Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Nov. 18th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Today, November 28, 2010, we are holding the 32nd meeting of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

The order of the day today is a study of sexual assault on women and children during peacekeeping operations, in fragile states and in situations of conflict.

Today we have two witnesses: Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff, who is associate professor in the Department of Law at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and Mélanie Coutu, who is a research fellow at the Centre for Peace Missions and Military Operations.

We are very glad to have you here, both of you. We welcome you to make your comments. Normally we give you about 10 minutes. I recognize there are two of you, and I'm not sure how you divide it up. If you go over, it's not a serious problem, though it eats a bit into the time we have for questions at the end.

At any rate, we are all interested in hearing what you have to say, and we encourage you to start, please.

[Mélanie Coutu, Research Fellow, Center for Peace Missions and Humanitarian Studies, Raoul-Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies]

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, committee members, good afternoon.

It is a pleasure to be with you today to talk to you about sexual assault on women and children during peacekeeping operations in fragile states and in situations of conflict.

In the first part of my 10-minute testimony, I would like to briefly outline the consequences of sexual assault on women, both individually and collectively. Then I would like to describe the reasons why sexual violence is used as a weapon of war and to explain to you why, once hostilities have ended, women continue to be victims of sexual violence

In my last point, I would like to shed light on the exploitation of sexual abuse committed by UN peacekeeping troops and humanitarian personnel when deployed on peacekeeping missions.

First, I will provide a brief overview of sexual violence. In 2008, at a high-level conference on the role of peacekeeping missions in the struggle against sexual violence, the former assistant commanding officer of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—MONUC—Major General Patrick Cammaert, said that it was more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately, the DRC is not the exception, but the rule. Seventy per cent of current victims of conflicts are civilians, not combatants, and the majority of those victims are women and girls. A disproportionate number of women are still dealing with this type of violence. Some 60,000 women were raped in Bosnia-Herzegovina, between 250,000 and 500,000 during the genocide in Rwanda and more than 64,000 during the conflict in Sierra Leone. It should also be noted that these figures are estimates because most rapes are not reported by the victims.

Sexual violence can take several forms. These include rape, sexual assault using foreign objects, mutilations of the breasts or genitals, forced marriage or forced pregnancy, torture and sexual slavery. They involve all women, regardless of age, social status, nationality, ethnic group or political affiliation. Incidentally, a recent study has shown that, in sub-Saharan Africa, the age of the victims of sexual violence is constantly declining, particularly as a result of the fact that attackers fear they will contract AIDS. As a result, 68% of the victims in DRC are 11 to 18 years old.

For thousands of women, rape is a life sentence. Lacking psychomedical care, shelters and accommodation, reintegration assistance and legal aid, rape victims will have to live with the psychological and physical after-effects for the rest of their lives. In many cases, as a result of the brutal nature of sexual violence, women may develop physical consequences such as infertility, fistulae and incontinence. They develop health problems for life.

Another aggravating factor is that rape is still a taboo in a number of societies. Rape victims will often be ostracized and ultimately find themselves outside society. In Somalia, for example, a married woman who reports that she has been raped is guaranteed that her husband will seek a divorce because she has shamed him and her family. Out of fear of reprisals, out of fear of AIDS, as they have dishonoured their families, members of the immediate and extended family, spouses and entire communities frequently reject the victims of sexual violence.

The second point I would like to address is the issue of sexual violence as conflict. Sexual crimes against women and girls are not committed in a particular type of conflict. Whether it be a war of secession, genocide, an ethnic cleansing campaign or an inter-state war, sexual violence is committed against women. Nor is it committed by any specific armed group. Soldiers of national armies, militia members, paramilitary troops and mercenaries commit these crimes. Rape is a weapon of war because it is used deliberately and systematically against civilian populations. Rapes are planned in advance, and they take place in public areas, on roads or in fields, in view of the family and community. Their purpose is to control, humiliate and establish a climate of terror in communities. It is a very effective weapon, as it were, because the terror it causes pushes local and community populations to flee by road and to take refuge in camps or elsewhere.

It doesn't affect just women; it disrupts entire communities.

