CHECHNYA RAPE SURVIVORS FACE BANISHMENT

January 5, 2000 – (Women Envision – Isis International Newsletter) The Human Rights Watch has charged that Russian soldiers are raping women in Russian-controlled Chechnya. The group has gathered testimonies from Chechen refugees claiming to have seen bodies of victims or had conversations with rape survivors. Testimonies, mostly from Chechen women, recounted how Russian soldiers, usually drunk, committed sexual violence against young and old women, including those pregnant.

According to Human Rights Watch, allegations about rape in Chechnya are very serious and that under Protocol II of the Fourth Geneva Convention, rape is considered a war crime. In recent years, the Ad Hoc International Criminal Tribunals, established in the aftermath of the wars in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, have indicted and convicted several persons of rape as a war crime.

But families of rape survivors in Chechnya are more concerned about the severe consequences survivors face within the Chechen culture. The Human Rights Watch explained that in addition to the mental and physical trauma of the rape itself, unmarried women who had been raped are unlikely to get married while married ones are likely to be divorced by their husbands. Chechnya's Muslim culture and national traditions strictly regulate relations between women and men, and inappropriate behavior is subject to severe and often violent sanctions.

One of those interviewed rationalised the refusal of rape survivors to talk about their experiences: "A lot of women were raped but our people won't talk about it -- these women have to marry."

This cultural factor makes it difficult to document rape and sexual abuse in Chechnya. The Human Rights Watch is convinced that rape cases are under-reported. But it raises optimism from the fact that Chechens are talking about rape cases with outsiders despite the strong taboo against it, indicating the Chenchens' concern over the abuses and for the rape survivors.

Source: "Rape Allegations Surface in Chechnya" End Violence Resources, 13-19 January 2000, E-mail: endviolence@edc,-cit.org.