According to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, internally displaced persons are people or a group of people who have been forced to flee or leave their residences or homes, as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, human rights violations or natural or man-made disasters, without crossing any State border that is recognized internationally.
The services, resources and attention that internally displaced persons receive are fewer than what refugees get. They are not afforded any protection from any agency and they also do not have their rights delineated by any international convention. State sovereignty complicates the issue further as it directly impacts whether international intervention and assistance is possible especially in cases where the state is the persecutor or the main cause of the displacements, denies the much needed access and assistance delivery. With few international community staff present in IDP camps, internally displaced people have to take care of their own protection and survival, which often at times results in serious repercussions as was witnessed in Darfur, where IDP women and girls were being raped. Sexual violence against women and girls who were out to forage for wood beyond the borders of the camp was reported, but they were also at risk of violence inside the camps (Kim, Torbay and Lynn, 2007).
Darfur, during the Darfur crisis, was described as being the worst humanitarian crisis in the world by the United Nation. With insurrections against the government of Sudan by the rebel groups in early 2003, the Darfur crisis escalated. That saw Arab militias and government forces conduct a campaign against the local population which led to the displacement of more than 200,000 refugees who fled into Chad and another 1.8 million people within the region of Darfur. The death toll from violence and diseases was unknown but was estimated to be between 180,000 to 390,000. Human rights and international humanitarian law were violated with incidents such as the killing of civilians, large scale destruction of villages and rape being reported. It was estimated that more than 3.6 million people in Darfur were affected by the crisis (Kim, Torbay and Lynn, 2007).
Three years after independence, another civil war broke out. Ethnicity was at the heart of massive scale violence that took the form of extrajudicial killings, rape and sexual violence, abductions, disappearances and mass killings. Human rights violations and abuses against women were reported. Armed elements continually moved onto and through IDP camps thus compromising their civilian character (Economic and Social Council 18 September 2014, p.4). Acts such as enforced sterilization, rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and forced prostitution have been perpetrated against women and girls since the war started. For example, Neur women, from the capital of Juba, who had left a UN compound to purchase supplies were seized by Salva Kiir’s and taken to a hut that was in view of the base and raped. Nuer rebel soldiers raped a woman and the reason for doing that was because Salva Kiir was in charge and he is killing our people (Mutanda 2015, p.23).
Conflicts
Populations that are affected by conflict suffer risk where their physical and social protection are concerned but women and girls are mostly the ones who face a higher risk and more often, are the victims of gender based and sexual violence. This may be attributed to the fact that they may not be afforded the same traditional protection like the men are; that men and boys in most cases carry weapons and that they are also part of the conflict. Women and girls on the other hand, in most cases, become civilian casualties, innocent victims of warring factions, recipients of male aggression and violence (Women’s commission for refugee women & children February 2006).
Armed groups and militias directly target civilian populations. Communities suffer from the negative effects of armed conflict but women and girls suffer more due to their status in society and their gender. Women and girls are made to flee the abuse, violence, insecurity and intimidation, resulting in their displacement, whether internally or externally. There is usually a deliberate targeting of women and girls for torture, sexual slavery, rape, forced marriages and trafficking in conflict zones. Human rights violations against women and girls in conflict areas have gone to the extent of physical mutilation, the cutting off of limbs, ears and breasts, as was witnessed in Sierra Leone and Northern Uganda (Women’s commission for refugee women & children February 2006).
Education offers the female child a better opportunity to be a little less dependent on men later in life. The chances of her gaining employment outside the home also increase. In many countries around the world, the rates of school drop-out for girls have been falling steadily but they are still high in girls as compared to boys. The reasons for this high rate of drop-out among girls in certain countries can be attributed to early marriage, indifference and a lack of positive educational climate, distance of schools from homes, helping parents with housework, high costs of schooling and poverty. Girls begin school at a very late age and they withdraw during puberty. Some parents do not appreciate the benefit of education to a female child because after all, she will be married off to and be of service to her husband’s family. Male children are given priority to pursue education (Fact sheet No. 23).
