"Rape Takes Place Gradually, Not Suddenly”–An Analysis of the Realities of SGBV in Wau, South Sudan

Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa

“RAPE TAKES PLACE GRADUALLY, NOT SUDDENLY” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in WAU (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

Cover artwork by: Hussein Mirghani Design by: Diana Namanda

Published December 2023 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented including copying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa P.O. Box 2793 Kampala – Uganda www.sihanet.org ©SIHA Network 2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper has been compiled and written by Dr. Lyn Ossome.

SIHA is deeply grateful to the many interview and focus group participants whose testimony has fuelled the analysis and findings presented in this publication.

SIHA is also deeply grateful to the grassroots women activists and organisations who collaborated with SIHA in the production of this research.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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Table of Contents BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY___________________________________________ 1 BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW________________________________ 2 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH__________________________________________ 5 CONTEXT AND MAJOR ACTORS___________________________________________ 6 THE INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE_________________________________________ 8 KEY EMERGING THEMES_________________________________________________ 10 High reporting of rape with shifting cultural motivations________________ 10 Low medical capacity (equipment and personnel)______________________ 10 Categorization of survivors_____________________________________________ 10 Community views regarding the OSC__________________________________ 11 Tension between (il)legality and SRHR_________________________________ 11 Poor medical infrastructure____________________________________________ 11 Proof of age and the problem of ‘legitimate’ survivors of rape___________ 12 Increasing awareness and higher reporting of rape cases_______________ 13 Economic hardship as a driver of rape reporting & false reporting_______ 13 Tribal/Ethnic dimensions in GBV_______________________________________ 13 Effectiveness and/or authority of the traditional leaders_________________ 14 Anatomy of rape (under 18 years)_______________________________________ 15 Funding women’s activism in schools and communities seem to work _ 17 Disconnect between the ‘political’ and the administrative______________ 17 Narrow focus of government’s reproductive health agenda_____________ 18 What are the real drivers of rape reporting?____________________________ 18 CHALLENGES IN THE RESPONSES TO SGBV______________________________ 19 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS________________________________________________22 On the administrative structure_______________________________________22 On the social and cultural structure____________________________________22 On the judicial/legal structure_________________________________________23 On the traditional/customary structure________________________________23 On community sensitization alongside awareness_____________________23 On the organisation response structure _______________________________23 References:_______________________________________________________________25 Annex 1: List of participants interviewed__________________________________25

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY There is something meaningful to be said about devolved structures, about proximity to communities, about familiarity, about war and the collective instinct for survival, about commitment to collective wellness that flows from it, and about the solidarity economies that emerge from surviving violence and disintegration that spans decades. These traits bind communities around common interests, although they do not necessarily overcome differences of class, gender, and ethnicity, especially where economic pressures persist. There is also something to be said about how resources flow within these devolved structures from central governments and partner organisations through civil society and horizontally within the community. Lastly, there is something to be said about the place that gendered violence occupies in the postconflict consciousness of the people, which is often subsumed by generalised violence and therefore does not necessarily overcome the traditional structures and cultural fundamentalisms that drive localised/civil wars. While women’s rights and feminist activists are drawn to responses to gendered violence, they largely remain excluded by culture and masculinist norms from responses to generalised violence, thus raising as a substantive question the possibility of achieving human/women’s rights and human dignity. These are the tensions and contradictions that this report seeks to highlight in its review and analysis of the institutional responses, infrastructures, and mechanisms related to sexual violence experienced by underage girls and women, following a study conducted in Wau county in August 2023.

Women and girls in different countries across the region are largely carrying the burden of armed conflict and are exposed to various atrocities. The purpose of this study was twofold; i) to examine in more detail the nature (and implications) of the violence perpetrated against girls under 18 years old, and the factors that determine why some cases are successfully pursued through the legal system and some are not, and ii) to address ‘missing’ data among women 18 years old and above. Among the questions asked were: what are the factors influencing the low reporting of cases of sexual violence among women over 17 years old? Additionally, the study sought to determine the current mechanisms, processes, and criteria in place that address the increasing cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) among women and girls, the participation of women and girls in these processes, as well as the effectiveness of these mechanisms in addressing the identified priorities of women and girls.

Criteria is an important consideration for determining what measures of effectiveness should be applied in this sort of study. How relevant are the mechanisms being applied in the particular cultural context being studied? For instance, are the mechanisms emerging from development discourse and international law, or do they emanate organically from community learning? It is expected that the results of the study will be used to advocate for better protection and support services among different actors, including local and international organisations that are part of the GBV Cluster, national and local leaders as they come together to demand better protection for women and girls. The work complements and builds on other work by SIHA Network and taps into the growing networks of women and girls’ activism across the region.

The study also highlights existing challenges and gaps to reporting and access to services.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW Research conducted by SIHA in 2019 exploring the dynamics of gender, violence, and change in Wau town elaborates on some of the important and complex dynamics regarding the structural nature of SGBV by placing it in the historical context of war and post-secession social and political dynamics in the region.1 Setting out a broad political economy of generalised and sexualised forms of violence, the study highlights the effects of prolonged violence among warring political factions in Wau, which have failed to provide protection for civilians, displaced thousands of civilians, and entrenched the sexualised and gendered targeting of women and girls (and sometimes men and boys) by warring parties. Such instrumentalization of SGBV has similarly been noted extensively in the existing literature on rape in the context of war.

The ethnic tensions between the Fertit and Dinka ethnic groups in Wau, for instance, speak to the studies regarding the use of rape as a weapon of ‘ethnic cleansing,’ according to which ethnic cleansing through rape of women functions to destroy the survivors’ culture by inflicting trauma and through this destroying family ties and group solidarity within the enemy camp.

This suggests not only a ‘metaphor for invasion and then occupation’ but also a ‘metaphor for a defeated community,’ in which rape is used to destroy the enemy’s progeny with the aim of creating culturally, religiously, and linguistically homogenous nations.2 This view of wartime rape has, however, been problematised. For instance, Bos, in his analysis of wartime rape in Germany and Yugoslavia, points us toward the danger of an ethnic fundamentalist approach, asking if survivors’ racist (or ethnicist) interpretations of the event come to serve as its answer, and left unchallenged, create the danger of feminists reiterating and reifying a problematic, racist (or ethnicist) rhetoric. Bos is concerned that by accepting broad generalisations, assumptions, or ethnic stereotypes of survivors, feminists may end up reifying a dubious form of ethnic essentialism.3 Bos further directs attention to the deficiency of viewing rape as the ‘worst possible harm,’ which risks viewing women as victims only, ignoring other forms of trauma, and negating female political agency. The points Bos makes could be interpreted as relating to the need for an expanded understanding of rape trauma to include existential questions such as the economic harm that war invariably inflicts on women’s livelihoods and other forms of social and political disenfranchisement: that is, for alternative approaches to the analysis of the phenomenon of wartime rape.4 Alternative explanations to the ethnic arguments of wartime rape, understood within an economic paradigm, have emerged from studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In that context, Lauria explains that the rape of approximately 500 women in mineral-rich eastern DRC has been attributed to rebels (mainly local and Rwandan Hutu rebels) involved in illegal mining. According to Lauria, at least ten percent of the recent survivors were raped by government soldiers who sometimes also took part in the illicit mineral trade. It is thought that rebel leaders organised mass rapes as a reward for their troops and as part of their looting of villages. The violence helped rebels assert control over mining areas, where many local men normally sell small amounts of minerals they find on their own. In addition, Lauria writes that about 103 rapes in Luvungi village in North Kivu province were connected with getting control of an important mineral transport road nearby. Lauria concludes that rape in war and

