• Issues
• Torture
• Mass Atrocities
• Rape in War
  • East and Central Africa
  • Darfur and Chad
• Persecution of Health Workers

Rape in War

According to international law, using rape as a weapon of war is a war crime. Despite this legal protection, in dozens of recent conflicts, armies have used rape as a tactic of war, ethnic cleansing, and genocide with impunity.

Through our medical and forensic documentation of rape in conflict areas, we work with local partners and the growing international campaign to end rape in war by:

• Assuring greater accountability for mass rape by training doctors, nurses, lawyers, police, and judges to thoroughly and accurately document evidence of rape for use in courts.
• Raising awareness regarding local cultures of impunity that allow women to be raped.
• Enabling survivors to obtain justice, including reparations for their suffering.

>> Learn more about Rape in War.

East and Central Africa

PHR is focusing on five countries where mass crimes, including sexual violence, are also being pursued by the International Criminal Court: the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. Each country continues to tolerate a nightmarish culture of impunity in which perpetrators of sexual violence are rarely punished and justice for victims is elusive. Ending impunity must be at the heart of any systematic response to this crisis, and victims must see local justice while the highest-level criminals are pursued by the ICC.

Darfur and Chad

Mass rapes in Darfur effectively terrorize the people, break their will, and destroy the fabric of society. In addition to causing horrific mental and physical trauma, rape has serious social and economic consequences in Darfurian society. Victims are often ineligible for marriage, and are ostracized by the community and even their own families.

• News
• Blog
• Research

Forensic Nursing and the Law (January 17, 2012)

The International Association of Forensic Nurses recently profiled PHR's program on sexual violence in conflict zones in their newsletter, "On the Edge".

Hidden deaths of Libyan rape survivors (January 9, 2012)

Wartime rape is a persistent and brutal aspect of conflict, whether during or in the aftermath of hostilities. In the recent warfare in Libya, as well as in most civil and international armed conflicts, women were subjected to different forms of visible and invisible violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse. However, the most recent news reports reveal that the wartime rape of women and minors in Libya was systematic and adopted by Moammar Gadhafi's troops on a massive scale and as a strategic weapon of war, leaving thousands of physically and psychologically devastated women.

Burma Kachin churches in Hpakant take in 1,000 refugees since New Year (January 9, 2012)

Churches and Buddhist monasteries in the Hpakant (or Hpakan) jade mining area of Burma's northern Kachin State have taken in nearly 1,000 refugees since the beginning of the year. The huge increase in displaced people in the Hpakant area is a result of the ongoing Burmese army offensive against the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), according to sources on the ground.

Kachin refugees in Myanmar get UN relief (December 19, 2011)

Bangkok, Thailand - Six months after fighting erupted between troops from Myanmar (also known as Burma) and ethnic Kachin separatists, international relief is finally trickling in for over 30,000 people who fled their homes near the snow-capped mountains north of the country. The United Nations-led relief effort began distributing "essential household items" on December 13 in Laiza, a town deep in the mountainous terrain under the control of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

More »

Feeling at Home in DRC - Reflections of PHR's Kenya Coordinator (February 14, 2012)

As a first time visitor to Bukavu, I fell in love with the region’s natural beauty and its people. Being able to converse in Swahili with people I met in town and at PHR’s forensic training workshop allowed me to feel right at home and made the cultural interchange very rich.

We Are All Connected (February 13, 2012)

Day one of the training: A 12-year-old school girl walked home with a male friend from class. On the way home, he invited her into his house and she found herself alone with him there. She stated that he forced her to take off her dress and then violated her. (role-playing exercise)

City of Joy (February 10, 2012)

It turns out we’re the first guests to stay at the brand new and modest guest house on the campus of the City of Joy (Panzi, South Kivu, DRC).

It Takes a Network to End Mass Rape (February 9, 2012)

On the second morning of PHR’s training in Bukavu, DRC, Dr. Désiré Alumeti Munyali, a pediatric surgeon at Panzi Hospital who was helping with the training received a call from his colleagues...

More »

Grading the Benchmarks (April 2010)

Now, almost six months after the policy review, an honest accounting of the "benchmarks" for progress in Sudan suggests how much important work remains to be done if broader conflict is to be avoided.

Action Agenda for Realizing Treatment and Support for Women and Girls in Darfur (March 2010)

This 9-page white paper, published March 17, 2010, on the eve of the US Special Envoy to Sudan's first twelve months in office, urges the US Envoy to address the urgent need of women and girls in Darfur through diplomatic efforts and the resources appropriated to the office for urgent peace and security interventions.

Nowhere to Turn (May 2009)

PHR's report documents the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad.

Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict (April 2008)

At the request of Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), PHR submitted a statement for the record as part of "Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict" hearing held on April 1st, 2008 by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee.

More »

Featured Investigation

Nowhere to Turn

PHR's report documents the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad. Read More »

Featured Expert

Susannah Sirkin, M.Ed.

Susannah has been with PHR since shortly after its founding in 1987; she has organized health and human rights investigations to dozens of countries and been expert editor and author for many of PHR's reports and papers. She currently is heading up PHR's work against sexual violence and rape as weapons of war. Read More »