Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Armed Conflicts: A Comparative Analysis of Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria
Abstract
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has been a central feature in several conflicts in Africa, including those occurring in Angola, Algeria, Uganda, and Liberia. This paper aims to discuss SGBV about women and girls, which has been a pervasive and alarming feature of the armed conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Northern Nigeria. The Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been called ‘the rape capital of the world’ because of the recurrent rapes that have been reported. Likewise, the persistent armed conflict in Northern Nigeria has been characterized by the sexual exploitation of women and girls. This paper assesses the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the MAPUTO Protocol, and other laws enacted to prohibit SGBV against women in Africa. A qualitative research design interpreted the African Union legal framework, and desktop research collected data from current literary resources such as books, journal articles, and other relevant written academic literature. This paper reveals the violation of human rights during armed conflict, explores the severity of sexual breaches in these regions, and further discusses the position of women who are vulnerable to sexual violence. This study is significant because there is a dire need to curb SGBV in Armed Conflicts in tandem with the legal framework in the international sphere and Africa. The paper concludes that SGBV perpetrators continue to enjoy near-complete impunity, and over the past decade and more, the number of successful prosecutions has been insignificant relative to the scale of the crime. The paper recommends that the governments of these nations strengthen their legislative frameworks by increasing the specialized expertise of the justice system to handle violent crimes and by involving institutions and other stakeholders in confronting this dangerous act.
Keywords: sexual and gender-based violence, women and girls, armed conflict, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria.
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