Rape as torture
Rose Ann Maguire was arrested in July 1991 in Northern Ireland and held for five days in Castlereagh interrogation centre. During questioning, she was reportedly sexually harassed, physically abused and threatened with death.
She said that on one occasion a detective slapped her, pulled her by the hair, touched her breasts and put his hand between her legs. "They were just trying to degrade you all the time", she said. Maguire was released without charge. At least three other young women interrogated at Castlereagh in 1991 have reported incidents of sexual harassment.
In December 1990, 21-year-old Cherry Mendoza and Cecilia Sanchez, aged 20, were arrested in a Bataan street by about 30 members of the Philippines Constabulary and the Philippines Army. The women were taken to a military camp in Morong, where Cherry was beaten, sexually abused and possibly drugged.
When she regained consciousness, her body was sore and aching, her trousers were undone and her underwear was stained with blood. She realised she had been raped only when she heard soldiers laughing about it.
Amnesty International's Women's Network, which cites the above examples, is highlighting the use by repressive governments of rape and sexual harassment to torture and intimidate women of political conscience.
"When a policeman or a soldier rapes a woman in his custody, that rape is no longer an act of private violence, but an act of torture or ill-treatment for which the state bears responsibility", says Amnesty.
"International law obliges governments to protect all men, women and children from torture and ill-treatment, and requires that allegations of torture be promptly and impartially investigated."
Unfortunately, the use of rape and torture against women is not taken seriously by many governments. In cases where public outrage forces investigations and charges, punishments imposed by the courts on government agents are rarely commensurate with the enormity of the crime. "Many governments clearly regard rape and sexual assault as less serious offences than other human rights violations."
When governments use force against insurgency movements, says Amnesty, agents are not accountable to civilian legal authorities for their actions.
This indiscriminate use of torture and ill-treatment "helps create a permanent sense of fear and insecurity, against which the capacity for independent political action can be dulled or thwarted. The official failure to condemn or punish rape gives it an overt political sanction, which allows rape and other forms of torture and ill-treatment to become tools of military strategy."
Amnesty's year-long international campaign highlighting on four points to improve the situation.
First, governments must accept that rape and sexual abuse are grave and intolerable human rights violations. Secondly, safeguards against mistreatment must be introduced, such as rules that there be no contact between male guards and female detainees unless a female guard is present. Thirdly, there must be immediate investigations of reports of sexual abuse followed by prosecution of those found to have committed the crime. Finally, Amnesty will campaign for the compensation and rehabilitation of survivors of rape and sexual abuse.
By Tracy Sorensen