131
2. The legacy of rape. Children born of rape.
PART III: THEORY
( This issue is not discussed specifically in the training.)
The stigma attached to‘ war born children’
We know that sexual and gender-based violence gravely harms its victims. More recently, it has been acknowledged that sexual violence also has a devastating impact on families and communities, and affects society at large. Raped women often do not report this kind of violence because it may cause them to be stigmatised. However, when a rape results in pregnancy, it can no longer be hidden. The term‘ war children’ is used to refer to children“ who are stigmatised because their mother had a relationship with enemy or allied soldiers, or peacekeeping personnel” or they were“ born as a result of politicised violence used as a sexualised war strategy”( Mochmann 2008). The second category is the main focus of discussion here.
Starting point
Most academic and general interest in gender-based violence concentrates on the women victims, their trauma, and the consequences of rape( Roosendaal 2011). Less attention is paid to the children born as a result of such rapes. It is important to acknowledge these children. Though systematic data is generally lacking, Carpenter( 2007) considers that the evidence available indicates that‘ war children’ generally face severe discrimination. This is sometimes because mothers who become pregnant or give birth after rape face stigma and social exclusion. In addition, maternal attachment to children born of rape differs significantly from society to society, as does the social stigmatisation of such children. Some children are loved or accepted, but others are rejected by both their mothers and the community; some are victims of infanticide. Such differences of attitude are likely to be due to specific variations in geographic, cultural and structural circumstances, and can be further understood in terms of the taboos and myths that surround such pregnancies and children. Helpers should make an effort to understand these factors and take them into account in their work.
Stigmatisation and discrimination: examples from the field
It seems that children are more at risk of being rejected, stigmatised or killed when their origins are identifiable in their features. Examples include the‘ Vietnamerican children’ born during the Vietnam War as a result of rape or other forms of relationship, and the‘ war children’ born as a consequence of gang-rapes in Darfur. Where ethnicity is less politicised or racialised, or where rapes have no ethnic dimension,‘ war children’ can hide more easily in the population and are more likely to be socially accepted and nurtured by their mothers( Carpenter 2007).
In some societies it is widely believed that children born of rape inherit their father’ s‘ bad’ characteristics, based on the assumption that identity is inherited from the male( Mochmann 2008). Children conceived by rape during the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina are called‘ Chetnic children’ or‘ Bosnian Serbs’, for example( Roosendaal 2011). Elsewhere, children born of rape are described as‘ devil’ s children’( Rwanda),‘ children of shame’( East Timor),‘ monster babies’( Nicaragua),‘ children of hate’( Democratic Republic of the Congo), and‘ Dust of life’( bui doi, Vietnam). These demeaning names reveal how society perceives these children, and that they are often associated with an enemy( Mochmann 2008).