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Sexual Violence in Darfur in 2007-2008

Rape and other forms of sexual violence remain endemic to the Darfur conflict. As documented extensively, it featured prominently in the government’s “ethnic cleansing” campaign, both during and following displacement.²¹  To date, sexual violence continues to threaten the safety of women and girls across Darfur in patterns that reflect current conflict dynamics and the breakdown of law and order.²²

In the mostly Muslim province of Darfur, sexual violence is an extremely sensitive topic. Women and girls often do not admit to being sexually abused because they fear social stigmatization and do not trust the authorities to take action. Many authorities refuse to acknowledge the problem and some accuse victims of lying to international aid workers to exaggerate their plight for political ends.²³ Some local Sudanese authorities have also sought to stifle humanitarian agencies working on the issue.²⁴ Agencies running women’s health clinics in Darfur’s largest IDP camps have been subjected to harassment and obstruction by government officials and generally do not publicize their work.²⁵

Given the secrecy surrounding the issue, it is almost impossible to accurately quantify the prevalence of sexual violence in Darfur. The humanitarian organization, Médecins sans Frontières, reported it treated almost 500 women and girls between October 2004 and February 2005 in South Darfur, and that these represented a fraction of the total given the chronic under-reporting of rape.²⁶ Another humanitarian agency reported that 200 women were sexually assaulted in a five-week period in August 2006 around Kalma camp, South Darfur.²⁷ Kalma camp still endures high levels of sexual violence. Elsewhere in Darfur, reported numbers tend to be lower. In 2007, UN human rights monitors documented approximately 10 cases per month in locations they visited.²⁸ UN officials have also observed that rapes and other forms of sexual violence are increasingly against younger victims.²⁹

Patterns of abuse

As the Darfur conflict involves increasing numbers of armed entities, so too have the perpetrators of sexual violence increased. They now include military, militia, police, rebels, former rebels, and criminal gangs. They commit crimes of sexual violence in the context of attacks on civilians, in the vicinity of IDP camps, in towns with large IDP populations, and in rural areas near military bases or in areas under rebel control.

Large-scale attacks on civilians

Government and government-backed militia continue to perpetrate crimes of sexual violence in the context of attacks on civilians, carried out in the name of its counter-insurgency.

In February 2008, large-scale air and ground attacks by government and government-supported militia on the towns of Sirba, Silea, and Abu Suruj, in northern West Darfur, led to more than 100 civilian deaths, destruction of property, and massive displacements. In a visit to Sirba, witnesses told UN human rights monitors that up to 10 women and girls were either raped or sexually assaulted.³⁰

At least 15 land and air attacks against civilians were carried out by government, allied militia, and SLA/MM forces from June through November 2007 and many of these attacks are believed to have included incidents of sexual violence that were not reported or documented.³¹ For example, in spring 2007, displaced persons living in camps in the Tawila area reported rapes that had occurred in attacks by government-allied SLA/MM forces on their villages, prompting some to refer to SLA/MM soldiers as “African Janjaweed.”

Sexual violence was used during a series of government-supported militia attacks on civilians in the Abu Sakin region of North Darfur from October to December 2006. In the course of a large-scale attack, government soldiers and Janjaweed from the neighboring town of Um Sayalah, which hosts a military base, abducted eight women and girls, brutally raped at least three, and forced them to walk back to their village naked.³² To date, the military has refused to hand over identified suspects to the prosecutor in El Fasher.

Rape also featured in a large-scale government attack on Deribat, in eastern Jebel Mara, in December 2006. Large numbers of militia and government forces killed civilians and abducted and raped dozens of women and girls. One witness told UN human rights officers, “they were raped by any man who wanted. Whenever any man came to them, the women were supposed to comply, otherwise they were badly beaten.”³³

In and around IDP camps

Most reported cases occur around the peripheries of IDP camps, where armed men harass and attack women and girls who are in the process of collecting firewood or grass or those who are farming. A common pattern is small groups of armed men, often in military uniforms, intercept the women and girls in isolated areas, insult them by calling them “slaves” or “Torabora” (a derogatory term that means “rebel”), and beat them with whips, sticks, gun butts, or their hands, and then rape them.³⁴  

