@report {470551,
	title = {"We{\textquoteright}ll kill you if you cry" - Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict},
	year = {2003},
	institution = {Human Rights Watch},
	address = {Washington, DC},
	abstract = {
https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/01/16/well-kill-you-if-you-cry/sexual-violence-sierra-leone-conflict
Throughout the armed conflict in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2001, thousands of women and girls of all ages,\&nbsp;ethnic groups, and socioeconomic classes were subjected to widespread and systematic sexual violence, including\&nbsp;individual and gang rape, and rape with objects such as weapons, firewood, umbrellas, and pestles. Rape was\&nbsp;perpetrated by both sides, but mostly by the rebel forces. These crimes of sexual violence were generally\&nbsp;characterized by extraordinary brutality and frequently preceded or followed by other egregious human rights\&nbsp;abuses against the victim, her family, and her community. Although the rebels raped indiscriminately irrespective\&nbsp;of age, they targeted young women and girls whom they thought were virgins. Many of these younger victims did\&nbsp;not survive these crimes of sexual violence. Adult women were also raped so violently that they sometimes bled\&nbsp;to death or suffered from tearing in the genital area, causing long-term incontinence and severe infections. Many\&nbsp;victims who were pregnant at the time of rape miscarried as a result of the sexual violence they were subjected to,\&nbsp;and numerous women had their babies torn out of their uterus as rebels placed bets on the sex of the unborn child.},
	url = {https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/01/16/well-kill-you-if-you-cry/sexual-violence-sierra-leone-conflict}
}