I would like to add that the end of hostilities does not mean an end to violence against women. In states emerging from armed conflict, the influx of refugees and displaced persons, the presence of a large number of demobilized former combatants, often without job prospects, and the massive presence of firearms are all factors contributing to persistent sexual violence against women. The judicial and political systems of most fragile states are not functional. In fact, that, in a nutshell, is the definition of a fragile state. These women therefore have no recourse to regular law enforcement. In other words, most sexual violence remains unpunished.

Lastly, the general deterioration of social standards caused by years of conflict, chronic insecurity and poverty fosters the development of fundamentalist movements, religious in particular, but others as well. These harm women and leave them more vulnerable to sexual violence.

With respect to sexual violence committed by peacekeepers, this is not new. Cases of abuse have previously been reported in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Kosovo. However, the media coverage of sexual abuses recently committed by Indian contingents in the DRC have made the problem more visible and resulted in greater concern by the UN and international NGOs.

MONUC has an office that establishes guides and prevents sexual abuse cases. In addition, the UN secretary general has established a zero tolerance policy and a code of conduct prohibiting personnel from engaging in immoral acts of violence or acts of sexual, physical or other types of exploitation against civilian populations. However, despite these preventive and restorative measures, sexual violence cases persist. Here we're talking about the emergence of sex industries, trafficking in human beings for the purposes of sexual slavery, as well as the increase in the incidence of HIV among populations welcoming peacekeeping operations.

The sexual abuses committed by peacekeepers and other humanitarian personnel have often been treated as collateral damage. This, in a way, is a cavalier manner of saying that "boys will be boys" and that, where there are soldiers, there will necessarily be prostitution. However, it is crucially important to emphasize that certain conditions make this kind of wrongful behaviour possible. Let's not forget that peacekeeping operations are generally conducted in circumstances of extreme poverty in which the rule of law is considerably weakened. This context results in significant disparities of status between personnel deployed in the field and local populations. This unequal relationship fosters an increasing incidence of sexual behaviour and abuse by peacekeepers.

In the DRC, the sexual exploitation and abuse committed by peacekeepers essential consists in an exchange of money and material or other property for sexual favours. There is therefore a real market for sexual favours near the camps of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In conclusion, I would say that sexual violence in times of armed conflict is a universal weapon that enables those who use it to strip their victims of their dignity and destroy their self-respect. By destroying women's bodies, sexual violence reduces women's ability to play an active role in restoring societies after a conflict or in restoring a society within a fragile state.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you, Ms. Coutu.

Ms. Breton-Le Goff, go ahead, please.

[Prof. Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff, Associated Professor, Department of Law, Université du Québec à Montréal]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for inviting me to this subcommittee.

My address today will concern the situation of women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, in particular, the issue of sexual violence and the perpetuation of sexual violence in the DRC. More particularly, I will talk about the east region of the DRC.

As you know, for many years now, there has been a series of regional, national and inter-ethnic conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have resulted in innumerable—since we are unable to obtain statistics on the subject—victims of sexual violence.

That violence has been committed in combat, reprisal operations and clearing operations designed to seek out the enemy, or simply in a context of general insecurity, which is the result of increased numbers of armed groups hiding in forests and emerging from time to time to attack villages and peasants.

Based on the figures reported to us, the NGOs and the UN believe there were 13,000 rapes in 2006 and 15,000 in 2009, which is tantamount to saying that an average of 40 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo every day.

That leads us to ask one question: would we allow 40 women to be raped every day in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces?

It is also estimated that 40% of women living in North and South Kivu have been victims of sexual assault.

Today, despite the fact that peace accords have been reached, "pacification" operations are underway, that is to say operations to seek out the FDLR, the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, former Hutu Interahmwe, it is nevertheless estimated that 70% of sexual assaults are committed by members of the Congolese army, the FARDC.

Why has this situation occurred? It's quite simply because there is a national regime of impunity for both civilians and the military hierarchy. It is also the result of agitation operations that were conducted when authorities wanted to pacify the region and thus restore rebel soldiers to the ranks of the national army, together, of course, with soldiers who, despite the international community's efforts, unfortunately have little training in the rules of humanitarian law.