This pattern was repeated in scores of cases documented by UN human rights monitors between June and October 2007.³⁵ For example, in one of these cases in Kalma IDP camp in South Darfur, a Janjaweed militiaman intercepted two Fur women returning to the camp, and asked them what tribe they belonged to and where they were going. When the women said they were from the Fur tribe, the man insulted them, calling them “Torabora.”  He then grabbed one of the women, ordered the other two to leave at gunpoint, and raped her.³⁶  

In an example from Fataborno IDP camp in North Darfur, a 20-year-old woman described being sexually assaulted by an armed man while she was farming at the outskirts of the camp in August 2007:

We were with a group of people about one kilometer from the camp when we saw some armed Arab men and started to run away. One man came to me and asked where I lived. He had a weapon. When I told him where I live, he swore at me and called me a Torabora. He threw me on the ground and kicked me and beat me, then twisted my taub [traditional wrap] around my neck. He wore civilian clothes and looked Arab.

Her father said he found her being strangled and intervened.

In an example from West Darfur, a 12-year-old Erenga girl described how in December 2007, an armed Arab man in uniform lured her and her younger sister into a secluded area by pretending to help them find their lost donkey. “He said if we went with him he would show us. He grabbed me and took off my clothes to do bad things to me. My younger sister ran back to the camp.” 

In some cases, the perpetrators of sexual violence wear civilian clothes and may not be armed. In North Darfur, a Fur woman living in the Zamzam IDP camp reported that in March 2007, while she was collecting firewood with five other women and girls, three Arab men wearing civilian clothes riding donkeys intercepted them and asked what they were doing. One of the men slapped her and said, “you black people are not allowed to take wood from here,” and wrested away her axe. The men proceeded to beat the women, take away their axes, and threatened to rape them by saying, “we’ll circumcise you again now.” 

The identity of the perpetrators varies depending on the location of the camp. In camps located very near military and militia bases, residents tend to report abuses by soldiers and militia, whereas in camps located in territories held by the former rebel faction of the SLA led by Minni Minawi, residents tend to report attacks by armed men from that group against ethnic populations affiliated with opposing rebel groups. SLA/MM soldiers have perpetrated sexual violence in areas under their control, especially in the Tawila area of North Darfur and Gereida area of South Darfur.³⁷

Tawila, a once-thriving town, is now mostly empty but hosts several IDP camps, including the sprawling “Rwanda” camp (named after the Rwandan contingent of AMIS troops who deployed there in 2005). Most cases of sexual violence reported are committed by Zaghawa gunmen who support the Minni Minawi faction, targeting women and girls of Fur and Tunjur ethnicities as they collect firewood or hay or return to their home villages periodically to farm and collect food. Men have also been attacked, beaten, and robbed by the same perpetrators while traveling to and from the camp.

As noted above, the violence surged in villages near Tawila beginning in March 2007. In May 2007, eight armed men wearing camouflaged uniforms and headscarves attacked a group of six Fur women as they were returning to the camp after collecting grass in the bush. According to a 20-year-old woman who was among them, the men asked, “Where are your husbands” and accused the women of carrying food to the Abdel Wahid faction of the SLA. Then the men proceeded to rape three of the women. “They took us into the bush. One raped me, then beat me with sticks and whips. I was unable to walk afterwards. People came and carried us back to the camp.”

In an especially brutal case, an 11-year-old girl who left the Rwanda camp to collect grass one morning in August 2007 with her seven-year-old sister, was reportedly raped by three armed men whom she identified as Zhaghawa. “I went to [the mountain] with my sister to collect grass. Three Zaghawa men in civilian clothes with guns in their hands appeared. One of them grabbed my sister and two of them raped me.”  The attack caused her to bleed profusely and she required a medical evacuation by AMIS helicopter to El Fasher for treatment.

Aid workers have also observed an increase in cases inside the IDP camps, which have become increasingly politicized with the infiltration of armed men and weapons.³⁸  In many of the camps, soldiers visit make-shift taverns where women distill homebrew alcohol to generate income. The combination of alcohol and guns has contributed to incidents of sexual violence inside the camps.³⁹ There also appears to be in increase in domestic violence in camps,⁴⁰ although the extent of the problem is not known. “It is even less acceptable for these women to report cases of domestic violence, but we know it is happening,” a staff member of an agency coordinating responses to sexual violence told Human Rights Watch.⁴¹

