The trauma of childhood sexual violence in CAR
In the Central African Republic, 1 in 4 girls is a victim of sexual aggression. UNICEF and its partners are helping build better systems of protection.
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It was her worst nightmare. Even now, six weeks after that dreadful day, ten-year-old Brigitte’s* hands are still restless, her body shakes and she can hardly raise her head when someone speaks to her. Eye contact is impossible.
That morning, her mother had left the house as usual to open her nearby shop. Brigitte stayed behind to take care of her two siblings - aged 5 and 7 – ahead of her departure for school.
Suddenly, a man she had never seen before stormed her house and, without saying a word, dragged her inside. Everything happened very quickly. The two children didn’t even realise what was going on. Brigitte was paralyzed with fear. The man quickly muzzled her and pulled her down. Her body ached like she had never experienced before. By the time she wanted to react, the man had fled and she was numb, feeling that all her senses had been deeply hurt. When her brothers entered the house, they cried and ran to call their mother, who - hardly one hundred metres away - was unaware of what had happened.
“Unfortunately, such incidents are not unusual in this new sector of Bria, far from the centre, where many former internally displaced people are resettling. Some criminals take advantage of the fact that there is hardly any presence of internal security forces here. Also, many parents must leave the children alone at home to go to work and they become easy prey in an environment of impunity."
Even countrywide, Brigitte’s harrowing experience of rape is sadly not unusual. According to national government data from 2018-2019 (MICS-6), a quarter of girls in the Central African Republic have experienced some form of sexual violence.
One of their neighbours, Michaela, was the first person who came to help. She happens to be a member of RECOPE, a volunteer civil society organization supported by UNICEF that works to raise community awareness around child protection. She quickly referred the case to Esperance, who provided immediate support by taking her to hospital. Ever since, its staff have been coming to visit Brigitte twice a week, to offer psycho-social support to help her recover from the trauma she endured. UNICEF CAR works in partnership with Esperance thanks to funding from the US Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs and the Spanish Committee for UNICEF.
“She is still deeply traumatized,” says Malone, “she will have to undergo many more counselling sessions to recover, especially to help her face the new academic year.”
But trauma does not touch only direct victims of rape. Her close family members’ lives have also been thrown into disarray. This is the case of Brigitte’s mother, Celine. A single mother of three at the age of 22, her heart is heavy with sadness to see her daughter in this state.
“We also give the mother of the victim a psychosocial support. It is important that she understand that she is not alone”,
Brigitte is afraid to remain alone at home and she follows her mother everywhere she goes. Every day in the morning, mother and daughter walk together to the shop, a grass-thatched shack that Celine raised with her own hands. There, she displays clothes, batteries, soap, cigarettes, as well as tiny bags of sugar, rice and flour. She also sells cups of hot coffee and buns at 50 CFA francs (about 12-euro cents) each.
“I started with all my savings: a capital of 15,000 CFA (25 euro),” Celine says. “Every day I may get around 2,000 CFA of income, but right now I have fewer customers because everybody is busy harvesting their groundnuts fields.”
The kiosk stands by the side of a road. Celine talks softly to her daughter and teaches her how to display the articles in the small counter.
As part of its mandate, UNICEF in the Central African Republic works for the provision of prevention, care and protection services for children is situation of vulnerability, in particular the ones presumed to be associated with armed groups and forces, girls who are victims of sexual violence, and unaccompanied or separated children.
Brigitte does not speak much, but she says that she wants to be a teacher. To reach that goal, she will still have to study many years. And avert, as well, the many possible dangers that still girls like her face even at home.
*Names changed
