Tragic facts of life
\nA mother\u2019s impossible choice: risk rape to feed your family, or starve
\nMONITORING DESK
\nJuba, South Sudan
\nOn a dirt path dotted with bright-red bougainvillea, women in ankle-length dresses gather in groups of five or more before venturing into the forest.
\nRight outside the largest refugee camp in Juba, South Sudan\u2019s capital, sickles readied in their hands to cut firewood, the women say banding together offers a tiny sense of security, a little protection and the reassurance that if something happens to them inside the forest one of them might escape to tell someone.
\nIn four or five hours, they\u2019ll be back at the camp, one of them says.
\n\u201cIf God is willing,\u201d another adds.
\nIn the five years of South Sudan\u2019s civil war, 1.9 million have fled to camps within the country, where the UN provides physical protection as well as food rations amidst an ongoing famine.
\nTo cook the food rations, firewood must be collected — a task that falls to the women.
\n\u201cIf you\u2019re in the forest to collect firewood and the soldiers see you, they will rape you,\u201d Nykeer Mut, the women\u2019s leader of one of the camp\u2019s zones, said.
\n\u201cBut what are we supposed to do?\u201d
\nThe women know of the dangers, she said. They\u2019ve heard of those who, far from the protection of the camp\u2019s razor wire and UN soldiers, were raped, tortured and kidnapped. Or they have experienced it themselves.
\nBased on interviews, the UN estimates that 70% of women living in camps have been raped. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2013, South Sudanese army soldiers have been accused of using rape and other forms of sexual violence as a tactic of war, aimed at systematically traumatizing and humiliating entire ethnic groups. Outside the refugee camp, when the women get to the forest, soldiers are often already waiting for them, hiding behind tall grass and tree trunks, Mut said.
\nThe day soldiers raped Mut, she recounted that the grass was high and everyone in her group was focused on the task at hand, hoping to return to the camp as quickly as possible. Nobody had seen the soldiers coming, she said.
\nWhen the soldiers jumped out of the grass, the women screamed to alert others. They ran for their lives, but the grown soldiers\u2019 steps easily outpaced those of Mut\u2019s 10-year-old daughter, who had come to the forest to help. The soldiers grabbed the girl. Mut turned around. \u201cI couldn\u2019t leave my daughter,\u201d she said.
\nAs they tied Mut\u2019s hands behind her back, they talked about how young the girl looked, Mut said.
\n\u201cThey said: \u2018Let\u2019s just rape the mother.\u2019\u201d
\nOne soldier pushed Mut to the ground. Two others pinned down the girl, forcing her to watch.
\nThe government has not replied to requests for comment, but a government spokesman told Al Jazeera last September that soldiers who rape are punished. The same spokesman also questioned survivors\u2019 claims.
\nFour other residents of the camp said that they too had been attacked in the forest, and several more said that rape and assault are common.
\nChristine Ayoo, the head of an International Rescue Committee center where rape cases are recorded at the camp, says that such attacks happen every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tragic facts of life A mother\u2019s impossible choice: risk rape to feed your family, or starve MONITORING DESK Juba, South Sudan On a dirt path dotted with bright-red bougainvillea, women in ankle-length dresses gather in groups of five or more before venturing into the forest. Right outside the largest refugee camp in Juba, South Sudan\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n