NAIROBI, Oct 1 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of women raped during and after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda have been denied any legal redress or help in dealing with their trauma and stigmatisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday.
"Women who were raped during the Rwandan genocide and afterwards are still struggling to find justice," the New York-based organisation's Women's Rights Director LaShawn Jefferson said in a report, "Struggling to Survive: Barriers to Justice for Rape Victims."
The report detailed the Rwandan government's alleged inability to provide legal redress, medical assistance or counselling to these victims, including those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Women and girls who were victims of sexual violence during the genocide, when around 800,000 people were systematically slaughtered in an orchestrated ethnic cleansing operation, are among the most devastated and disadvantaged of genocide survivors, the report said.
Jefferson said weaknesses in the Rwandan legal system include insufficient protection for victims and witnesses, lack of training for community and political leaders to deal with violent sexual crimes and poor representation of women in the police and judiciary.
The HRW report also documented the desperate health and economic situation of rape survivors, many of whom live with HIV/AIDS.
Genocide survivors, including victims of rape during the genocide, have not been able to obtain any monetary compensation or other assistance for what they suffered.
The Rwandan Penal Code and laws governing the prosecution of genocide suspects criminalize "rape and sexual torture," but do not expressly define the legal elements of either crime, such as force or coercion.
As a result, according to HRW, court verdicts are inconsistent, law enforcement is confused and sexual violence against women tends to be ignored.
And while international law now classes rape, in certain circumstances, as a crime against humanity, successful prosecutions under this statute have affected only a tiny fraction of actual perpetrators.
Denied adequate procedural protections, including confidentiality and access to female police officers and judicial officials trained in dealing with cases of sexual violence, rape victims risk being stigmatized and retraumatized, according to HRW.
The organisation urged the Rwandan government to train medical and legal personnel in the handling of sexual crimes and to enact pending legislation to provide monetary compensation to allow rape victims seek the care they require.
"Given its failure to intervene during the genocide, the international community must do more to help its survivors. Rwanda's international donors also need to provide more medical and other assistance for rape victims and other genocide survivors," Jefferson said.
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