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Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the east of the country in particular, has been described as the "Rape Capital of the World," and the prevalence and intensity of all forms of sexual violence has been described as the worst in the world.[1][2] Human Rights Watch defines sexual violence as "an act of a sexual nature by force, or by threat of force or coercion," and rape as "a form of sexual violence during which the body of a person is invaded, resulting in penetration, however slight, of any part of the body of the victim, with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or other part of the body."[3]

The map of Democratic Republic of Congo from the CIA World Factbook

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has had a long history of unrest and instability. Although sexual violence has always occurred in the DRC in some capacity, increased rates of sexual violence coincided with the armed conflicts of the early 1990s and later.[4]

Much of the research conducted about sexual violence in the DRC has focused on violence against and rape of women as related to these armed conflict, mostly occurring in the eastern region of the country.[5] The eastern region of the DRC has the highest rates of sexual violence, and much of it is perpetrated by armed militia groups.[6] However, other studies have begun to show that sexual violence is pervasive in all parts of the DRC and that it is not always related to the conflict.

While there is extensive evidence of the societal and individual ramifications caused by the sexual violence in the country, the government has been criticized for not doing enough to stop it.[4] Although Congolese law criminalizes many forms of sexual violence, these laws are not always enforced.[4]

Historical background

Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo has frequently been described as a "weapon of war," and the United Nations officially declared rape a weapon of war in 2008.[7] War rape makes a particularly effective weapon because it not only destroys its physical victims, but entire communities as well.[8] War, violence, and instability have ravaged the DRC for decades, and this has led to a culture of violence in war and civilian life that often takes its form in a sexual nature.

Eleven years after the Republic of the Congo gained independence in 1960, president Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and ruled the nation under an autocratic and corrupt regime.[4] Under Mobutu's regime, sexual abuse was used as a method of torture.[9]

Mobutu ruled until 1997, when after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, many génocidaires fled across Rwanda's western border into the DRC in hopes of escaping censure. Hutu extremist militias were reformed across the border, particularly in Kivu, the DRC's easternmost region, bringing crime and violence to the DRC. While the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers attempted to launch large operations, they still ultimately failed to disarm Hutu rebels who often retaliated by performing rapes, kidnappings and murders.[10] This influx of militants and fighting in Burundi catalyzed the First Congo War and the end of Mobutu's regime. Spurred by the violence, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), led by Laurent Kabila, launched a rebellion against Mobutu regime in 1996 in the eastern part of the country.[4]

Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a sexual violence program in Bukavu, believes that the increase in sexual violence started with the inflow of foreign militants:

The epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the mid-1990s. That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into Congo’s forests after exterminating 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during Rwanda’s genocide 13 years ago. Mr. Holmes said that while government troops might have raped thousands of women, the most vicious attacks had been carried out by Hutu militias.[11]

 
M23 rebels in Goma, November 2012

The violence from the First Congo War led to the Second Congo War, which officially ended in 2006 with the election of the first democratically elected president, Joseph Kabila. However, there has been no end to the violence. A major confrontation in 2007 between government forces and troops of Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda culminated in another major confrontation in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu. Recently, instability and violence have greatly increased since the mutiny of members of the Government of DRC and the creation of the rebel movement, M23, supported by the Government of Rwanda and individuals of the Government of Uganda.[12] Moreover, as recently as December 2012, the UN accused M23 rebels of raping and killing civilians in eastern DRC.[13] There have also recently been allegations of a military attack and 72 counts of rapes against civilians by M23 in the Minova area.[13]

Much of this continuing violence is a result of long-lasting animosity between the Tutsis, the Hutus, and other groups.[14] Other factors of the continued violence are control of land, control of minerals, and economic tensions. The persistence of rape can also be attributed to misconceptions about rape, such as the myth that having sex with prepubescent girls will give people strength in battle or business dealings.[15] The long history of violence has led to a culture of desensitization, lacking respect for international norms of human rights, and inadequate education.[9]

Today, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly the eastern region of the country, is known as the rape capital of the world.[7] While "the law specifically prohibits and provides penalties of 10 to 20 years' imprisonment for child and forced prostitution, pimping, and trafficking for sexual exploitation....There were no reported investigations or prosecutions of traffickers during the year [2007]."[16] There is no law against spousal sexual assault.[17]

Forms of sexual violence

Violence against women

Margot Wallström dubbed eastern Congo the "most dangerous place on earth to be a woman" and it is said that rape is simply a fact of life in the DRC.[15] In October 2004 the human rights group Amnesty International said that 40,000 cases of rape had been reported over the previous six years, the majority occurring in South Kivu. This is an incomplete count, as the humanitarian and international organizations compiling the figures do not have access to much of the conflict area; only women who have reported for treatment are included. It is estimated that there are as many as 200,000 surviving rape victims living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today.[18][19]

A 2011 report recorded that 1,000 women had been raped daily.[20]

A 2014 report by human rights charity Freedom from Torture outlined the usage of rape as a form of torture by security forces, focusing on case studies and accounts from torture survivors.[21]

According to research conducted by The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010, 39.7% of women in the Eastern Region (North Kivu, South Kivu, and Province Orientale) of the DRC reported to have been exposed to sexual violence during their lifetime, most commonly taking its form in rape.[22]

As Noel Rwabirinba, a sixteen-year-old who had been a militiaman for two years said, "If we see girls, it’s our right…we can violate them."[7] This statement reflects the normalization of rape in the DRC. Because of conflicts, between 60 and 90 percent of women are single heads of households. This puts many burdens upon them, such as having to travel long distances to find resources, leaving them vulnerable to violence.[23]

Patricia Rozée identifies different categories of rape, all of which occur in the DRC: punitive rape (used to punish to elicit silence and control); status rape (occurring as a result of acknowledged differences in rank); ceremonial rape (undertaken as part of socially sanctioned rituals); exchange rape (when genital contact is used as a bargaining tool); theft rape (involuntary abduction of individuals as slaves, prostitutes, concubines, or spoils of war); and survival rape (when women become involved with older men to secure goods needed to survive).[15]

Rape, as related to the conflicts, is the most prevalent form of sexual violence in the country, particularly in the eastern region. However, civilians are also the perpetrators of rape.[22] Furthermore, although people might assume that men always perpetrate conflict-related sexual violence against women, women are also perpetrators. In the 2010 study conducted by the American Medical Association, women reported to have perpetrated conflict-related sexual violence in 41.1% of female cases and 10.0% of male cases.[22]

Violence against men and boys

The rape of men is also common. More studies are coming out to show that both women and men are the victims and perpetrators of sexual violence in the DRC.[22]

Research conducted by The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010 cites that 23.6% of men in the Eastern Region of the country have been exposed to sexual violence. And, a similar study also conducted in 2010 found that 22% of men (as compared to 30% of women) in eastern Congo reported conflict-related sexual violence. A cross-sectional, population-based study found that one in four men living in the eastern region of the country have been the victims of sexual violence.[22] Moreover, at least 4 to 10 percent of all rape victims are male.[15]

The prevalence of rape of men in the country is likely underreported due to extreme stigma attached to sexual abuse of males.[24] Men who admit to being raped risk ostracism by their community and criminal prosecution, because they may be seen as homosexual, which, though legal in the DRC, is socially unacceptable.[25] Male victims are less likely to appear in court, and those who do are cast away in their villages and called "bush wives."[26] According to Denise Siwatula, a programme officer at the Women's Synergy for the Victims of Sexual Violence based in Kivu, many men are victims of sexual violence and they need different assistance than women who come to their center.[24]

Lynn Lawry, a humanitarian expert at the International Health Division of the US Department of Defense, said, "When we are looking at how we are going to address communities, we need to talk to female perpetrators as well as male perpetrators, and we have to include male survivors in our mental health clinics in order to address their issues, which may be very different from female survivors."[27]

The 2020 report by the United Nations Secretary General on conflict related sexual violence covered that a young man from Tanganyika Province was stripped naked, raped and coerced by Twa militia to rape his own mother that led to severe sense of shame and the fear of stigmatization and reprisals for seeking support. Raping of men and boys have been used for degrading societal identities— by attacking family and community "protective" figures through humiliation and ultimately inflicting identity-based vulnerabilities. The report also covered the continuation of sexual violence against men and boys in detention and in several settings.[28]

Violence against children

 
A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

UNFPA reported that over 65% of victims during the past 15 years were children. The majority of this percentage was adolescent girls and roughly 10% of child victims are said to be under 10 years old.[3] Many child soldiers, after being recruited from refugee camps, are often sexually abused.[29]

Rape of girls and gender-based violence of minors is widespread in the eastern Congo.[30]

