GENDER DIMENSION IN DARFUR CONFLICT
Introduction
Civil war in Sudan which takes place since 2003 assumed to be the worst conflict in the world. Slaughtering and another terrible socio-economic impact have been the major and common incident for people of Sudan. Some critical measures are taken to resolve this armed conflict especially from international level. Various groups both government, international organizations, and NGO involved in pursuing its settlement. Unarguably, in recent years Sudan have become one of world’s main concern. The conflict itself is sparked by the rebellion group from southern Sudan called Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) against the official government. In return, this country has suffer from a huge catastrophe on many extent life.
This paper is trying to analyze the outline of the conflict which will be discussed on its history, root cause, impact over its victim or civilians.. The analysis made by using gender perspective. Therefore, it is expected that we will understand the conflict in the context of gender relations. But the main focus will be on the violence against women during conflict. Women have been always victimized more severe than the others. It comes up due to the social-political structure within the society. At the end of this paper, the author will give a critical depiction and subjective outlook over the conflict as well as some recommendation to resolve the conflict.
History of conflict and its root cause
The country of Sudan can be roughly divided into two on a "racial" basis. Of the 38 million people in the country's population, 49 percent are Black Africans. The rest consists of Arabs (38%), Nubians and others (11%). There is also a geographical division in terms of where the different peoples live. The Arabs are found in the northern part of the country, while the Black Africans are in the south. In some regions, like Darfur, there has been a lot of intermarriage amongst the various groups so that physical differences have become minor.
The other line of demarcation is religion. The Arab Sudanese are Sunni Muslims and their Black African neighbors to the south are predominantly Christians and traditionalists[1]. In Darfur, however, both "Arabs" and Black Africans are Muslims. Overall, Muslims make up 70 percent of Sudan's population, Christians are 15 percent, while Traditionalists and others account for another 15 percent of the population.
Even before Sudan's 1956 independence from Great Britain, the new government in Khartoum had begun a program of Arabization and Islamization of the whole country. War broke out in 1955. John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), was a young recruit into a fledgling southern rebel guerilla army in 1963. After a peace deal with Khartoum in the early 1970s, members of the rebel guerillas, including Garang, were drafted into the regular Sudanese army. Garang, a southerner and Dinka tribesman, rose to the rank of colonel in the Sudanese army. But in 1983, after northern troops attacked a unit of southern soldiers he once commanded, Garang left the army with his southern colleagues and launched a second guerilla war against Khartoum. Garang was fighting to end economic and political marginalization of southerners by Khartoum and to bring about the establishment of a secular government in Sudan. It took over twenty years, but by 2003 the SPLA campaign was yielding results. The government was eager to negotiate even to share power with Garang's group. On July 9, 2005 Garang was sworn-in as vice president of Sudan just before he was killed in a plane crash in early August 2005. Garang's success with Khartoum inspired the Black African Muslims in Darfur to launch their own military campaign against the Arab Sudanese government in 2003. Under the banner of Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the Black Africans of Darfur have launched a series of attacks against government targets in the region. The response of the Sudanese government is what we see and hear in the news media -- whole villages being sacked and pillaged by government sponsored armed agents.
Basically, Sudan is a country with a high political turbulence along its history. Rebellion and civil war are usual phenomenon. But recent conflict happen in Darfur considered as the worst where humanitarian tragedy seems to reach its culmination point. It was originated by an armed movement launched by rebellion group called Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in 2003. They attacked outpost of the arab government. The rebels that most of them come from non Arab such Fur, Masalit, and Zhagawa tribes, demanded greater political and economic power distribution. So, their major accuse is that central government based-Arab people always marginalizes and ignore African people for decades. When rebel forces sent attack to government of Sudan at El Fasher in north Darfur, the government of Sudan-under the leadership of president Omar Al Basher- along with its militia called Janjaweed countered it brutally. Throughout 2003, this civil war escalated by invading and ambushing in massive level over non Arab or afro tribe villages all across the region. This attack exercised through land and air. They burn homes and crops, destroy wells, granaries, and irrigation works, and steal people’s property. The most horrible of this conflict is certainly ethnic cleansing tragedy. Hundreds of thousands people were killed and millions of others are dicplaced included huge wave of refugee. As the conflict enters its sixth year, conditions of Sudannese continue to deteriorate especially the innocent people. According to UN, number of death toll has reached at roughly more than 300.000 persons. Up to 2.5 million Darfuris have fled their homes and continue to live in camps throughout Darfur, or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic[2]. In addition, 80% of the children under five years old are suffering from lack of food and from disease within coming years. At the same time, government of Sudan systematically responsible for various kinds of human rights and moral violation against Afro person of Sudan. Janjaweed perpetrates abduction of children, raping, and sexual violence or sexual abuse in high intencity.
