Handbook for professionals working with traumatised women

medica mondiale e.V. (ed.)
Violence against Women in War
Handbook for Professionals Working with Traumatised Women
with CD-ROM
Mabuse-Verlag, 357 pages, ISBN 3-938304-26-X, 19,90 €

Sexualised violence against women is part of every war, since ancient times. The victims are often as numerous – if not more numerous – as those who have been killed, and many of those who have been killed have also been raped. Usually there is no punishment for the perpetrators, and no help for the victims to deal with their multifold wounds. Post-war rehabilitation programs generally don’t provide for their needs. Only since recently some NGOs have started addressing the issue and offer practical help, among them the German NGO medica mondiale e.V., editor of the recently published manual, kind of „lessons learned“ from 11 years of experience in half a dozen of countries emerging from war. (The English version is not a word-for-word translation but an adaptation of the German manual with the title „Sexualisierte Kriegsgewalt und ihre Folgen“ published in 2004 and meant to provide background knowledge and practical advice to professionals working with or preparing projects for traumatised women, survivors of war related sexualised violence.)

The seven chapters are built around three key issues – legal aspects and awareness building, medical assistance and psychosocial counselling adapted to the needs of rape survivors, and the approach and experience of the organisation, based on a holistic concept: addressing the medical and psychosocial problems of the individual survivor and providing legal assistance, as well as raising public awareness at local and international level. The detailed history of the legal aspects of sexualised violence in war by Gabriela Mischkowski illustrates the long way from the extended Hague Convention in 1907 which prohibited rape only indirectly, to the establishment of the International Criminal Court, considering for the first time rape, forced pregnancy and trafficking as „Elements of Crime“, thus providing the instruments for prosecution. The first condemnations in history for war related rape were issued by the special tribunal for Rwanda, and a little later by the one for former Yugoslavia, putting at last an end to impunity. But this again means stress and risks for the victims who become witnesses appearing before court, and proves the need of independent and competent advice and support, in order to avoid retraumatisation. (How difficult this can be is shown by witnesses of the Rwanda Tribunal declaring that they didn’t feel only like rape survivors, but also like „Tribunal survivors“.)

To help survivors of rape to witness before court is one of the many tasks of medica mondiale, but before they are able to do that, they have to be helped to overcome the physical and emotional damage done to them. Monika Hauser, founder and one of the managers of medica mondiale, has developed on already existing appropriate forms of case history for and treatment of rape victims in gynaecological and obstetric practice, adapted to precarious conditions prevailing in war-torn and crisis ridden regions. Ingeborg Joachim and Karin Griese, two of the psychologists working for medica mondiale since its beginnings and having trained many of the local psychosocial counsellors working in medica mondiale projects, offer practice oriented scientific explanations, professional guidelines and indicators, based on comprehensive academic studies on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the last 20 years and their own rich experience. The chapter on the work of medica mondiale in Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania and Afghanistan provides insight into the often difficult but always challenging experience of working with an up to date largely neglected target group in particularly precarious conditions. Apart from the bibliographical notes at the end of each chapter, the information on „The mandate and modus operandi of the International Criminal Court“ as well as the „Links relating to specific countries and issues“ will prove very useful for all those who want to go into depth of the subject. The handbook has been written mainly for professionals working with traumatised women, but it is also worthwhile reading for all those who dont’t want to see the crime of sexualised violence going unpunished and want to help repair the damages done by it to hundreds of thousands if not millions of women worldwide. Its reading should be a must for all international and national experts conceiving, planning and implementing post-war rehabilitation projects.

Eva-Maria Bruchhaus, 16. Januar 2006

 

Content of the German version
Extract of the German version (Chapter 2: „Sexualisierte Gewalt im Krieg – eine Chronik“)

 

Mabuse-Verlag
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60446 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Tel.: +49.(0)69-70 79 96 16
Fax.: +49.(0)69-70 41 52

 

Content of the German version

Vorwort BMFSFJ

I. Einleitung

Karin Griese

II. Das Trauma sexualisierter Kriegsgewalt: Hintergründe, Folgen, Rechtslage

Gabriela Mischkowski
Sexualisierte Gewalt im Krieg – eine Chronik

Ingeborg Joachim
Sexualisierte Kriegsgewalt und ihre Folgen

Gabriela Mischkowski
Sexualisierte Kriegsgewalt – Strafverfolgung und Wahrheitsfindung

III. Die Arbeit von medica mondiale

Karin Griese, Margrit Spindeler, Sybille C. Fezer, Selmin Çalışkan
Qualitätsmerkmale in der Arbeit von medica mondiale

Sybille C. Fezer
Die Arbeit von medica mondiale in Kriegs- und Krisengebieten

Monika Hauser
Frauenpolitische Lobbyarbeit weltweit

Kirsten Wienberg, Karin Griese
Wie kann die Wirksamkeit der Arbeit mit traumatisierten Frauen „messbar“ gemacht werden?

IV. Grundlagen für alle Berufsgruppen

Ingeborg Joachim
Grundlagen(wissen) für die Arbeit mit Überlebenden sexualisierter Kriegsgewalt

Ingeborg Joachim
Belastungen und Risiken durch die Konfrontation mit dem Trauma sexualisierter Kriegsgewalt in der Arbeit

V.Lebensumstände, Rechtslage und Beratung von Flüchtlingsfrauen in Deutschland

Heike Geisweid
Von der Flucht bis zur Anerkennung: Verfahrensrechtliche Abläufe, soziale Lage und Möglichkeiten zur Unterstützung von Flüchtlingsfrauen

Kerstin Müller
Die rechtliche Situation kriegstraumatisierter Frauen in Deutschland

Heike Geisweid
Rechtliche Beratung und Begleitung von Überlebenden sexualisierter Gewalt aus Kriegs- und Krisengebieten

Astrid von Törne
Begutachtung von Flüchtlingsfrauen im aufenthaltsrechtlichen Verfahren

Heike Geisweid, Karin Griese, Naciye Perktas
Fazit und Ausblick

Glossar

VI. Traumasensible Behandlung und Begleitung

Monika Hauser, Karin Griese
Umgang mit sexualisierter (Kriegs-)Gewalt und Trauma in der gynäkologischen und geburtshilflichen Praxis

Maria Zemp
Die Vorbereitung medizinischer Operationen bei traumatisierten Frauen

VII. Psychosoziale und psychotherapeutische Unterstützung

Ingeborg Joachim
Psychosoziale und psychotherapeutische Arbeit mit Überlebenden sexualisierter Gewalt im Kontext von Krieg und Krisen

VIII. Sexualisierte Kriegsgewalt vor Gericht

Gabriela Mischkowski
Rechte, Schutz und Beratung von Opfern und ZeugInnen in internationalen Strafprozessen

Gabriela Mischkowski
Aufgaben und Funktionsweise des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (IStGH)

IX. Service

Sexualisierte Gewalt in Kriegs- und Krisengebieten: Länderkarte mit Erläuterungen

Länder- und themenbezogene Links

Überblick: Einrichtungen, die in Deutschland therapeutische oder psychosoziale Unterstützung für kriegstraumatisierte Frauen leisten

X. Autorinnen