Towns, villages, and rural areas

Many of Darfur’s largest towns are also garrison towns hosting military and militia bases, and much of the sexual violence reported in those areas is perpetrated by soldiers and militia members. In Kabkabiya, a town in North Darfur, residents from the Fur and Zaghawa ethnicities consistently report to humanitarian agencies and UN human rights monitors cases of sexual violence carried out by soldiers and militia.  The town hosts a large military garrison and numerous militia camps, and has been the headquarters for infamous Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal.⁴² The area is host to thousands of soldiers, militia, and armed Arab nomads, some of whom were displaced to the area by conflict. It is also home to some 50,000 mostly Fur villagers who were displaced to Kabkabiya in 2004.⁴³  Dressed in a variety of khaki uniforms, armed men regularly harass and abuse the Fur and Zaghawa women and girls. Community leaders in Kabkabiya reported to UN staff 10 cases of rape and sexual assault in September 2007 alone.

In one example, a Tunjur woman described how a group of women and girls went to collect wood in a valley and were intercepted by two Arab men with knives. The men called the women “Torabora” and beat them with sticks and stones. In another example, a 15-year-old Fur girl reported she was raped on the outskirts of town by two militia men she identified as ethnically Gimir (an ethnic group allied with Arab ethnicities) as she and three women were returning home from collecting wood. “They stopped us and told us to get off our donkeys. We tried to run away but they shot bullets in the air. They managed to catch me. Two of them beat me and raped me. When they finished, they took the donkeys and the firewood and left me.” 

In the rural areas, where power dynamics tend to be more fluid, sexual violence is perpetrated by a wider variety of actors. Rebels, Janjaweed militia, and armed nomads have been accused by local communities of committing acts of sexual violence against women and girls as part of efforts to gain control over certain territories. Many of the documented cases illustrate underlying tensions over land. In one case from West Darfur, an Arab man armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, whip, and a stick, attacked a Massalit woman and her seven-year-old daughter on a hillside. The girl escaped but he caught the mother and beat her severely. She said during the beating he shouted, “We stopped all the Massalit from coming to this area. How come you dared to venture out this way?”

In an example from North Darfur, three armed Arab men reportedly raped a Berti woman and her daughter who were out collecting wood. According to the survivors, the men approached on camels and asked what tribe the women belonged to and whether they had seen any other camels roaming the area. The men pointed their weapons at the women and ordered them to follow them to a nearby village, where they took the mother and daughter into an abandoned hut and proceeded to rape them in turns. During the rape, one said, “You Bertis are slaves. Go and tell your men to come meet us.”

Obstacles to Justice for Sexual Violence Survivors

In Darfur, the search for justice is an arduous, victim-driven process. In general, victims of crimes must go to great lengths to report cases to authorities, ensure the cases are properly registered and investigated, and take steps so that prosecutors will move the process forward. This requires persistence, money, social connections, and support from family, community members, and lawyers. It is an especially arduous process for displaced Fur women and girls, who tend to be the least educated members of their communities and may not even speak Arabic, Darfur’s lingua franca.

For victims in rural locations, the social and financial costs of seeking justice are compounded by the distance they may have to travel, often over harsh terrain, to reach the authorities. In Sisi, West Darfur, for example, people have to travel 10 kilometers to report cases. In Fataborno, North Darfur, they must travel 20 kilometers to Kutum town police.

This lack of physical access is even more pronounced in former rebel and rebel-held territories, where government institutions do not function. The former rebel faction of the SLA led by Minni Minawi, and the rebel faction led by Abdel Wahid, both purport to run parallel legal systems in areas they control. The system administered by the former rebel SLA/MM authority, comprising a hierarchy of legal advisers and at least 20 detention centers, is deeply flawed. For example, SLA legal advisers who are often untrained in law act as prosecutors and judges, and conduct “trials” without basic protections for accused or for victims.The ability of these judicial mechanisms to provide meaningful redress to victims of sexual violence is especially dubious, particularly as members of the group continue to perpetrate sexual violence crimes against women and girls living in their territories.

Fear of reporting

It is widely accepted that the vast majority of victims of sexual violence in Darfur do not report to the police.⁴⁴ This reflects a general mistrust of police authority, particularly among IDP populations. Continuing abuses by government security forces such as Central Reserve Police contribute to this mistrust.⁴⁵ For example, in a case from Sisi West Darfur in September 2007, a member of Central Reserve Police shot and killed a woman when she tried to protect her daughter from being sexually assaulted inside her home.⁴⁶ In South Darfur, two 18-year-old girls reported they were returning to their IDP camp when two armed Central Reserve policemen intercepted them and tried to force the women to a secluded area to rape them. In the words of a survivor of attempted rape from Al Salaam IDP camp, North Darfur, she did not report the sexual violence committed against her because “police are part of the problem.”

