DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Democratic Republic of Congo launches campaign to end gender-based violence in the country's lawless east

Record ID: 453886

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Democratic Republic of Congo launches campaign to end gender-based violence in the country's lawless east
  • Date: 3rd December 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) BUKAVU, SOUTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT - NOVEMBER 24, 2007) (REUTERS) DOCTORS AND NURSES WALKING AT PANZI HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF WOMEN IN BED AT THE HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (Kiswahili) RAPE VICTIM, ALICE RÉGINE CITO, SAYING: "I was raped by two men in 2001. My husband left me when he heard what happened to me. Today, I'm here to have fistula surgery, which I have been living with since I was raped."
  • Embargoed: 18th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA7JE9FJ3G8BN1VEYNU8O161MAZ
  • Story Text: According to the United Nations, over 27,000 women were sexually assaulted in South Kivu alone last year. Most cases go unreported and the insecurity in Congo's east makes it even harder to attack the problem. A 'Stop Rape Now' campaign has been launched to increase awareness and assist victims.
    Most of the patients at Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) embody the Kiswahili saying that "when the elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers."
    South Kivu and Bukavu have often been the epicentres of conflict between Congo various armed groups in which civilians bear the brunt of the fighting.
    Sexual violence has been in the spotlight after armed conflict in the region began in the middle of the 1990s. Women and children are particularly vulnerable. Both government forces and rebels have been accused of rape and looting The hospital is located in Bukavu town, which is DRC's South Kivu province and tends to about 410 patients every month. It treats about 500 fistula cases annually.
    The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) claims that more than 100 rape victims seek help at its health centres each month.

    "I was raped by two men in 2001. My husband left me when he heard what happened to me. Today, I'm here to have fistula surgery, which I have been living with since I was raped," said Alice Regine Cito, a rape victim.
    To halt the violence, the authorities and UNICEF recently launched the "Stop Rape Now" campaign hoping to create awareness and prevent more cases.
    Victims will be given medical and psychological treatment before being helped to reintegrate into their communities. They will also get legal advice to help them seek justice from the courts. The campaign will run until the end of 2009.

    "The campaign is called 'Stop Rape Now'. It must stop and that is why we came here today to reinforce the message and launch this type of action in this country with agreements signed and the public commitment of the highest authorities of this country," said Ross Mountain, the UN's Deputy Special Representative to the DRC.
    But the launch is not enough to convince the region's residents that women will be any safer.

    "Life became unbearable because of the rapes, and there is no way we can work in our fields. The government is doing nothing to penalize the rapists. We see them in the street, the government must apply the laws,"
    said Mavua Djuma, a farmer.
    Statistics as to the actual numbers of women who are sexually abused are rare because many cases go unreported, but according to the United Nations, 27,000 cases were reported in South Kivu province alone last year.
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