As implied in its provocative title, Where are the girls? by Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana is intended to highlight the specific experiences, needs and capacities of girls in fighting forces, perhaps the least visible of the ‘invisible soldiers’. The authors argue: “At its core, this study’s findings emphasize the implications of seeing girls in fighting forces. It is these implications that provide a vision to help inform and shape future actions.” (p. 119) However, the book is not about girls in isolation. Rather, the authors’ approach is at the same time less categorical and more radical. McKay and Mazurana provide an insightful gender analytic lens to view girls not as a separate, monolithic category for ‘special’ intervention, but rather as members of dynamic communities, whose roles and relationships need to be recognised.

The study also provides a refreshing break from traditional portrayals of girls in conflict as either passive, traumatised, helpless victims or irrational, deviant villains. In contrast to this unhelpful sensationalism, McKay and Mazurana argue that girls and women in fighting forces are actors, with both needs and capabilities, embodying vulnerabilities as well as agency, facing opportunities and challenges. While drawing out common themes, the authors do not gloss over individual differences, but contextualize patterns of, and highlight nuances among, girls’ multiplicity of experiences in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique.

After a global overview of trends of the presence, entry and roles of girls in fighting forces from 1990-2003, the authors focus on the specific experiences of girls in three African conflicts. A brief overview of the situation in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique, as well as rationale for selection of the case studies, provide essential background for understanding girls’ experiences in fighting forces in these contexts. Comparative data and a rich analysis of psycho-social issues and the roles that girls play in the fighting forces form the heart of the study. The authors argue that entire communities must be involved in a holistic approach to reintegration, taking into account shifting social, political, economic and gender contexts. This dynamic process involves both girls adapting to often “disjointed, displaced, reconfigured” (p. 39) communities, and communities recognising and accepting how girls have changed because of their experiences. A thoughtful analysis of the multiple roles and experiences of girls in fighting forces in the three countries challenges monolithic stereotypes of girls as ‘simply’ ‘bush wives’, ‘sex slaves’ or ‘camp followers’. Rather, McKay and Mazurana show how girls’ and women’s productive and reproductive labour is essential to fighting forces and thus argue that conceptual, policy and programmatic approaches must be modified to take girls’ roles seriously.

Drawing on a wide range of secondary sources, as well as primary material collected from hundreds of interviews with girls and practitioners in the field, Where are the Girls? provides a wealth of information and analysis for academics, policy makers and practitioners. The extensive bibliography points to most of the existing literature on the topic, while the methodological appendices document useful research approaches and tools. An index and glossary would have further contributed to the book’s utility as a resource guide. The policy and programming recommendations in each section provide a realistic framework for action. However, these are almost exclusively targeted at the international community; a recognition of the specific interventions, challenges and opportunities of local organisations would have made the study more relevant to a larger audience. These few limitations, however, do not detract from the authors’ goal to render more visible girls in fighting forces. Indeed, McKay and Mazurana surpass this aim by also highlighting, in a refreshingly sensitive, nuanced and contextualized way, the multifaceted nature, causes and consequences of girls’ participation in fighting forces and challenge us to provide a correspondingly holistic, flexible, locally appropriate and gendered response.

* Montreal: Rights and Democracy, 2004. ISBN: 2-922084-74-4

* Reviewed by Christina Clark, Fahamu

The humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has become more entrenched since fighting broke out in Bukavu earlier this month, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has warned. About 3.3 million civilians cannot be reached by aid agencies, the most of any conflict, and human rights are being violated on a massive scale, he said.

Life for many Zimbabweans is the life of refugees. Stripped of rights that protect our nationhood we at home go without from day to day. And the regime responds by telling us to become social and economic exiles, asking you to send money home, which will fund their ongoing campaign to keep us `resident refugees'. WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) will be marking world refugee day on Saturday 19th June by gathering to demand cause for hope.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has dispatched a four-member team to the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi to assess reports of recent arrivals in Burundi of thousands of refugees from the DRC, the agency said in a report issued last Thursday. UNHCR said initial feedback from the team indicated that, in Gatumba alone, 1,000 new refugees had already arrived, with more arriving daily.

Hundreds of Guineans expelled from the diamond-mining area of northeastern Angola have begun arriving home, complaining of poor treatment by the Angolan authorities as they were packed onto planes to Conakry. The Angolan government has deported tens of thousands of foreigners since December last year.

Despite appeals from the top U.N. envoy to Liberia and the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) to lift embargoes on diamonds and timber, the U.N. Security Council decided that peace in the West African country was still too fragile to lift the sanctions. "The members of the council emphasized that continuation of the measures on Liberia was not meant to be punitive for the NTGL and the Liberian people, but to ensure that the peace process was irreversible," said the council president for June, Ambassador Lauro L. Baja Jr. of the Philippines.