Victims and their families fear the consequences of reporting cases to the authorities. One reason is Sudan’s adultery law. If a victim is unmarried and pregnant and fails to convince the police that she did not consent to sex, the police may charge her with adultery, or zina.⁴⁷ Under shari’a (Islamic) law, pregnancy of an unmarried woman is prima facie evidence of guilt.⁴⁸ Cases continue to be documented in Darfur in which girls under 18-years-old are convicted of adultery because they are pregnant, even though the adultery provision only applies to consenting adults. 

The UN did not report any cases of police charging victims of sexual violence with adultery in 2007, but such cases have been reported to human rights and humanitarian workers in the past.⁴⁹ The Sudanese government has insisted that proper interpretation of the adultery law excludes this possibility.⁵⁰ Nevertheless, the threat of prosecution for adultery still deters victims from reporting cases. When a 35-year-old woman from West Darfur learned she was pregnant after two armed men raped her at gunpoint on her farm in early October 2007, she decided not to report the rape to the police. “If I inform the police, they will probably charge me with adultery. The community will also look badly at me because I have a baby and I am divorced.”

Some who reported rape cases to authorities have been subject to harassment and intimidation⁵¹ or been charged with the crime of “furnishing false information.”⁵² There were cases where male relatives of victims who reported sexual violence were accused of this crime as recently as 2007. Government authorities have also harassed victims after they have received medical care. In one example from 2007 in Zalingei, West Darfur, a National Security officer approached a victim and her family as they were leaving the hospital and confiscated their medical evidence form.⁵³ Local and international humanitarian organizations have also faced intimidation, most dramatically in 2005 when staff of Médecins sans Frontières was arrested after the organization released a report documenting 500 rapes in Darfur.⁵⁴

Legal barriers

Victims are also deterred from seeking justice because they consider the process too costly and difficult, given the unlikelihood of it resulting in redress. Although the government has not provided comprehensive court statistics for crimes of sexual violence, the available evidence indicates that only a very small fraction of cases goes to court. According to one set of official statistics, the courts of Darfur tried 10 cases of rape in 2006, resulting in seven convictions, one dismissal, and three still pending resolution when the statistics were published.⁵⁵ In October 2007 the Sudanese Ministry of Justice reported that Darfur courts had tried 20 cases of rape in 2007.⁵⁶ Of rape trials that have resulted in conviction, Darfur courts have awarded compensation just once.⁵⁷

Additionally, the rape law itself presents an obstacle to justice because of the way it is interpreted by judicial authorities. Rape is defined as “sexual intercourse by way of ‘adultery’ or sodomy, with any person without his [or her] consent.”⁵⁸  Because this definition incorporates the crime of adultery, some judges interpret this to mean that the stricter shari’a evidence rules that are required for adultery also apply in rape cases, even though the criminal law does not require four male witnesses to prove rape.⁵⁹  

Even in cases where judges do not apply shari’a rules to hear the rape case, the victim could be prosecuted for adultery if she fails to prove non-consent, especially if she is unmarried and pregnant (see above). The criminal law does not contain the crime of attempted rape, so if a rape victim fails to prove that penetration occurred, the court may only charge “gross indecency.”⁶⁰ 

Police ineffectiveness

One of the reasons victims of sexual violence say they do not report cases is that they lack confidence the police will respond effectively. According to Sudanese criminal procedure, police should move immediately to the scene of the incident and follow specific procedures for collecting evidence and taking injured victims to the hospital.⁶¹ But in practice police are notoriously ineffective in conducting investigations and making arrests in cases of sexual violence.

