Prevalence, causes and consequences of sexual violence among refugee women in Nyarugusu camp in Kigoma region, Tanzania
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Date
2015
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The study investigated the prevalence, causes and consequences of sexual violence among refugee women in Nyarugusu camp in Kigoma Region, Tanzania. Specifically, the study intended to ( i ) determine prevalence of sexual violence among refugee women in the camps, (ii ) find out the causes of sexual violence among refugee women and (iii) examine the consequences of sexual violence among refugee women and identify support services available to the victims of sexual violence. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A cross sectional survey and case study designs were used in this study. The study involved 102 refugee women, one United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee Officer, four block leaders, two social workers, two Sexual Gender Based Violence workers and two police officers. A purposive sampling procedure was used to target specific people such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee Officers, block leaders, police officers and Sexual Gender Based Violence officials. Moreover, a simple random sampling was employed in selecting refugee women from different blocks in the camp. Data were collected through documentary review, questionnaire and interviews and were analysed and summarized using frequencies and percentages. Furthermore, content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data.
The study findings revealed that 87 (85.2%) refugee women had been affected by sexual violence due to lack of social services in the refugee camp such as food, water and firewood for their families. Women lacked such services to the extent that they were moving outside the camp in order to search for them. Prevalence of ethnic groups in the camp, men inheritance of the widowed women, poor geographical location and architectural design of the camps were the factors for increased sexual violence among refugee women in the camps. The consequences of sexual violence among refugee women were psychological, social, physically and health related problems such as HIV/AIDS infections, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. It was concluded that adequate and consistent provision of basic needs and social services significantly matter in minimizing the incidences of sexual violence among refugee women in the refugee camps.
The study recommends that sexual violence may be prevented through mult-sectoral Sexual Gender Based Violence programme by raising awareness campaigns aimed at reducing the incidents of sexual violence.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF HV6569.T34 I73 )
Keywords
Sex crimes, Women refugees, Crimes against, Women, Nyarugusu camp, Kigoma region, Tanzania
Citation
Ishabisa, A. (2015) Prevalence, causes and consequences of sexual violence among refugee women in Nyarugusu camp in Kigoma region, Tanzania, Masters’ dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam