By Samantha Netzband
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
JUBA, South Sudan– Foreign aid workers were gang raped by South Sudanese soldiers in the bathroom of a hotel in Juba. The attack that happened on July 11th is being called a turning point for foreign aid workers in the country that was considered safe until the attack. Calls for help were made to a United Nations compound that was nearby, but there was no response.
The Terrain Hotel where the foreign aid workers were hiding before they were attacked. (Photo Courtesy of NPR)
“The soldiers just came to the bathroom where all the girls were hiding and they just picked us out of the bathroom one by one,” says one women who was at the hotel. Despite the violence from the civil war this unusual attack has created shock waves in the humanitarian aid community. Some organizations are evacuating their staff while others are reducing their activities in the area.
The United Nations were not the only one’s who did not show up to save the aid workers. The trapped aid workers also called the United States Embassy and private security firms. The reported reason for their failure was the fact that the streets were too dangerous from clashes that were happening outside the hotel.
The aid workers were eventually rescued, but only after 5 of them had been raped for hours. Many civilians have also reported being raped in South Sudan. Some of these civilians were raped while under United Nations Peacekeepers watch. The international attention brought to the gang rape of aid workers may force change that works to prevent the further spread of sexual and gender based violence in South Sudan. While the gang rapes were happening, over 300 people were killed during 4 days of fighting.
For more information, please see:
News Deeply – Aid Worker Attacks Expose Ongoing Assault of Women in South Sudan – 24 August 2016
NPR – Gang Rape of Aid Workers In South Sudan Is A Turning Point – 23 August 2016