Rape

Sexual violence functions as a means of humiliating, not only a female victim, but also her family and/or husband. Once raped, the victim traditionally sends a message to her husband to alert him about the event.[31] He then arms himself and searches for the rapist. Today, most communities also stigmatize women and hold them accountable for being raped. The influx of armed groups from Burundi and Rwanda into the DRC has impacted the frequency of sexual violence in the region.[32]

After the wars of 1996 and 1998 and the displacement of Congolese people, women were forced to turn to "survival sex" with wealthy foreign soldiers and UN peacekeepers.[32] This was seen as emasculating the soldiers who were unable to live up to their expected societal roles.[32] Objectified rape became the expected order in the DRC.[32]

Many rapes occur in public spaces and in the presence of witnesses. These public rapes have become so popular that they have been given a name – "la reigne".[32] During these rapes, women are stripped, tied upside down, and gang raped in the middle of a village.[32] The permission to invade and rape a village is often given as a reward to the armed group by the commanders.[32] The government army, FARDC, due to its size and capacity, is the largest perpetrator.[32]

"National Security" Rape

This form of rape is predominately used by governments and militaries to protect its "national security".[32] Additionally, “national security" rape violently imposes many intersecting and mutually fundamental power relations such as nationalism and patriarchy.[32][clarification needed] It is used to humiliate, torture, and punish "rebellious" women for directly challenging what the rapists view as strictly enshrined ideas of femininity and masculinity.[32]

"Systematic Mass" Rape

The systematic rape of women in the DRC is regarded as a tool of oppression focused on a specific ethnic group and is generalized through terror that is justified through established national discourses[clarify].[32] During times of war, mass rape can be seen as an effective way to "feminize" one's enemy by violating “his women, nation and homeland,” thus proving that he is incapable of being an adequate protector.[32] The raping of women in this process seeks to destroy the very "fabric of society, as women are seen as the symbolic bearers of ethno-national identity because of their roles as biological, cultural, and social reproducers of society itself".[32]


Other forms of Sexual Violence

The United Nations includes rape, public rapes, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, gang rape, forced incest, sexual mutilation, disemboweling, genital mutilation, cannibalism, deliberate spread of HIV/AIDS, and forced sterilization as other forms of sexual violence that occur in the DRC that are used as techniques in war against the civilian population.[33]

Other forms of sexual violence reported include: forcing of crude objects such as tree branches and bottles into the vagina,[34] public rape in front of the family and community, forced rape between victims, the introduction of objects into the victims' cavities, pouring melted rubber into women's vaginas, shooting women in the vagina and inducing abortions using sharp objects.[35]

Trafficking and prostitution

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a source and destination for trafficking for forced labor and forced prostitution, much of which is internal and perpetrated by armed groups in the eastern region of the DRC.[4] The DRC is said to be the main regional source, from which women and children are trafficked in large numbers to sex industries in Angola, South Africa, Republic of Congo, and western Europe, particularly Belgium.[36] Prostitution and forced prostitution occurs often in refugee camps in the country.[37] In addition to forced prostitution in refugee camps, many girls are forced into prostitution in tent- or hut-based brothels, markets, and mining areas.[36]

The main perpetrators are the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Patriotes Resistants Congolais (PARECO), various local militia (such as the Mai-Mai), the Alliance des patriots pour un Congo libre et souverain (APCLS), and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).[36] There are many reports of these groups forcibly recruiting women and children to serve in sexual servitude.[36]

Domestic violence

Article 444 of the Congo Family Code states that a wife "owes her obedience to her husband".[38] Marital rape is not considered an offense in the DRC.[5] Similar laws and attitudes are prevalent in countries involved in the DRC conflict.[38] In Zimbabwe one in four women report having experienced sexual violence at the hands of their husbands.[38] Women in the DRC do not have the right to refuse sex, and should they, men have the right to discipline their wives through beating, an act often referred to as “tough love”.[38]

Research Directorate has called domestic violence "very prevalent" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[39] According to several studies conducted in 2011, intimate partner sexual violence is the most pervasive form of violence against women in all areas of the DRC.[6] A 2010 study concluded that intimate partner violence was reported by 31% of women and 17% of men.[22]

Central factors for the high rates of domestic violence are the reintegration of combatants in communities, circulation of arms, and post-traumatic stress in times during and after conflict.[39] However, reporting domestic violence is rare because women have no rights to share property or wealth, fear losing their children or being shunned by the community, or may not even know it is a punishable offense.[39]

Although there are laws against domestic violence, cultural beliefs make it extremely difficult to implement the rules.[38] Because the social status of African women is dependent on their marital status, and because the conflict has drastically reduced the male population, women have no choice but to suffer.[38] Although the status of men is also dependent on their marital status, they are expected to exercise strict control over the wives.[38] Men are seen as being superior in that they are better educated and capable of purchasing property.[38]

Perpetrators

Militia groups

According to Human Rights Watch, while many of the perpetrators of sexual violence are militia groups, some of whom have been known to kidnap women and girls and use them as sex slaves,[3] the Congolese army, Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), is the "single largest group of perpetrators."[3]

In 2007, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) reported that 54% of all recorded sexual violence cases in the first 6 months of that year were committed by FARDC soldiers. Some commanders have been purported to overlook sexual violence perpetrated by those under their command.[3] One investigation found that some commanders ordered their soldiers to commit rape.[40] There are also incidents of rape involving the police, others in authority, civilians, and other opportunistic criminals.[34]

View of masculinity which associate manliness with excessive use of aggression, force and violence contribute to military and militia sexual violence.[32] Weapons are used as status symbols and to acquire social and economic hierarchy by employing power over unarmed civilians.[32] Soldiers who exude any qualities deemed to be feminine are seen as weak and often end up being attacked and ostracized.[41]

Many societies, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo generally place the means of violence – military training, and weapons – in the hands of men, while promoting a direct link between the idea of a real man and the practice of dominance and violence.[41]

Background

Beginning with colonization, economic factors have contributed to the culture of violence that has dominated the DRC.[38] In 1908, under King Leopold II, the "methodical rape of entire villages" was a popular tactic used by his administration for keeping the local population in order.[38]

After gaining independence in 1960, the Democratic Republic of Congo was marked by political and social instability.[38] In 1965, during a coup, Colonel Joseph Mobutu took over and remained in power for the next 32 years.[38]

During the 1990s, Mobutu's regime witnessed a large influx of refugees after the Rwandan genocide, many of which included genocide perpetrators.[38] The perpetrators were able to rearm themselves and were immediately organized by ex-(FARDC) Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo leaders.[38] In an effort to prevent future attacks from the newly formed group, Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) soldiers joined together with (AFDL) Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire forces under the leadership of Congolese rebel commander, Laurent Desire Kabila.[38] The group was responsible for killing thousands of unarmed civilians.[38]

In 2001, after the assassination of his father, Joseph Kabila took over as leader.[38] A rebellion erupted in the same year. As a result, an estimated 4 million people died in the competition for control over the DRC's natural resources.[38] Attempts to stabilize the peace process have failed.[38] Insecurity is perpetuated by the remaining militia groups, which include the Mai-Mai.[38]

Civilian perpetrators

In June 2010, UK aid group Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Contrary to MONUSCO's 2007 report, the study found that 38% of rapes were committed by civilians in 2008. Rapes by civilians are increasing, demonstrating that sexual violence is becoming even more widespread throughout the country. This is a particularly dramatic rise compared to the number of civilian-perpetrated rapes in 2004, which was less than 1%.[42][43] Researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased seventeenfold.[44] Consistent with these studies is a statement from Dr. Margaret Agama, the DRC's United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative:

Initially, rape was used as a tool of war by all the belligerent forces involved in the country’s recent conflicts, but now sexual violence is unfortunately not only perpetrated by armed factions but also by ordinary people occupying positions of authority, neighbours, friends and family members.

