“Women Have Been Abandoned” in Central African Republic Violence: Interview with Brigitte Balipou

“In the Central African Republic today, the abdication of responsibility by the police and armed forces has given way to a situation of significant insecurity, in which women have been abandoned,” said Brigitte Balipou, a Central African magistrate, member of the board of Femmes Africa Solidarité, and founder of the Association of Women Lawyers of Central Africa. “They are with their children in the forests; they are fleeing from abuse; they are fleeing the fighting. So, they are in a very vulnerable situation.”

She said in the capital Bangui, there is some security, “but in the more remote regions, where security has not been restored and the rebels are all around, women are victims of violence on a daily basis. They are being raped; they are being assaulted; their husbands are being killed; or they are being raped in front of their children. They don’t have enough food; they are not getting medical attention; they don’t have access to drinking water—they have nothing.”

She said the insecurity in the remote regions makes reaching these women very difficult. “So our message, first of all, is to start gathering the weapons, because there are a lot of arms in the country that make it difficult—even for the humanitarian actors—to reach these women who have been left to their own devices. So, we need to be able to start the disarmament process, start the demobilization, so that women can have a chance at freedom, humanitarian assistance, food to eat, because they can no longer work in order to buy themselves food. Then women can get organized to seek justice and participate in rebuilding the country.”

In her remarks to the Security Council on October 18 during the annual debate on women, peace, and security, Ms. Balipou asked if more preventive action was possible “because conflicts don’t just break out from one day to the next.”

She continued, “And when these events do unfold on the ground, is it possible to try to act preemptively to lessen women’s suffering? Because when conflict breaks out, the first victims are women. It is men who get together to start these conflicts, but it is the women who are the victims. So, our message is to try to make the procedures more flexible, to be a little more proactive when it comes to conflict situations, to diminish women’s suffering.”

The interview was conducted in French by Marie O’Reilly, Associate Editor, International Peace Institute.

Listen to interview in French (or download mp3):


Transcript

Marie O’Reilly: Brigitte Balipou is a Central African magistrate, a member of the board of Femmes Africa Solidarité and founder of the Association of Women Lawyers of Central Africa. Brigitte, welcome to IPI and the Global Observatory. Thank you for being with us today.

You addressed the UN Security Council last Friday during the annual debate on women, peace, and security, on behalf of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. What was your message in the Council for the international community?

Brigitte Balipou: The message that I brought to the Council was the message of full participation of women, and also justice for women, in the context of the conflicts in my country as well as in the region. [It was a message for] peace, security, women’s participation, transitional justice, and most of all consideration of the real needs of women in conflict situations, particularly in my country—the Central African Republic—where for twenty years we have been experiencing what seems to be a forgotten conflict. Today, this conflict is wide open—not only with regard to women’s issues but also in terms of religious issues.

So this, in sum, is the message I brought to the international community at the Security Council, so that urgent steps can be taken to try to put an end to these conflicts. Because if we speak of women, peace, and security, the conflicts are between men, but the main victims are women and children. It is against this backdrop that I came to bring this message.

MOR: What is the situation like on the ground in the Central African Republic, in particular for women? What are their needs and their priorities?

BB: In the Central African Republic today, the abdication of responsibility by the police and armed forces has given way to a situation of significant insecurity, in which women have been abandoned. They are with their children in the forests; they are fleeing from abuse; they are fleeing the fighting. So they are in a very vulnerable situation. They are exposed to all sorts of dangers.

In the capital, Bangui, there is a little security: things are starting to get back to normal; we’re seeing fewer and fewer violent incidents. But in the more remote regions, where security has not been restored and the rebels are all around, women are victims of violence on a daily basis. They are being raped; they are being assaulted; their husbands are being killed; or they are being raped in front of their children. They don’t have enough food; they are not getting medical attention; they don’t have access to drinking water—they have nothing.

These are the difficulties that women are confronted with everyday. They don’t have anything left to eat. They cannot tend to their agricultural work or small businesses so that they can take care of their families. So, women are in an extremely vulnerable situation.

MOR: And could you tell us about some of the initiatives that women are undertaking to build peace in the Central African Republic?

BB: We have put in place a listening structure for women. We listen to those women who arrive [in Bangui], or who have been raped, and we register them for sanitary care, for psychological treatment, and for legal support. Today, among the victims we have taken in, more than 80 percent of them are women—women who live in the capital and women who are coming from the more remote areas. [These are women] who have been victims, who have been raped, whose children have been killed, whose husbands have been killed, and whose property has been plundered. 

Today, in this difficult context, women have come together to try to find the ways and means to reach the women in the more remote areas who do not have any resources. But you know, the security situation is very difficult, and that doesn’t often permit women to reach the others. It is the humanitarians who are on the ground with these women, who are trying to provide them with the bare necessities—to bring them food, shelter, and water. Because often these women are confined to churches or other places where it is the humanitarian actors that can access them. 

And this is what is driving our warning call, our distress call. We want these women’s voices to be heard. We want these women to be able to have access to justice, because today they are still in the presence of their persecutors, and it’s difficult even for us in Bangui to reach these women.

So our message, first of all, is to start gathering the weapons, because there are a lot of arms in the country that make it difficult—even for the humanitarian actors—to reach these women who have been left to their own devices. So we need to be able to start the disarmament process, start the demobilization, so that women can have a chance at freedom, humanitarian assistance, food to eat, because they can no longer work in order to buy themselves food. Then women can get organized to seek justice and participate in rebuilding the country.

MOR: How do you view the progress made on women, peace, and security issues here at UN Headquarters in New York compared to the progress made on the ground in your country? 

BB: It’s true that women, peace, and security is on the agenda here at United Nations Headquarters. These issues are discussed and debated. And today, what’s happening is that the deployment of forces and financial resources to support the efforts on the ground—in our opinion that will still take some time, while the situation itself is urgent and as such we want a very urgent response. 

Work is being done, but every day that passes is a day of losses in terms of human lives; every day is one in which we want peace to return. The processes are underway, but unfortunately, the processes take time—they are what they are. But the situation on the ground is also counting on this process.

So, based on all of this, with the efforts being made at the African Union, at the Community of Central African States, and at the United Nations, we want it all to be done in a fairly rapid fashion, to try to find solutions. It’s true that the situation [in the Central African Republic] has been brewing for many years, but since these most recent abuses in the country, the situation has become chaotic. So in light of this chaos, we also want an urgent response, to meet the most urgent needs.

MOR: The year 2015 will mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security. How can we address this disparity between New York and the field between now and then? 

BB: We hope that with this fifteenth anniversary of Resolution 1325, we will try to see in what way we can adjust the procedures at the Security Council so that there can be a response that is adaptable to different contexts and situations. For example, when the alarm is raised at the Security Council level, it should be possible to pre-empt the situation instead of letting it unfold, [instead of] letting violence set in before taking action.

So our message to the Council is, would it be possible to be proactive when there is a sense that conflict is coming? Because conflicts don’t just break out from one day to the next. And when these events do unfold on the ground, is it possible to try to act preemptively to lessen women’s suffering? Because when conflict breaks out, the first victims are women. It is men who get together to start these conflicts, but it is the women who are the victims. So our message is to try to make the procedures more flexible, to be a little more proactive when it comes to conflict situations, to diminish women’s suffering.

MOR: Thank you for sharing your experiences with us today, and we wish you well.

BB: Thank you very much.

About the photo: Women wait for medicine with kids in a neighborhood in the capital of Central African Republic, May 2008. (hdptcar, Flickr)