SIERRA LEONE: Sex crimes continue in peacetime
Eight years after a civil war in Sierra Leone that became notorious for the extent of rape and violence committed against civilians, social workers fear that rape is more of a problem in post-conflict, democratic society than it was during the war.
FREETOWN, 20 June 2008 (IRIN) - The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which runs four “Rainbo Centres” - counseling and treatment clinics for raped and battered women in Sierra Leone - recorded 1,176 attacks on women around the country last year. Its staff say these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.
“When we started work just after the war it was to provide medical and psychological counseling to women who had been abused during the war, but the new cases have just not stopped coming,” said Hannah Kargbo, a nurse who treats abused women.
“Some of the perpetrators were children during the war and were exposed to rape and sexual violence then and just carried on doing it,” she said. The highest numbers of cases come from areas where large numbers of ex-combatants are gathered.
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