By Sangeeta Puri

Antoinette* was busy at home doing the daily household chores when her husband, Nduwimana*, returned home with an empty wicker basket. He told Antoinette to harvest the tomatoes and fill the basket, but Antoinette told her husband that it was too early to harvest the tomatoes. Nduwimana became enraged that his wife disagreed with him and he began to kick and punch her. He then stripped her naked in public and began to suffocate her with a sweater while holding her on the ground.

The neighbors tried to rescue Antoinette, but Nduwimana threatened anyone that came near them. Nduwimana left her lying naked and badly beaten outside their small red mud home. A neighbor gave Antoinette a piece of cloth to cover her naked and severely bruised body and went to get assistance and medical help.

Antoinette, along with countless other refugees, is a survivor of sexual and gender-based violence.

Since the establishment of Mtendeli and Nduta camps in 1996 and Karago camp in December 1999, IRC has been providing comprehensive health care and other services to the survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), addressing the health needs of newly arriving refugees at Kibirizi port and coordinating the referral of refugee patients resident in the Kigoma region. This program, an integral part of IRC's Tanzania operation, aims to respond to the needs of refugees like Antoinette and other survivors through counseling, medical examination and treatment, referrals to social services, legal action and strengthening of prevention mechanisms and community support.

The program classifies survivors under five categories - attempted rape, rape, sexual harassment, forced marriage and gender-based violence. In camps, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence can seek refuge at 24-hour Drop-In Centers, where they are treated with dignity and strict confidentiality, to protect survivors and build program trust in the community. The centers provide survivor-friendly services in areas of medical care and psychosocial and emotional peer support.

Program staff facilitate referrals to UNHCR for possible legal procedures and to community service organizations for practical support. In addition, the IRC collaborates with authorities such as the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Affairs, the police, and the court system to provide security, law enforcement and the judicial components necessary for resolving cases and reducing incidents. Community leaders are involved in issues surrounding sexual and gender-based violence in order to encourage community involvement and build sustainability into the program.

A key factor in preventing attacks against women is raising awareness and understanding in the community. In an endeavor to create acceptance and a sense of ownership and responsibility for the program, IRC works closely with women and girls from the community and provides social forums for the female refugees to speak freely about their own experiences.

New to the program is male involvement in prevention group discussions. Male group committees have been formed to encourage further male involvement, to foster sexual and gender-based violence awareness and prevention and provide support for survivors. In addition to the female and male social forums, staff members make home visits in the camps to discuss with families their roles and responsibilities in preventing abusive incidents and providing support to the survivors.

Thanks to IRC's program, Antoinette has been reintegrated into her community and actively participates in the women's forum and other community initiatives to challenge sexual and gender-based violence. She decided not to pursue legal action against her husband and, instead, attends counseling provided by the Drop-In-Center and receives support from the community.

Through support, medical examination and treatment, awareness-raising, Drop-In-Center services, legal referrals, female and male social forums and counseling, this program endeavors to rehabilitate and help reintegrate survivors like Antoinette back into their communities and decrease sexual and gender based violence in the refugee camps.