Another disturbing fact about the Democratic Republic of the Congo is that sexual assault is not committed solely by the military, but is also extensively perpetrated by civilians. Field-based non-governmental organizations in the field report that sexual violence is increasingly being committed by civilians, that is to say unarmed individuals.

In the DRC, it must be understood that all armed groups have, at one time or another, committed sexual violence, that that sexual violence has absolutely broken all cultural taboos of Congolese society and that children, babies, prepubescent children, pregnant women, both nursing and in menopause, as well as a percentage of men whose cases it has been difficult to document, have been raped. This of course has an extensive impact on the health and socio-economic situation of women and their children, as well as on the fabric of society, as my colleague said.

Here are some statistics: in the area of health, 22% of women who have been raped are carrying HIV-AIDS. A number of them have had to undergo operations where that was possible. They also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which manifests itself in crises of anxiety, insomnia and depression, not to mention the fact that there are forced pregnancies that have physical and psychological consequences that will undermine the welfare of children born of rape.

The specific problems that we see in the DRC also include stigmatization and rejection by the community, the fact that forced displacements, precisely as a result of campaigns of rape and terror, cause population displacement. This ultimately weakens communities, and women in particular, economically because it cuts them off from their traditional means of subsistence. The vast majority of victims of sexual violence are peasant women who have been raped while cultivating their fields or going to market.

This also has an impact on education. The children in Eastern DRC have little or no access to education. According to statistics from the World Bank for 2008, an estimated 58% of children in the DRC are registered in primary school and the drop-out rate is 20%. It also has to be said that a number of children are recruited or enrolled in armed bands on the way to or at school.

It must be understood that the parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo passed an act against sexual violence in 2006. That act amends the former Penal Code of 1940 and introduces new offences. It also clarifies the circumstances—or the definition—in which rape occurs. That act has been in effect for four years and its results are still extremely unsatisfactory. There are a number of practical, logistical reasons for that. I'm going to mention them briefly.

There is one particular difficulty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in the east: the judicial organization of the prosecution, of the courts, is not conducive to the prosecution of offences as a result of the remoteness of judicial bodies and, in particular, the separation between the public prosecutor and the court; that is to say that a prosecutor may be in one city and the court in another. In a country where travel and means of communication are difficult, this raises a problem for judicial activity. In addition, neither the police nor the prosecution have the logistical means to travel to investigate on site and to question witnesses. Furthermore, magistrates and police officers are not trained in examination techniques or in the care of victims of sexual violence. There is another point: the victims cannot afford to pay for medical consultations or a doctor's certificate, which will serve as evidence at trial. Nor can they afford procedural costs or travelling expenses to go to court.

Another difficulty is that many offenders who are prosecuted for sexual crimes are regularly granted pre-trial release and take advantage of the fact to run away.

Another sizable problem is that individuals who are in a situation of power and who commit sexual assault in the DRC have de facto immunity, and the justice system ultimately prosecutes the "small fry".

It would be helpful to do something, particularly in the context of this initiative, which has been introduced by the UN secretary general and to which a number of countries have responded—25 to date. The idea would be to put a national action plan in place to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security.

The recommendations or implementation indicators state that it is absolutely imperative to combat impunity. I consider it absolutely fundamental, in the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to be able to grant judicial and police institutions authority to prosecute and judge adequately.

This means having the material capacity to do so. Police officers have to be trained. Judges and police officers also have to be paid in order to avoid corruption. Currently in the DRC, there are mobile courses financed, in particular, through Belgian cooperation, CIDA and the NGOs that travel to remote regions to ensure justice is done.

We must also insist that the Congolese government comply with its policy of zero tolerance of sexual violence at all summits of the civilian and military hierarchy.

Another option would be to reduce or abolish court costs for the victims of sexual violence. Currently, the non-governmental organizations and, in the case of bilateral cooperation, programs will be financing the care and legal assistance of these victims. There are of course other points that could be raised, but it is imperative that peace be restored and maintained. It seems to me that goes without saying.

