In Darfur. rape is linked to racial slurs. When rape victims were interviewed by human rights workers. they reported hearing Janjaweed militia and Sudanese soldiers shouting their intentto rape the women and girls. forcing them to have Arab children. According to a Refugees International report. one woman interviewed in a refugee camp in Chad said that a Janjaweed militiaman who raped her told her: "I will give you a lightskinned baby to take this land from you." One Sudanese human rights activist has noted. "The war in Darfur is centered on identity. and rape is being used as a weapon of war in the struggle for the identity of the region. Women have a very important role in Darfurs culture. and rape destroys not only a woman but her tribe." Though many survivors of these attacks are able to find their way to displaced persons camps. they remain at risk. Many women and girls are attacked when they leave the relative security of the camps to collect firewood and other necessities. When women living in refugee camps were asked why they went to fetch water and risk rape rather than the men. they answered. "If we let the men go. they will be killed. It is better for us to be raped than for our husbands to be killed." Today. the House also considered H. Res. 726. introduced by my colleague.
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refugee Refugees