Photo credit: Refugees International
12/09/2005

In order to instill more confidence in displaced women (who are usually the object of the attacks), the international community has encouraged AU civilian police and the government of Sudan to insure that there are more female police officers with the idea that women would be more comfortable reporting a rape to another woman. Women are still very reluctant to talk about the rapes and attacks that they have suffered with men. In South Darfur, 61 of the 230 AU CIVPOL officers are women, much higher than the UN’s 4% average in its peacekeeping missions. However, the AU in South Darfur only has one female ‘language assistant’, leaving the officers to rely on male translators when they interview women, unless they arrange ahead of time for the female language assistant to be there.