Both government soldiers and dissident forces have carried out war crimes in Bukavu, killing and raping civilians in their battle to control the eastern Congolese city, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released last week. On May 26 dissident forces under Brigadier General Laurent Nkunda and Colonel Jules Mutebutsi started an uprising against the unified national army of the 10th Military Region in Bukavu. Government troops killed at least 15 civilians between May 26 and 28, including those from the minority Congolese ethnic group known as Banyamulenge. Dissident troops killed civilians and carried out widespread sexual violence against women and girls, some of them as young as three years of age. In an unconfirmed estimate, international humanitarian agencies report that as many as 80 people may have died in fighting in the city from May 26 to June 6.

While international attention has focussed on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the failure of the legal system which underpins the human rights crisis has gone largely unnoticed, Amnesty International said in a memorandum to the Sudan Government and the recently-appointed Sudanese Commission of Inquiry. The vast majority of detainees in Darfur and those arrested outside Darfur in connection with the conflict are not told the reasons for their arrest and are not allowed access to lawyers, families, and medical assistance. They are denied their right to be brought promptly before a judge or other judicial official; the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention and the right to be treated humanely. Torture is widespread.

The sentencing of former Rwandese president Pasteur Bizimungu and seven co-defendants is further proof of the government's willingness to subvert the Rwandese criminal justice system in an attempt to eliminate all potential political opposition, says Amnesty International. The trial and judgment of these men combined with other recent events demonstrate the government's readiness to deny the civil and political rights of individuals and civil society organizations that dare to criticize the RPF-controlled government.

Sudan will fail to enjoy the fruits of peace if it does not democratise both its peace process and its political system during the six-year transitional period following the signing of a comprehensive agreement, according to the South Africa-based think-tank, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). "A sustainable peace is unlikely unless a government is established that enjoys the confidence of the Sudanese masses and demonstrates an unqualified commitment to peace," said ISS in a report issued this week.

A coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by a section of the presidential guard has been foiled, Foreign Affairs Minister Antoine Ghonda told IRIN on Friday. "The government has resumed control of the situation,” he said. Officers from the presidential guard had announced on state radio and television, at 2:40 am local time [1:40 GMT] in the capital, Kinshasa, that they had neutralised the institutions of the transitional government of President Joseph Kabila.

It is a commonly held belief that developing countries rely primarily on small arms - which, being relatively cheap, should not be a huge financial burden to the country. But in fact, the countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East own 51% of the world's heavy weapons and in 2002 they imported two thirds of all arms deliveries worldwide, at a value of nearly US$17 billion.

For three and a half years, Arche d'Alliance, a human rights organisation, has been involved in a project investigating, monitoring, reporting and offering legal and socio-medical assistance to women victims of sexual violence in the territories of Uvira and Fizi. The project has also been interested in cases of male victims of sexual violence from 2003 to date.

In the large and populated Fizi Territory, situated in southern South Kivu province, the two principal rival armed groups which have been fighting for five years - the army of the RCD-Goma and Mayi-Mayi combatants (FAP) - have all committed grave abuses and human rights violations against the civilian populations. Sexual violence, particularly rape, indecent assault and forced pregnancy have been committed against women and girls on a large scale in Fizi Territory.

However, a particular phenomenon relating to this sexual violence has also occurred in Fizi against many men. Men have been subjected to sexual violence through forced anal sex. In the majority of cases, combatants belonging to foreign armed forces (Burundian and Rwandan) have committed these acts. Forces involved include the Rwandan Interahamwe and elements of the Burundian Front for the Defence of Democracy (Front pour la défense de la démocratie - FDD) who fought with the Congolese Mayi-Mayi (FAP) combatants against the RCD-Goma rebellion, supported by Rwanda and Burundi.

Thousands of male victims of sexual violence were identified especially in the large Ngandja community. Numerous cases were also registered in the community of Mutambala in Fizi Territory. In the majority of cases, investigators limited themselves to identifying the victims, although Arche d'Alliance supported about ten victims who agreed to appear publicly and receive assistance for their basic needs and medical care.

The head of the liaison office in Bakara/Fizi, Ms Marie Mulasi, is responsible, in particular, for assistance to male victims of sodomy or indecent assault. She directs them to the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Baraka for appropriate medical treatment and temporary solutions to their social needs, with the support of office materials from Arche d'Alliance based in Uvira.

Techniques used by perpetrators of sodomy

Perpetrators of sodomy in Fizi use violence and death threats against their victims before imposing sexual acts. Often victims are stabbed and burned before or after sexual aggression, particularly if they tried to resist. In addition, victims have indicated that often they were abused in the presence of their wives and children. In Fizi Territory, men were sometimes gathered in villages by Interahamwe and FDD and subjected to sexual aggression under death threats.

