Terrorizing Women: Increased Vulnerability in Times of Armed Conflict

Office of Women's Advocacy Newsletter | Summer 2007

Download this issue.

Threads of Justice, Volume 12 is dedicated to the issue of women’s increased vulnerability during times of armed conflict.

 “… rape and the sexual exploitation of women by invading military personnel have long been apart of military history … In fact, the rape of women in war and the use of brothels by military personnel have been mistakenly construed as a necessary by-product of war ...”

Military and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Women, approved by the 210th General Assembly (1998). Order this free report.

Welcome Rhashell Hunter

The Reverend Doctor Rhashell D. Hunter joined the national staff as the Director of Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries/Presbyterian Women program area in April.  Dr. Hunter served as Pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Flint, Michigan, from March 1998 to April 2007.  She is an Adjunct Professor of Preaching at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois.

Her current teaching and writing is in the area of Postmodern Worship and Womanist Preaching.  Her paper, “Gathering Everyone at the Center,” was presented at the Academy of Homiletics, and her article, “Preaching as Testimony: African American Womanist Preaching,” was published in The African American Pulpit.

She earned her Doctor of Ministry and the Master of Divinity degrees from McCormick Theological Seminary, her Master of Fine Arts degree from Trinity University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Journalism from the University of Houston.  Before becoming a clergy person, she had a career in the performing arts in New York, Dallas and Houston.  Today she integrates her gifts in the performing arts with her ministry in the church and integrates drama and dance into worship life. She has a love for preaching and also a commitment to building bridges in multicultural communities. 

Dr. Hunter was reared in Dallas, Texas, and is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Hunter, an honorably retired Presbyterian minister, and Mrs. Annie Mary Alexander Hunter, a homemaker/teacher. (This was excerpted from her submitted biography).

Farewell Shaya Gregory

Ms. Shaya S. Gregory is the outgoing Young Adult Intern for the Office of Women’s Advocacy. The year-long internship gave her a greater understanding of theology and polity, while allowing her to contribute to the empowerment of women and girls.

The Providence of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325

by the Rev. Mark Koenig, Coordinator, Peacemaking Program

Peace, peace to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them. (Isaiah 57:19 NRSV)

On January 30, 2007, a police unit of women from India stepped onto the tarmac at Monrovia’s Roberts International Airport to assist the United Nations Mission in Liberia (U.N.MIL). U.N. peacekeepers have been in Liberia since 2003. The policewomen represented the first all-female unit deployed in the history of U.N. peacekeeping efforts. The team, a welcome addition to the U.N. efforts in Liberia, is a sign of the continuing evolution of women in peacekeeping missions.

In 2000, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, which emphasizes the need to involve women and incorporate a gender perspective in global issues of peace and justice. The resolution identifies steps to be taken by countries and the United Nations to improve the protection of women in armed conflict situations and urges the inclusion of women in all phases of peace processes. 1325 speaks to the need for gender training in peacekeeping operations and gender mainstreaming in U.N. reporting and implementation systems.

1325 resulted from years of dialogue and the bitter experiences of women in armed conflicts. In 1969, the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women began to explore questions related to the need for special protection for women and children during conflict. The U.N. General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict in 1974. The U.N. world conferences that have been convened on women have focused on connections between gender equality and peace.

In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing identified as a critical concern responding to the needs of women in armed conflicts. Delegates discussed increasing the participation of women at decision-making levels in conflict resolution; protecting women in situations of armed conflict and promoting women’s contributions to building a culture of peace.

In the 1990s, a deeper understanding of violence against women in armed conflict grew out of documenting the systematic rapes, instances of sexual slavery and forced pregnancies in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Women and girls continue to face gender-based and sexual violence in conflicts around the world, particularly in conflicts in which civilian populations are specifically targeted.

Understanding the positive contributions women make to peace processes and peace-building and recognizing the violence endured by women and girls in armed conflict led the U.N. Security Council to adopt Resolution 1325. As with any resolution by any body, the challenge lies in implementing the vision it expresses.                     
 
Since 2000, a number of steps have been taken to help bring the words of 1325 to life.

• Women in countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Burundi, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and Sudan have used the resolution to lobby for their voices to be heard in peace processes, elections following conflicts, and rebuilding efforts.
• Gender Advisors are increasingly a normal part of U.N. peacekeeping operations.
• The Department of Peacekeeping Operations has implemented measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse and to enforce U.N. standards of conduct. These measures include training, investigations and disciplinary actions.
• Rwanda, Burundi and Iraq have held post-conflict elections in which women were elected to national legislative bodies in proportions that exceed the global average.
• Measures have been implemented to help protect the women and children who comprise some 75 percent of the world’s displaced persons from sexual violence and abuse.
• In the Great Lakes region of Africa and in countries like Haiti and Sudan, women and gender perspectives have been included in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs.