Gender dimension in the conflict (violence against women)
Throughout history government structures, principles of governance and decisionmaking processes have been developed almost exclusively by men[3]. Women have been confined to the ‘private’ sphere, mostly to domesticity.Therefore, the baseline for most contemporary patterns of
governance, decisionmaking and related activities originates from the models created by men. Their implementation as public policy structures and modus operandi remain strongly ‘gendered’. In political level, women forced to adjust their role over the existing structure and look for spaces to play their role and interest.
In many societies, women tend to be considered lower than men. This relation actally well-established since long time ago. Unequal relationship against women appear as something which taken for granted by many people even for women themselves. The spread of stereotype about the weakness and the inferiority of women are legitimized by various institution like politic, economy, even religion. The government itself in many cases remains maintain it despite arguing to build welfare and just society. Reproduction of men’s superiority could be seen in many ways. Role and position like leaders, politician, job seeker,etc. should not be held by women. Women is restricted to do various things in public sphere. Surprisingly, there is no rational explanation why women could not develop their talent and skill. Up till now, patriarchy lean on myth which has been structurized along the history. Beside that, marginalization of women also derived from capitalism. According to some feminist, this economic system has created women as an object of commodification as well as the source of profit in term of their cheap labour power. Escalation of women subjugation occur primarily during armed conflict. Conflict in Darfur has shown that how women repressed and experience severe catastrophe.
Violence against women during conflict generally neglected by many groups of advocacy. They tend to think that the major issue should be the settlement of conflict regardless its method or character in the resolution. That is why, every conflict only depicts a very general impact of conflict without trying to go deeper and analyze some hidden and tremendous misery which experienced mostly by women. Violence against women is taking place in a context of by-designed human rights violation. In Darfur basically the same pattern also exists. Gender-based violence actually is the most vulgar and dominant incident of violence which happen during Darfur conflict.
Violence against women is occurring in a context of systematic human rights violations against civilians in Darfur. The grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by the Janjawid and the Sudanese army against civilians have targeted men, women and children indiscriminately. Here some violence commited agains women during the conflict :
1. Rape, torture, and other sexual violence. Nearly all women in villages under attack by janjaweed and military group of the government treated inhumanly. They have been victimized through some serious torture and rape before being killed
2. Rape as a form of humiliation. In many cases the Janjawid have raped women in public, in the open air, in front of their husbands, relatives or the wider community. Rape is first and foremost a violation of the human rights of women and girls; in some cases in Darfur, it is also clearly used to humiliate the woman, her family and her community.
3. Rape, abduction, and sexual slavery.
Violence against women goes beyond the direct attacks, rape and physical violence by combatants. Psychologically, women will suffer from a long term effect due to violence they receive. The most dangerous is that women could experience deep trauma and mental depression. In social framework, victim of rape will be having stigma and ostracism. It is the impact which scared the most. In several of the refugee camps, women now make up about 90 percent of the adult population.
The historical indifference to women, and their particular experiences of armed conflict, has been marked. There is however, increasing recognition of the burden borne by women in armed conflict. In many ways, whether as combatants or civilians, women share many of the same difficulties as men. They are targeted with the same weapons, share the dislocation attendant on armed conflict, and the loss of shelter, shortage of medical and food supplies. There is now overwhelming evidence that women experience armed conflict in a different way to men[4]. This distinctive experience is related to the vulnerability of women when armed conflict breaks out.
Violence against women in armed conflict is a manifestation of the universal, unequal, power relations between men and women. Such violence crosses all cultural boundaries and has been consistently unreported, although it has resulted in death and suffering for countless women over the years. This violence, moreover, takes on new dimensions and distinctive patterns in armed conflict. For example, in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, mass rape, and many other inhumane acts of sexual violence, were used as a means of warfare to terrorise and humiliate the civilian population, and to further the goal of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Women is subjected to terror and mistreatment. The overall experience women affected by armed conflict definitely is a result of their unequal status and discriminative outlook within social, political, culture, and economic structure.
