Category Archives: News

20Jan/22

Congo’s Prison Rape Trial a Missed Opportunity

This week a court in Lubumbashi in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo found 10 male inmates guilty of rape, arson, and attempted escape during riots at Kasapa central prison in September 2020. All the defendants, most of whom were already serving long sentences, received 15 years additional imprisonment and were each ordered to pay US$5,000 to the 20 female survivors taking part in the trial.

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Survivors of the September 2020 mass rape at Kasapa central prison, veiled to protect their identity from the public, attend trial proceedings at Kasapa central prison, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, November 11, 2021.
© 2021 Private

Sixteen months after the three days of rampage and mass rape at Kasapa prison, the trial left some survivors with a sense of disappointment and unfinished business. “These detainees are already serving prison sentences and have no money. So this means abandoning us,” a survivor told Human Rights Watch. “The state should be facing its responsibility.”

Of the 56 female detainees in the prison at the time of the riot, 37 women and a teenage girl testified to being raped. But by only holding 10 prisoners and no state officials to account, the prosecution failed to fully provide justice for the horrific crimes committed.

When Human Rights Watch investigated the prison riot last year, we found that a group of inmates, who had overpowered their guard, set several buildings on fire and rapidly took over the prison. Staff, guards, and security forces fled and shut the prison gates behind them. Female detainees were left with no protection in the open prison yard during three days of chaos. The majority of the women, and possibly all, were raped.

A month before the uprising and again just hours before it started, prison officials had warned provincial civilian and military authorities about growing insecurity in the prison emanating from a number of “very dangerous inmates.” These warnings were repeatedly ignored. Yet, the state’s failure to protect and provide safety to all female detainees was completely overlooked by the prosecution.

The authorities also failed to provide survivors with timely and adequate post-rape medical care and psychosocial support. Some became pregnant, most likely as a result of being raped, while a number contracted serious infections.

The prosecution never addressed the physical and psychological trauma that survivors must now live with.

The Kasapa trial was a missed opportunity to meaningfully investigate what happened and hold all those responsible, be they perpetrators or state officials, to account. The survivors are entitled to better justice and better care.

20Jan/22

Pakistan’s New Law Aims to Protect Women in Workplace

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Women’s rights activists demonstrate to condemn violence against women in Lahore, Pakistan, July 24, 2021.
© 2021 AP Photo/K.M. Chaudhry

Pakistan’s parliament has passed a bill that significantly strengthens protections for women in the workplace against violence and harassment. The new law, drafted by the Ministry of Human Rights with extensive input from women rights groups and lawyers, amends the far weaker 2010 law.

The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2022, enacted January 14, expands the definition of workplaces to encompass both formal and informal workplaces, bringing it closer to the definition set out in the 2019 International Labour Organization (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention (C190), which Pakistan has not ratified. The new legislation specifically includes domestic workers, who are often isolated and marginalized, and as a result can be at greater risk of workplace violence and harassment.

The new law includes an expanded definition of harassment that includes “discrimination on the basis of gender, which may or may not be sexual in nature.” The law extends protections against harassment and violence to students, a category excluded by the previous law. It also streamlines the complaints process and includes specific protections to prevent retaliation.

Women’s rights groups in Pakistan have long demanded stronger protections against violence and harassment in the workplace, and this law is an important step toward that. Pakistani women face serious abuse in the workplace and at home, including high rates of rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage. Perpetrators have too often enjoyed impunity because of discrimination. Recent cases that have come to trial have highlighted the obstacles women face in getting justice, with survivors often retraumatized by the legal process.

The real test of the new law will be its full implementation, which requires political will. One way that Pakistan’s government could demonstrate its commitment to ending workplace harassment is by ratifying ILO C190, which provides comprehensive protections and a mechanism to hold countries accountable for upholding them.