These and other steps are needed to bring the comprehensive vision of protecting women in situations of armed conflicts. Resolution 1325, involves women at the heart of peace and security issues and is an important tool in ongoing efforts to beat swords into plowshares around the world. Learn more about the resolution and ways to become involved in its fuller implementation at:

Resolution 1325

Peacewomen Project
Monitors and works toward rapid and full implementation of Resolution 1325

United Nations Development Fund For Women (UNIFEM)
Portal On Women, Peace and Security

Facts And Figures On Women, Peace And Security

From The Charter To Security Council Resolution 1325

Web pages and documents served as the sources for this article.

Security Council Resolution 1325 is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women and women’s contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.

Symbols of Threads of Justice

The Annealing Cross: Annealing is the process of tempering steel by fire, which results in greater strength as well as flexibility.  (Threads, Vol. 3)

The Red Thread: The years 1988-1998 were the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Decade in Solidarity with Women. During that decade, Christians were encouraged to wear a red thread to symbolize our personal solidarity with our sisters around the world who suffer from various forms of violence. By using the red thread for our signature look, we continue to show our dedication to justice for women. (See the World Council of Churches Web site for more information.)

Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
(Habakkuk 1:3 NRSV)

Where is the Church on Social Issues?

The General Assembly:

• Affirms its conviction that neither the Church as the body of Christ, nor Christians as individuals, can be neutral or indifferent toward evil in the world;
• Affirms its responsibility to speak on social and moral issues for the encouragement and instruction of the Church and its members, seeking earnestly both to know the mind of Christ and to speak always in humility and love;
• Reminds the churches that their duty is not only to encourage and train their members in daily obedience to God’s will, but corporately to reveal God’s grace in places of suffering and need, to resist the forces that tyrannize, and to support the forces that restore the dignity of all men as the children of God, for only so is the gospel most fully proclaimed.

Quoted from the 1958 Statement of the PC(USA), p. 537

For Whom the War Tolls: An Overview of Gender and Conflict

by Ms. Shaya S. Gregory, Young Adult Intern, Office of Women’s Advocacy

In the Time Before War
The misogyny apparent in times of armed conflict emanates from the de rigueur patriarchal attitudes rampant around the world.

Women’s human rights are fundamentally abused by pervasive social norms and religious edicts that encourage the valuing of men over women and codify the valuing into legislation.

Women are therefore denied opportunities to develop themselves. Instead, women are considered the property of a father, brother, husband, uncle or son, who exerts control over her life.

In the Throes of War
Mass rape of women is used as a tactic of war to send a message to her “owners.” Rape is part and parcel of humiliating an opponent. When defeated soldiers fail to protect “their” women, the victor gets “the spoils.” Women also are sexually abused, because militias will forcibly recruit women to be domestic and/or sexual slaves for their soldiers. During World War II, Japan abducted thousands of Korean women to offer their soldiers “comfort.”

In the Aftermath of War
Women who are not killed or abducted flee to refugee camps, where they remain vulnerable. In the ensuing conflict in Darfur, women have to go long distances to fetch water or wood for fuel, because these resources are not near the camps. Women are often sexually assaulted by militias en-route.

Women who have been raped or abducted by the opposing militia are stigmatized, making it difficult — if not impossible — to become re-integrated into their families and communities at the war’s end.

Women’s situations are precarious in times during and after armed conflict for reasons beyond sexual assault. The argued interests of “national security” drain vital resources that ordinarily support a woman’s tenuous personal security. Social welfare funds are used to amass weapons of war. Consequently women are denied adequate access to family planning, prenatal and obstetric care.

Universally, women suffer when there is war. It is not an isolated phenomenon. Their suffering spans time, geography and culture. Ironically, the same widespread undervaluing of women that makes them vulnerable to peril during war also bars them from making any decisions about war taking place. Thus, civilian women continue to endure a substantial portion of war’s grisly toll.

This article is dedicated to Safia Amajan, the head of the department of women’s affairs in Kandahar, Afghanistan and a long-time women’s advocate.  She continued advocating for women’s rights — despite threats on her life. The Taliban assassinated her, September 25 2006, during the Unites States war in  Afghanistan.

Global Struggles: Three Regional Stories of Women’s Anguish Since Armed Conflict

Stories from Korea: The Contours of the Face of Kijichon

by the Rev. Dr. Unzu Lee, Associate, Presbyterian Women
Note: Unzu is a Korean American. She went to South Korea in December 2001 as a part of a three-member delegation to explore the situation of prostitution around United States military installations.

Most of the military installations are located in rural areas, which have towns built around them that subsist on the economy of the United States bases. These towns are called kijichon in Korean, and women who work in prostitution clubs in kijichon are called kijichon women.

The official United States government’s position is that it forbids any association of the United States military personnel with “prostitution houses.” Despite the official response, the United States military pressured the Korean government to provide a safe environment for the United States troops’ rest and relaxation (R & R) in 1970s. To this day, registered prostitutes in kijichon must be checked for sexually transmitted diseases once a month and carry cards that prove their STD clearance, or face incarceration for up to one year.