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

conflict is a cheap, effective, and silent weapon and is used exactly to terrorise and put fear into a whole society.5 Lauria’s findings in the Congo are preceded by earlier feminist studies that similarly suggest an economic imperative for wartime rape. In their analysis of the political economy of rape and sexual abuse of women during civil conflicts in Africa, in which rape and forcible abduction are systematic, deliberate strategies of the wars, Moser and McIlwaine have suggested that rape is an aspect of political and economic violence.6 This particular idea of a political economy of rape found initial expression in Meredeth Turshen’s 2001 work, which emphasised that in the course of civil war there are transfers of assets from the weak to the strong, whether large assets such as mines and plantations or personal assets such as labour power and possessions, with ultimate control of large assets depending on who wins the war.7 Tushen proposes the thesis that systematic rape and sexual abuse are among the strategies men use to wrest personal assets from women, and that concern for women who were victimised and impoverished by conflicts has overshadowed analysis of women’s value to men in civil wars. ‘Because women have sought-after assets and because some of those assets are needed for the prosecution of the war or are among the reasons for it, women are central to civil war strategies.’8 The argument made here, which has important policy implications for women, is that in civil wars, armies use rape systematically to strip women of their economic and political assets. To Turshen, women’s assets reside in the first instance in their productive and reproductive labour power and in the second instance in their possessions and access to valuable assets such as land and livestock.9 Other accounts, such as Jeffery Burds’s research on patterns of wartime sexual violence in Europe during the Second World War, reveal a complex psychology of wartime rape and complicate the dominant paradigms within which it is understood.10 As he explains, rape and other forms of sexual violence were not crimes in German military law. The main concern was not the intrinsic crime of rape or sexual violence, but rather ‘race mixing.’ 11 In other words, rape itself would not motivate punishment. The German Reich judiciary viewed ‘race defilement’ as seriously as ‘high treason,’ particularly in Eastern zones. If German gender violence was rooted largely in racial presumptions about Jewish and Slavic ‘subhuman’ status, Soviet violence seemed grounded in hate, a burning desire for vengeance against German atrocities.12 Soviet soldiers shared a visceral understanding of the power of rape, to avenge real or imagined wrongs on the bodies of German women. Rape, to the Soviet soldiers, dishonoured the women and by implication served as a symbolic castration of their men.

Burds explains the hermeneutics of rape warfare as such: even as their gender makes women and girls especially vulnerable to particularly heinous forms of wartime violence, so too does women’s sexuality empower them in the wartime and postwar struggle to survive.13 A distinct political economy of rape in warfare emerges. European, especially German, women desperate to provide for themselves and their families traded sexual favours for access to food and security. Survival and opportunity are key motivating factors that raise the spectre not of hoarding armies brutally raping and murdering local women for their own pleasure, but of women and girls offering themselves up to enemy soldiers. There was also postwar victimisation of survivors rape survivors were ostracised by families and communities and labelled ‘sexual collaborators.’ 14 Race, ethnicity, shattered soldiers’ morale, ethnic conflict, collaboration, desperation, and opportunity characterised each community’s experience of war. In Burds’s account, distinct and divergent perspectives of winners and losers profoundly influence the “Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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filters through which we view and understand wartime sexual violence. However, the postwar trajectories of rape survivors, their silence, and their unwillingness to speak are a unifying feature.15 Feminist theorists have further put forward arguments that illuminate the eugenicist logic that underlies the rape of women as a weapon of war. Yuval-Davis has argued that it is women who reproduce nations biologically, culturally, and symbolically.16 Yuval-Davis and Anthias had earlier argued that the entry of women into the national arena as cultural and biological reproducers of the nation and as transmitters of its values, has also redefined the content and boundaries of ethnicity and the nation.17 In her discussion of women as the biological reproducers of the nation, Yuval-Davis directs attention toward the eugenicist discourse that aims at improving the ‘quality of the stock’ by encouraging those who are ‘suitable’ in terms of origin and class to have more children and discouraging the others from doing so.18 The bodies of women as national and ethnic boundaries can thus be viewed by enemy combatants either as motivation to rape (women belonging to races constructed as ‘pure’) or a deterrent from rape when the soldiers seek to maintain their perceived racial ‘purity.’

The effects of the spread of conflict in and around Wau Town have been profound and reflective of some of the dynamics highlighted above. In addition to the extensive sexualised and gendered targeting of women and girls, and in some instances men and boys, by warring parties, there have also been severe food shortages due to mass displacement, the inability to cultivate on account of insecurity, and the blocking of roads supplying the town, preventing free trade and movement of goods.19 The result has been skyrocketing prices in terms of cost of living, especially for food stuffs in Wau, forcing many families to engage in riskier and riskier coping mechanisms, including early and forced marriages. Many women and girls have also engaged in survival sex as a way to help themselves and their children meet their basic needs.

Conflict and displacement within Wau Town have also led to the dislocation of families and communities, massively disrupting the social fabric and undermining local mechanisms of support and protection.20 These social realities and theoretical interpretations of sexual violence outlined above will constitute the empirical, structural, and analytical basis of the current study that aims to map and examine the institutional structure responding to SGBV in Wau. The methodological approach to the study is briefly outlined in the sections below.

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH The methodology used in this research is a feminist political economy (FPE) approach to understanding the relationship between the institutional framework, social-cultural structure, and outcomes for women and girls who experience SGBV in the context of conflict and post-conflict. The strength of this approach is that it shifts our analysis away from a narrow focus on only the drivers of violence, whose primary preoccupation is with identifying perpetrators. In contrast, FPE’s focus is on the provision of services, the factors that enhance or impede access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and the social and political relationships and structures of power, resources, and outcomes thereof. Research and analytical tools grounded in feminist economics makes it possible to deconstruct and reframe orthodox assumptions through analyses of social relations as they relate to the social and political systems in place. Although focusing particularly on women, feminist political economy extends its critique to society as a whole and reinstates a gendered focus on the politics of everyday life. In this approach, gendered social relations that determine the impacts of healthcare provision and access at the household level are thus prioritised and triangulated with secondary, quantitative, and qualitative data from the state and civil society.

Our approach to the study is thus to examine the problem from a structural perspective that incorporates a keen understanding of the local context (Wau), its history, especially in relation to the war, and its social impacts, the institutional responses to SGBV, and the experiences of survivors. This requires developing a clear mapping of the institutional structure responding to SGBV in Wau, including the One-Stop Centre and the main government hospital, and also examining individual actors such as the household as an institution that is central in shaping social and cultural norms and therefore, to understanding gendered violence in society. Other key actors in the community with whom SIHA has engaged on this theme that shall be consulted are: Community Action Groups (CAGs), the Council of Chiefs (CoCs), and the End Child Marriage Group (ECM); one focus group discussion was held with each group. Historical and contextual data is derived from the literature review. Interviews at the household level as well as with parents and guardians of survivors has been analysed against institutional findings and data. The study uses mixed methods of data collection – examining primary and secondary data, and both quantitative GBVIMS data and qualitative in-depth interviews. Analysis of data is mainly qualitative in order to draw out nuances of the quantitative data.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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CONTEXT AND MAJOR ACTORS Wau State has a population of about 358,692 people, comprising of the Luo, Aja, Balanda-Boor (Luo), Balanda-Bviri, Banda, Bongo, Feroghe, Gollo, Ndogo, Ngulngule, Sere, Shatt, Yulu, Kara, Binga, Indri, and Mangayat ethnic groups. The region hosts 21 ethnic groups, which is equivalent to about 32% of the ethnic groups residing in South Sudan.21 Bahr el Ghazal, located in northwest South Sudan, is divided into several states because of the administrative, socioeconomic, environmental, and sociocultural characteristics of the regions and its people. Wau State, where the present study was conducted, is the least populated and the most diverse in the region.22 The study affirmed earlier findings regarding the social and cultural construction of gender norms and the ways in which these have tended to deepen the vulnerabilities of young women and girls in the face of a rapidly changing society as a consequence of war.