Teachers

A survey by the Brazil-based nonprofit organization Promundo found that 16% of girls in North Kivu said they had been forced to have sex with their teachers.[45] And according to a 2010 UNICEF report, 46% of Congolese schoolgirls in a national study confirmed that they had been victims of sexual harassment, abuse, and violence committed by their teachers or other school personnel.[45]

Female perpetrators

A 2010 survey in over 1,000 households in eastern Congo by a team of researchers led by Harvard academic Lynn Lawry asked victims of sexual violence to specify their assailant's gender.[46] The study found that 40% of the female victims and 10% of male victims said they have been assaulted by a woman.[46] A UN expert on armed groups states, "Women who were raped for years are now raping other women."[46]

Violence in Angola

Congolese women are being systematically raped in Angola as a means of expelling the Congolese living there.[47][clarification needed] With a booming mining trade, Congolese continue migrating into Angola in search of a living. Among some 26,000 people expelled since April 2011, more than 21,000 cases of serious human rights violations, including rape, beating, torture and looting, have been documented by an Italian aid agency that has a UN grant to monitor the border.[47] Human Rights Watch says the goal of the abuse is to instill fear.[47]

Ramifications

Medical ramifications

The medical repercussions of the sexual assault in the DRC vary from severed and broken limbs, burned flesh, rectovaginal and vesicovaginal fistulas, STIs, pregnancy, and urinary incontinence to death.[48][31] Adequate medical care for these injuries is very hard to come by, and many survivors remain ill or disfigured for the rest of their lives.[49]

These are all more severe the younger the victim is. Young girls who are not fully developed are more likely to suffer from obstructed birth, which can lead to fistulas or even death. On a young girl, a pelvis "[hasn't] yet grown large enough to accommodate the baby's head, a common occurrence with young teenagers...[these girls end] up in obstructed birth, with the baby stuck inside [their] birth passage[s]...[often, they can't] walk or stand, a consequence of nerve damage that is a frequent by-product of fistulae."[7]

At the Doctors on Call for Service/Heal Africa Hospital in Eastern DRC, 4,715 of the women reported having suffered sexual violence; 4,009 received medical treatment; 702 had a fistula, 63.4% being traumatic and 36.6% being obstetric.[34]

Sexual assault has also contributed to the HIV rate. Before the conflict in 1997, only 5% of the population was HIV positive; by 2002, there was a 20% HIV positive rate in the eastern region.[50] A study conducted found that sociocultural barriers and strict obedience to Vatican doctrine prevented adolescents from receiving condoms or comprehensive sex education, which contributes to the spread of HIV.[51]

Psychological and social ramifications

There are also many psychological and social consequences to being the victim of sexual violence. Victims often suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicide. This can be particularly severe in cases in which men have been forced at gunpoint to sexually assault their daughters, sisters, or mothers.[52] Psychological trauma after experiencing sexual violence can have a negative effect on sexual behavior and relationships, feelings about sex, ability to negotiate safer sex, and increased likelihood of drug abuse.[5]

The most common social consequence for victims of sexual violence is isolation from their families and communities.[52][31] Raped women are seen as impure, frequently leading to their being abandoned by their husbands or having trouble marrying.[53] The most extreme versions of this stigmatization can lead to "honor killings" in which the victim of sexual violence is murdered by her family or community due to the belief that she has brought them shame and dishonor.[49]

Young women and girls who are cast outside of their homes, or leave due to shame will most likely become even more vulnerable to further abuse.[3] Moreover, the culture of widespread violence often affects children at an early age. Sexual violence is also perpetrated by minors, particularly among those involved with combatant forces. A previous child soldier of the Mai-Mai fighters’ movement, who fought to resist the Interahamwe from Rwanda who took refuge in the DRC after they fled from the Rwandan Patriotic Front, said that reasons that child soldiers and other combatants rape women include: listening to witch doctors’ advice, drug use, long periods in bush, gaining sexual experience, punishment, revenge, and a weapon of war.[54]

In the context of the Congolese society, rape is considered to be an "act of marriage" to the perpetrator.[31] A girl who becomes pregnant as a result of abuse is no longer viewed as a child who needs the care and affection of her parents.

Many women and girls report extreme poverty, being unable to continue with school and an inability to earn a living and pay fees.[31] Additionally, women declare that they are unable to find jobs because of the physical pain and injuries caused by the abuse.

Regional differences

Several reports claim that there are no accurate representative numbers on the prevalence of sexual violence in the DRC because of underreporting and lack of research.[6] Moreover, so far, there are no reports to indicate differences in rates of sexual violence based upon education, income, or residence (urban or rural).[6] However, other research studies have found regional differences in rates and types of sexual violence in the DRC.

According to research done by the American Journal of Public Health in 2011, the highest rates of rape against women occurred in the North Kivu province.[6] The war-torn and mineral-rich areas in the eastern part of the country have very high rates of sexual violence. M23 has recently gained control of territory in North Kivu, the city of Goma, and other areas of the Ruthuru region, and there have been recent reports of sexual violence in those areas.[55]

Anthony Gambino, mission director for the Congo of the United States Agency for International Development, has also said that “shockingly high rape statistics are found in western Congo as well as northern and eastern Congo,” but that conflict-related rape is less prevalent in the west.[56] Although most reports agree that sexual violence related to the armed conflict are most prevalent in North and South Kivu, Maniema, and Katanga, one report found that the highest number of rapes reported in 2007 by women aged 15 to 49 was in the provinces of Orientale, North Kivu and Équateur.[6] They found that sexual violence not related to the armed conflict, such as in Équateur, often takes its form in intimate-partner violence.[6]

Preventative efforts

Increasing awareness regarding the problem of sexual violence in the DRC has led to both national and international efforts to prevent the continuation of the atrocities taking place.

Government policy

According to articles of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sexual violence is defined and criminalized as a form of gender-based violence and gender discrimination (article 14); a cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment (article 16); a crime against humanity (article 15); and a violation of an individual's right to peace (article 52).[26][57] Congolese law draws a distinction between rape and systematic rape, sexual violence being a crime against the state and systematic sexual violence as an international crime.

In 2006, the Palais du Peuple, the Congolese government, enacted sexual violence amendments to the 1940 Penal Code and the 1959 Penal Procedure Code.[26] Part of these changes was criminalizing "insertion of an object into a woman’s vagina, sexual mutilation, and sexual slavery" as well as defining "any sexual relation with a minor as statutory rape."[3] The Congolese government's department, The Ministry of Gender, Family Affairs and Children, is dedicated to dealing with sexual violence within the nation.[3]

International community and nongovernmental organizations

International human rights organizations began to document sexual violence in 2002.[26]

In September 2009, following her visit to the DRC, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton oversaw the adoption of the U.N Security Council Resolution 1888, which details specific efforts that must be taken to protect women from sexual violence in war-stricken regions, and measures taken to bring perpetrators to justice.[58] Clinton has also urged the Congolese government to personally investigate members of FARDC who have committed crimes of sexual violence, and FARDC generals have declared that they will set up new military tribunals to prosecute soldiers accused of sexual violence.[58][59] Additionally, she has supported a $17 million plan to combat the sexual violence in the DRC.[58]

USAID/Kinshasa currently provides medical, psycho-social, judicial, and socio-economic support to approximately 8,000 survivors in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Maniema Province.[60] The International Security and Stabilization Support Strategy found that 72 percent of international funds for sexual violence in the DRC are devoted to treating victims of rape and 27 percent to preventing sexual abuse.[61]

DRC vs Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda in March 1999 was the first case the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights heard that discussed violations of human rights, including sexual violence, during an armed conflict.[62] The Commission found that the human rights abuses committed in the eastern provinces of the DRC were not in agreement to Part III of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, Article 75(2) of Protocol 1, and Articles 2 and 4 of the African Charter.[62]

The International Criminal Court is conducting an ongoing investigation into crimes committed in the DRC during the Second Congo War and afterwards. Several military leaders have been charged with crimes of sexual violence. Germain Katanga, the leader of the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FPRI), and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, the leader of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), were charged and indicted with nine crimes against humanity including sexual slavery, a crime against humanity under article 7(1)(g) of the Rome Statute and a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(xxii) or (e)(vi) of the Rome Statute.[63][64] Bosco Ntaganda of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (FPLC) was charged with rape and sexual slavery.[65] Callixte Mbarushimana of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and Sylvestre Mudacumura have also been charged with rape.[66][67]

According to Tier Rating, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not comply with minimum standards for efforts to eliminate this problem by prosecuting perpetrators and providing services to victims.[4] The government has not shown evidence in prosecuting sex trafficking perpetrators.[36]

In June 2014, UK-based rehabilitation charity Freedom from Torture published its report "Rape as Torture in the DRC: Sexual Violence Beyond the Conflict Zone,[68] using evidence from 34 forensic medical reports, to show that rape and sexual violence is being used routinely by state officials in Congolese prisons as punishment for politically active women. One of the women mentioned in the report stated:"Now I know, because I have been there, that it is normal for women to be sexually abused in prison..." The women included in the report were abused in several locations across the country including the capital Kinshasa and other areas away from the conflict zones.

