Stop Rape Now

Today, the Congolese army, security sector personnel, and several armed groups still use sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC.Further, international actors, including UN personnel, have been implicated in perpetrating sexual violence in the DRC.Armed actors have targetted women and girls in the streets, fields, and homes.These assaults take many forms, including sexual slavery, kidnapping, forced recruitment, forced prostitution, and rape. The Congolese victims of sexual violence also include men and boys, who have suffered rape, sexual humiliation, and genital mutilation.

"Towards midnight, I heard the crackle of gunfire all around the villag.As I was trying to escape with my children, seven soldiers broke down the door to my house, threw me down to the ground and raped me. I lost consciousness till the next day...When I walk I have to hold my abdomen with my skirt, because it hurts so much. I cannot walk very far now and as the soldiers took everything, I can hardly manage to look after my children."

Many survivors of sexual violence suffer from grave long-term psychological and physical health consequences, such as traumatic fistula and HIV. Health infrastructure in the DRC, however, is almost entirely absent. Shortage of medical services is particularly critical given the prevalence of sexually-transmitted infections and HIV among soldiers and irregular combatants. Survivors of sexual violence also face enormous barriers in securing justice through the courts or more informal, community-based mechanisms. At the community level, survivors usually suffer in silence, fearing stigma and ostracism if their ordeal is made public. Following her 2007 visit to the Great Lakes Region, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that "while victims (of sexual and gender-based violence) were stigmatized and socially ostracized, there was virtually no stigmatization of perpetrators." Corrupt, under-capacitated justice systems hamper survivors' attempts to bring perpetrators to justice through formal legal processes. The extent of gender-based violence in the DRC can only be estimated, though sexual violence has reached pandemic proportions. In the province of South Kivu alone, local health centers report that an average of 40 women are raped daily. Sexual violence in Congo is vastly underreported due to insecurity in or inaccessibility to many areas and the physical or material inability of some victims to travel. Survivors also fear reprisals by perpetrators if they come forward. Sexual violence is regarded as the most widespread form of criminality in Congo.The government that is elected will be challenged to implement the principles of the constitution and address discrimination against women, in particular sexual violence."

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