Earlier studies have shown how the socioeconomic reality of conflict and poverty in South Sudan forced parents to marry off young daughters to older men with better social status.23 Studies also describe the effect of conflict and poverty on parenting and child marriage as catastrophic due to the number of households devastated by loss of members, especially fathers, whose loss affects families’ ability to provide parenting and childcare and impacts societal issues such as social deviance, neglect, child labour, early marriage, and unwanted pregnancy.24 Furthermore, the gender roles and decision-making processes that govern spousal relationships and behaviour of family members are defined by group norms, values, and social expectations, thereby rendering girls vulnerable to biased perceptions.25 All this is taking place against a historical background where traditionally, early marriages were not permitted unless a girl had reached the age of maturity and where girls had a choice over marriage partners.26 Studies also link violence against women to certain masculinist cultural practices and failures of the state to control small arms in the post-war period. For instance, a study in Jonglei State shows that abductions of women by male cattlecamp youth have historically been a part of cattle raiding but only recently became used extensively as a tool of war, either as an ‘attempt to directly recover wives’ or purely in retaliation.27 Discussing the social situation of women in South Sudan and situating bride-price and forced marriage from a feminist viewpoint within the context of the local cattle-based economy and cattle raiding, Lacey shows the roles of women as integral to the causes of conflict: not only do abducted women bring their reproductive capacity and labour power to the abductor’s family, but they do so without the cost of bride-price.28 South Sudan has experienced war and civil unrest for many decades now. As a result, it features low on all global health and development performance indices. In terms of sexual and reproductive health (SRH), South Sudan’s challenges are particularly telling. Almost half of its population is below 20 years of age, and as UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report of 2016 highlights, a disproportionate part of this burden is borne by adolescents, particularly by girls.29 According to the national family planning policy of South Sudan, ‘by the age of 19, one out of three girls is already married or in union; and the same proportion has already started childbearing’.30 There is robust evidence that in contexts like that of South Sudan, pregnancy and childbirth carry higher risks during adolescence, with risk of mortality being almost twice as high

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

when compared to women in their twenties. Adolescent mothers also have a higher risk of non-fatal pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications; similarly, the risks of low birth weight, stillbirth, and neonatal death are also greater among adolescent mothers.31 Of even greater concern is evidence of the coercive and violent ways in which young women and girls are being compelled into early pregnancy and childbirth.

In Wau, this evidence highlights the weight of tradition, lack of adequate social and state support, grinding poverty, and the presence of political instability as major contributing factors exacerbating occurrence of and responses to early pregnancies, which should be read as direct outcomes of gendered violence.

These problems are partly indicative of a failure of the justice system, institutional deficiencies, and reactionary cultural norms, all of which ought to be understood in tandem. Furthermore, South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution of 2011 harbours two conflicting interests that exist side by side: while espousing progressive human rights and equality, it also includes a provision to honour family and customary law. Bennet et al have argued that while customary law is a fundamental component of cultural identity, it has nevertheless tended to reinforce and institutionalise elements that perpetuate gender inequality and human rights violations.32 Customary law therefore creates a complicated web of relationships which serve the social, psychological, and economic self-interests of men in the family structure and bring women into a position of subordination and inequality. This structure traps women between two incompatible legal systems with little power to assert their equal rights.33 Yet culture ought not to be understood as a wholly negative force, especially since for many rural populations, it remains the predominant avenue for the popular administration of justice, and through which social relations of production and reproduction are constituted and reconstituted among different groups in the community. Culture in itself is not immutable. Studies have shown that customary relations can be flexible and negotiable, precisely because they are socially embedded within the communities and can be interpreted variously depending on context and need. The apparent link between customary norms and gendered violence that emerged in this study therefore ought to be understood in relation to broader the social, institutional, and political dynamics that are present in that context.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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THE INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE An extensively networked infrastructure of institutional response to SGBV serving Wau and its surrounding areas can be elaborated from the study. This network can be mapped out as shown below: Government of South Sudan

Government of South Sudan

Government of South Sudan

Government of South Sudan

Department of Gender (Wau)

Wau Teaching Hospital/ OSC

High Court/ Magistrates Court

Director General

DG-Health/Medical Director

Judges/Police/Prisons

Social workers/ community health

Doctors/nurses

Lawyers, paralegals, Police/prison officers

Civil Society Organisations/Women’s organisations/CBOs/community volunteers

Local communities/rape survivors

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

The links between the various actors and institutions above are mainly established through the roles that each one plays in response to SGBV. Some of these roles are shared between government and civil society, while other roles are played out between local communities and civil society, thus establishing a complex network of responsibility and accountability. Due to the sensitivity of rape cases, the need for neutrality in the justice system, and the need for confidentiality, there are few direct links between government departments and local communities. Where active – in particular the Department of Gender through the Director General – these are links established out of proximity to the women’s movement, thus affirming the value of movement building that grows both horizontally and vertically to decision-makers.

The key roles and responsibilities that are distributed within this matrix include the following: material and human support, provision of medical supplies, payment of incentives (which according to the doctors, is primarily the salary) to medical personnel in the One Stop Centre (OSC) at Wau Teaching Hospital, providing support for judicial processes including lab tests and age assessments, psychosocial support, counselling, legal services, awareness raising, safe housing, and reporting. Central to this current structure is the OSC, whose functioning is mainly undertaken by SIHA Network through a partnership agreement between the Ministry of Health, UNFPA, and the Wau Teaching and Referral Hospital. Decisions made by the Ministry have overarching and adverse effects on the capacity of the partners to conduct their work.

For instance, the Ministry undertook a downsizing of medical personnel in 2022, leaving only one medical doctor and one social worker. This exercise was conducted without prior notification and the effects were dire. Because the number of survivors seeking medical attention at the centre has not declined while hospital-wide medical services remain in high demand, there has likely been a re-prioritisation of emergency services, among which rape is not included.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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KEY EMERGING THEMES The study findings highlight a number of recurrent themes from the interviews conducted. Some of the findings challenge the existing literature, and some shed new light on the evolving nature of SGBV and the scope of institutional responses to this violence. The major themes are elaborated in the following:

High reporting of rape with shifting cultural motivations Contrary to the literature showing a low number of reports of rape in South Sudan due to stigma against rape survivors, shame to the families, and fear of reduced brideprice for ‘spoiled’ girls, the study found that the reporting rate of rape in Wau has gradually increased.34 At the Wau Teaching Hospital (WTH), the reason provided for the high case load of SGBV survivors is that there are numerous referrals that have come with sustained campaigns to raise awareness and a sense of cooperation within the community.35 According to reports obtained from the OSC, during the first quarter there were 170 cases reported, and in the second quarter, the number had reduced to about 90 cases. OSC staff generally attribute this reduction to increased awareness in the community.36 Yet 90 cases is still a relatively high figure and it does not necessarily indicate reduction of SGBV in the community, only the rate of reported cases.