In addition, Eve Ensler's nongovernmental organization, V-Day, has not only been crucial in the growing awareness regarding sexual violence in the DRC, but has also entered into a project with UNICEF and the Panzi Foundation to build The City of Joy, a special facility in Bukavu for survivors of sexual violence in the DRC. The center, which can host up to 180 women a year, has resources such as sexual education courses, self-defense classes, and group therapy, as well as academic classes and courses in the arts.[69] The City of Joy facility opened in February 2011.[70]

Other perspectives

There are others who offer different perspectives to the dominant discourse about sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Many Congolese populations on the ground, Congolese intellectuals, and field-based interveners emphasize that there are many other consequences of the armed conflict that deserve as much attention as sexual violence does, including killings, forced labor, child soldiers, and torture.[15] They also believe that the attention to rape in the DRC contributes to the proliferation of the widespread stereotype of Congolese people as savage and barbaric.[71]

It is also said that the international focus on this problem has led to unintended, negative consequences, including ignoring other forms of violence and rape of men and boys.[15] The worst consequence discussed is the belief that some armed groups think that sexual violence is now an effective bargaining tool. Thus, according to this perspective, the international focus is actually contributing to the increase of sexual violence.[71] It has been said that the mass rapes in Luvungi in 2010, where Mai Mai Sheka gang raped 387 civilians, was partly due to this consequence because Sheka allegedly ordered his soldiers to rape women to draw attention to their group.[15]

Perpetrator testimonies

The voices and testimonies of perpetrators have long been absent. However, during 2005–2006, Maria Erickson of the School of Global Studies at the Gothenburg University in Sweden interviewed soldiers and officers within the integrated armed forces.[41] The interviews were organized in groups made up of 3–4 people and lasted between 3–4 hours.[41]

A large portion of those interviewed were from the previous government forces, the FARDC.[41] The data collected from the interviews provided detailed accounts and useful information on how the soldiers understood their identities, their roles as combatants and the amount of pain they inflicted onto their victims.[41]

View of masculinity

Some of the FARDC soldiers interviewed described the military as a place for the tough and strong and as a place to prove one's manhood.[41] One soldier stated that:

"You have to learn the tough spirit of a soldier. If you do not know that, some beating up is required. Those who are not able to make it, we call them inept, also sometimes the women, the inept will run away''.[41]

He also went on to demonstrate the desensitization that accompanies military macho-violence:

''....A soldier is a soldier. He is not a civilian. Bullets are bullets. It is a war. We are not going there to kill ducks. It is war. You go there to defend. The centre is no place for compassion".[41]

Roles as soldiers

The respondents’ perception of their roles as soldiers was reflected in their notions of what a successful position was within the armed forces.[41] A successful soldier, they said, was an educated one who "sat behind a desk and completed administrative work".[41] However, the soldiers also explained, that although administrative tasks were appealing, their entry into the force was not an active choice, but instead, was done to make money and receive an education.[41]

Because manhood was closely linked to material wealth their choice to join the armed forces was not a vengeful call for violence or revenge but a fall back option because of unfortunate circumstances.[41] Many of the soldiers described that they had not received the education they were promised and instead indicate that their lives had been filled with "ruin" and "tragedy".[41] This discrepancy between a sense of how soldiering “should be” and “the way it was” was the basis for the prevalence of violence among armed forces.[41]

See also

General:

International:

References

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External links

  • The Advocacy Project 2009 Peace Fellow Elisa Garcia in partnership with
  • Rape as torture in the DRC:Sexual violence beyond the conflict zone 2014-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  • AMKENI Action Group: From illiteracy to entrepreneurship for survivors of sexual violence in Democratic Republic of Congo
  • [2]
  • [3]
  • [4]
  • [5]

