HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2008.141119v1 99/8/1386    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Hagan, J. Articles by Palloni, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hagan, J. Articles by Palloni, A. Related Collections Gender Other Race/Ethnicity Women's Health Human Rights Refugees

John Hagan, PhD, Wenona Rymond-Richmond, PhD and Alberto Palloni, PhD

John Hagan and Alberto Palloni are with the Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. John Hagan is also with the American Bar Foundation, Chicago, IL. Wenona Rymond-Richmond is with the Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to John Hagan, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, 1812 Chicago Ave., Room 203, Evanston, IL 60208-1330 (e-mail: j-hagan{at}northwestern.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We used the Atrocities Documentation Survey to determine whether Sudanese government forces were involved in racially targeting sexual victimization toward ethnically African women in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

Methods. The US State Department conducted the survey by interviewing a randomized multistage probability sample of 1136 Darfur refugees at 20 sites in Chad in 2004. For a subset of 932 respondents who had fled from village clusters that accounted for 15 or more respondents per cluster, we used hierarchical linear models to analyze village-level patterns of reported sexual violence. We statistically controlled for individual sexual victimization to remove bias.

Results. Respondents reported being subjected to racial epithets associated with sexual victimization significantly more often during combined attacks by Sudanese government forces and Janjaweed militia forces than during separate attacks by either force.

Conclusions. Combined attacks by Sudanese government forces and Janjaweed militia forces led to racial epithets being used more often during sexual victimization in Darfur. Our results suggest that the Sudanese government is participating in the use of sexual assault as a racially targeted weapon against ethnically African civilians.