Low medical capacity (equipment and personnel) The lack of some key medical equipment and staff in the government hospital – including lack of IV fluids, antibiotics, anaesthesia, and a sonographer to operate the ultrasound equipment machine, as well as ad hoc redeployment of medical personnel suggest the central role played by supporting non-governmental partners in the fight against SGBV. In some instances when capacity of the WTH is limited, patients have to be referred to the mission-run hospitals which have less capacity and importantly, do not specialise in handling rape cases. In relation to the previous point regarding lower numbers, the occasional lack of capacity and referrals to other hospitals could partially explain reduction of reported cases at the OSC. More substantive research is required to investigate this nexus which goes beyond the scope of the current study.

Categorization of survivors The study found that the OSC only takes in patients/survivors of SGBV under the age of 17. Yet there is also a significant population of young women rape survivors in Wau and its environs between the ages of 18-23 who are equally in need of medical attention. The OSC receives between three and six cases in both categories daily – and sometimes up to ten cases daily. Adults are referred to the Outpatient Department (OPD) of the WTH for treatment, where the major problem they face is the lack of confidentiality and non-specialised attention. The apparent rationale for this is that adult survivors are considered to be mature enough and aware of their human rights and therefore can ostensibly report SGBV and pursue the legal process without much need for support.37 Effectively, there is a hierarchisation of harm built into this approach that might actually deepen the vulnerability of young girls (under 17) to SGBV, as the

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

response structure to those rapes carry more legal weight and therefore are more likely to be prosecuted or command compensation. Furthermore, the presumption of rights-knowing citizens/women needs to be interrogated and contextualised.

There is a need to interrogate the ways in which human rights function (or rather are suspended) in the context of protracted conflict and cultural fundamentalism. There is also a need to engage with the impact of lack of confidentiality to which young women attended at the OPD are exposed, as this can impact reporting and effective response to survivors.

Community views regarding the OSC One of the interesting findings from the study was that members of the local community think in both positive and reactionary ways to the presence and function of the OSC. While some see the centre as playing a positive role in reducing rape cases in the community, others argue that the availability of care for survivors might further embolden rapists, who might see the OSC as meaning that the problem that they have created (sexual violation) will be solved. This attitude may in turn exacerbate the SGBV rates. At the heart of this latter view is the question regarding how societies view women’s/gendered bodies (as things to be broken repeatedly), and how they understand the rights of women and girls to sexual and reproductive healthcare and autonomy. It also suggests some distance between communities and the institutional structures addressing SGBV. Interviews with OSC workers point to the need for greater awareness and community education on sexual violence and rights.38

Tension between (il)legality and SRHR The provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is circumscribed by the law which defines the boundaries of legality. For instance, abortion services are illegal in South Sudan and are therefore not considered among services provided to survivors of rape at the OSC or other health facilities. In some cases, survivors undergo dangerous terminations of pregnancy outside the hospital, of which some are conducted by midwives who get drugs from pharmacies. This primarily affects women within the 18-22 age group, who in such cases may undergo a D&C when they go to the hospital or OSC for under 17-years-old survivors. 39 When this happens, the OSC is compelled to register the cases with the police. There have been many reported cases of incomplete abortions, and currently there are some pending cases between the police and the Ministry of Gender. The responses show a contradictory approach to the law, whereby medical professionals are bound by law rather than the ethics of the profession, even though they recognise the moral grounds upon which survivors may desire termination. In this sense, the systemic response to rape belies the violence that underwrites these unwanted pregnancies. In other words, the erasure of the trauma of sexual violence is constituted by the law itself.

Poor medical infrastructure The available medical infrastructure is very weak and undersupplied by the government. Some of the participants interviewed for the study say that the Wau Teaching Hospital is a teaching hospital ‘by name only.’ This is a frustration that is shared even by the medical personnel serving the hospital. For example, services in the main government facility are regularly affected by lack of electricity, lack of water, low manpower, lack of medication, few doctors/consultants, lack of bedsheets, no sterilisation equipment, no IV fluids, and very low pay for medical personnel.40 The incentives paid to the OSC medical personnel by partners like SIHA therefore seem “Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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to serve an essential function in retaining the slim but crucial personnel. However, participants also reported corruption as undermining this already weakened structure, and also cite delays in disbursements as causing low motivation and low morale among the staff.41 The major finding in this regard is that the OSC is currently operating almost like an ‘island’ surrounded by a largely dilapidated infrastructure.

Given the fact that its doctors also serve the main hospital, there is a systemic problem that is being produced, with longer term implications for the sustainability of the OSC if government facilitation does not improve.

Proof of age and the problem of ‘legitimate’ survivors of rape The study reveals the problematic nature of classifications of rape survivors, not only on the basis of age, but also on the need for verification of age as the basis for who is deserving of redress and treatment and who is not. Generally, the rape of girls over 18 is not considered to be ‘by force’ – that is, they are not considered to be driven by a lack of choice and therefore, underlined with the belief that these young women consensually engaged in sexual relations: Rape during war is the one done by force. Most rape now is within a relationship with underage girls.42 This formulation and distinction between ‘force’ for underage girls and presumed consent for adult young women could be a key explanatory factor for the lack of data regarding sexual violence affecting girls over 18. They are being deliberately excluded from the systemic analysis of rape, and in these ways, the available data likely underestimates the extent and nature of the problem. Furthermore, when attention is given to them, it is at the outpatient department (OPD) of the main hospital, and these cases are treated as any other gynaecological case. It is important to note that this marginalisation does not function on its own, but rather in tandem with what local communities are willing to legitimise as ‘rape.’ Given the socio-economic imperatives driving rape reporting in the region, those (older girls and young women) who are not prized for their virginity and therefore their ability to attract compensation, are likely falling through the cracks of response.

This idea of the use of force being attached to age of the survivor appeared repeatedly in the interviews. In this regard, there appears to be a suspension of the notions that frame violence against women in the feminist literature – such as consent – and a reification of notions regarding which rape survivors are worthy and which ones are not. It is important to note that this narrative is largely driven by community perceptions, norms, and practices around bride-wealth, family honour, and compensation. This particular framing ought to be read in conjunction with the fact that younger unmarried women and virgins tend to fetch a higher bride-price from the offender’s family if arbitrated. Proof of age or age assessment (of rape survivors) is an essential process undertaken in the hospital, often using medical techniques (e.g. the ossification test) that may not be very accurate but are deemed essential in the absence of a birth certificate.43 These factors combined are leading to cases where the age of a survivor may be suppressed or reduced to under 18 in order to justify compensation: Some [survivors] are lying about their age. This work is very sensitive and can return as a negative assessment. GBV needs a lot of awareness – there is silence around cases, and some are after money. GBV should be about the survivors.44

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

Experts in the field show awareness of such manipulation but also seem resigned to this state of affairs. However, there are important consequences of such age modifications, especially in relation to the justice system. According to lawyers interviewed, such manipulation of age is one of the reasons why rape cases tend to fail in the court system, as the discovery of such a case would automatically be disqualified.45

Increasing awareness and higher reporting of rape cases The study found greater response by the local communities to rape, with cases most reported being cases of rape, but also increasingly, cases of domestic violence and other forms of SGBV, including at least three reported cases of rape of men. This higher rate of reporting is being attributed to greater awareness and gender-sensitive/feminist messaging, and greater visibility of the institutional response structure including the OSC, the gender unit of the police force (Special Protection Unit – SPU), and the success of campaigns waged by women’s organisations and community outreach programmes including in primary and secondary schools. However, there remains among rape survivors the fear of revenge by the perpetrators and the traumatic psychological experience of stress, stigma, and negative stereotyping, all of which still shape how survivors respond to SGBV – i.e., whether they choose to report, and the timing of reports. At the same time, there appears to be multiple channels through which reporting of rape is done. For instance, while some survivors or their families go directly to the police, others report through the Ministry of Gender, while for others, the hospital/OSC is the first stop before being referred to the police. While all these channels are effective, the messaging to survivors is not always clear regarding the first point of call when rape happens.