sexual, violence, democratic, republic, congo, democratic, republic, congo, east, country, particular, been, described, rape, capital, world, prevalence, intensity, forms, sexual, violence, been, described, worst, world, human, rights, watch, defines, sexual, . The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the east of the country in particular has been described as the Rape Capital of the World and the prevalence and intensity of all forms of sexual violence has been described as the worst in the world 1 2 Human Rights Watch defines sexual violence as an act of a sexual nature by force or by threat of force or coercion and rape as a form of sexual violence during which the body of a person is invaded resulting in penetration however slight of any part of the body of the victim with a sexual organ or of the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or other part of the body 3 The map of Democratic Republic of Congo from the CIA World Factbook The Democratic Republic of the Congo has had a long history of unrest and instability Although sexual violence has always occurred in the DRC in some capacity increased rates of sexual violence coincided with the armed conflicts of the early 1990s and later 4 Much of the research conducted about sexual violence in the DRC has focused on violence against and rape of women as related to these armed conflict mostly occurring in the eastern region of the country 5 The eastern region of the DRC has the highest rates of sexual violence and much of it is perpetrated by armed militia groups 6 However other studies have begun to show that sexual violence is pervasive in all parts of the DRC and that it is not always related to the conflict While there is extensive evidence of the societal and individual ramifications caused by the sexual violence in the country the government has been criticized for not doing enough to stop it 4 Although Congolese law criminalizes many forms of sexual violence these laws are not always enforced 4 Contents 1 Historical background 2 Forms of sexual violence 2 1 Violence against women 2 2 Violence against men and boys 2 3 Violence against children 2 4 Rape 2 4 1 National Security Rape 2 4 2 Systematic Mass Rape 2 5 Other forms of Sexual Violence 2 6 Trafficking and prostitution 2 7 Domestic violence 3 Perpetrators 3 1 Militia groups 3 1 1 Background 3 2 Civilian perpetrators 3 3 Teachers 3 4 Female perpetrators 3 5 Violence in Angola 4 Ramifications 4 1 Medical ramifications 4 2 Psychological and social ramifications 5 Regional differences 6 Preventative efforts 6 1 Government policy 6 2 International community and nongovernmental organizations 7 Other perspectives 7 1 Perpetrator testimonies 7 1 1 View of masculinity 7 1 2 Roles as soldiers 8 See also 9 References 10 External linksHistorical background EditFurther information Rape during the Congo civil wars Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo has frequently been described as a weapon of war and the United Nations officially declared rape a weapon of war in 2008 7 War rape makes a particularly effective weapon because it not only destroys its physical victims but entire communities as well 8 War violence and instability have ravaged the DRC for decades and this has led to a culture of violence in war and civilian life that often takes its form in a sexual nature Eleven years after the Republic of the Congo gained independence in 1960 president Mobutu renamed the country Zaire in 1971 and ruled the nation under an autocratic and corrupt regime 4 Under Mobutu s regime sexual abuse was used as a method of torture 9 Mobutu ruled until 1997 when after the 1994 Rwandan genocide many genocidaires fled across Rwanda s western border into the DRC in hopes of escaping censure Hutu extremist militias were reformed across the border particularly in Kivu the DRC s easternmost region bringing crime and violence to the DRC While the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers attempted to launch large operations they still ultimately failed to disarm Hutu rebels who often retaliated by performing rapes kidnappings and murders 10 This influx of militants and fighting in Burundi catalyzed the First Congo War and the end of Mobutu s regime Spurred by the violence the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo AFDL led by Laurent Kabila launched a rebellion against Mobutu regime in 1996 in the eastern part of the country 4 Wilhelmine Ntakebuka who coordinates a sexual violence program in Bukavu believes that the increase in sexual violence started with the inflow of foreign militants The epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the mid 1990s That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into Congo s forests after exterminating 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during Rwanda s genocide 13 years ago Mr Holmes said that while government troops might have raped thousands of women the most vicious attacks had been carried out by Hutu militias 11 M23 rebels in Goma November 2012The violence from the First Congo War led to the Second Congo War which officially ended in 2006 with the election of the first democratically elected president Joseph Kabila However there has been no end to the violence A major confrontation in 2007 between government forces and troops of Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda culminated in another major confrontation in the eastern province of Nord Kivu Recently instability and violence have greatly increased since the mutiny of members of the Government of DRC and the creation of the rebel movement M23 supported by the Government of Rwanda and individuals of the Government of Uganda 12 Moreover as recently as December 2012 the UN accused M23 rebels of raping and killing civilians in eastern DRC 13 There have also recently been allegations of a military attack and 72 counts of rapes against civilians by M23 in the Minova area 13 Much of this continuing violence is a result of long lasting animosity between the Tutsis the Hutus and other groups 14 Other factors of the continued violence are control of land control of minerals and economic tensions The persistence of rape can also be attributed to misconceptions about rape such as the myth that having sex with prepubescent girls will give people strength in battle or business dealings 15 The long history of violence has led to a culture of desensitization lacking respect for international norms of human rights and inadequate education 9 Today the Democratic Republic of the Congo particularly the eastern region of the country is known as the rape capital of the world 7 While the law specifically prohibits and provides penalties of 10 to 20 years imprisonment for child and forced prostitution pimping and trafficking for sexual exploitation There were no reported investigations or prosecutions of traffickers during the year 2007 16 There is no law against spousal sexual assault 17 Forms of sexual violence EditViolence against women Edit Margot Wallstrom dubbed eastern Congo the most dangerous place on earth to be a woman and it is said that rape is simply a fact of life in the DRC 15 In October 2004 the human rights group Amnesty International said that 40 000 cases of rape had been reported over the previous six years the majority occurring in South Kivu This is an incomplete count as the humanitarian and international organizations compiling the figures do not have access to much of the conflict area only women who have reported for treatment are included It is estimated that there are as many as 200 000 surviving rape victims living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today 18 19 A 2011 report recorded that 1 000 women had been raped daily 20 A 2014 report by human rights charity Freedom from Torture outlined the usage of rape as a form of torture by security forces focusing on case studies and accounts from torture survivors 21 According to research conducted by The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010 39 7 of women in the Eastern Region North Kivu South Kivu and Province Orientale of the DRC reported to have been exposed to sexual violence during their lifetime most commonly taking its form in rape 22 As Noel Rwabirinba a sixteen year old who had been a militiaman for two years said If we see girls it s our right we can violate them 7 This statement reflects the normalization of rape in the DRC Because of conflicts between 60 and 90 percent of women are single heads of households This puts many burdens upon them such as having to travel long distances to find resources leaving them vulnerable to violence 23 Patricia Rozee identifies different categories of rape all of which occur in the DRC punitive rape used to punish to elicit silence and control status rape occurring as a result of acknowledged differences in rank ceremonial rape undertaken as part of socially sanctioned rituals exchange rape when genital contact is used as a bargaining tool theft rape involuntary abduction of individuals as slaves prostitutes concubines or spoils of war and survival rape when women become involved with older men to secure goods needed to survive 15 Rape as related to the conflicts is the most prevalent form of sexual violence in the country particularly in the eastern region However civilians are also the perpetrators of rape 22 Furthermore although people might assume that men always perpetrate conflict related sexual violence against women women are also perpetrators In the 2010 study conducted by the American Medical Association women reported to have perpetrated conflict related sexual violence in 41 1 of female cases and 10 0 of male cases 22 Violence against men and boys Edit The rape of men is also common More studies are coming out to show that both women and men are the victims and perpetrators of sexual violence in the DRC 22 Research conducted by The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010 cites that 23 6 of men in the Eastern Region of the country have been exposed to sexual violence And a similar study also conducted in 2010 found that 22 of men as compared to 30 of women in eastern Congo reported conflict related sexual violence A cross sectional population based study found that one in four men living in the eastern region of the country have been the victims of sexual violence 22 Moreover at least 4 to 10 percent of all rape victims are male 15 The prevalence of rape of men in the country is likely underreported due to extreme stigma attached to sexual abuse of males 24 Men who admit to being raped risk ostracism by their community and criminal prosecution because they may be seen as homosexual which though legal in the DRC is socially unacceptable 25 Male victims are less likely to appear in court and those who do are cast away in their villages and called bush wives 26 According to Denise Siwatula a programme officer at the Women s Synergy for the Victims of Sexual Violence based in Kivu many men are victims of sexual violence and they need different assistance than women who come to their center 24 Lynn Lawry a humanitarian expert at the International Health Division of the US Department of Defense said When we are looking at how we are going to address communities we need to talk to female perpetrators as well as male perpetrators and we have to include male survivors in our mental health clinics in order to address their issues which may be very different from female survivors 27 The 2020 report by the United Nations Secretary General on conflict related sexual violence covered that a young man from Tanganyika Province was stripped naked raped and coerced by Twa militia to rape his own mother that led to severe sense of shame and the fear of stigmatization and reprisals for seeking support Raping of men and boys have been used for degrading societal identities by attacking family and community protective figures through humiliation and ultimately inflicting identity based vulnerabilities The report also covered the continuation of sexual violence against men and boys in detention and in several settings 28 Violence against children Edit A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo UNFPA reported that over 65 of victims during the past 15 years were children The majority of this percentage was adolescent girls and roughly 10 of child victims are said to be under 10 years old 3 Many child soldiers after being recruited from refugee camps are often sexually abused 29 Rape of girls and gender based violence of minors is widespread in the eastern Congo 30 Rape Edit Sexual violence functions as a means of humiliating not only a female victim but also her