This article is written by Meera Patel, from Maharaja Sayajirao University, School of Law. This article talks about sexual violence or abuse of refugees around the globe.

Introduction

Sexual abuse/ violence is an act of violating the primary human rights. When the world is flooding with refugees from Rohingya, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc. Sexual violence/ abuse has quickly become a grave concern for the personal security of not only women but almost all genders. Therefore, this act of violence is considered as a great threat to the humanitarian well being. This inhumane act seriously harms the physical as well as mental well being of the victim, their families, and the society. 

Amongst all the types of sexual abuse and violence stated in the Preamble of the Refugee Protection and Sexual Violence by the Executive Committee Conclusion No. 73 (XLIV) 1993, rape is one of the most prominent acts of sexual abuse faced by the refugees around the globe.

This article highlights the reasons behind the widespread rape culture amongst the refugees around the world.

Sexual violence  

Sexual is defined as an act of throwing unwanted sexual advances, comments, human trafficking, sexual catcalling and comments towards a person’s sexuality through coercion by anyone despite their relationship with the victim. Sexual violence is a vulgar act of unwanted sexual advances, psychological manipulation, sexual extortion, threats of physical violence. As mentioned above, the most common form of sexual violence is rape.

Rape is a physical act of forcing, compelled penetration, or even the slightest insertion of a penis/ object/ body part in the victim’s anus or vulva. The attempt to do the same is also considered as rape. Other than that, the covered contact that connects the mouth to the penis/ vulva or anus is also considered sexual assault. Although, groping private body parts, is considered as sexual abuse. 

The legal definition of rape depends on the country because there are countries such as the member UK, Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus, etc believe that all non-consensual sexes are rape and on the other hand countries such as Poland, Romania, Finland, France, Spain, etc rule under a jurisdiction which defines rape only if physical force or threats are passed on to the victim or if the victim was coerced or maybe didn’t have enough strength or resources to defend oneself.

Although according to a few observational reports made by UNHRC, there are so many unreported, underrepresented sexual violence cases of sexual violence against men or any gender for that matter have exceeded a lot in the last decade but even though these cases are rising at a very high speed, rape against women have a comparatively higher statistics than rape against men or the LGBTQIA+ community. According to various national surveys, it has been proved that 91% of victims of sexual assault are female and 9% of victims are male. Therefore, a woman is more vulnerable to sexual violence in multiple ways. That’s the reason why most refugee women are subject to sexual violence when they are fleeing their homes, while in refugee camps, etc. 

Such an act is always life-threatening as it frequently escalates in refugee camps because of the refugee’s fight for resources like food and sanitation so security is the last thing they can wish to acquire. Sexual violence against the refugees is a huge humanitarian crisis on a global scale as it implants a sense of horror and terror due to a lack of basic human rights while they are already terrorized by the fact that they have been displaced from their homes.

Forms of sexual violence

Not only rape, but there is a wide range of sexual violence/ abuses that take place in different circumstances and settings. To emphasize the main topic, listed below are the different forms of sexual violence suffered by refugees around the world.

• Rape by the citizens of the host countries/ refugees themselves.
• Systematic rape during armed conflicts.
• Unwanted sexual harassments at the displacement camps due to lack of security.
• Sexual abuse of physically disabled people.
• Sexual abuse of children.
• Coerced marriage and child marriage. 
• Forced abortion via unorthodox methods.
• Female/ male genital mutilation. 
• Forced prostitution to win bread for the family.
• Trafficking refugees for sexual exploitation and sexual slavery in the black market. The Balkan Route is a well-known route for human trafficking of refugees for sex slavery and forced prostitution.
• Due to the drained financial status of the refugees, they are forced to indulge in prostitution as a repayment of the debts taken or to earn money to feed themselves.
• The trafficked refugees lose their identification papers to the traffickers as they are converted into sex slaves.
• Sexual violence by intimate partners due to frustration.
• Gang rapes.
• Sexual violence against sex workers.

Sexual violence in the refugee displacement camps

All the refugees are prone to sexual violence while they are in exile from their home which eventually becomes the reason for the excruciatingly painful lives of these refugees at the displacement camps. Listed below are a few settings where refugees are abused sexually very frequently: 

Health care camps

Refugee camps struggle to employ or get doctors to let alone medicines or health care centres in the first place and above the scanty amount of healthcare centres with unqualified doctors and probably that can be a reason for the rising sexual violence against the refugee patients. Various studies show that multiple forms of sexual violence against women are related to the medical staff available at the health care centres at these displacement camps. Practices such as clitoridectomy, forced abortions, virginity inspections, etc. Sexual violence at the refugee healthcare centres has become so prominent that even the volunteer medical staff refuses to go to these displacement camps let alone the refugees who need medical treatment. Not just the refugee patients but even the male doctors and female nurses have been the victims of sexual harassment in these refugee displacement camps. This lingering problem has been reported in various countries such as the host countries like Bangladesh for the Rohingya Muslims, Jordan and Turkey for the Syrian refugees, Nepal for the Bhutanese refugee women, etc. 

School in refugee camps

Many children have become a victim of this humanitarian crisis and have suffered so much physical as well as mental trauma. They have suffered so much at the age when other children of their age are enjoying all the necessities that the refugee children can only long for. One such facility is education. The most common settings prone to sexual violence are the schools but especially the unstructured schools at the displacement camps. The most common place for sexual violence and human trafficking is school as it is the only place where the children aren’t under the supervision of their legal guardians. For example, 71 teenage girls were raped and 19 were killed by the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Kenya. These girls were refugee children who were studying in a boarding school in Meru Kenya. Many reports suggest that school teachers are the main predators in schools. Displacement camps in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sudan, etc have observed that the school facilities provided for the refugee children are more dangerous than their refugee camp homes as the vulnerable and gullible children are at their peak point when left alone with sexual predators at school who are disguised as school teachers. 

