a. Qualitative Methods
As this research is committed to feminist methodology, it places women victims of armed conflict at the centre of its analysis of post-conflict justice. Thus, based on the purpose of the research and its questions, an initial choice had to be made on what quantitative and qualitative methods and sources would best serve the research aim. While quantitative methods in research analyses can be useful to bring together common practices and can also show the magnitude of the effects of gender-based violence or armed conflict on women victims, they often do not reveal the real impact and meaning of these forms of violence or the effect of armed conflict. Quantitative methods also cannot uncover the underlying cultural or patriarchal causes that explain women’s situation in conflict, or the form of resistance and complicity which women face during conflict and afterwards.
128
Chris Coulter, Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers: Women's Lives through War and Peace in Sierra Leone (Cornell University Press 2009).
129 Funmi Olonisakin, Karen Barnes, and Eka Ipke, Women, Peace and Security Translating Policy into Practice
According to Bentzon et al., ‘quantitative research methods are primarily intended to provide statistical data and analysis of broad numerical trends’.130
Since this is not the aim of the research, a qualitative method is therefore much more relevant. Unlike quantitative methods, Bentzon et al. note that ‘qualitative research implies use of small samples and collection of data based on life histories, detailed accounts of specific life events, or in-depth interviews’.131 One major method undertaken in this research is oral testimony. El Bushara points out that the significance of oral testimony in feminist research is that it brings out the personal experiences of the persons recounting the story, ‘personal memories and perceptions of reality, enabling them to identify what is important and true for them in their specific situation’.132 This method gives the narrators the chance to address sensitive practical and social issues that may otherwise be difficult in other contexts.133 Oral testimony can provide a voice to the excluded and be a catalyst for social change.
The choice of oral interviews and data collection in this research has provided opportunities to gain further insights into the extent to which post-conflict reconstruction efforts have supported gender justice for women in both countries. The interviews were also examined for themes relating to the effect of armed conflict on women and post-conflict responses, in order to assess the role of the law in the promotion of justice for women in post-conflict situations. The field research relied on a literature review to determine the major factors important to understanding the situation of women in armed conflict and the achievement of gender justice post-conflict. These led to the formulation of themes, which include: understanding the manifestations of
130 See Bentzon et al. (n 6) 153. 131
ibid 152.
132 Judy El Bushra, ‘Fused in Combat: Gender Relations and Armed Conflict’ (2003) 13:2/3 Development in Practice 252-265.
gender-based violence during protracted conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia; linking the root causes of violence to gender inequality and marginalisation; understanding the characteristics of vulnerable female actors in war (victims/survivors); understanding the existence and awareness of post-conflict policies and laws that can respond to the gendered impact of the war and the human rights violations women continue to face; and understanding what gender justice means for women victims and actors of war and how these responses have furthered the achievement of women’s human rights and justice.
b. Data Collection and Analytical Framework
The field research data was generated through semi-structured interview guides, participant observation, focus group discussion, and a collection of secondary data, which include sources from (library work) journals, examination of legal documents, decided cases, and reviews of legal and policy documents. The secondary documents collected during the course of fieldwork are of immense value to the contents of the research.
All semi-structured interviews were done in person, while questionnaires were also generated and sent to a target audience and returned to the researcher. Out of 30 structured interview guides (questionnaires), each sent out to target groups in both countries with the exception of the ‘victims/survivors’, fourteen were returned. For the purpose of this research, two categories of people were targeted: women who were actors/victims/survivors (active participants), and the state and non-state actors engaged to support post-conflict reconstruction and interventions, including non-governmental organisations working with women, law enforcement agencies,
government agencies and policy makers, legal practitioners, professional associations, and social workers.
The choice of these two categories was based on the research question. The active participants described above supported the affirmation that wrongs or violations exist; established the impact of the wrongs on the lives of women; identified the forms of responses available to address the violations both during and after war; assessed the efficacy of these responses; and provided the perception of the survivors’ desire for justice. The state and civil society actors identified and clarified the existence of legal and institutional responses; provided their perception of the efficacy of the responses; and assessed existing opportunities and challenges and how the framework can further support the promotion of women’s human rights post-conflict.
c. Characteristics of Target Audience
1. The Active Participants; Victims/Survivors/Actors
The thesis acknowledges that the civilian populations of Liberia and Sierra Leone are victims of war either directly or indirectly. However, since this thesis targets women, it will categorise the two subgroups as active participants. The first comprises the female victims/survivors, and the second, female combatants who are actors and survivors/victims:
(a) Female victims of sexual and other non-sexual gender-based violence are direct victims of war and the centre of the analysis.
(b) The female combatants: the women who participated in the conflict as active rebel forces or were forcefully recruited during the war. Their testimony is important to
understand the role gender played in their participation in the war and their post- war experiences.
Since women’s oppression is complex and involves many contradictions,134
their oral experience is important in analysing their lived realities. As Mohanty notes, researching women’s lives and histories requires ‘reading against the grain’.135
Thus, feminist analyses of women’s situations acknowledge that the rewriting and remembering of history is the foundation of politicised consciousness and self-identity, which can determine the effect of the contestation of lived realities within a pre-existing patriarchal society.136 Victims’ testimonies are an empirical tool attesting to the efficacy or inefficacy of government responses to armed conflict and their commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
2. State and Civil Society Actors
These are people responsible for supporting post-conflict reconstructions. The following were targeted in the research:
(a) Women’s Rights-Based Organisations, Non-governmental Organisations and legal- based professional bodies: traditionally these groups support the promotion and protection of human rights and aim at providing information on their perception of gender roles in conflicts, their assessments of post-conflict reconstruction, and the implications for gender.
134
Sherry Gorelick, ‘Contradictions of Feminist Methodology’ (1991) 5.4 Gender and Society 459-477.
135 Mohany Chandra Tampade, Feminists Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practice and Solidarity (Duke
University Press 2003) 42.
(b) Policy makers and government agencies: the research targets the institutions responsible for supporting the promotion and protection of human rights and post- conflict reconstruction, the National Human Rights Institution, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Ministry of Gender and Women, the Ministry of Justice, the National Agency in charge of Women, Peace and Security (1325 unit), and the National Agency in charge of reparation and other law enforcement agencies.
d. Duration and Location of Research
The actual field study was spread across three visits between 2010 and 2012, including one visit each to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The first visit to Sierra Leone in April 2010 took over four weeks; likewise in Liberia in January 2012. There were prior communications through telephone and emails preceding the actual visits to arrange meetings prior to arrival. The researcher also used the contacts that she already had on ground in the two countries as a women’s right advocate in the region.
In Sierra Leone, the data collection was done in three locations: the capital city, Freetown, Makeni, and Griftin. These places were selected because they were prominent locations during the wars. Makeni was further chosen because one of the contact groups137 had worked with women affected by armed conflict in this community. In Liberia, the field research took place across two counties, Montserrado County (state capital) and Cape Mount County. Over 1.5 million out of 3.5 million Liberians live in Montserrado. The war took place in these two
locations; rebel groups operated in the state capital, where most killings were recorded, and the Cape Mount County was close to the Sierra Leone border, where killings and abductions also took place. The research took over two years because of the researcher’s maternity break in June 2009 and other related personal challenges.
e. Data gathering
While the research work relied on the data collected through interviews in person and questionnaire analyses, it also drew on other data gathered in the field by human rights organisations’138 alternative literatures. The reports contain direct testimonials by survivors on the impact of sexual violence, and the assessment of some post-conflict reconstruction processes to complement data collected in the field.