The objective of sexual violence

Men are victims of sodomy in Fizi for various reasons. In the majority of cases, perpetrators of sexual crimes take revenge against men suspected of conspiring with the enemy forces of the RCD-Goma. In addition, the aggressors act to intimidate, humiliate and discourage their victims from collaborating with the enemy.

Consequences

Male sodomy victims are traumatised. They are abandoned by their wives. Raped women are also often renounced by their husbands. In addition, the investigation by Arche d'Alliance reveals the transmission of venereal diseases and particularly HIV/AIDS, as well as the death of several victims who did not receive medical attention. The most common symptoms are anal and generalised pain.

In addition, male sodomy victims suffer social rejection and stigmatisation. The fact that in several impoverished households it is the women who meet the needs of the family by undertaking resourceful activities means that abandoned male sodomy victims face serious socio-economic problems and may not be able to meet their basic needs. In addition, they lose respect in their communities.

Conclusions

Sodomy and indecent assault, of which several men are victim in Fizi, constitutes an attack on their dignity and their physical integrity. The consequences of these inhuman, humiliating, degrading and cruel acts are tragic. They have a decisive impact on the lives of victims, who today are unhappy, at risk of death and without any family support.

The presence today of perpetrators in the communities constitutes a permanent danger for the rest of the population in the area. At the end of March 2004, the association Arche d'Alliance sent its members to several areas of the two communities most affected by the phenomenon. Delegates of the association were responsible for leading an awareness-raising campaign among other sodomy victims in order that they may benefit from medical treatment as a priority.

Recommendations

a.) To the authorities

In addressing this report to the offices of the Ministries of National Defence, Interior, Health and Human Rights, Arche d'Alliance recommends that the Congolese government bring peace to Fizi Territory and the rest of the province so that everyone benefits from security. To the political, administrative and military authorities of Fizi, to whom the association has also sent copies of this report, the association requests that they respond to the social and medical concerns of hundreds of male victims of sodomy in Fizi.

b.) To partners

The association Arche d'Alliance solicits assistance in putting pressure on foreign belligerents who are still present on Congolese territory and continue to occupy their respective positions in Fizi. These groups must stop committing the sexual crime that is sodomy. The association also asks partners to contribute to raising awareness among local communities so that they respect human rights and, in particular, so that the inhuman cases of sodomy are denounced and condemned. Finally, the association requests social, humanitarian and medical assistance from its partners.

* Arche d'Alliance is a local human rights organisation operating in the DRC. This article appeared recently on Kirimba (www.kirimba.org/), a web-site largely dedicated to addressing events in Burundi. Kirimba is coordinated by a member of the extended Africa team of UPEACE, Mr. Athanase Karayenga.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

* For the French version of this report, please click on the link below

This report presents information gathered by the Global Survey on Education in Emergencies. It attempts to fill a gap in information about how many refugee, displaced and returnee children and youth globally have access to education and the nature of the education they receive.

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) launched a fourth raid within a month on a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people and burning over 200 huts, the Ugandan army and witnesses said.

Education should play a vital role in conflict resolution in Africa, education ministers from the continent have said. This, they said would ensure lasting peace in warring states in the region. Twenty-one education ministers who met in Mombasa last week underscored the need to include peace education in national curricula. They were drawn from Botswana, Malawi, Burundi, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Namibia, Gabon, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Zanzibar and Lesotho. Education Minister George Saitoti said bad governance has to a large extent contributed to conflicts in Africa. He cited South Africa where apartheid denied African children access to quality education for many years.

Zambia is to continue with its "open door policy" towards refugees fleeing renewed fighting in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a senior official said on Monday. "So far there are no confirmed reports that there has been an influx of Congolese [into Zambia] since the renewed violence, but it is still too soon. On average we receive around 20 refugees a week from the DRC because of the general instability in that country. But should we see larger numbers coming in, we will remain welcoming," the Zambian Ministry of Home Affairs Commissioner for Refugees, Jacob Mpepo, told IRIN.

The food security situation is desperate for thousands of returning refugees to Angola's northern Malanje province, as their access to markets in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been blocked, IRIN was told on Monday. The World Health Organisation recently reported that the situation had deteriorated to the extent that more than 25 people had died after they resorted to eating poisonous plants.

For hundreds of thousands of refugees like Souad Omar Mousa the rain that fell yesterday in the Darfur region of Sudan is something to dread. "If I was in my village, I would welcome it," she said. "But here we are exposed." Home for Mrs Mousa is now the Kalma camp, near Nyala, one of hundreds scattered throughout Darfur. Refugees live under straw matting or in the open. In what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian disaster, the arrival of the rains means that life for the refugees will become even more grim and the death toll will almost certainly rise.

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has sent a written submission to the Department of Justice in response to its draft discussion document for a proposed hate speech bill. The objectives of this proposed law are to, among others, criminalise hate speech and also to give effect to the Constitution as well as South Africa's commitments to international law, including its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.