Displaced women and girls are in danger of sexual violence, psychological trauma and violence.
An estimated 32 million women and girls are displaced when their homelands are war-torn or unsafe. Many of these women are still on the move. They have significantly greater health challenges, simply because they are women and girls.
Médecins Sans Frontières is an independent international medical humanitarian organisation that provides medical services during wars, disasters and epidemics. For International Women’s Day, MSF created a series of videos to highlight the work they are doing around the world.
One of the videos features Ruksana of the Sexual Violence Focal Point in Bangladesh. Ruskana works mainly with Rohingya women coming from Myanmar.
“Most of these cases are rape cases, in particular gang rapes by three to five and sometimes eight people have raped one woman. They are in a very vulnerable condition. They have lost their husbands and children, some killed by the military, and they have been raped.”
Ruskana says that the women have nothing when they arrive, “no food, no clothes, no shelter” and they are also dealing with the trauma of having been raped and displaced.
“Last week I had a patient, she was attacked at her home. The attackers took the woman and her baby by force. Three of them raped the woman and beat her brutally.”
The woman walked for 15 – 20 days to make it to Bangladesh. Ruskana said she cried after hearing what happened to the woman.
Displaced women have the same needs as other women, they require access to women’s healthcare, contraception, support in the wake of sexual violence and a safe place to deliver their baby. Fouzia Bara is the Medical coordinator at the Urban Day Care Centre in Athens, Greece. Fouzia says that the women who attend her clinic say they particularly require access to contraception as their lives are so unstable,
“Each woman we meet is a mirror to ourselves…we have the same needs for our bodies and our families. All of the women have experienced violence or witnessed violence. Most of them prefer to avoid pregnancies, they do not know what is going to happen to them and are unable to visualise their future.”
“The women are coming from very difficult backgrounds, they have experienced trauma. Women who come here are not only looking for medical services but are looking for someone who cares about them.”
MSF midwife, Jonquil Nicholl with Faith, Victor, their son Victory and newborn baby Newman Ota who was born on board the MV Aquarius in international waters.
Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical services for the MV Aquarius, a search and rescue ship that patrols the Mediterranean. Not everyone survives the crossing and for those that do, their time on board the ship may be the first time they receive health care.
Last year more than 2000 women and girls were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the MV Aquarius. Of these at least 250 were pregnant and many of the women had experienced rape and sexual violence. Pregnant women are a part of all displaced populations, as many women and girls who are forced to leave their homes to seek safety are of reproductive age: between 15 and 45 years old.
Testimonies of rape and other forms of sexual violence are common in the dedicated “women’s shelter” on the MV Aquarius.
Jonquil Nicholl is an MSF midwife on the ship and she provides support and healthcare to the women on board.
“We’re seeing a great deal of sexual violence cases coming through from the women who are on board. This last rescue I had 16 pregnant women, and of those 16 women, seven were cases of sexual violence and four were pregnant because of rape.”
“Many of the women will have to go through with the pregnancies and have their babies, and we don’t know exactly how they feel about that, some do want to keep their babies, some do not. So it’s very, very difficult.”
Médecins Sans Frontières says that global displacement has increased in recent years and that displaced people need a range of supports that can meet them on their way to safety.
“Women and girls in particular need extra medical and psychological care, and protection. For many, these needs will often overlap. Their health and wellbeing can suffer severely if healthcare is denied, as it will be at many critical points of their journey.”
“Although many displaced women remain invisible, MSF is following their footsteps where possible to provide medical care. We are also equipping the women we meet with the knowledge, tools and choices to manage their health as their uncertain journey continues.”