Action must also be taken to ensure redress because, at some point, we will have to consider a way of restoring generations of men, women and children who have been completely broken by war and sexual violence. In a manner consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 1325, we must also listen and give voice to the Congolese NGOs, particularly with regard to the development of peace plans and national policies, as well as international plans and programs to combat sexual violence.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you, too.

We have 29 minutes. The most logical thing is to simply divide this into four chunks and give one seven-minute section to each of the four parties. If you choose to divide that up between two members of the same party, that's your decision.

We'll start with Mr. Silva for the Liberals.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I also want to thank you for your testimony, which is so important. I am sure your statement will no doubt help us a great deal in the study we are conducting.

I have three brief questions, but I'm going to share some of my time with my colleague Mark Eyking, who also wants to ask a question. A number of reports concern the culture of impunity that exists in a number of countries. What do you think that we members and our government can do to put a stop to this political situation that exists in a number of countries where there are conflicts?

My second question will be brief. I don't know whether you're ready to comment on the new Shi'a Personal Status Law in Afghanistan.

My third and final question also concerns women. It's about honour crimes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and a number of countries like that. Perhaps you can talk a little about that.

[Prof. Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff]

With regard to the culture of impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a number of levels of intervention are possible, particularly bilateral aid. I know that the DRC is not one of the priority countries for the present government, but what I'm going to tell you is also valid for other countries. As you no doubt know, the fight against impunity is waged by example. I know that one of the best examples, the best signal that President Kabila could send, would be to transfer Mr. Ntaganda to the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for his arrest. It did so because Mr. Ntaganda was an officer, a lieutenant, under the orders of Mr. Lubanga, who is currently on trial. It has to be understood as well that Mr. Ntaganda was the right arm of Laurent Nkunda, who conducted an armed offensive against Goma between October and December 2008. There is documented evidence of what happened. That would be the first signal.

The second signal would be national in scope. It would be absolutely necessary for the army officers known to MONUC and Mr. Kabila's government to be prosecuted in military court, under military justice, for the sexual violence crimes they have committed.

[Mélanie Coutu]

What was your second question?

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

It concerned the Shi'a Personal Status Law.

[Mélanie Coutu]

I know less about Afghanistan than about Africa.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

That's fine.

I had a question on honour crimes.

[Mélanie Coutu]

Honour crimes, in times of peace as in times of war, fall into the broad category of sexual violence against women. Honour crimes also belong to the category of sexual mutilation that some women suffer in Central America, Africa and elsewhere. We're also talking about forced marriages at a young age or even forced pregnancies and trafficking in women. I know that a recent study has shown that Afghan families often marry their daughters increasingly young to prevent them from being raped by the Taliban or other groups. This is a set of crimes based on relationships of inequality between men and women.

That's fundamentally where that comes from. These are prejudices; this is the way the role of women, their identity and the social role they are assigned in societies are perceived. I could say, somewhat crudely, that the way to lower the incidence of these crimes, whether it be honour crimes or other sexual crimes against women, would be to develop policies aimed at communities that involve men and women for the purpose of changing cultural standards. In fact, the idea would especially be to develop policies that would enable women to become independent. The well-known term in English is empowerment. That would enable them to play an active role in society and in reconstruction.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Do you have a minute for my colleague?

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

We have a minute and a half.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Thank you, Chair.

I appreciate the witnesses coming here today.

A disgusting byproduct of war zones in the history of mankind has been rape. The sad part of it is that many of the leaders of these armies have always turned a blind eye—to reward the victors, to take revenge on the opposition army, to terrorize the public.

What bothered me most today is the report that it's happening with the UN soldiers. In the 21st century, the UN should be the best example out there.

Shouldn't we, as a UN member, be going after the generals and the officers in charge of these men? The soldiers are on the ground, and if they're not being punished, the generals and the officers in charge have to be held accountable. If we're not doing that at the UN, how can we expect that of other countries?

What has been taking place with the men and women in charge of these armies of the UN? Is the UN going to clamp down on it?

[Mélanie Coutu]

The UN is in a bit of a delicate place. It is difficult to accuse the person who did the crime because it's the national army--the two contributing countries--that has to process the person with the allegations against him of sexual violence.

