This article looks at how diasporas can help or hinder their homelands, particularly those that are suffering from the effects of conflict or other forms of serious socio-economic strain. One concrete way in which those abroad shape the living conditions…
Large scale forced displacement in Colombia is a consequence of more than thirty years of armed conflict, violent pursuit of economic interests and implementation of infrastructure projects. Competition for control of fertile land has been and continues to be intense.…
Militarisation and long-standing armed conflicts in many regions have deeply affected the daily lives of Sudanese women, most recently and tragically in Darfur. Fundamentalist interpretations of sharia law are used to control women and are given as reason for not…
From 1996 to 2003 war in DRC claimed some 3.8 million lives. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women and girls – and some men too – has been one of the conflict’s most horrific aspects, for its viciousness, magnitude…
Josephine was eight years old when both her parents died. Left alone, she learned to fend for herself in the hills 20 km from Makamba, a city in southern Burundi. One night her neighbour, a former soldier, crept into her…
Alarm about the high incidence of sexual violence against Burundian women was first sounded during the 1993-2003 civil war when large numbers of rebels and Burundian armed forces occupied villages and towns. Peace accords were finally signed in 2003, and…
South Africa has one of the highest incidences of rape in the world. It is estimated that one person is raped every 26 seconds. In Khayelitsha, a township of around 500,000 people close to Cape Town, the incidence of rape…
Uganda currently hosts at least 230,000 refugees, the vast majority of them southern Sudanese. With very few exceptions, only refugees living within designated settlements are officially recognised and offered protection and assistance. Refugees receive seeds, tools and small plots of…
During Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war – which ended in 2001 – there was a high incidence of sexual assault against women and young girls.1 Return of peace has not meant that women and girls are safe from sexual assault.…
During the war in Bosnia, thousands of women were raped. Medica mondiale was founded in 1993 to respond to their urgent need for protection and support – and now also works with women in Albania, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Liberia, Iraq, India,…