Economic hardship as a driver of rape reporting & false reporting There is an increasing trend of intervention (or interference) by family/kin, which seems to also be driving the increase in the rate of reporting. Most of the rape survivors (under 17) being brought into the OSC are being brought in by their uncles, mothers, or other relatives. At the same time, most of the reported rape cases are being committed by family members (stepfather, uncle, etc). There are also cases where the survivor is groomed about their rape: e.g. seniority and trust might be derived through phrases like “You my daughter, you were raped.”46 There are also claims that some parents are encouraging young girls to go and have sex, and this is then reported as rape, since reporting is the only way to receive compensation.47 Others claim about survivors that “they want to do it as a business to get money from the rapist’s family.”48 A number of issues arise from these scenarios. First is that the spectrum of what is considered to be rape is narrow (i.e. vaginal penetration), and second is that survivors are being burdened with a responsibility (of providing for their families) that far exceeds that of healing.

That is, they also carry the material aspirations of their families who reconstitute them (or their bodies) as worthy subjects, given the material rewards – including money, cattle, and marriage – that come with proof of violation. This state of affairs seriously undermines the human rights, moral, and juridical basis for the pursuit of redress and justice for rape survivors and for ending sexual violence.

Tribal/ethnic dimensions in SGBV Western Bahr el Ghazal is home to various ethnic groups with diverse cultures and traditions. Some of these ethnic groups were pitted against each other during the 21year civil war (1983–2005) between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), sowing the seeds for ethnic tensions and conflicts in the “Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

13

state. Ethnic rivalry continued after South Sudan became independent, as the then government of Southern Sudan and state authorities did not make any attempt to achieve intercommunal reconciliation and peace prior to the country’s independence in 2011. With the December 2013 crisis and the eruption of violent conflict in Wau in 2015 and 2016, ethnic polarisation manifested itself further through targeted ethnic killings and hate speech from some people in government and members of opposition forces. Ethnic stereotyping and accusations by pro-government sympathisers that certain ethnic groups were either supporters or sympathisers of rebel movements, led to communities deserting their ancestral homes and seeking refuge in different locations.49 Ethnic identity is a theme that repeatedly emerged during the study and shows the ways in which ethnicity has been mapped onto the bodies of women, such that even in the absence of war, women’s bodies still constitute a terrain of battle.

Interviews confirmed that many of the rape cases and survivors received at the OSC are coming mainly from two major tribes in the region, Balanda and Luo: Among two tribes in Jur River county there are many rapes – Luo and Balanda in Wau county. They put rape in terms of marriage. They marry off the girls at a very young age and say it is not rape.50 Some of those interviewed claim that in those particular tribes, the sexual violation of women and girls is ‘built into their culture’ and that the perpetrators do not know that they are committing a crime. They generally dismiss the idea of rape. At the core of this debate is the extent to which cultural norms and values are actually translatable to the law and to human rights language. What does it mean when the claims against sexual violence brought by survivors are only acknowledged (as violation) in the formal institutional system and not among their communities and families?

Effectiveness and/or authority of the traditional leaders The Council of Elders (CoE) rather than the Council of Chiefs (CoC) is recognised customarily and decides how the community is run and how it functions. The CoC exists as a parallel structure in Wau, and its roles include mediation, dissemination, and arbitration on various communal issues to maintain peace.51 At the local level, the boundaries between customary chiefs’ courts and government courts—and between customary and statutory law—are blurred. A legacy of colonial and postcolonial government policies, the local court system functions as a loosely governed unitary system, which incorporates legal principles and practices from both statutory and customary law. It is characterised by hybridity and mutability, by an amalgamation of principles and procedures rather than a clear distinction between separate legal spheres.52 However, there are some prevailing attitudes within the statutory legal system which may undermine the effectiveness of customary structures such as the CoC. For instance, one lawyer had this to say: As a lawyer, I cannot appear before the chief. But I can call them to be an expert witness. There is a need in interacting with the Chief, but by law, some of the GBV cases cannot be handled by the chief; [they handle] only property, divorce, etc.53 Part of the problem here is that the CoC has been empowered through structures from above not below, and even though they come from among the community and command some authority, their role and function in the fight against SGBV did not come across clearly during the interviews. Furthermore, the use of chiefs as a decentralised structure of governance has colonial underpinnings and a paternalism

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

that does not always favour women’s rights, and ought to be rethought.

Anatomy of rape (under 18 years) We conducted in-depth interviews with 11 parents and guardians of survivors for this study. Some of the major issues, both positive and negative, emerging from those conversations highlight social and cultural issues driving sexual violence, as well as the limitations and challenges of responses by both the families of survivors and the institutions responding to them. These issues are highlighted below: •

A row of survivors accompanied by their parents/guardians lines the OSC throughout the day. It is stark empirical evidence of the scale of the problem of SGBV in the region. To some of those parents and guardians, “the presence of the OSC presents the scale of the problem to communities,” and some parents say they are comforted when they go there, knowing it is not their child alone that is suffering.54

•

Many of the women interviewed expressed a willingness to take care of the children born of rape in cases where the survivor has been impregnated, despite the stigma around rape. This highlights an additional layer of social stigma relating to children born out of rape.55 Yet this question of stigma facing mothers and children of rape is fairly muted in the awareness messages and psychosocial responses to the trauma. Nonetheless, some women accept this burden and religion appears to play a role in such acceptance:

•

A child is a gift from God. We did not consider abortion – the child will take it as a sign that mum doesn’t want the baby. This is criminal and she will resent me when she is married and cannot have children. I don’t want to make the choice for her as I am a Christian. In our community, if something happens the mother is blamed, even though no mother takes her child to be raped.56 There appears to be a correlation between the level of education and class status of the parent/guardian and the pursuit of justice through the judicial system. Women who are more educated tend to encourage their children to continue with their education after childbirth, while poorer and less educated women are likely to settle for traditional arbitration and seeking compensation.57 Schools themselves are contributing to the stigmatisation of survivors by locking them out while retaining known perpetrators. In some cases, the educational institutions might penalise rape survivors who are pregnant, while protecting rapists who attend the school, in order to save the reputation of the school.



•

The physical infrastructure of schools also seems to play a role in deepening vulnerabilities to rape. For instance, in co-ed schools (mixed boys and girls schools) where there is very little space, some parents expressed discomfort about the close proximity of boys and girls.58 Such close proximity is also noted in poor homesteads where a large number of people that constitute the extended family share small space, which also creates vulnerabilities.

