MSF has re-launched a report summarising the organisation’s experience in assisting victims of sexual violence. The report, which was first published in March 2009, has been updated with new figures.
Girl, 16, was injured as she tried to resist rape. But she didn't succeed. She was raped by a friend of the family. Burundi, 2008.
Benedicte Kurzen/VII Mentor
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To download the full report, Shattered lives: Immediate medical care vital for sexual violence victims, click here.
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To watch a short video containing interviews with victims of sexual violence in Burundi, Colombia and Liberia, as well as with MSF staff who provide medical and pychological support to victims of such violence, click here.
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To hear testimonies of rape victims from Burundi and find out how MSF was able to help them, click here.
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To read the personal accounts of victims of sexual violence, click here.
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To learn more about sexual violence, click here.
Based on its work in Liberia, Burundi, DRC, South Africa, Colombia and other countries, MSF highlights the need for emergency medical care to be made available to people who have been raped. MSF also stresses that such services need to be truly accessible, with guarantees for confidentiality and an offer of comprehensive care.
“In 2008, our teams treated well over 15,000 victims of sexual assault worldwide, in both conflict settings and stable environments”, explains Meinie Nicolai, Operational Director of MSF based in Brussels. “Each tells a story of horror, pain and degradation, often inflicted by the very people who should provide protection, such as fathers, uncles, neighbours, or soldiers. And all of the victims are at risk from serious long-term health consequences as a result of the assault.”
“We find that the specific emergency care needed for victims of rape is either very rare or completely absent in the countries where we operate,” says MSF’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Advisor, Thilde Knudsen.
One of the difficulties MSF describes is ensuring that people come forward for care, and that they do so quickly enough. Integrating medical services for victims of sexual violence in general healthcare can help guarantee confidentiality. But even then, often an aggressive campaign for awareness-raising is needed for breaking through social taboos and advertising the health services.
The report includes a chapter on male victims. Men and boys make up a small minority of the people seen by MSF in its sexual violence projects (around six percent in the projects in Khayelitsa, South Africa and Masisi, DRC). The taboos for seeking help are usually even greater for them than they are already for women and girls. Generally boys and men go unrecognised and untreated.
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