family and or husband Once raped the victim traditionally sends a message to her husband to alert him about the event 31 He then arms himself and searches for the rapist Today most communities also stigmatize women and hold them accountable for being raped The influx of armed groups from Burundi and Rwanda into the DRC has impacted the frequency of sexual violence in the region 32 After the wars of 1996 and 1998 and the displacement of Congolese people women were forced to turn to survival sex with wealthy foreign soldiers and UN peacekeepers 32 This was seen as emasculating the soldiers who were unable to live up to their expected societal roles 32 Objectified rape became the expected order in the DRC 32 Many rapes occur in public spaces and in the presence of witnesses These public rapes have become so popular that they have been given a name la reigne 32 During these rapes women are stripped tied upside down and gang raped in the middle of a village 32 The permission to invade and rape a village is often given as a reward to the armed group by the commanders 32 The government army FARDC due to its size and capacity is the largest perpetrator 32 National Security Rape Edit This form of rape is predominately used by governments and militaries to protect its national security 32 Additionally national security rape violently imposes many intersecting and mutually fundamental power relations such as nationalism and patriarchy 32 clarification needed It is used to humiliate torture and punish rebellious women for directly challenging what the rapists view as strictly enshrined ideas of femininity and masculinity 32 Systematic Mass Rape Edit The systematic rape of women in the DRC is regarded as a tool of oppression focused on a specific ethnic group and is generalized through terror that is justified through established national discourses clarify 32 During times of war mass rape can be seen as an effective way to feminize one s enemy by violating his women nation and homeland thus proving that he is incapable of being an adequate protector 32 The raping of women in this process seeks to destroy the very fabric of society as women are seen as the symbolic bearers of ethno national identity because of their roles as biological cultural and social reproducers of society itself 32 Other forms of Sexual Violence Edit The United Nations includes rape public rapes sexual slavery forced prostitution forced pregnancy gang rape forced incest sexual mutilation disemboweling genital mutilation cannibalism deliberate spread of HIV AIDS and forced sterilization as other forms of sexual violence that occur in the DRC that are used as techniques in war against the civilian population 33 Other forms of sexual violence reported include forcing of crude objects such as tree branches and bottles into the vagina 34 public rape in front of the family and community forced rape between victims the introduction of objects into the victims cavities pouring melted rubber into women s vaginas shooting women in the vagina and inducing abortions using sharp objects 35 Trafficking and prostitution Edit Main article Human trafficking in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a source and destination for trafficking for forced labor and forced prostitution much of which is internal and perpetrated by armed groups in the eastern region of the DRC 4 The DRC is said to be the main regional source from which women and children are trafficked in large numbers to sex industries in Angola South Africa Republic of Congo and western Europe particularly Belgium 36 Prostitution and forced prostitution occurs often in refugee camps in the country 37 In addition to forced prostitution in refugee camps many girls are forced into prostitution in tent or hut based brothels markets and mining areas 36 The main perpetrators are the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda FDLR Patriotes Resistants Congolais PARECO various local militia such as the Mai Mai the Alliance des patriots pour un Congo libre et souverain APCLS and the Lord s Resistance Army LRA 36 There are many reports of these groups forcibly recruiting women and children to serve in sexual servitude 36 Domestic violence Edit Article 444 of the Congo Family Code states that a wife owes her obedience to her husband 38 Marital rape is not considered an offense in the DRC 5 Similar laws and attitudes are prevalent in countries involved in the DRC conflict 38 In Zimbabwe one in four women report having experienced sexual violence at the hands of their husbands 38 Women in the DRC do not have the right to refuse sex and should they men have the right to discipline their wives through beating an act often referred to as tough love 38 Research Directorate has called domestic violence very prevalent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 39 According to several studies conducted in 2011 intimate partner sexual violence is the most pervasive form of violence against women in all areas of the DRC 6 A 2010 study concluded that intimate partner violence was reported by 31 of women and 17 of men 22 Central factors for the high rates of domestic violence are the reintegration of combatants in communities circulation of arms and post traumatic stress in times during and after conflict 39 However reporting domestic violence is rare because women have no rights to share property or wealth fear losing their children or being shunned by the community or may not even know it is a punishable offense 39 Although there are laws against domestic violence cultural beliefs make it extremely difficult to implement the rules 38 Because the social status of African women is dependent on their marital status and because the conflict has drastically reduced the male population women have no choice but to suffer 38 Although the status of men is also dependent on their marital status they are expected to exercise strict control over the wives 38 Men are seen as being superior in that they are better educated and capable of purchasing property 38 Perpetrators EditMilitia groups Edit According to Human Rights Watch while many of the perpetrators of sexual violence are militia groups some of whom have been known to kidnap women and girls and use them as sex slaves 3 the Congolese army Forces Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo FARDC is the single largest group of perpetrators 3 In 2007 the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo MONUSCO reported that 54 of all recorded sexual violence cases in the first 6 months of that year were committed by FARDC soldiers Some commanders have been purported to overlook sexual violence perpetrated by those under their command 3 One investigation found that some commanders ordered their soldiers to commit rape 40 There are also incidents of rape involving the police others in authority civilians and other opportunistic criminals 34 View of masculinity which associate manliness with excessive use of aggression force and violence contribute to military and militia sexual violence 32 Weapons are used as status symbols and to acquire social and economic hierarchy by employing power over unarmed civilians 32 Soldiers who exude any qualities deemed to be feminine are seen as weak and often end up being attacked and ostracized 41 Many societies such as the Democratic Republic of Congo generally place the means of violence military training and weapons in the hands of men while promoting a direct link between the idea of a real man and the practice of dominance and violence 41 Background Edit Beginning with colonization economic factors have contributed to the culture of violence that has dominated the DRC 38 In 1908 under King Leopold II the methodical rape of entire villages was a popular tactic used by his administration for keeping the local population in order 38 After gaining independence in 1960 the Democratic Republic of Congo was marked by political and social instability 38 In 1965 during a coup Colonel Joseph Mobutu took over and remained in power for the next 32 years 38 During the 1990s Mobutu s regime witnessed a large influx of refugees after the Rwandan genocide many of which included genocide perpetrators 38 The perpetrators were able to rearm themselves and were immediately organized by ex FARDC Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo leaders 38 In an effort to prevent future attacks from the newly formed group Rwandan Patriotic Front RPF soldiers joined together with AFDL Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo Zaire forces under the leadership of Congolese rebel commander Laurent Desire Kabila 38 The group was responsible for killing thousands of unarmed civilians 38 In 2001 after the assassination of his father Joseph Kabila took over as leader 38 A rebellion erupted in the same year As a result an estimated 4 million people died in the competition for control over the DRC s natural resources 38 Attempts to stabilize the peace process have failed 38 Insecurity is perpetuated by the remaining militia groups which include the Mai Mai 38 Civilian perpetrators Edit In June 2010 UK aid group Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Contrary to MONUSCO s 2007 report the study found that 38 of rapes were committed by civilians in 2008 Rapes by civilians are increasing demonstrating that sexual violence is becoming even more widespread throughout the country This is a particularly dramatic rise compared to the number of civilian perpetrated rapes in 2004 which was less than 1 42 43 Researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased seventeenfold 44 Consistent with these studies is a statement from Dr Margaret Agama the DRC s United Nations Population Fund UNFPA representative Initially rape was used as a tool of war by all the belligerent forces involved in the country s recent conflicts but now sexual violence is unfortunately not only perpetrated by armed factions but also by ordinary people occupying positions of authority neighbours friends and family members Teachers Edit A survey by the Brazil based nonprofit organization Promundo found that 16 of girls in North Kivu said they had been forced to have sex with their teachers 45 And according to a 2010 UNICEF report 46 of Congolese schoolgirls in a national study confirmed that they had been victims of sexual harassment abuse and violence committed by their teachers or other school personnel 45 Female perpetrators Edit A 2010 survey in over 1 000 households in eastern Congo by a team of researchers led by Harvard academic Lynn Lawry asked victims of sexual violence to specify their assailant s gender 46 The study found that 40 of the female victims and 10 of male victims said they have been assaulted by a woman 46 A UN expert on armed groups states Women who were raped for years are now raping other women 46 Violence in Angola Edit Congolese women are being systematically raped in Angola as a means of expelling the Congolese living there 47 clarification needed With a booming mining trade Congolese continue migrating into Angola in search of a living Among some 26 000 people expelled since April 2011 more than 21 000 cases of serious human rights violations including rape beating torture and looting have been documented by an Italian aid agency that has a UN grant to monitor the border 47 Human Rights Watch says the goal of the abuse is to instill fear 47 Ramifications EditMedical ramifications Edit The medical repercussions of the sexual assault in the DRC vary from severed and broken limbs burned flesh rectovaginal and vesicovaginal fistulas STIs pregnancy and urinary incontinence to death 48 31 Adequate medical care for these injuries is very hard to come by and many survivors remain ill or disfigured for the rest of their lives 49 These are all more severe the younger the victim is Young girls who are not fully developed are more likely to suffer from obstructed birth which can lead to fistulas or even death On a young girl a pelvis hasn t yet grown large enough to accommodate the baby s head a common occurrence with young teenagers these girls end up in obstructed birth with the baby stuck inside their birth passage s often they can t walk or stand a consequence of nerve damage that is a frequent by product of fistulae 7 At the Doctors on Call for Service Heal Africa Hospital in Eastern DRC 4 715 of the women reported having suffered sexual violence 4 009 received medical treatment 702 had a fistula 63 4 being traumatic and 36 6 being obstetric 34 Sexual assault has also contributed to the HIV rate Before the conflict in 1997 only 5 of the population was HIV positive by 2002 there was a 20 HIV positive