•

Socio-economic conditions of survival also appear to contribute to the vulnerability of young women and girls to rape. For instance, in one case a 13-year-old was raped near a shopping centre far from home at night where she had been selling doughnuts after school to help her mother. She was punished for returning home late after 10pm and blamed for the incident. Yet “Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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the real issue relates to how safe a teenage girl is from danger, trading alone at night. Police investigations have not yielded any results and the survivor is psychologically stressed at school.59 •

Parents also associate the high rates of rape to the rise of youth gangs, of which girls and boys are members. These gangs have a subculture which includes consumption of drugs, some of which they easily access from pharmacies (e.g. the opioid painkiller drug called tramadol), and overnight discos which young people attend. The prevailing view among communities is that government has a role in cracking down on these gangs, although community members also think of the government as lacking the will or capacity to do so (an incapable state).60

•

In many cases, neither the parent/guardian nor the survivor understands the violence that has occurred as rape. This is especially so when the perpetrator is known to the survivor/her family. At times, mothers only ‘learn’ to name the violence at the hospital. “I was not aware that this was rape until the doctor called it a rape case.”61 Only gang rape is considered as rape ‘proper.’ However, the fact that these women bring the survivors to the hospital or the OSC suggests an acknowledgement of violence but could also be driven by other cultural factors driving reporting as elaborated above.

•

Police are more reluctant to pursue rape cases where the perpetrator is a male family member and tend to refer such cases back for mediation within the family. This is exemplified in the rape case involving a 9-year-old girl who was raped by her mother’s uncle: My 9-year-old daughter was raped in June 2023, and it was one week before I knew. I realised there was a wound in between her legs. One night I woke the girl up and asked her about the wound. She said it was an infection. I told her that I would kill her if she did not tell me the truth and took a knife. I told her that “you are my daughter, and you want to disgrace me.” After this the girl said it was my uncle who had done it. I opened the case with the police and was told to bring the girl to hospital. There, we found the penetration was not deep. A warrant of arrest was issued, and my uncle was imprisoned for only one week. Then the police said that since the penetration was not deep and this was an uncle, we should discuss the matter at home. We were told to sit at midnight when there are no people and we did so and agreed on some customary cleansing/norms, and a cock was slaughtered. The girl is now going to school and has received counselling. The uncle testified that he had taken tramadol drugs.62

•

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Cycles of trauma are evident in the war context. The frameworks through which rape is understood in feminist literature – as physiological and psychic violence – seem not to apply as readily in societies that have experienced decades of violence and trauma and where death has become the ultimate form of loss. Some of the parents/guardians interviewed did not pursue the cases through courts ‘since the girl is alive and well.’63 Furthermore, rape is routinely compared with other earlier traumatic experiences, and considered as being a lesser trauma. Such attitudes have implications for how seriously survivors and/or their families pursue SGBV as criminal cases through the justice system:

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

•

If the conditions she has gone through in the crises were clothes, she would have a lot to wear; her first and second husband were killed [in war], her daughter was raped, her brother was killed, and she lost her land. But we are thankful to God because everything happens for a reason.64

Others see rape as belonging to a broader spectrum of violence in war-torn societies, and therefore should not be isolated for response: The process that leads to the rape is important to consider – rape takes place gradually, not suddenly.65

Funding women’s activism in schools and communities seem to work There are a number of community action groups organised by women’s groups and activists in order to raise awareness among communities and school-going children. These action groups have been fairly effective in increasing the visibility of violence against women, normalising conversations around SGBV, and increasing the incidence of rape reporting. However, women activists speak of the need for increased anti-GBV clubs in schools and the need to facilitate travel and sensitisation in order to reach a wider geographical location, as current initiatives are limited in scope and reach.66 These activities nonetheless are heavily dependent on material support from non-governmental organisations and would likely grind to a halt if not supported in these ways. Some parents/guardians of survivors, however, have taken up this kind of awareness-raising as a mechanism of coping with their own trauma.

Disconnect between the ‘political’ and the administrative Feminist theorists and activists argue that violence against women is fundamentally a political issue. This position is also affirmed in various women’s rights documents including CEDAW, UN 1325, and the Maputo Protocol, all of which are ratified by the GoSS. The purpose for this emphasis on the political is to stress the obligations that the state and government have in addressing and ending violence against women.

This obligatory responsibility is not a centralised function of the state but rather a decentralised function through its various arms. Therefore, it is an interesting finding in the case study of Wau that a fundamentally political body such as the Council of Chief (CoC) sees its role as being purely administrative and the council as apolitical: Our work as Chiefs is administrative and not political. The difference is that the mayor will not ask us which organisation came to us and what our response was. We give feedback to the community – we are responsible to the community and not the government.67 Yet at the same time, the CoC speaks of having a relationship with local government, the Ministry of Gender, and also coordinating with the hospital and the Ministries of Health and Education. The police are usually their first point of call when cases are reported to them. This contradictory position may be read as emanating from a lack of clarity regarding their roles and position in the institutional structure that is responding to SGBV, or the kind of influence that they can have on bringing about shifts in both state policy and in society.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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Narrow focus of government’s reproductive health agenda According to the approved current budget of the GoSS, only minimal resources or budgetary allocation has been designated to address SGBV. According to the Director General (Health) of Wau, the predominant focus of the government has been on maternal care and antenatal care, and the issue of SGBV is not being explicitly captured in budgets.68 The rationale provided by the Ministry for such specific budgetary allocations is that, should the existing partners one day pull out, the work can still go on with justification put to government for greater support. However, there are particular and immediate implications to this budgetary neglect of SGBV. For instance, even though the OSC facilities that include medical technicians, nurses, and doctors are all government employees, the lack of specific SGBV targeting in budgets may minimise the significance attached to such gendered violence and may explain the ad hoc measures that the government has taken such as the downsizing of the OSC. Furthermore, staff redeployment may not account for the numerous effects or implications that ensue when the OSC is under-serviced, as already outlined earlier in the study. Ultimately, the delinking of sexual and gender-based violence from maternal and pre/post-natal care carries the risk of increasing the cost of reproductive health care, as reproductive care becomes privatised or pushed back to households (care economy), therefore undermining justifications for larger public and social spending by governments.

What are the real drivers of rape reporting?

The study findings show mixed attitudes towards the definition of what constitutes rape. Among various local communities, the terminology of rape is itself considered foreign, and only the violation of underage girls is sometimes validated, while affirming the ‘impossibility’ of raping an adult woman (i.e. the idea that a sexually active adult woman is not rape-able). As a result of these attitudes, the interviews show that it is money or the anticipation of material rewards and not the injury or violation of rape that is driving reporting of rape in some, although not all cases: In Wau, most do not come [to the hospital] because there is a rape and to seek medical treatment. They come because they want financial compensation from the perpetrator and/or his family.69 Furthermore, one key medical personnel reported that he had handled only two cases of ‘real’ rape in Wau – once in 2011 and again in 2017.70 This matter, regarding the ways in which rape is being instrumentalised by communities and families under economic distress as a means to gain compensation, raises a significant question regarding the systemic ways in which SGBV manifests and plays out on the bodies of women.

It also highlights the difficulties related to age-categorisation of survivors as well as the ways in which cultural norms and codes tend to structure rape discourse and enjoins institutions in these discourses. Should this be read as complicity, or should it be understood as one of the ways of (re)thinking SGBV from the vantage point and cultural sensibilities of affected communities?

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

CHALLENGES IN THE RESPONSES TO SGBV

•

1.1. Limitations of an integrated system/structure: The institutional structure responding to SGBV in Wau – which is very impressive and extensive both vertically and horizontally – is currently functioning like a ‘house of cards.’ This means that the inefficiencies in one department are likely to have adverse effects on the remainder of the structure. The biggest challenge in this regard is the lack of effective coordination and communication between the various departments regarding decisions being taken (e.g. around staff redeployment/ downsizing), and also an unclear reporting and follow-up system which some survivors may find tedious, discouraging, or expensive. For instance, the failure of services at the Ministry of Health (MoH) is likely to affect the entire structure of SGBV response given the extent of intervention and services that the Ministry undertakes in the system. These functions include availing a working centre for the OSC, providing medical doctors and lab technicians/technologies, deployment of nurses, provision of reproductive health services through UNFPA, provision of spaces for storage of medicine, and ensuring that these services are regular. The point here is not to dismantle the integrated system, but rather to reflect on its potential weaknesses with the aim of strengthening it structurally.

