May 2018

May 31, 2018

We must call out the chief causes by name!

Dear aidsfocus readers,

“In the past I never used condoms and I had rough sex with girls and young women,” said a young man of 22 in rural Lesotho. "I felt powerful during those moments, because I had been taught that that’s how you should treat women," he added.

An example showing how violence against women and girls is often normalised and not recognised as a social problem. And Lesotho is just one case in point – in every single country in the world, violence against women and girls is more or less part of everyday life.

On 2 May 2018 the Medicus Mundi Switzerland network held its annual conference in Bern. This year, the topic was gender-based violence (GBV). We discussed causes and concrete solutions to prevent and minimise GBV. The speakers made it clear that the fight against gender-based violence requires a cross-sector approach.

The #MeToo movement has lifted the taboo on sexual harassment and abuse in many places. And yet, in many countries, violence continues to be invisible. A poorly functioning healthcare system means that rape victims must bear both the physical and mental burden of their experience on their own. The fear of not being believed, or being told that what they experienced doesn’t actually amount to rape, means that many survivors do not realise that they are entitled to both justice and medical care.

At the conference we also discussed why even aid organisations are not immune to sexual harassment and exploitation by their own workers (see the Oxfam scandal!). Sexual exploitation and abuse in the area of humanitarian aid and development cooperation work stem from an inequality of power connected to sexism, racism and global power structures. Alongside strengthening organisational structures, we must also call out the chief causes by name, otherwise any solutions will remain reactive and superficial.

Achille Bapolisi, our speaker from Bukavu in South Kivu (DRC), is a psychiatrist. He reported to the conference on the difficulties of providing psychosocial support to rape victims in refugee camps in Uganda. Read his fascinating article in our topic of the month.

Carine Weiss

Coordinator, aidsfocus.ch

Project Leader, Medicus Mundi Switzerland

cweiss@medicusmundi.ch

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