rate in the eastern region 50 A study conducted found that sociocultural barriers and strict obedience to Vatican doctrine prevented adolescents from receiving condoms or comprehensive sex education which contributes to the spread of HIV 51 Psychological and social ramifications Edit There are also many psychological and social consequences to being the victim of sexual violence Victims often suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD depression and suicide This can be particularly severe in cases in which men have been forced at gunpoint to sexually assault their daughters sisters or mothers 52 Psychological trauma after experiencing sexual violence can have a negative effect on sexual behavior and relationships feelings about sex ability to negotiate safer sex and increased likelihood of drug abuse 5 The most common social consequence for victims of sexual violence is isolation from their families and communities 52 31 Raped women are seen as impure frequently leading to their being abandoned by their husbands or having trouble marrying 53 The most extreme versions of this stigmatization can lead to honor killings in which the victim of sexual violence is murdered by her family or community due to the belief that she has brought them shame and dishonor 49 Young women and girls who are cast outside of their homes or leave due to shame will most likely become even more vulnerable to further abuse 3 Moreover the culture of widespread violence often affects children at an early age Sexual violence is also perpetrated by minors particularly among those involved with combatant forces A previous child soldier of the Mai Mai fighters movement who fought to resist the Interahamwe from Rwanda who took refuge in the DRC after they fled from the Rwandan Patriotic Front said that reasons that child soldiers and other combatants rape women include listening to witch doctors advice drug use long periods in bush gaining sexual experience punishment revenge and a weapon of war 54 In the context of the Congolese society rape is considered to be an act of marriage to the perpetrator 31 A girl who becomes pregnant as a result of abuse is no longer viewed as a child who needs the care and affection of her parents Many women and girls report extreme poverty being unable to continue with school and an inability to earn a living and pay fees 31 Additionally women declare that they are unable to find jobs because of the physical pain and injuries caused by the abuse Regional differences Edit Bandundu Bas Congo Equateur Kasai Occidental Kasai Oriental Katanga Kinshasa city province Maniema North Kivu Orientale South KivuAn Ituri Interim Administration also exists in the Ituri region of Orientale ProvinceSeveral reports claim that there are no accurate representative numbers on the prevalence of sexual violence in the DRC because of underreporting and lack of research 6 Moreover so far there are no reports to indicate differences in rates of sexual violence based upon education income or residence urban or rural 6 However other research studies have found regional differences in rates and types of sexual violence in the DRC According to research done by the American Journal of Public Health in 2011 the highest rates of rape against women occurred in the North Kivu province 6 The war torn and mineral rich areas in the eastern part of the country have very high rates of sexual violence M23 has recently gained control of territory in North Kivu the city of Goma and other areas of the Ruthuru region and there have been recent reports of sexual violence in those areas 55 Anthony Gambino mission director for the Congo of the United States Agency for International Development has also said that shockingly high rape statistics are found in western Congo as well as northern and eastern Congo but that conflict related rape is less prevalent in the west 56 Although most reports agree that sexual violence related to the armed conflict are most prevalent in North and South Kivu Maniema and Katanga one report found that the highest number of rapes reported in 2007 by women aged 15 to 49 was in the provinces of Orientale North Kivu and Equateur 6 They found that sexual violence not related to the armed conflict such as in Equateur often takes its form in intimate partner violence 6 Preventative efforts EditIncreasing awareness regarding the problem of sexual violence in the DRC has led to both national and international efforts to prevent the continuation of the atrocities taking place Government policy Edit According to articles of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo sexual violence is defined and criminalized as a form of gender based violence and gender discrimination article 14 a cruel degrading and inhuman treatment article 16 a crime against humanity article 15 and a violation of an individual s right to peace article 52 26 57 Congolese law draws a distinction between rape and systematic rape sexual violence being a crime against the state and systematic sexual violence as an international crime In 2006 the Palais du Peuple the Congolese government enacted sexual violence amendments to the 1940 Penal Code and the 1959 Penal Procedure Code 26 Part of these changes was criminalizing insertion of an object into a woman s vagina sexual mutilation and sexual slavery as well as defining any sexual relation with a minor as statutory rape 3 The Congolese government s department The Ministry of Gender Family Affairs and Children is dedicated to dealing with sexual violence within the nation 3 International community and nongovernmental organizations Edit International human rights organizations began to document sexual violence in 2002 26 In September 2009 following her visit to the DRC US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton oversaw the adoption of the U N Security Council Resolution 1888 which details specific efforts that must be taken to protect women from sexual violence in war stricken regions and measures taken to bring perpetrators to justice 58 Clinton has also urged the Congolese government to personally investigate members of FARDC who have committed crimes of sexual violence and FARDC generals have declared that they will set up new military tribunals to prosecute soldiers accused of sexual violence 58 59 Additionally she has supported a 17 million plan to combat the sexual violence in the DRC 58 USAID Kinshasa currently provides medical psycho social judicial and socio economic support to approximately 8 000 survivors in North Kivu South Kivu and Maniema Province 60 The International Security and Stabilization Support Strategy found that 72 percent of international funds for sexual violence in the DRC are devoted to treating victims of rape and 27 percent to preventing sexual abuse 61 DRC vs Burundi Rwanda and Uganda in March 1999 was the first case the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights heard that discussed violations of human rights including sexual violence during an armed conflict 62 The Commission found that the human rights abuses committed in the eastern provinces of the DRC were not in agreement to Part III of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 Article 75 2 of Protocol 1 and Articles 2 and 4 of the African Charter 62 The International Criminal Court is conducting an ongoing investigation into crimes committed in the DRC during the Second Congo War and afterwards Several military leaders have been charged with crimes of sexual violence Germain Katanga the leader of the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri FPRI and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui the leader of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front FNI were charged and indicted with nine crimes against humanity including sexual slavery a crime against humanity under article 7 1 g of the Rome Statute and a war crime under article 8 2 b xxii or e vi of the Rome Statute 63 64 Bosco Ntaganda of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo FPLC was charged with rape and sexual slavery 65 Callixte Mbarushimana of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda FDLR and Sylvestre Mudacumura have also been charged with rape 66 67 According to Tier Rating the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not comply with minimum standards for efforts to eliminate this problem by prosecuting perpetrators and providing services to victims 4 The government has not shown evidence in prosecuting sex trafficking perpetrators 36 In June 2014 UK based rehabilitation charity Freedom from Torture published its report Rape as Torture in the DRC Sexual Violence Beyond the Conflict Zone 68 using evidence from 34 forensic medical reports to show that rape and sexual violence is being used routinely by state officials in Congolese prisons as punishment for politically active women One of the women mentioned in the report stated Now I know because I have been there that it is normal for women to be sexually abused in prison The women included in the report were abused in several locations across the country including the capital Kinshasa and other areas away from the conflict zones In addition Eve Ensler s nongovernmental organization V Day has not only been crucial in the growing awareness regarding sexual violence in the DRC but has also entered into a project with UNICEF and the Panzi Foundation to build The City of Joy a special facility in Bukavu for survivors of sexual violence in the DRC The center which can host up to 180 women a year has resources such as sexual education courses self defense classes and group therapy as well as academic classes and courses in the arts 69 The City of Joy facility opened in February 2011 70 Other perspectives EditThere are others who offer different perspectives to the dominant discourse about sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Many Congolese populations on the ground Congolese intellectuals and field based interveners emphasize that there are many other consequences of the armed conflict that deserve as much attention as sexual violence does including killings forced labor child soldiers and torture 15 They also believe that the attention to rape in the DRC contributes to the proliferation of the widespread stereotype of Congolese people as savage and barbaric 71 It is also said that the international focus on this problem has led to unintended negative consequences including ignoring other forms of violence and rape of men and boys 15 The worst consequence discussed is the belief that some armed groups think that sexual violence is now an effective bargaining tool Thus according to this perspective the international focus is actually contributing to the increase of sexual violence 71 It has been said that the mass rapes in Luvungi in 2010 where Mai Mai Sheka gang raped 387 civilians was partly due to this consequence because Sheka allegedly ordered his soldiers to rape women to draw attention to their group 15 Perpetrator testimonies Edit The voices and testimonies of perpetrators have long been absent However during 2005 2006 Maria Erickson of the School of Global Studies at the Gothenburg University in Sweden interviewed soldiers and officers within the integrated armed forces 41 The interviews were organized in groups made up of 3 4 people and lasted between 3 4 hours 41 A large portion of those interviewed were from the previous government forces the FARDC 41 The data collected from the interviews provided detailed accounts and useful information on how the soldiers understood their identities their roles as combatants and the amount of pain they inflicted onto their victims 41 View of masculinity Edit Some of the FARDC soldiers interviewed described the military as a place for the tough and strong and as a place to prove one s manhood 41 One soldier stated that You have to learn the tough spirit of a soldier If you do not know that some beating up is required Those who are not able to make it we call them inept also sometimes the women the inept will run away 41 He also went on to demonstrate the desensitization that accompanies military macho violence A soldier is a soldier He is not a civilian Bullets are bullets It is a war We are not going there to kill ducks It is war You go there to defend The centre is no place for compassion 41 Roles as soldiers Edit The respondents perception of their roles as soldiers was reflected in their notions of what a successful position was within the armed forces 41 A successful soldier they said was an educated one who sat behind a desk and completed administrative work 41 However the soldiers also explained that although