29 Mar 2019
Early March 2019, a Tropical Cyclone Idai ravaged through parts of the Manicaland Province to become one of the deadliest storms ever recorded to hit the country. The storm caused catastrophic flooding, landslides, and large numbers of casualties across some districts in the province.It left whole villages, plantations and business centres either submerged or completely obliterated from the face of the earth. The Zimbabwean and international community responded enthusiastically with donations and assistance in rescue efforts. This saw thousands of private citizens descending on the affected areas for various reasons. While everybody is focused on saving lives, little has been said about the attendant risks of Gender Based Violence (GBV) associated with displacement.
The risks of GBV during displacements caused by conflicts are well-understood and documented. However, GBV during displacement caused by natural disasters is little understood. The little literature and evidence available suggests that people displaced by a natural disasters are especially vulnerable to sexual assault by strangers, at highest risk are particularly those relocated to temporary shelters. Displacement seems to create risks in large measure because people are uprooted from their traditional social security networks. The increased vulnerability can be attributed to a breakdown in the protection nets usually available at village level where neighbours watch out for each other’s safety. Commonly, in Zimbabwe your neighbour your closest relative even though there may be no blood ties.
After cyclone disaster, people are either forced to move into communities where they know no one or move into camps while those whose villages were not completely destroyed see their communities suddenly invaded by desperate strangers seeking shelter. All this leads to a breakdown in social cohesion and long established social security nets creating conducive conditions for the manifestation of GBV.
Apart from destroying infrastructure, cyclone Idai left thousands of people food insecure. This food insecurity presents a high risk and is fertile ground for the rise in incidents of transactional sex. Various humanitarian missions’ research reports over the years have revealed that transactional sex occurs primarily because food is insufficient and women needed to provide for their families. The cyclone disaster comes just as the world is trying to come to terms with the Haiti GBV scandals perpetrated by aid workers on vulnerable people. Then, one shudders to imagine the harm that may likely have been perpetrated by private citizens, untrained in the ethics and conduct of humanitarian work that descended on Manicaland to provide the much needed assistance following Cyclone Idai. In this regard apart from increased protection programming there exists a need to provide the displaced communities with adequate reproductive health education and services. Disappointingly, over the past weeks of sourcing for donations, all manner of materials have been procured but not enough effort have been put towards procurement and distribution of condoms and contraceptives.
As earlier mentioned, the influx of individual private citizens in Manicaland to assist with rescue efforts, deliver and distribute aid and also for disaster tourism compounds the complexities of the Zimbabwean situation. While their humanity is commendable it has to be noted that these people are accountable to no one, some are not trained to provide standardised assistance in disaster zones and are not bound by any ethical codes. Over the years research findings have noted that disaster zones are a magnet to paedophiles, were they commit criminal acts under the guise of the ongoing confusion and breakdown of law and order. The continued presence of these private players in the disaster zone on its own poses risks and increases the vulnerability of the affected populations.
Beyond the disaster response period research suggests that how poverty is addressed (or not addressed) in the post-disaster context can have an impact on GBV. Where they lack economic alternatives, women and girls in a desperate situation have little choice but to remain trapped in the cycle of GBV. Due to poverty and desperation, they may be forced to adopt negative coping strategies, such as child or early marriage or transactional sex. They become more vulnerable to traffickers and other criminals. In general, single women living in temporary shelters are very vulnerable to violence.
Despite the availability of a national Disaster Risk Reduction Policy in the country, it does not have concrete or practical provisions for preventing and addressing GBV. This reflects and contributes to the generally low awareness of GBV in disasters. NGOs on the other hand have as part of their structures, operational guidelines and accountability mechanisms to identify risk factors, address and mitigate GBV in the conduct of their work and are able to hold their staff to account for any misconduct. Furthermore, there is need for an increased coordination of efforts through the Civil Protection Unit, individuals and development partners declaring centrally their aid, what area they will work in and populations they will assist. This will mitigate against politicisation of aid, aid fraud, human trafficking and GBV.
Beyond the cyclone Idai disaster, the country needs to rethink its disaster preparedness and response model and also its operationalisation with the view of decentralising the resource banks for preparedness and response. A lot of lives would have been saved had authorities acted on time and responsibly.
The auther, Nhlanhla Mlilo can be contacted at nmlilo@hotmail.com or on twitter @mlilon
