Scottish Catholic Observer

A major part of SCIAF’s work in poor countries is dedicated to fulfilling the Church’s mission to establish peace and justice so that people of all faiths and none can live a life with human dignity and realise their full potential. Unfortunately, all too often, human failings lead to conflict, violence and war.

The civil war in Syria shows no sign of ending and SCIAF and our sister agencies in the Catholic community continue to provide emergency aid to many thousands of refugees who have fled into neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan.

Recent weeks have seen an explosion in ethnic violence in South Sudan with the UN reporting a massacre of civilians in Bentui which has left hundreds dead. An estimated 803,200 innocent people have fled their homes since December after ethnic violence erupted following a power struggle in the government.

SCIAF has already directed £50,000 to help provide aid to those caught up in the fighting and will continue to support long term projects in the country to promote peace, as well as care for those affected by hunger, poverty and disabilities.

The recent reports coming out of South Sudan of ethnic hate messages being read out over the radio have a terrifying similarity to those broadcast decades ago in neighbouring Rwanda. The legacy of the genocide in Rwanda continues to loom large over the political, cultural and economic landscape of Africa’s Great Lakes region—a region including the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

The historic events in Rwanda, which began on April 6, 1994, saw the brutal slaughter of around 800,000 people, nearly 20 percent of the population, in 100 days. Millions of people were forced to flee to neighbouring countries and the pain, anguish and grief they experienced remain a constant companion for many.

SCIAF provided immediate humanitarian assistance at the time, working in close partnership with the Catholic Church of Rwanda and sister agencies including the Episcopal Justice and Peace Commission (CEJP).

The partnership work with CEJP Rwanda continues today and we actively support the Rwandan Catholic Church’s efforts to create a just and peaceful society in which former enemies have reconciled their differences, where tolerance is promoted, and people are given the opportunity to live a full and dignified life.

My colleague, Jean Claude Ngendandumwe, former CEJP project co-ordinator, recently recalled: “SCIAF and CEJP Rwanda worked together to promote peace education amongst the population to reduce human rights abuse and domestic violence, and support individuals so they could fully participate in Gacaca trials.”

The Gacaca trials were a traditional tribal form of justice in which victims and offenders would come face-to-face with the offender given the opportunity to make a full confession and ask for forgiveness in return for a reduced punishment. The Gacaca trials proved vital after the genocide in bringing communities back together.

With money from SCIAF, community volunteers and leaders were trained in conflict management, leadership, mediation, trauma management and Catholic Social Teaching. In total SCIAF and CEJP Rwanda trained 57,825 community volunteers (the majority were women) and supported 476 registered official Gacaca observers. Regular weekly peace messages were also conveyed to people all over the country through radio, newspapers, community meetings, cultural programmes and Church sermons. They also prepared communities to reintegrate recently released prisoners and manage conflicts among neighbours.

This had a significant impact on Rwandan society as many genocide criminals pled guilty and repented after realising the harm they had inflicted on their neighbours. It also helped them to discover the value and importance of a safe neighbourhood.

Genocide survivors were also helped to be able to grant forgiveness. In 2006, in Rusumo parish, a woman whose husband was killed during the genocide took the first step to forgive her husband’s killer. Before then, the killer’s wife, being a member of the parish justice and peace committee, had gradually persuaded her husband who was in prison, to accept his role in the genocide. He pled guilty and asked for forgiveness. Now both the families are living in harmony and supporting each other. There are hundreds of such families living side-by-side peacefully due to the peace building efforts of the Catholic Church.

More widely, the Catholic Church plays a crucial role in helping communities recover from violent conflicts. SCIAF has also played a key role in promoting peace to help prevent violence, for instance in northern Uganda and South Sudan, though this work by no means guarantees peace.

During my years working for SCIAF and travelling to Rwanda, DR Congo, South Sudan and other areas affected by conflict I have noted many similarities in the effects conflict have on poor societies and their people.

Education amongst children and young people always suffers, leading to a long term decline in the development prospects of already poor people and their communities. In war, schools will often be destroyed or occupied by armed groups. Teachers will be frightened to come to school and worried parents will keep their children at home or they will flee to safer areas. This means young people lose vital time in school which often prevents them from being able to work their way out of poverty in the longer term.

War will also lead to an increase in the number of people with disabilities, including amongst children. This will not only be from fighting or landmines, but also from a lack of medicine, equipment and doctors being available or able to access conflict zones. This can mean that preventable diseases such as river blindness, cataracts and polio can become established and blight the lives of thousands of innocent people.

Another common, but horrific, consequence of war can be the rise in rape and sexual violence. Although Rwanda has made notable progress in recovering from the genocide of 1994, it still faces a number of obstacles including the prevalence of violence against women.

In the Great Lakes region the problems of sexual violence increase dramatically during conflict with other major reasons including alcohol abuse, poor social and cultural attitudes towards women in society, and poverty and inequality between women and men. Children have not escaped, with more and more cases of sexual violence against children coming to light. Silence often surrounds this issue, which in turn encourages impunity.

With SCIAF support, CEJP Rwanda is challenging the injustice of sexual violence in a number of ways. In recent years CEJP Rwanda has supported a total of 2550 women. More than 200 women have been assisted to take their cases to court to seek justice and 1101 have received support, including counselling and healthcare.

As our partner, Fr Gasana Vincent, the general secretary of CEJP, commented recently on how they are tackling the problem: “SCIAF is working with us in Rwanda, focusing on reducing the impact of violence against women through healthcare, access to justice and helping the women to earn an income. We are also working with government departments like health, justice and with the police to fight against this menace and we are receiving co-operation and support from them.”

To date, CEJP Rwanda and SCIAF have helped 1,995 women and children to access healthcare which is particularly important for people affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as for pregnant women and people with sexually transmitted infections. Also, 40 National Community Police Officers and 8,312 community leaders and members of the general public have been trained in human rights and Rwandan national laws relating to sexual and domestic violence to help drive home the message that these crimes are unacceptable.

Violence against women brings untold suffering to huge numbers of women and children. SCIAF’s work with CEJP Rwanda has helped to reduce the pain and suffering of many thousands of innocent people but the scale of the crisis means there remains an urgent need to continue this work, including in neighbouring DRC and Burundi.

As a charity of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland we will continue to help women and innocent people affected by war and violence. It is a crucial part of our mission to create a more just world for all. We may not always be able to prevent war and conflict, but the Church and its agencies will always provide a peaceful alternative, and help survivors recover from their darkest hours.

—www.sciaf.org.uk