A Study in Violence: Examining Rape in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

A Human Rights Watch document identifies the shocking reality of mutilation, “Rapes were sometimes followed by sexual mutilation, including mutilation of the vagina and pelvic area with machetes, knives, sticks, boiling water, and in one case, acid.” Many Tutsi women may never be able to bear children again as a result of the damage done to their bodies, which is an ideal outcome for their attackers. Gang rapes and mutilation served as further tools of genocidal rape to ensure the annihilation of the Tutsi ethnic group.

HIV/AIDS is a problem already rampant in Africa, but as a result of mass rape, the virus has spread dramatically in Rwanda. According to an Amnesty International report, “the mass rape during 1994 contributed significantly to the spread of the virus in Rwanda, particularly as rates of HIV transmission during sexual violence are believed to be high (Marked for Death).” According to the UN, about 13.5% of the Rwandan adult population has HIV/AIDS. AVEGA, an organization working with victims of the genocidal rape in Rwanda reported in 2001 that “…70% of its 25,000 members were HIV positive…The high rate of HIV/AIDS among survivors of rape is because during the genocide, HIV was used as a weapon to destroy while inflicting maximum pain and suffering  (Mukamana, 383).” Treatment for the virus is expensive and difficult to attain. There is shame associated with being infected with HIV/AIDS and many women are afraid to come forward and receive treatment even if it is available. In addition to treatment for HIV/AIDS, survivors may need extensive therapy and reconstructive surgery which cost more than organizations such as Human Rights Watch and UNIFEM are currently equipped to support.

Rape is not a new crime. Women have long been the victims of rape during both war and peace. Despite the prevalence of rape as a crime, however, it has been largely ignored by the world as an issue worth addressing. Violence against women has not been properly documented historically for how horrifying it is, and even now is not being treated with an adequate level of concern. Smith-Spark writes, “Even after conflicts are resolved, few countries seem willing to tackle what is often seen as a crime against individual women rather than a strategy of war.” It seems that the world has put rape on the back burner as an issue too complex to deal with. The emergence of these tragic realities where groups of people subjugate women as representatives of other groups of people using rape as a strategic method of annihilation, begs the world to change its mind.

Rape has become a forgotten war crime. That is to say, until now this central cultural experience of women has been stifled, erased from cultural memory, or else placed on the inevitable margin in the form of biologism [sic] or naturalization, in the last analysis natural and historically not very important. It must be brought back to the center of the historical and political discourse (Seifert 69).

Genocidal rape has emerged as the product of a clear evolution of wartime rape from a tradition of satisfying exhausted troops, to a strategic method of warfare. The women of Rwanda who survive today are living testaments to this strategic waging of warfare on their bodies. Irreversible damage has been done to their families and their communities which will affect the future of Rwanda. Regardless of these damages these women will have to assume the task of rebuilding Rwanda, as they are the majority of individuals left standing. “The future of Rwanda is largely in the hands of its women. With a population that is 70 percent female, it will be the women who will rebuild the country. Many of these women have lived through unimaginable suffering at the hands of those who carried out the genocide" (Shattered Lives). These women must become beacons of hope and infuse the global understanding of the victim with a refusal to be defeated because the world needs to consider genocide an issue worth intervening in. The Rwandan Genocide arose from misunderstanding and political discourse. The tragedy and brutality that ensued could have been largely prevented if the world had bothered to notice and get involved. The fate of these brave women must not go unnoticed.  Awareness about this issue needs to be further raised and solutions for the survivors need to be implemented in order to aid the survival of the next generation, in Rwanda and across the world. Genocidal rape, genital mutilation and other forms of violence against women during war must be combated by the world. They are unacceptable truths which have hid in the shadows of reality for too long.

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