08/13/2002

Pierre is a counselor for the SGBV (Sexual and Gender Based Violence) program. A refugee himself, he counsels women who have experienced domestic violence, rape and sexual assault in a refugee camp in Tanzania. On February 13th, Pierre's name was displayed in the camp on a poster threatening his life. A few days later his house was burned in the early morning hours while he and his family slept inside. Then his dinner was poisoned in an unsuccessful attempt on his life. "We'll use any method required to get rid of you," a fellow Congolese refugee told Pierre, after Pierre was blamed for the arrest of an alleged rapist. Pierre informed UNHCR, his NGO employer, and the Tanzanian camp police that his house was burned. Following a letter to the UNHCR head field officer and the protection officer, UNHCR informed Pierre they could not help him; he could neither be moved to another plot, nor another camp. Nothing was done to protect Pierre.

Refugees International (RI) learned of Pierre's case while on a field mission to the camps in Tanzania in July. This incident clearly demonstrates the lack of protection and support for staff working on the frontlines of preventing violence between men and women. Of the seven counselors working on SGBV in Pierre's camp, all have been publicly threatened with physical abuse or death and two were threatened in public with written announcements. Most of the counselors have received threats that they will be killed once they are back in the Congo. Three counselors have been physically attacked, and one volunteer for the program was beaten so badly she was hospitalized. All but one counselor have changed their living arrangements to increase their security by staying with relatives in order to distance themselves from individuals threatening their lives. Counselors explained to us that they were prepared to die to continue their work. They did not consider seeking outside protection because they have no faith in the UNHCR to prevent such a tragedy.

Violence among the 500,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees is commonplace. As one SGBV supervisor told RI, "women think being beaten by their husbands is part and parcel of being a wife." SGBV program supervisors in most camps told RI they believed domestic violence happened in "most" homes and felt an estimate of 90% prevalence was accurate. Most cases of domestic violence go unreported, yet domestic violence makes up over 80% of the caseload for counselors and often includes serious physical abuse. Rape and attempted rape are second in terms of caseload. Although many cases of rape go unreported, rapes of minors and girls under age ten have increased drastically; these cases tend to be reported more than those of adults. Overall, reporting of all types of rape cases has increased within the last year as awareness raising efforts are made by counselors to reach the entire refugee community, including camp leaders, religious leaders and local tribunals. As part of awareness raising, communities are informed of women's human rights, of legal options available to the survivor as well as necessary medical treatment and documentation that must happen within three days of an SGBV incident.

Despite the official stance by UNHCR and NGOs to promote women's human rights and fight violence against women, on-the-ground support for staff or for survivors of violence is limited and at times not accessible. The UNHCR protection officer for Pierre's camp was not available for comment as she was out of the country; this was also true for the head field officer. In a recent interview with a UNHCR SGBV lawyer, in a Burundian refugee camp, RI was told that SGBV staff and survivors do not get threatened and there is no need for UNHCR to intervene. When RI later met with ten SGBV staff working and living under this officer's jurisdiction, four had received death threats and three had been physically assaulted.

Although efforts are underway to increase program staff's understanding of how to report and handle rape cases, the lack of support for staff is also exemplified by their lack of training and expertise on the basic principles of domestic violence. In one Burundian Camp, a counselor practicing for four years told RI she had received only one training session by outside staff. She explained that she had successfully reunited couples that have serious histories of physical abuse, including one case where the woman had her teeth beaten out. A supervisor of another SGBV program informed RI, "Some domestic violence cases are not so serious because women only get beaten every three months."

Also worrisome is the trend to make the program user-friendly to men. Although this is a well-intentioned effort to make men "part of the solution, not the problem," as one SGBV staff member explained, the lack of appropriate training has resulted in SGBV staff blaming women for domestic violence. Counselors in a Burundian camp told RI that they spend most of their time counseling men about their "rude women". They went on to explain that the men were "innocent." "A woman provokes her husband to beat her by asking him to buy clothes that he cannot afford," one female counselor told RI.

Not all SGBV programs suffered from inadequate support, training and protection. In the case of Nyarugusu, a Congolese camp of 54,000, the challenges facing those leading the way on gender awareness and SGBV were similar to those of other camps. However, management and support of the program and staff by a caring and competent local leader and her refugee counterpart has produced positive results. Broad-based community support is strong despite the usual voices opposing changes to traditional norms favoring men. A meeting with 150 active and enthusiastic SGBV volunteers in Nyarugusu exemplified community support and commitment to eradicating rape and domestic violence. "We have problems but we created them and we want to solve them" a male volunteer told RI staff.

In the camp where Pierre works, there are only seven brave counselors for a population of 62,000. With such a small group, it is easy to target counselors for violence. Camps with larger initiatives and broad-based volunteer networks had a better record of preventing actual violence against those trying to protect and promote women's human rights. Threats and insults, however, remain commonplace.

The lack of understanding of the most basic lessons of domestic violence and women's human rights by many refugee staff and local supervisors coupled with inadequate protection of staff working to promote women's human rights, indicates minimal commitment and support by the UNHCR and their partner NGOs to ending gender-based violence and promoting the status of women.

Therefore, RI recommends:

To UNHCR:
• Have an SGBV-trained protection officer available and accessible to each distinct refugee population and a back-up officer for the frequent occasions that protection officers are absent.
  
  
• Reinstate community service SGBV officers for monitoring and training of implementing partners and their staff and to ensure that capacity building takes place on the refugee level.
  
  
• Acknowledge domestic violence as the largest component of SGBV by according domestic violence its own category and instructions in the SGBV Protocol.
  
  To NGOs that are implementing the SGBV program in Tanzanian refugee camps:
  
• Immediately conduct gender sensitization of staff at all levels and for all programs.
  
  
• Strengthen community-based awareness programs on gender equality and on women's human rights.
  
  
• Increase quality and legitimacy of the SGBV program through comprehensive and certifiable training.
  
  
• Provide systems to monitor and ensure the safety of SGBV staff and survivors.
  
  
• Focus capacity-building initiatives on refugee staff in order to promote program sustainability and ownership by those most affected.
  
  To all actors:
• Strengthen communication between NGOs, UNHCR, and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) by following specific cases, implementing standardized guidelines and providing protection to those who are threatened.