In addition, the government’s rejection of ethnic identifiers for genocide identifiers brought about a disregard of victimized Hutus who suffered at the hands of the Interhamwe and blamed them for the genocide, isolating Hutu survivors from Tutsi survivors and splitting the victims left alive in society.
The Rwanda government changed the way it identified people, from an ethnic identifier to a genocidal identifier. According to Zorbas, “Dropping the ethnic labels in favor of a ‘genocide framework,’ from which an alternate, equally damaging categorization of the population emerges. The five categories are… the returnees [Tutsi exiles who returned to Rwanda after the RPF came to power]… refugees [Old Caseload, pre-1994 Tutsi refugees, or New …show more content…
Fox interviewed survivors of the genocide who said, “When I [brother] took her [sister, a sexual assault victim during the genocide] to secondary school, it was very hard for her to study… I was worried because how do you have a job with no school?’ Another participant [of the study] said of her sister, ‘She does not come around and I call her for dinner and if she comes, she does not… talk to me.’” Women experienced isolation at school and familial celebrations as well, not just at home. Isolation was a direct result of sexual violence on a country and often resulted in negative impacts on a country’s people. Said Fox, “Rape [resulted] in isolation and fractured familial relations. These consequences may further lead to economic hardship, additional trauma and disruption of historical familial duties and exchanges of care.” Economic hardship stemming from lack of education/inability to concentrate in school (and dropping out as a result) was a direct consequence, and trauma triggered by participating in court trials did not help the victims’ mental states. Families were torn apart by the isolation of a beloved family member/sexual assault victim, and the entire country did not address the issue well. There was a social stigma, a sense of shame, associated with rape; due to the negative connotation surrounding sexual assault and violence, the women could not heal and the country, in extension, could not
The Rwanda government changed the way it identified people, from an ethnic identifier to a genocidal identifier. According to Zorbas, “Dropping the ethnic labels in favor of a ‘genocide framework,’ from which an alternate, equally damaging categorization of the population emerges. The five categories are… the returnees [Tutsi exiles who returned to Rwanda after the RPF came to power]… refugees [Old Caseload, pre-1994 Tutsi refugees, or New …show more content…
Fox interviewed survivors of the genocide who said, “When I [brother] took her [sister, a sexual assault victim during the genocide] to secondary school, it was very hard for her to study… I was worried because how do you have a job with no school?’ Another participant [of the study] said of her sister, ‘She does not come around and I call her for dinner and if she comes, she does not… talk to me.’” Women experienced isolation at school and familial celebrations as well, not just at home. Isolation was a direct result of sexual violence on a country and often resulted in negative impacts on a country’s people. Said Fox, “Rape [resulted] in isolation and fractured familial relations. These consequences may further lead to economic hardship, additional trauma and disruption of historical familial duties and exchanges of care.” Economic hardship stemming from lack of education/inability to concentrate in school (and dropping out as a result) was a direct consequence, and trauma triggered by participating in court trials did not help the victims’ mental states. Families were torn apart by the isolation of a beloved family member/sexual assault victim, and the entire country did not address the issue well. There was a social stigma, a sense of shame, associated with rape; due to the negative connotation surrounding sexual assault and violence, the women could not heal and the country, in extension, could not