On 13 September 2022, a rebel from the Coalition Patriotique pour le Changement (CPC) group sexually assaulted Igna* (36) from the Central African Republic in her house.<\/p>\n
Igna lives in an informal Internally Displaced People\u2019s (IDP) camp in the eastern Haute Kotto district where in the early hours of that morning, members of the CPC forcefully entered Igna and her husband\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey entered the village around 3am, and we heard gunshots, so we thought that they were from the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), who were on patrol because the leader of the group had announced this door-to-door patrol by FACA elements,\u201d<\/em> Igna told field workers.<\/p>\n \u201cI woke my husband up and told him that the FACA had started their work. He got up to open the door, and as he did, he shouted, Lord Jesus, we\u2019re dead!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Igna\u2019s husband realised that the men were rebels and not soldiers.<\/p>\n Ten rebels entered the house and started threatening them, asking for money and cigarettes. \u201cMy husband convinced them that he could take them to where cigarettes were sold. When he left, five of the attackers remained in the house with me. That is when one of them raped me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n After the assault, one of the men asked Igna to take her to where cigarettes were sold. Once there, she managed to escape and hide in a bush. \u201cHe fired three shots to scare me into coming out of hiding, but I didn\u2019t. I stayed there till daybreak until I heard my nephews calling out my name, searching for me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Last year, two of Igna\u2019s brothers were killed during an attack by the same group. She and her surviving family sought refuge in an IDP camp in the Haute Kotto district along with other villagers who fled. Field sources estimate that around 100 people currently live in the camp, where Igna is still waiting for medical care after the attack.<\/p>\n Context<\/u><\/p>\n Various rebel groups terrorise communities throughout the CAR. These attacks have often been systematically directed against Christian communities to enslave and weaken them. The CPC is affiliated with the Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC), a rebel group mainly active in Bria, the capital city of the Haute Kotto district.<\/p>\n Within the context of political fragility and insecurity, women and girls, especially IDPs, are especially vulnerable to incidences of sexual and gender-based violence at the hands of armed groups (Human Rights Watch, 2019).<\/p>\n According to the 2022 OD Gender Report, women are targeted as a sexual \u201cprize\u201d and used as an instrument to punish or harm the wider Christian community. They\u2019re widely viewed to be of lesser value, both as Christians and as women. As easier targets for sexual crimes, attacks may also result from their generally lower status in society as women instead of explicitly religious reasons.<\/p>\n Whether women and girls are viewed as pure or worthless, their bodies become a vehicle for imparting shame on the Christian community, particularly in cultures where sexual purity is inextricably tied with family honour. Survivors of sexual abuse return traumatised and symbolic reminders of the power of the perpetrators.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Please pray:<\/p>\n