Based on scores of cases monitored by UN human rights monitors, the UN Human Rights Council’s report stated, “Many victims have chosen not to file complaints with police because they have felt that the police cannot or will not take appropriate action against perpetrators. In some cases, police action has been limited to receiving complaints.”⁶²  

Victims avoid police even in cases of serious physical injury. In one case from West Darfur in August 2007, armed militia attacked and raped a 19-year-old Fur woman who was eight-months pregnant. She received medical attention in the camp clinic, but did not report the crime to the police because she did not believe they would take any action.⁶³

Frustration over police inaction—echoed by displaced persons across Darfur—came to head in one high-profile case in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, in October 2007. A man identified by eyewitnesses as an Arab wearing civilian clothes and carrying a gun attacked an 18-year-old Zaghawa girl while she was farming five kilometers from town. Her mother, who witnessed him harass and kill her daughter, said the man was attempting to rape her daughter when he shot her.

The incident sparked angry demonstrations by the Zaghawa and Fur communities of Kabkabiya, resulting in some damage to the AMIS compound. “Our intention was to send a clear message to the state, national and international community that these rapes are happening,” explained one activist. “The governor promised to arrest the perpetrator within 24 hours, but nothing has happened.” Some members of the Fur community have even stopped encouraging victims of sexual violence to report to police altogether. “It’s no use to report to police. They do nothing,” said one sheikh.

To a large extent, policing failures relate to a lack of resources.⁶⁴  Darfur’s police lack the most basic equipment—vehicles, telephones, paper, pens—let alone the correct forms or more sophisticated tools for forensic investigation. In Fataborno IDP camp, for example, the sole police truck was in disrepair for months in 2007 and police officers relied on AMIS for rides into Kutum town.

But lack of political will to seriously investigate cases is also an important factor. Even in towns where they are relatively well-equipped, police repeatedly fail to investigate cases of sexual violence. In a case in which a soldier allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl near a military post in El Fasher town, police registered the complaint but did not investigate despite repeated visits by family members, lawyers, and UN human rights monitors. The explanation police gave for their inaction was that the crime was committed at dusk, so no one could have identified the perpetrator. Similar excuses have been given in other cases.

Rather than proactively investigate, police often demand that victims do the leg-work in the investigation, from locating witnesses to identifying suspects. In an example from Zalingei from 2007, two armed men wearing green and beige camouflage khaki uniforms riding on camels intercepted two female displaced persons who had gone to collect firewood outside Zalingei. The armed men verbally assaulted the women, took away their axes and knives, and later shot one of the women in the foot. The Zalingei police helped the victim to obtain treatment at the government hospital, but refused to register a formal complaint unless the victim could first establish the identity of the perpetrators.⁶⁵

Many police and prosecutors exhibit a dismissive and hostile attitude in their interactions with victims and their families. Some have refused to register cases after a period of 24 hours from the time of the alleged crime, even though there is no such statute of limitations in the criminal law. All of Darfur’s prosecutors and most police are male, and very few have been trained in appropriate victim-sensitive approaches. To Human Rights Watch’s knowledge, the police and prosecutor’s offices have not adopted protocols for protecting the confidentiality and physical safety of victims and their families and put them at ease during investigations.⁶⁶

One case of gang rape by seven soldiers of an 18-year-old Arab woman in El Fasher in August 2007, illustrates this problem. The prosecutor ordered the victim and her family to attend the crime scene—a tent inside a military barracks—accompanied by a prosecutor, a military official, soldiers, and police officers. The inquiry was unstructured and no measures were taken to protect the victim’s privacy or guard against painful or dangerous interactions with the alleged perpetrators.

Medical evidence

In all crimes involving physical injury, police provide the victim with a medical evidence form, known as “Form 8.”  This form is then filled out by a doctor and may be used as evidence in a legal proceeding. Until 2005, victims of physical assault were not allowed to obtain medical assistance without first reporting to police and obtaining a Form 8. After humanitarian agencies repeatedly voiced concerns that this practice prevented survivors from accessing healthcare, the procedures were amended by the Ministry of Justice to state explicitly that victims are allowed to obtain medical care without first going to the police to obtain a Form 8.⁶⁷ 

This amended procedure has facilitated victims’ access to medical care in some places, but has not been applied uniformly. Some police and community leaders who advise victims still believe that they must report the crime to police before they seek medical care. In many cases, police do not explain to complainants how to use the form. In the example of the 15-year-old girl who was beaten and raped outside of Kabkabiya in June 2007, police gave the form to the family and instructed them to return it after having it filled out by a doctor. When the family returned the completed form, they said the police kept it and took no further action in the case. In some cases, victims have had to pay for the forms. Government authorities have noted these problems and the need to better publicize the amended procedure.⁶⁸ They have indicated plans to conduct more awareness-raising workshops with support from donor agencies, and this could help to improve the situation but is not in itself sufficient. Ideally, victims of sexual violence should be able to obtain a Form 8 inside the hospital.⁶⁹