Koreans view military prostitution as a necessary evil to protect respectable women and girls from rape by United States soldiers. The sex industry is flourishing in South Korea. Kijichon still attracts poor women without survival skills. Women who have lived in kijichon for a long time usually find it very difficult to survive outside of kijichon.  Korean society stigmatizes kijichon women as the fallen women of the Korea.

How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
Psalm 137:4 (NRSV)

Background

On August 15, 1945, Japan (that had ruled over Korea as a colonial power for 36 years) surrendered to the Allied forces. In the face of the Soviets’ rapid advance in the northern part of the Korean peninsula, the United States feared that it might lead to the Soviets’ occupation of Japan. In response, the American colonels hastily divided the country in two along the 38th parallel.  Until the breakout of civil war in 1950, the Korean peninsula remained a territory occupied by the Soviet forces in the 38th parallel North and the United States forces in the 38th parallel South. The armistice treaty signed by the United States, China and North Korea on July 27, 1953, formalized this division, and Korea remains the only divided country in the world, with over 25,000 United States military personnel still stationed in South Korea.

Learn about PC(USA) in South Korea.

Testimony from Colombia:

A Perspective on the Situation of Women in the Midst of Armed Conflict

by the Rev. Adelaida Jimenez, Presbyterian Church of Colombia

Translated by Ms. Amy Robinson, student, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Read this story in English.

Read this story in Spanish.

When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none.
Ezekiel 7:1

Background

Since the mid-20th century, Colombia has been torn by violence. Struggles between left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups, and the Colombian armed forces have convulsed much of the countryside.

Information from MSN Encarta Encyclopedia

Witness from Africa:

Missionary Experiences in the Democratic Republic of Congo

by Dr. Mike and Nancy Haninger,  Mission Co-workers, PC(USA)

A lot of what happens to women remains unspoken. In times of war, and that includes non-declared war, women and children are most vulnerable.

A young woman to whom we were first introduced by the sisters working at the Catholic Mission was named Ntambue. She was 4 ft. 9 inches tall and very pregnant. The sisters requested that I do a cesarean section, as it was quite obvious that this child was too big for her. This woman, girl actually, was raped by a soldier in the war area and walked to Mission Ntambue — a distance of a couple of hundred miles. She was what we call a “mentally challenged” person and had no idea what sex was and how babies were made.

This was a lady that Nancy and I saw in the village clinic who had already required a cesarean section for a birth and would again require one due to her small stature. Nancy advised her to come to the hospital as soon as labor started. Labor started but she couldn’t walk in, as there was a military curfew. The military (the Congo military) had been raiding the village. The villagers caught some of these soldiers and presented them to the governor who sent another contingent of soldiers to protect the villagers from their own military. The curfew forbad anyone being out after about 11:00 p.m. She would have been killed so remained at home. In the morning, village midwives arrived at our house looking for Nancy. They went together to her home and carried her to the hospital. Her uterus had ruptured, expulsing her dead baby into her abdomen.  Fortunately, we were able to save her life. Both the death of her child and her now inability to have children are an indirect result of war.
  
The third case is woman with a fistula1 that I repaired. This lady was raped in a war area leaving a hole in her bladder. This means that some sharp instrument was used. When I first met her she had undergone a surgery and was suffering a severe complication having had one of her ureters2 damaged. Dealing with the complication and repairing the fistula eventually required four more surgeries including one to remove her kidney damaged by the first surgery. Again, these severe injuries are indirect results of war. 
  
We read of the direct results of war — soldiers killing each other or innocent civilians — but the number of dead and permanently injured through indirect effects far exceeds those reports. Children die of malnutrition because their mothers cannot go to the fields to grow and harvest. Children cannot go to school so their education suffers. There are many indirect results. These are but a few.

1 In medicine, a fistula (pl. fistulas or fistulae) is an abnormal connection or passageway between two epithelium-lined organs or vessels that normally do not connect. It is a very serious and painful disorder.

2 The ureters are the ducts that carry urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder.

Background

Since 1997, The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has endured years of civil war. About 4 million people died during the war, making it the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II (1939-1945).

Information from MSN Encarta Encyclopedia

Learn more about Nancy and Mike Haninger and their PC(USA) mission work in the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasai (IMCK) and the Good Shepherd Hospital in Tshikaji, where they serve in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of the Congo.

Calling all Advocates!

So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
(James 2:17 NRSV)

Consider joining our ministry of advocacy! Become a part of a network of Presbyterians committed to advocating for women’s full inclusiveness and equity in all areas of life and work in the church and society. 

Please send your contact information to the Rev. Molly Casteel , Associate for Women’s Advocacy, or call toll free (888) 728-7228 x5403.

Subscribe to Action Alerts!

The Office of Women’s Advocacy, in partnership with Presbyterian Women, periodically sends out email action alerts on topics such as women’s health, economic justice, child advocacy, war and HIV/AIDS.
Subscribe now.

…Loose Threads

- Files marked with this icon can be downloaded in printable Adobe Acrobat format. This file requires the free Acrobat Reader. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select " save target as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and printing.