Operation Fine Girl: Rape Used as a Weapon of War in Sierra Leone
Countless atrocities were committed during the course of Sierra Leone's devastating, drawn-out conflict from 1991-2001. With civilians being the primary target of attack, women were particularly vulnerable to violence during the civil war. AFRC and RUF forces regularly kidnapped girls and young women, forcing them into sexual servitude for the forces, or into marriage with commanders. Young boys were also kidnapped to become child soldiers. Women young and old were beaten, raped, and impregnated (with their children later stigmatized by being called "rebel babies") by adult commanders and child soldiers. For the rebels, sexual violence became a weapon to be used against the civilian populations, as a demonstration of its power and impunity. Filmed in Sierra Leone during the war, this is the story of three abducted women and one child soldier, their captors and the leaders of the rebel and government forces, and the teachers and health workers who responded to this untold crisis, overshadowed by the more often reported story of blood diamonds.