Moreover, the process of obtaining and filling out the Form 8 in itself presents obstacles to justice. Some, but not all, clinics run by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been authorized by the Ministry of Health to provide and complete the form. Victims who seek medical care at clinics that are not authorized—including some NGO women’s health clinics—do not receive the paperwork they need to pursue legal action. The only way for them to obtain the form is to visit a government-authorized doctor and undergo another examination (by which point critical evidence may be lost). As the Human Rights Council report noted, “there remain problems regarding access to justice for women who have been treated in NGO clinics.” ⁷⁰  

The evidentiary value of the form is also questionable. The form does not allow a full description of the extent of a victim’s physical injuries and doctors tend to report their conclusions rather than medical observations.⁷¹ Police often rely on the doctor’s notes on a Form 8 to decide whether a complaint should be registered in the first place. If the form does not state, “rape has occurred,” they may not bother to register a case as an assault crime. (As noted above, there is no crime of attempted rape under Sudan’s criminal law). Government authorities have noted the need for more training for medical personnel on use of the form, and on clinical standards for treating victims of sexual violence.⁷²

No recourse against armed forces

If a crime suspect happens to be a member of the armed forces, police often register the crime as committed by an “unknown” perpetrator and take no further action. In one example from North Darfur in July 2007, six women alleged that three government soldiers from a military base near their village raped them. According to one of the rape survivors, she encountered the soldiers while returning from the market on her donkey:

One of [the soldiers] grabbed my arm and pulled me off my donkey. When I shouted for help he hit me in the mouth with the butt of his gun. He hit me several times and then tore off my clothes and raped me. When he finished, the other man came and raped me.

Police opened cases against “unknown” perpetrators. High-ranking police and security personnel were informed of the case, but no steps were taken to determine the perpetrators’ identity or press charges.

Under Sudanese criminal law, prosecutors supervise criminal investigations, issue arrest warrants, determine charges and forward cases to court.⁷³ A prominent judge told Human Rights Watch that it is within the prosecutors’ powers to order police to be more proactive investigating cases against military, and that they should push police harder.

Police, who are far out-resourced and outnumbered by government military and militia,⁷⁴ openly admit they feel powerless to take action against soldiers and militia. They even tell victims that they cannot do anything if the case involves military. In one high profile case, seven young men raped a 17-year-old IDP girl when she was returning from school to Al Salaam camp in North Darfur. Police told the father of the victim that the case would be difficult to pursue because the perpetrators belonged to the military.⁷⁵  A police commissioner in another part of Darfur told a UN worker in May 2007, that because of the ongoing conflict in Darfur, police cannot arrest militia or soldiers.

The laws governing military, police, and security personnel all contain provisions protecting members of the security forces from prosecution in civilian courts for offenses committed while carrying out official duties, except with permission from the relevant superior officers.⁷⁶ There are administrative guidelines for obtaining waivers of immunity. In July 2007, the director general of police issued a decree setting out procedures for lifting immunity for police.⁷⁷ However, the process is often cumbersome and time-consuming and requires decisions from authorities in Khartoum.

In cases against military personnel, the Darfur-based military authorities decide whether to allow a case to proceed in the civilian justice system. The prosecutor typically writes a letter to the suspect’s commanding officer through the military legal adviser, informing him of the charges and requesting cooperation in an investigation.⁷⁸  In some cases, especially against low-ranking soldiers,⁷⁹ the military complies with the request and turns over the suspect for investigation and trial. More often, especially in cases against higher-ranking personnel or in relation to crimes committed in the context of armed conflict,⁸⁰ military authorities do not answer the prosecutor’s requests.

One Darfur prosecutor confided that he was “very upset and disappointed” at the military legal adviser’s failure to respond to written requests in six cases that had been pending for months.⁸¹ This non-responsiveness is tantamount to a decision not to waive immunity even in cases where immunity should not, technically, be granted because the suspect is alleged to have committed a crime outside his official duties. In view of the large proportion of reported rape cases perpetrated by soldiers and militia, the failure of military authorities to cooperate with justice sector actors poses a significant obstacle to accountability for sexual violence.