Women are empowered by education to overcome discrimination. Young women and girls who are educated have more awareness of their rights; they possess confidence and freedom to make decisions that will affect their lives. Education helps women to improve their own health and that of their children, which increases their chances of survival (Fact sheet: Girls’ education- the facts 2013). According to (Brown), studies conducted by UNICEF showed that less than one per cent of the girls completed primary education in the South Sudan region and that one in four of the school going children was a girl. The studies also showed that female teachers in this region comprised of seven per cent of the teaching force and that an estimated 90% of the women were illiterate in the South Sudan.
Conflicts
Criminal law reforms can be enacted by states that will govern issues of gender based violence. The implementation of such policies and laws will see that action is taken against the perpetrators of such acts on women but accountability and the fight against impunity will ensure that high level state, government and military officials and personnel are also charged and punished for acts that they commit. Such law reforms will also ensure that reparations are made to victims of gender based violence. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, between July 2011 and December 2013, 187 soldiers and commanders were convicted (United Nations meetings coverage 2015).
National leaders can impact positively if they spoke publicly against gender inequality. Women leaders also have a role to play in ending gender inequality. Political leadership should be backed by demands for change starting at the grassroots level and they should also ensure that policies that deal with and support better education are actually translated into action. Good policies on the education of girls and women can have little impact if government leadership and commitment is non existent (Department for International Development 2005).
Conclusion
In the wars that have engulfed the South Sudan in the past years, the prevalent theme has been that the women and girls have had to suffer gross violations of their human rights. According to (Flood, p.2) ending violence and atrocities and atrocities against women, will require men to be involved in this process. The reason for this is because it is men who engage in acts of violence against women: even though quite a number of them engage in consensual sex and do not exhibit violent tendencies against women, behind every violence or rape on a girl or woman a man is usually the perpetrator of such act/s/. Men must take up the responsibility of ending violence against women upon themselves. Men do have important roles to play in the fight to end violence against women and this includes ending and eliminating harmful cultural and traditional practices that affect women, for example, early marriages of female children which translates to non education of the female gender, forced marriages, female genital mutilation and so on; because such practices usually occur with full knowledge, consent and involvement of men.
References
Brown, T, ‘South Sudan Education emergency: UNHCR’s education challenges in South Sudan highlight the gap between relief and development’, FMR Education Supplement.
Department for International Development January 2005, ‘Girls’ education: Towards a better future for all, published by the Department for International Development.
Flood, M, Dr., ‘Harmful traditional and cultural practices related to violence against women and successful strategies to eliminate such practices – Working with men’, p. 1-23.
United Nations, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs September 2004, ‘Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’.
‘Hamful Traditional Practices Affecting the health of women and children’, Fact sheet No. 23.
Kim, G., MD, MPH; Torbay, R., BSc and Lawry, L., MD, MSPH, MSc February 2007, ‘Basic health, Women’s health and Mental health among internally displaced persons in Nyala Province, South Darfur, Sudan’, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 97, no. 2, ProQuest 353.
Mutanda, D March 2015, ‘The Genesis, Dynamics and effects of the civil war in South Sudan’, International Journal of African Society Cultures and traditions, vol. 3, no.1, pp. 18-31.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization October 2013, Education for All Global Monitoring report, ‘Fact sheet: Girls’ education- the facts’.
United Nations, Economic and Social Council 18 September 2014, ‘Implementation of integrated, coherent and coordinated support to South Sudan by the United Nations system’, Report of the Secretary General, substantive session of 2014.
United Nations meetings coverage 15 April 2015, ‘Fight against sexual violence in conflict reaches ‘new juncture’, Security Council told’, Security Council 7428TH meeting (AM), retrieved from https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/sc11862.doc.htm
Women’s commission for refugee women & children February 2006, ‘Displaced women and girls at risk: Risk factors, protection solutions and resource tools.
World Health Organization 13 January 2014, ‘Public health risk assessment and interventions: Conflict and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan’
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