1.2. Lack of autonomy and impact on accountability: There are also administrative struggles at the level of government which create bottlenecks in the system and can reduce accountability at the local level. For instance, there is a tendency to shy away from responsibility, such as the state Ministry of Health claiming that some decisions are taken centrally by the national government with little input from the regional governments. This lack of autonomy also affects the daily running of the public health system. For instance, the deployment of doctors is slow and cumbersome, and the WTH is currently grossly understaffed. This lack of autonomy also manifests in terms of decision-making, which must go through a hierarchical structure of government before major decisions can be made and do not always involve the partners operating to sustain the structures in the locality.

1.3. Perpetrator privilege and impunity: Even though there is a fairly effective institutional structure responding to SGBV, major challenges that remain include the fact that a good number of perpetrators are from national security agencies and are generally protected by these institutions, thus making it very difficult to bring them to account for gender-based crimes.71 Impunity is thus rife in the systemic cycle of redress for survivors given the central role that security agencies play (or ought to play) in any society. Earlier studies show that litigants make complex pragmatic calculations to identify the forum(s) that are most likely to satisfy their aims. For instance, local culture strongly favours restorative and consensual dispute resolution, but this may be overridden when the social relations between parties encourage an adversarial, retributive approach.

Increased resort to police or government courts is partly a result of urbanisation, but may also reflect the strong demand for protection, as the power of courts has been eroded and society has become increasingly militarised.72

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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• 1.4. Lack of material means to pursue justice: Survivors sometimes have to travel long distances in order to access the OSC, and even further distances to reach and identify the perpetrator(s) during investigation. Thus, while legal services provided to survivors through organisations such as the Alliance of Women Lawyers and the South Sudan Law Society are pro bono, families still incur the time and financial costs of this travel as well as the court fees often associated with civil cases, which even the organisations are not always able to pay, especially when donor funding ebbs. The current economic crisis and high levels of poverty in the communities means that even where the institutional structure is in place, attention still needs to be given to material factors that may hinder access to justice.73 Additional obstacles to justice highlighted in various interviews include military or government interference, police incompetence and abuse of power, weak enforcement capacity, and a perceived erosion of the power of elders, chiefs, and judges.74 There is also higher reporting in urban areas compared to rural areas, in part due to lack of transport and other material means such as court fees. Other challenges that the police face include lack of transport to pursue perpetrators, lack of electricity at the station that affects the printing of Form 8 (the document used by police to record a survivor’s physical injuries), and lack of computers to document cases effectively. Another reason cited for delays is that due to lack of transport, cases are sometimes reported after 2-3 months later (instead of within the required 3-day window), making evidence more tenuous and causing dropouts from the justice system.75 Funding from partners such as SIHA are seen is essential in the operation of the system.76 • 1.5. Weak follow-up on cases: While the Wau police SPU is well trained in pursuing reported SGBV cases and ensuring all cases reach the courts, they report the biggest challenge as being lack of follow-up by survivors/accusers themselves: most cases are dying not because of bribery or corruption, but because accusers do not follow up on the cases. Some even withdraw the cases upon returning home because these acts are seen as disgraceful to the family.77 In such cases, the police refer all the documents to the courts to follow-up, a process which slows down the justice system which already has a large backlog of cases, though the reported relationship between the courts and police is generally good.

Police also cite a lack of understanding within its own hierarchies, which affects the seriousness (and resources) being deployed toward SGBV. As reported by the SPU: Getting support from the senior hierarchy is sometimes very hard. Our bosses don’t understand what GBV is and say it is for Khawaja [foreigners], that “this is nonsense.”78 Others say that “in our culture there is nothing like that [rape].”79 1.6. Political connections and interventions by powerful individuals: Interventions by powerful individuals and political connections seem to be playing a role in undermining the criminal prosecution of rape and the justice system. Some cases collapse due to lack of evidence when the perpetrators are connected to powerful people or belong to the military. In other cases, it is reported that some policemen are even selling ‘false cases’ to families, and there have also been cases where the perpetrator pays off police to deliberately delay and hinder investigations into the reported case.80\

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

1.7. Donor fatigue and personnel fatigue: The general lack of stability in the supply of medical personnel and medical equipment in the hospital, and the overall dependence of the OSC on support by donor funded partners has significant impacts on the institutional structure. Apart from affecting the ability to plan in the longer term, the medical personnel involved also report low morale in cases where salaries/incentives delay or in cases where they are unable to offer more complete or holistic treatment to survivors due to lack of equipment, medicines, machines, and other resources.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations are made from a synthesis of the key themes, issues, and challenges outlined in the preceding sections. The recommendations are specific to the key functions that are being performed in Wau to address SGBV:

On the administrative structure •

Address the lack of confidentiality in the outpatient department (OPD) where girls over 18-years-old receive medical attention. There is a need to treat all SGBV cases as worthy of confidentiality.

•

Streamline the reporting structures for SGBV in order to strengthen the messaging around reporting. At present there appears to be multiple channels through which reporting of rape cases occurs – including through the police, Ministry of Gender, and OSC. Clear messaging, including the steps to be taken within the justice system, might improve reporting and boost the confidence of survivors regarding response.

•

Broaden anti-SGBV campaigns to amplify the burden of reproductive care that is borne by households (mainly older women) in the absence of adequate state investments in the public sector and social spending.

On the social and cultural structure

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•

Address the social gap (class differences) in how parents respond to the rape of their children. While those with more means and/or education are more likely to pursue the formal justice route, survivors from poorer households are likely to seek arbitration and settlement through traditional structures. While both routes are common, institutional responses still lean disproportionately towards the formal justice system, thus ignoring the traditional structures through which most people experience daily life.

•

Utilise schools as effective avenues for de-stigmatisation of rape. The presence of stigma greatly hampers awareness-raising efforts, as awareness-raising seeks to socialise and educate communities without necessarily re-socialising rape survivors and integrating them back into the community. Among the elements that can be strengthened in this regard is the provision of psychosocial support for survivors.

•

Encourage the internalisation and understanding of the language of rape by all in the institutional and community frameworks of response, and not just invoked in an instrumentalist way to achieve material ends. This requires placing rape survivors at the centre of the discourse and educating people on ‘rape culture.’81

•

Create a more holistic structure of response to rape and SGBV that considers

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

the way that some survivors are raped repeatedly, and experience other forms of hardship, especially material and bereavement. A holistic approach may, for instance, entail dealing with rape as part of the spectrum of violence in societies torn by decades of war, and not as an exceptional phenomenon.

•

Take seriously the various discourses surrounding rape that emanate from below and from the communities that both experience and perpetuate rape culture. What are the ways available of (re)thinking SGBV from the vantage point and cultural sensibilities of affected communities? How can the discourses from below be marshalled toward building community solidarity with organisations working to end SGBV?

On the judicial/legal structure •

Increase the number of women police officers deployed to the SPU. Due to the nature of rape trauma and the risk of triggers and re-traumatisation that survivors always confront, they may respond better when their cases are handled by women.82 Increasing the number of female officers can be boosted through gender-specific training and education.

