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By Mary Wandia and Neelanjana Mukhia
Violence, or the threat of it, not only causes physical and psychological harm to women and girls, it also limits their access to and participation in society because the fear of violence circumscribes their freedom of movement and of expression as well as their rights to privacy, security and health. The onset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic found a bosom friend in the pandemic of violence against women. The intersection of the two pandemics remains a testimony of the cost of ignoring calls to end violence against women. The HIV/AIDS pandemic now wears a woman’s face. It remains a stark reminder that violation of rights in one sphere leads to more serious violations in other spheres resulting into compounded situations. Just as violence against women increases their risk to HIV, it is also a consequence of HIV sero status.
In situations of conflict, the intersecting human rights and health crises of HIV and violence against women are exacerbated. The incidence of rape skyrocket during conflict as it is used as a weapon and tactic of war. Women and girls are targeted strategically for rape, sexual slavery and violence. HIV in combination with rape, violence and sexual slavery increases women’s risk exponentially. In Rwanda, it was reported that close to 500,000 women and girls were raped during the genocide.
In Rwanda, the WHO reports, “the HIV prevalence rate in rural areas dramatically increased from 1% before the start of the conflict in 1994 to 11% in 1997. In a survey of the women who survived the genocide, 17% were found to be HIV-positive. In another survey carried out by the Rwandan Association for Genocide Widows (AVEGA), 67% of women who survived rape had HIV” [4]. Women are also disproportionately affected as a result displacement, dispossession and collapsed health, law enforcement and other social infrastructures. A case in point, during the recent conflict in Kenya, HIV positive women were unable to access life saving ARV drugs because of displacement. And those who were raped could not access PEPs on time.
Accountability for rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls, although a serious problem in any situation, is under greater threat in periods of post conflict. A commitment to prevent impunity of those who have perpetrated sexual violence, including rape, and ensure that justice is done and seen to be done, must be honored. There is also a need for access to justice and the realization of socio economic rights by affected women and girls. This requires policies on HIV and AIDS, Women, Peace and Security thus recognising the importance of action on the complexity of the impact of HIV and AIDS and violence against women and the establishment and sustaining of institutional mechanisms to ensure quality services are accessed.
Women and girls experience multiple impacts:
- infection with HIV and living with the symptoms AIDS
- having to meet huge care needs of children, other family and community members
- social, mental and emotional trauma of living with HIV and AIDS and the implications of this
- stigma, discrimination and oppression inflicted by society, including social, legal and other services
- risk of violence, including murder, linked with stigma and discrimination because of their HIV status
- extreme mental and emotional trauma, including depression, chronic anxiety, panic attacks
- living with ongoing fear and anxiety about whether to report and the negative consequences of reporting these crimes. This is due to the reality that these crimes have often been perpetrated by men in positions of trust and authority and charged with protecting the rights of the population, including women and girls. Perpetrators include military personnel, peace keeping forces, humanitarian agents and civilian authorities, government officials and administrators and by relatives and community members.
To address the key challenges and barriers that have been identified by women victims and survivors of all forms of violence, include the following actions:
- Mobilise rejection and of and outrage about positions that attempt to justify, underplay and normalize all forms of violence against women and girls, especially sexual violence, including rape.
- Ensure access to justice by women and girl survivors and victims;
- Address the specific and urgent needs of women and girls living with HIV and AIDS
- Developing progressive, quality services
- Protection for women and girls who report violence, including sexual violence
- Draft and adopt legislation that recognizes sexual violence, including rape, both during conflict and post conflict and addresses this from a rights based perspective in accordance with this states international, regional and national commitments and obligations.
- Civil society and government participation and leadership to collectively examine, consider, agree on, then monitor and support the implementation of a set of principles and critical actions to be taken to ensure accountability and restorative justice.
- Allocate resources to meet the financing requirements of this policy as a national priority.
Mary Wandia is from Kenya and works for Oxfam and Neelanjana Mukhia is from India and works for Action Aid International.
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Watch out for our daily blogs during the 16 days of Activism:
25 Nov - Intensify efforts in ending all forms of violence against women and girls (Shamillah Wilson, South Africa)
26 - Are All Defenders Equal? (Cynthia Rothschild, New York, USA)
27 - Give me back my movement! (Everjoice J. Win, Zimbabwe)
28 - An essential package of services to deal with two interlinked human rights and rights crises. (Neelanjana Mukhia, India)
29th - Questions of accountability and violence against women and girl and HIV&AIDS. (Shamillah Wilson, South Africa)
30th - Female Condoms: Now More Than Ever. (Kimberley Whipkey, USA)
1st Dec - Violence of Judgementalism (Meena Saraswathi Seshu, India)
2nd - Violence Against Women, Disasters and Climate Change (Jacqui Patterson, USA)
3rd - Silenced Links: Violence and HIV in Women. A current look at Latin America and the Caribbean. (Mabel Bianco, Argentina)
4th - Sexist Violence. Some Data to take into consideration. (Nirvana Gonzalez Rosa, Puerto Rico/Chile)
5th - Sex Workers. Sex Worker Rights. (Aziza Ahmed, USA)
Rights Not Rescue. Experiences of Sex Workers in Southern Africa. (Vicci Tallis, South Africa)
6th - Women, Violence and the Criminalisation of HIV/AIDS in Africa (Chineze J. Onyejekwe and Norah Matovu Winyi)
7th - Violence against lesbians, gays, bi- and transsexual women. (Vicci Tallis, South Africa)
8th - Violence against women in conflict situations. (Mary Wandia - Kenya and Neelanjana Mukhia - India)
9th - Today the enemy is homosexual. Tomorrow it could be you. (Christine Butegwa, Uganda)
10th - Our work isnt done - response to VAW as a consequence of HIV (Neelanjana Mukhia, India)
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The Women WON'T wait. End HIV and Violence Against Women. NOW. Campaign is an international coalition of organizations and networks working to promote women's health and human rights in the struggle to address HIV and AIDS and end all forms of violence against women and girls.
Members of the Campaign are: Action Aid; African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET); Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID); Akina Mama wa Afrika; Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL); Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE); Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM); GESTOS-Soropositividade, Comunicação & Gênero; International Community of Women Living with HIV&AIDS Southern Africa (ICW-Southern Africa); International Women’s AIDS Caucus; International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC); Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network; Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA); Program on International Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health; SANGRAM; VAMP; and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA).
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