administrative tasks were appealing their entry into the force was not an active choice but instead was done to make money and receive an education 41 Because manhood was closely linked to material wealth their choice to join the armed forces was not a vengeful call for violence or revenge but a fall back option because of unfortunate circumstances 41 Many of the soldiers described that they had not received the education they were promised and instead indicate that their lives had been filled with ruin and tragedy 41 This discrepancy between a sense of how soldiering should be and the way it was was the basis for the prevalence of violence among armed forces 41 See also EditThe Greatest Silence Rape in the Congo documentary film Ruined play by Lynn Nottage winner of 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Sexual slavery Wartime sexual violenceGeneral Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Crime in the Democratic Republic of the CongoInternational Sexual violence in Finland Sexual violence in South Africa Sexual violence in Papua New Guinea Rape statistics worldwide Estimates of sexual violence worldwide References Edit UN official calls DR Congo rape capital of the world BBC 2010 04 28 Retrieved 2012 11 23 McCrummen Stephanie 2007 09 09 Prevalence of Rape in E Congo Described as Worst in World The Washington Post Retrieved 2009 07 17 a b c d e f g h Soldiers who rape commanders who condone Human Rights Watch 2009 07 16 Retrieved 2011 08 16 a b c d e f g Central Intelligence Agency CIA Africa Congo Democratic Republic of the The World Factbook 2013 accessed 18 February 2013 a b c Kilonzo Nduku Njoki Ndung u Nerida Nthamburi Caroline Ajema Miriam Taegtmeye Salley Theobald Rachel Tohurst 2009 Sexual violence legislation in sub Saharan Africa the need for strengthened medico legal linkages Reproductive Health Matters 17 34 10 19 doi 10 1016 s0968 8080 09 34485 7 JSTOR 40647441 PMID 19962633 a b c d e f g Peterman Amber Tia Palermo Caryn Bredenkamp June 2011 Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo PDF American Journal of Public Health 101 6 1060 1067 doi 10 2105 ajph 2010 300070 PMC 3093289 PMID 21566049 Archived from the original PDF on 13 June 2013 Retrieved 17 March 2013 a b c d Kristof Nicholas D and Sheryl WuDunn Half the Sky Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide New York Alfred A Knopf 2009 Print Rape Weapon of war UN Human Rights Archived from the original on 2012 01 10 Retrieved 17 May 2022 a b Kamemba Claude June 2001 The Democratic Republic of Congo From Independence to Africa s First World War PDF UNHCR Centre for Documentation and Research Paper No 16 2000 Autesserre Severine Gbowee Leymah 2021 05 03 The Frontlines of Peace An Insider s Guide to Changing the World 1 ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 oso 9780197530351 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 753035 1 Gettleman Jeffrey 2007 10 07 Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War The New York Times Retrieved 2009 07 17 United Nations Security Council S 2012 843 Letter dated 12 November 2012 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 2004 concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo addressed to the President of the Security Council a b UN alleges rapes in DR Congo unrest AlJazeera News 8 Dec 2012 Autesserre Severine 2008 The Trouble with Congo How Local Disputes Fuel Regional Conflict Foreign Affairs 87 3 94 110 JSTOR 20032653 a b c d e f g Autesserre Severine 2012 Dangerous Tales Dominant Narratives on the Congo and their Unintended Consequences African Affairs 111 443 202 222 doi 10 1093 afraf adr080 United States State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices DR Congo 2007 5 as cited in www womanstats org United States State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices DR Congo 2005 second paragraph As cited in www womanstats org Cochrane Kira 2008 05 09 The victims witness The Guardian London Retrieved 2009 07 17 Kort Michelle 2007 01 18 A Conversation with Eve Ensler Femicide in the Congo Public Broadcasting Service Retrieved 2009 07 17 Johnson Tim July 21 2013 Congo refugee wants to help homeland victims of sexual violence The Burlington Free Press Burlington Vermont pp 6B Retrieved July 22 2013 Freedom from Torture DRC torture report 2014 http www freedomfromtorture org sites default files drc report a5 web pdf a b c d e f Johnson Kirsten Jennifer Scott Bigy Rughita Michael Kisielewski Jana Asher Ricardo Ong Lynn Lawry 2010 Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights Violations with Physical and Mental Health in Territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo The Journal of the American Medical Association 304 5 553 561 doi 10 1001 jama 2010 1086 PMID 20682935 Puechguirbal Nadine 2003 Women and War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Signs Vol 28 no 4 pp 1271 1281 JSTOR 10 1086 368319 a b Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN 6 August 2010 Analysis Rethinking sexual violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo Retrieved 18 February 2013 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Storr Will 17 July 2011 The rape of men The Guardian London Retrieved 17 July 2011 a b c d Zongwe Dunia Prince The New Sexual VIolence Legislation in the Congo Dressing Indelible Scars on Human Dignity African Studies Review 55 2 2012 37 57 Analysis Rethinking sexual violence in DRC IRIN Africa 6 August 2010 CONFLICT RELATED SEXUAL VIOLENCE s 2020 487 PDF United Nations 3 June 2020 Retrieved 16 October 2022 Buckley Mary 2008 Young and Vulnerable The World Today 8 64 9 16 18 JSTOR 40478010 DRC Children suffer torture rape and cruelty NGOs report IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis A service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 18 June 2003 a b c d e Liebling Benoit Bearing Children Through Rape in Eastern Congo Community and State Responses PDF Coventry University Archived from the original PDF on 22 February 2014 Retrieved 17 November 2012 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Baaz M E 2009 Why do Soldiers Rape Masculinity Violence and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo DRC International Studies Quarterly 53 2 495 518 doi 10 1111 j 1468 2478 2009 00543 x Retrieved 17 November 2012 permanent dead link UN Violence against women and sexual violence Info Note 3 Democratic Republic of the Congo 1993 2003 United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner a b c Longombe Ahuka Ona Kaswereka Masumbuko Claude Joseph Ruminjo 2008 Fistula and Traumatic Genital Injury from Sexual Violence in a Conflict Sitting in Eastern Congo Case Studies Reproductive Health Matters 16 31 132 141 doi 10 1016 s0968 8080 08 31350 0 JSTOR 25475353 PMID 18513615 S2CID 206112274 Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces Global Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict 2007 Africa 17 As cited in www womanstats org a b c d e Democratic Republic of the Congo Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 US Department of State June 14 2010 Archived from the original on June 17 2010 Lehti Martti Kauko Aromaa 2006 Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation Crime and Justice 34 1 133 22 CiteSeerX 10 1 1 694 825 doi 10 1086 650306 JSTOR 10 1086 650306 S2CID 144875722 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Mechanic Eli Why Gender Still Matters Sexual Violence and the Need to Confront Militarized Masculinity PDF Partnership Africa Canada Retrieved 17 November 2012 permanent dead link a b c Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada IRBC 22 March 2006 Democratic Republic of the Congo Prevalence of domestic violence the availability of legal protection methods of punishing or deterring offenders and presence of support systems for survivors March 2006 Retrieved 18 February 2013 Schneider G Banholzer L Albarracin L 2015 Ordered Rape A Principal Agent Analysis of Wartime Sexual Violence in the DR Congo Violence Against Women 21 11 1341 63 doi 10 1177 1077801215593645 PMID 26175517 S2CID 16014054 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Baaz M E Making Sense of Violence Voices of Soldiers in the Congo Cambridge University Press Retrieved 17 November 2012 permanent dead link Ross Will 2010 04 15 DR Congo gang rape crisis spreading new study suggests BBC News Retrieved on 2011 10 01 Congo report shows rape is widespread Guardian Retrieved on 2011 10 01 Rapes surge in DR Congo Al Jazeera 2010 04 15 Retrieved on 2011 10 01 a b Abuse of power Foreignpolicy com 14 April 2014 Retrieved 20 April 2014 a b c Congo s Forgotten Curse Epidemic of Female on Female Rape time com 3 December 2013 Retrieved 5 December 2013 a b c Angola and Congo Bad neighbours Economist magazine 2011 08 06 Archived from the original on 2013 01 22 Retrieved 2011 08 16 DRC Rape Survivors Break Their Silence Call for an End to Sexual Violence in the DRC V Day A Global Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls Worldwide Archived 2010 12 26 at the Wayback Machine V Day 2008 09 22 Retrieved on 2011 10 01 a b Countries Amnesty International USA Archived 2011 02 18 at the Wayback Machine Amnestyusa org Retrieved on 2011 10 01 UNFPA A Passage to Hope Women and International Migration UNFPA 2006 Retrieved November 3 2009 permanent dead link Bosmans Marleen Marie Noel Cikuru Patricia Claeys Marleen Temmerman 2006 Where Have All the Condoms Gone in Adolescent Programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo Reproductive Health Matters 14 28 80 88 doi 10 1016 s0968 8080 06 28258 2 JSTOR 25475255 PMID 17101425 S2CID 25681704 a b Legacy of War An Epidemic of Sexual Violence in DRC UNFPA 2008 11 26 Retrieved on 2011 10 01 Kristof Nicholas January 30 2010 Orphaned Raped and Ignored New York Times Theophile Mugisho Why They Rape Former Child Soldier Speaks Out Safe World Field Partners DRC M23 rebels impose new leaders and extra taxes on civilians Mail amp Guardian 22 Jan 2013 Gettleman Jeffrey 11 May 2011 Congo Study Sets Estimate for Rapes Much Higher The New York Times The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2013 07 05 a b c Congo Human Rights Amnesty International USA Archived 2010 12 10 at the Wayback Machine Amnestyusa org Retrieved on 2011 10 01 Gettleman Jeffrey 2008 10 18 Rape Victims Words Help Jolt Congo Into Change The New York Times Pratt Marion Leah Werchick January 9 16 2004 Sexual Terrorism Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo PDF USAID DCHA Assessment Report Archived from the original PDF on 2014 02 22 Retrieved 2013 03 30 Systeme Integre des Nations Unies Strategie internationale de soutien a la securite et a la stabilite de l est de la RDC Cadre programmatique integre 2009 2010 United Nations Goma 2010 p 46 a b Beyani Charloka 2007 Recent Developments in the African Human Rights System 2004 2006 Human Rights Law Review 7 3 582 608 doi 10 1093 hrlr ngm022 ICC 01 04 01 07 1 Warrant of Arrest for Germain Katanga PDF International Criminal Court 2007 07 02 Retrieved 2011 08 30 ICC 01 04 01 07 260 Warrant of Arrest for Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui PDF International Criminal Court 2007 07 06 Retrieved 2011 08 30 ICC 01 04 02 06 36 Red Decision on the Prosecutor s Application under Article 58 PDF International Criminal Court 2012 07 13 Retrieved 2012 07 21 ICC 01 04 01 10 Warrant of Arrest for Callixte Mbarushimana PDF International Criminal Court 2010 09 28 Retrieved 2011 08 30 ICC 01 04 01 12 1 Red Decision on the Prosecutor s Application under Article 58 PDF International Criminal Court 2012 07 13 Retrieved 2012 07 13 1 Archived 2014 06 05 at the Wayback Machine Freedom from Torture Rape as Torture in the DRC http www freedomfromtorture org feature drc report 7878 Archived 2014 06 05 at the Wayback Machine City of Joy V Day Congo Archived 2011 02 17 at the Wayback Machine Drc vday org Retrieved on 2011 10 01 Fighting Congo s Ills With Education and an Army of Women by Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times February 7 2011 a b Eriksson Baaz Maria Maria Stern May 2011 NAI researcher critical of rape report External links EditThe Advocacy Project 2009 Peace Fellow Elisa Garcia in partnership with BVES Heal Africa Rape as torture in the DRC Sexual violence beyond the conflict zone Archived 2014 06 05 at the Wayback Machine AMKENI Action Group From illiteracy to entrepreneurship for survivors of sexual violence in Democratic Republic of Congo 2 3 4 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo amp oldid 1135254030, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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