#mkomanawamamoyo

During times of conflict sexual violence, primarily against women, is often used as a weapon. Victims of sexual violence endure lifelong emotional and psychological trauma. In most cases, victims are left with children sired by the perpetrators, who become constant reminders of the heinous acts. Recognising the great prevalence of the weaponisation of sexual violence during conflict, in 2015 the United Nations designated 19 June as the annual International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict through resolution A/RES/69/293.

This date was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1820, which covers the topic of sexual violence as a tactic of war. Today, Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating this day.

Although Zimbabwe has not had an armed conflict since independence in 1980, there have been various internal conflicts during which sexual violence was used as a weapon. During the state-led massacres perpetrated during Gukurahundi in the early 1980s, multitudes of women and girls were raped and sexually abused as retribution by the North Korean-trained 5th Brigade. The residual effects of these atrocious crimes have cascaded to secondary and tertiary victims.

Similarly, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum documented seventeen (17) cases of women who were raped during the January 2019 protests against fuel hikes. The perpetrators in this incident either directly raped the victims or instructed other people to do so in their presence. The use of sexual violence during the illustrative epochs highlighted above was calculated to instil fear in communities and attack the dignity and humanity of target communities.

Whilst conflicts are inevitable in every society, we condemn the use of sexual violence as a weapon. The weaponisation of sexual violence is a dangerous tactic that challenges the very humanity of the victims and must never be tolerated.

Thereafter the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) was established to facilitate national peace and reconciliation in Zimbabwe and the NPRC identified the Gukurahundi as one of its priority areas. Regrettably, to date, there have been no concrete steps taken to resolve the Gukurahundi by the NPRC. Since 2020 there has been talk of traditional leaders led by the President taking the lead on resolving the Gukurahudi however, this initiative has been done to the exclusion of the NPRC and has not yet borne any tangible results. No efforts have been made to resolve the January 2019 violence. 


To that end, we urge government to investigate all instances in which sexual violence has been used as a weapon during conflicts in Zimbabwe and to hold the perpetrators accountable. Similarly, criminal justice authorities are called upon to effectively prosecute such cases and bring justice to victims and accountability to perpetrators. This is key to ending the use of sexual violence as a weapon in conflict and ensuring justice for the victims, assisting their healing process .