pressing need for the development of real manhood, his re-empowerment by creating “new masculinities” (Were, 2008). We need not only to look at reasons and roots of violence against women in times of conflict, but also to have a more generalized view on the reasons and roots of violence against women by men in times of peace.
ENDNOTES
(1) The "true" results of this election will never be known. The Independent Review Commission on the 2007 general elections ("Kriegler Commission"), which was established as part of the results of Kofi Annan's mediation process between Kibaki and Odinga, revealed countless irregularities and manipulation on both sides, but criticized primarily the failure of the Electoral Commission of Kenya. It rejected the allegations of systematical electoral fraud in favour of the government and stated that the question, who truly won the election, cannot be answered anymore.
(2) The Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence ("Waki-Commission"), also established as part of Annan's mediation process, investigated clashes following the disputed Kenyan election and wrote a very detailed, impressive report on the extent of violence relating to the post-election-crises including all dimensions and regions of Kenya. Furthermore, the non-governmental Kenya Human Rights Commission published a report, "Violating the Vote".
(3) Sexual violence is increasingly prevalent in Kenya; the alarming proportions are confirmed by statistics that indicate its prevalence throughout the years. Kenya police statistics show that more than 2,800 cases of rape were reported in 2004, an increase of about 500 cases compared to the previous year. The Nairobi Women's Hospital Gender Violence Recovery Center reported an increase from 747 to 1,485 cases between the years 2003 to 2005 (CREA 2008: 5).
(4) Until now the new "grand coalition" seems to work quite well. It is Kenya’s first experience in power-sharing and political coalition, but the shock of the violence escalation runs deep: New mechanisms of handling and communicating about political conflicts have been implemented and new thinking about integrating social and ethnical differences has started. But there is still a lot to do: the land question is not yet answered, the new constitution reform will play an important role and last but not least the persons responsible for the violence will have to be taken to court.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Center for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) (2008): Women paid the price. Sexual and gender-based violence in the 2007 post-election conflict in Kenya.
http://www.creawkenya.org/creaw-publications/women-paid-the-price/
Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence ("Waki-Commission"), October 15, 2008.
http://www.dialoguekenya.org/docs/PEV%20Report.pdf
Grabber, Kerstin; Sprung, Annette (1999): Krieg und Vergewaltigung. In: Hey, Barbara et all (ed.): Krieg, Geschlecht und Gewalt. Gray: Leykam Buchverlagsgesellschaft
Harneit-Sievers, Axel; Peters, Ralph-Michael (2008): Kenya’s 2007 general election and its aftershocks. Africa Spectrum 43 (2008) 1, page 133-144.
Kenya Human Rights Commission (2008): Violating the Vote. A Report on the 2007 General Elections. Final Report, September 15, 2008.
http://www.khrc.or.ke/documents/violating_the_vote.pdf
Mischkowski, Gabriela (2004): Sexualisierte Gewalt im Krieg. Eine Chronik. In: Medica Mondiale e.V. (ed.): Sexualisierte Kriegsgewalt und ihre Folgen. Frankfurt am Main: Mabuse-Verlag.
Report of the Independent Review Commission on the General Elections held in Kenya on 27 December 2007 ("Kriegler-Commission").
http://www.dialoguekenya.org/docs/FinalReport_consolidated.pdf
Were, Anyetse (2008): Drivers of Violence. Male Disempowerment in the African Context. Mvule Africa Publishers. Nairobi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Christina Siebert is a diploma student of social sciences at the Ruhr Universität Bochum. In the first quarter of 2009, she was a research affiliate with the Heinrich Böll Foundation's office in Nairobi.