Some examples that provide detailed information regarding the fact that children were being sexually abused even before getting into their teen years in these refugee camps are: 

• A national survey in South Africa stated that over 32% of school-going children were raped who were under 15.
• A national survey in Zimbabwe states that children under the age of 8 years are the target prey for sexual violation practitioners. 

Armed conflicts in refugee camps

Sexual violence, especially rape has been one of the most practised strategies during armed conflicts. For example, after achieving independence in 1947, India and Pakistan were being separated into two separate nations. Due to this excruciatingly painful process, riots and bloodshed descended upon the citizens of both these countries. While seeking refuge, thousands and thousands of people had to go through multiple horrible violence. The refugees were raped, murdered, maimed, mutilated, etc. 

Similarly, refugees had to go through the same type of violence during the second world war in Korea, in Bangladesh during their war of independence from Pakistan, Kashmir riots, Rwanda, Uganda, etc. The eye-catching feature of such type of violence was that this was a deliberately planned strategy in various countries. For example, in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, rape and other sexual abuse were used to break the unanimous communities or for ethnic cleansing. The sexual violence against the refugees was a strategic, well-planned genocide.

Multiple reports state that Indonesian women were raped in East Timor, women under the age of 25 are being coerced into sexual activities and are being raped in Monrovia and Liberia. These were the examples of sexual violence but at the same time, the refugees go through so much mental as well as physical violence than what we see in books. 

The said refugees were forced into prostitution as the armed conflicts were the repercussions of the disruption of the economic and social disruptions due to religious, political, or outside terrorism. Refugees seek shelter in these refugee displacement camps to get away from such armed conflicts or natural disasters but technically they are exposing themselves to a higher risk of becoming the victims of rape in their new living conditions. All the above-stated statistics have been taken from reports stated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

What makes the refugees vulnerable to sexual violence

Listed below are a few factors that make the refugees vulnerable that they become the easy subjects to sexual violence regardless of their age, gender, community, race, etc.

• Forced sexual activities by intimate partners;
• Age;
• Early marriage; 
• Cohabitation with violent partners;
• Alcohol and drug consumption;
• Voluntary or forced involvement in prostitution;
• Involving multiple sexual activities with many sexual partners;
• Poverty.

Reasons behind the rising sexual violence encounter in the displacement camps

There are multiple reasons why a person is an easy target to be victimized as prey against sexual violence in the refugee displacement camps. Amongst all the reasons, the two main factors are:

Alcohol and drugs

The easy availability of alcohol or drugs at these displacement camps is shocking. When people scamper to access basic human necessities such as food, clean water, the refugees are exposed to a wide range of drugs at the same time. Many reports have shown that the refugees from Palestine and Afghanistan also suffer from drugs and substance abuse disorders. A person under the influence of drugs, substance, or alcohol is bound to have an impaired ability to think straight and have a high possibility of indulging in sexual violence.

Psychological factors

By various psychology studies by the Association of Psychological Science (APS), it has been stated that the cognitive variables of a person who indulges in sexual violence are comparatively less knowledgable of the impacts that the violence can leave on a victim. They also are unaware or rather unclear about the concept of rape. Interestingly, these reasons do not apply to hate crime. 

When a person is going through an emotional terrain full of ups and downs due to their displacement, there is a high risk that those emotionally drained people will indulge in activities such as sexual violence, violence, drugs, and alcohol, etc. Factors such as emotionally unsupportive family members, loss of loved ones, lack of resources, lack of health and safety, poverty, patriarchal male identity crisis, etc.

How to prevent sexual violence

Individual psychological counselling

Although, getting properly qualified doctors for the medical care centres in these displacement care centres, getting qualified psychologists is next to impossible. But getting counselling and proper therapies can be very helpful for the perpetrators as well as the victims of sexual violence as the trauma created after the violence is nearly impossible to overcome by oneself. Proper counselling can help one get through the trauma or divert one’s intentions. 

Life skills and educational opportunities

Lack of educational opportunities and moral values is the second reason why the number of sexual violence is increasing every day in these refugee camps. If proper education is given to the refugees, they will not only know how to protect themselves by coercion but will also be able to create job opportunities for them. Being engaged in some form of activity will decrease the chances of indulging in sexual violence.

Conclusion 

Sexual violence is a very common yet agonizing public health problem that has affected millions of people around the world. Even though rape is common in every country, the sexual violence against the refugees in the refugee displacement camps around the world is beyond shocking. Due to these types of sexual violence, many have been traumatized for life when they are already being displaced from their home and are being exposed to the world of violence and uncertainty. 

References

• https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap6.pdf?ua=1
• https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2018/04/eu-sex-without-consent-is-rape/
• https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/3ae6b33e0.pdf
• http://www.stopvaw.org/sexual_assault_against_refugees
• https://www.unhcr.org/excom/exconc/3ae68c6810/refugee-protection-sexual-violence.html
• https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/blog/document/sexual-violence-against-refugees-unhcr-guidelines-on-prevention-and-response/
• https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/BA9F7B1782F69ADBC1256DB900498400-rhrc-law-mar01.pdf

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