Women are disadvantaged in access to education, health care, and are considerably less mobile because of their traditional role in caring for others. Seventy percent of the world's population
living in poverty are women.Their work remains unpaid, unrecognised, and undervalued. Women the world over are disadvantaged in terms of education, constituting about two thirds of the illiterate population of the world and have more limited access than men to income, property, and credit. In addition, political opportunities for women are severely limited. They are generally kept away from the access to power structures, and participation in decisionmaking at all levels, and this marginalization also occurs through into the context of armed conflict.
Conclusion
Rape and other forms of sexual violence are grave human rights violations; in the conflict in Darfur they are used primarily against women and girls. Rape and other forms of sexual violence being used as a weapon of war in Darfur, in order to humiliate, punish, control, inflict fear and displace women and their communities. Rape and other forms of sexual violence in Darfur are not just a consequence of the conflict or of the result of the conduct of undisciplined troops. But it caused primarily by women subordination. In Sudan, especially during the conflict, women both arab and African women should not obtain equal access and power within the social structure. This stereotype has led to an awareness that women is not a crucial unit in social interaction.
The low status of women in society is reflected in their treatment by the law, in property rights, rights of inheritance, laws related to marriage and divorce, and rights to acquire nationality or property or seek employment. Given this lack of full participation in society, and their gender and biological roles, it is inevitable that armed conflict impacts extremely harshly on women. Because of their reproductive roles, they are particularly affected by shortages of food, medicine, and medical assistance. Women, moreover, lack the resources, education or skills to hendle and care their family during difficult times of armed conflict.
Crirical outlook and some recommendation
Discrimination of women in our society obviously should be one of our main concern. Social transformation needs to go deeper in all aspects. Development can not only be measured by economic development but also in the emancipation of society. Unequal relation is a product of systemic repression. It is designed by certain sturucture which creates “gendered” supremacy. But, what become very critical in this case is that development and progrees will not work properly without justice against equal distribution of righta and opportunity. Therefore we should start to establish more opened and democratic social structure. Democratization of women opportunity is a vital key to bring the whole society in the first step of better and sustainable change. Therefore, the general framework to use must be underpinned by structural transformation. Some measures which could be taken are as follows :
1. Elimination of patriarchy structure in the society. In many cultures, men domination is a big obstacle to bring out equal relation. This may be achieved through critical education and the establishment of women organization or community. Organization holds very significant role to empower and create critical awareness for women mainly to destroy stereotyping.
2. Structure of politic need to be more democratic and representatives. Women involvement in parlianment and decision making is very influential because politic can be coloured by differen perspective and experience which produced by women from various areas of life.
3. Equal and fair economic system. Distribution of just faire can only be obtained if it is supported by economic mechanism which gives equal access and control for both men and women. Accumulative and exploitative economic system that exist now must be reformed.
4. Democratic education institution. In order to gain maximum development over mental and character, scholls should start to implement curriculum based on transformative perspective. We must not forget that repression of women mainly also come from our own knowledge. Politic of knowledge is the source of steterotyping and negative perception in our society.
5. More assertive law institution both national and international level. Government should uphold and maintain equal relation in the society. Every violation or infringement must be punished
6. More concerned government towards gender repression. The policy should covers all needs including women needs.
7. Women empowerment will need more comprehensive support from many stakeholders.
Daftar pustaka
Women, Armed Conflict and International Law by Judith G. Gardam and Michelle J. Jarvis. Published by Kluwer Law International, 2001.
Gender, Peace and Conflict edited by Inger Skjelsbæk and Dan Smith. SAGE Publications Ltd,London. 2001.
Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones edited by Wenona Giles and Jennifer Hyndman. by The Regents of the University of California 2004.
Website
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2006/07/root-causes-of-darfur-conflict.html, root cause of Darfur conlict, accessed on December 13 2010
[1] http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=23FE42969B6C168A80256EC900529ED0, Darfur; Rape As A Weapon Of War: History Of Darfur Conflict, accessed on December 13 2010
[1] http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2006/07/root-causes-of-darfur-conflict.html
[2] http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=23FE42969B6C168A80256EC900529ED0,darfur rape as a weapon of war: history of Darfur conflict
[3] Inger Skjelsbæk and Dan Smith Gender, Peace and Conflict e. SAGE Publications Ltd,London. 2001,page 23
[4] Judith G. Gardam and Michelle J. Jarvis, Women, Armed Conflict and International Law. Published by Kluwer Law International, 2001. Page 23
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