•

Pay attention to the factors that might affect the validity of cases in the court system. Such factors include length of time before rape cases are reported, or manipulation of medical records in ways that might undermine cases and cause them to be dropped.

On the traditional/customary structure •

Consider reforms to the Council of Chiefs and its means of constitution. The Council of Chiefs is constituted through selection from above, with NGOs and INGOs (Care, IOM) playing a key role in facilitating this process. This approach is reminiscent of the colonial approach whereby the colonial government depended on customary law and installed chiefs to govern the decentralised units. The question whether the CoC would be more effective if it emerged organically from below is therefore, an important one to consider.83

On community sensitization alongside awareness •

Expand and reform response to rape survivors to consider their circumstances and needs. For instance, strengthen the psychosocial response to the trauma faced by rape survivors to include consideration of what it means to be forced to raise children borne out of rape.

•

Utilise schools as a target space for re-education and de-stigmatisation. This is important especially where rape survivors are being locked out and prevented from completing school while the perpetrators are retained in school. Both points relate to responses that place survivors at the centre of the narrative.

On the organisation response structure •

Strengthen the data capacity and organisation of data at the OSC. There is a great need to do so because the OSC is considered by the relevant Ministries (Health, Gender) as the main source/channel of data on SGBV.84 Such capacity includes regular and up to date dissemination of rape statistics to the officials concerned.

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

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•

Scale up SGBV awareness, with efforts led by NGOs and women’s rights organisations as proposed by community rights workers. In this regard, the specific appeal is for greater and more consistent material support to enable wider geographical reach and more innovative approaches to awarenessraising.

•

Develop messaging that presents stronger linkages between various facets of sexual and reproductive health rights, with efforts led by women’s rights organisations. For instance, the marginalisation of rape in official state budgets should be read as an outcome of the delinking of rape from maternal, antenatal care – the latter two of which are more prioritised by government.

•

Increase anti-SGBV clubs in schools. This might be done innovatively by connecting them to activities and sub-cultures that young people enjoy or are engaged in. These include facilitating sports, drama, and other cultural events that connect different schools and have anti-rape messaging at their core.

•

Offer all services required by survivors – OSC, police, legal, counselling – in a single place, such that survivors without resources to move around can access the full spectrum of response. Such a structure is also considered important for the safety of both.85

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

References: Bennett, Jane (2010), “Editorial: Rethinking Gender and Violence,” Feminist Africa, 14: 1-6.

Bos, Pascale R. (2006), “Feminists Interpreting the Politics of Wartime Rape: Berlin, 1945; Yugoslavia, 1992–1993,” Signs 31, 4: 1000.

Burds, Jeffery (2009), “Sexual Violence in Europe in World War II: 1939–1945,” Politics & Society, 37(1): 35–74.

Diken, Bulent & Laustsen, Carsten Bagge (2005), “Becoming Abject: Rape as a Weapon of War,” Body and Society 11: 111–128.

Gqola, Pumla Dineo (2015), Rape: A South African Nightmare, Johannesburg: Melinda Ferguson Books.

Gqola, Pumla Dineo (2021), Female Fear Factory, Johannesburg: Melinda Ferguson Books.

Gurtong (2015). South Sudan peoples’ profiles. Bringing South Sudan Together. http:// www.gurtong.net/Peoples/PeoplesProfiles/tabid/71/Default.aspx.

Human Rights Watch. (2013). This old man can feed us, you will marry him. Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan. https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/23/humanrights-watch-submission-general-recommendation-girls/womens-right-education Kane, Sumit, Miedema, Esther, Dieleman, Marjolein & Broerse, Jacqueline (2019), “You have a child who will call you ‘mama’: understanding adolescent pregnancy in South Sudan,” Global Health Action, 12:1. 1553282, DOI: 10.1080/16549716.2018.1553282 Lacey, Lizzie (2013), “Women for cows: An analysis of abductions of women in South Sudan,” Agenda, 27(4): 91–108.

Lauria, Joe (2010), “Congo Rapes Spotlight New ‘Conflict Minerals’ Law,” We. News correspondence 2010. Accessed April 20, 2014, http://www.womensenews.org/story/ rape/100908/congo-rapes-spotlight-new-conflict-minerals-law Madut, Kon (2015), “Institutional development, governance, and ethnic politics in South Sudan,” Journal of Global Economy, 3(147): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.4172/23754389.1000147 Madut, Kon (2020), “Determinants of early marriage and construction of gender roles in South Sudan,” SAGE Open, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020922974 Moser, Caroline & McIlwaine, Cathy (2001), “Gender and social capital in contexts of political violence: community perceptions from Colombia and Guatemala,” in Victors, Perpetrators or Actors: Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence, eds. Caroline

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Saferworld (2021), “Enhancing people’s resilience to resolve conflicts in Western Bahr el Ghazal state.” file:///Users/lynossome/Downloads/wau-briefingfinal.pdf Salzman, Todd A. (1998), “Rape Camps as a Means of Ethnic Cleansing: Religious, Cultural, and Ethical Responses to Rape Victims in the Former Yugoslavia,” Human Rights Quarterly 20, 2: 348–378.

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

Annex 1: List of participants interviewed •

Dr. Harrison Baptise Suleiman – medical officer, WTH

•

Francisca Tartiziu – register nurse, WTH

•

Linda Michael – legal officer, OSC/WTH

•

Celestina Jugu Alfred – Case worker, OSC/WTH

•

James Kulang – Lawyer, South Sudan Law Society

•

Dr. Ambelia Amabile – Ag. Medical Director, WTH

•

Julia Edward – parent/guardian of survivor from Balanda/Bagare

•

Susan Zachariah – parent/guardian of survivor from Wau, University of Bahr el Ghazal

•

Fatna Benjamin – parent/guardian of survivor from Balanda/Bagare

•

Aliza Sebit – parent/guardian from Balanda/Bagare

•

Augostino Peter – parent/guardian of survivor from Tokoto

•

Lucia Paul – parent/guardian of survivor from Balanda/Ngisa

•

Susana Carlo – parent/guardian of survivor from Balanda/Bazia

•

Christina Valentino Ali – parent/guardian of survivor from Balanda/Bagare

•

Museina Adam – parent/guardian of survivor from Raja/Yulu

•

Carmela Agostino – member of the Community Action Group/End Child Marriage

•

Saida Baker – member of the Community Action Group/End Child Marriage

•

Ida Michael – member of the Community Action Group/End Child Marriage

•

Mahidin Musa Juma – member of the Community Action Group/End Child Marriage

•

Asunta James – member of the Community Action Group/End Child Marriage

•

Ayan Martin – member of the Community Action Group/End Child Marriage

•

Chief Suraiya Paul – deputy sultan of Hai Jabal, Wau County/Council of Chiefs

•

Chief Carlo Albino – deputy paramount chief, Wau County/Council of Chiefs

•

Chief Saida Sika –Council of Chiefs, Hai Incas, Wau County

•

Chief John Alkanjino – Council of Chiefs, Hai Gezira, Wau County

•

Albino Peter – 1st Lieutenant police in the Special Protection Unit (SPU)

•

Mama Ann Daniel – Director General, Ministry of Gender, Wau

•

Dr. James – Director General, Ministry of Health, Wau

•

Major Lula – Special Protection Unit (SPU), Wau

•

Dr. Nixon – Medical Director, WTH, Wau

“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)

27

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“Rape takes place gradually, not suddenly” – An analysis of the realities of SGBV in Wau (Western Bahar El Ghazal, South Sudan)