When a country deploys their military personnel or police personnel they make....

Can I speak in French?

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Go ahead.

[Mélanie Coutu]

In fact, there are agreements between the UN, the host country and the country that provides troops. Some immunity prevails during peace missions, in the field. Responsibility for prosecuting military personnel who are subject to allegations falls on the country. How are most cases settled? The accused is sent back to his country, and it is up to that country to lay charges against him. UN officials are definitely putting pressure on those countries to follow through with the judicial process, but otherwise they have no power. That is a matter of the state sovereignty of the country that provides troops.

There are various mechanisms, including a code of conduct and a code of prevention. At MONUC, for example, an officer is responsible for keeping an eye on the comings and goings of personnel and for establishing certain no-go zones, specifically to prevent violence or cases of sexual abuse by its peacekeepers.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

Ms. Deschamps, go ahead, please.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Welcome, mesdames. Thank you very much for your evidence. It is both very sombre and disturbing.

UN Resolution 1325 was adopted 10 years ago now. It was the first acknowledgment that women were being used as weapons of war. In those past 10 years, there have unfortunately been cases in Darfur, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and even in Haiti, where there is no armed conflict at this time, but where there is devastation as a result of climatic events. A very large number of sexual abuses against women in Haitian refugee camps has been reported. Barely one month ago, the government presented its action plan to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security.

Ms. Breton-Le Goff, on November 17, the government, through CIDA, announced a project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although there are tools, an action plan, and Resolution 1325 was adopted 10 years ago, the violence is not declining, on the contrary. Women are increasingly being used. In the wake of the G8, donor countries have undertaken to invest more and to focus on the millennium objectives, but if we do not solve the problems of violence against women, if we do not provide the tools and training necessary to address this phenomenon, we will never be able to achieve the 2015 objectives. You tell us that 40 women are raped every day. That's incredible. If that happened here, I don't believe we would close our eyes to the situation.

Are enough women in those countries allowed to take part in reconciliation, to make their voices heard? It's their bodies; they are the ones who are the most used in these men's wars.

[Prof. Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff]

I wasn't aware of either the project or the CIDA announcement. On the other hand, I am somewhat aware of CIDA's previous project and of the $15 million paid to the joint project for the Fight Against Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

That CIDA project has come up against a major problem because the fight against sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently completely centralized in UN institutions, particularly the UN Development Program, the UNDP. The UNDP is subject to accountability rules by the funding agencies. It is also subject to a number of criteria for the selection of field-based non-governmental organizations which will provide judicial assistance services, but especially psychosocial and medical assistance services.

As a result of these quite strict accountability criteria, UNDP and the UN organizations have had to choose, on a priority basis, to work with international non-government organizations. They have only worked with an extremely limited number of Congolese non-governmental organizations, which are in fact becoming service providers. The problem with this approach is that the voice of women's organizations that take care of victims in the field does not reach the ears of those responsible for designing programs and policies.

So when we talk about Resolution 1325, that's precisely what we're talking about. When we ask the organizations to take women's needs into account in the matter of reconstruction and peace, it's precisely that process we're talking about. They are in the best position to talk about the reality of sexual violence, to talk about the problems they encounter in the field and about the needs they identify. They are also in the best position to set necessary intervention priorities. This is precisely one of the problems involved in implementing the prescriptions of Resolution 1325.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Ms. Coutu, did you have something to add?

[Mélanie Coutu]

No, that's fine.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Knowing that conceptualization, as you say, is being done at a higher level, where women and the organizations of civil society are virtually not heard—there's currently a kind of paradox; how can we know we've achieved the objectives, where does the money go? Am I wrong?

[Prof. Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff]

If we want to make field-based non-government organizations parties to reconstruction, perhaps we have to consider giving them training in fund-raising techniques, training in governance and compliance with accounting rules. We have to equip them. We also have to guarantee them ongoing funding.

The big problem right now is that these organizations are being prevented from developing expertise and experience in project management because they jump from one project to the next. They are constantly looking for funding.

I would like perhaps—