- Title: Women battling sexual violence in DRC in the running for Nobel Peace Prize
- Date: 1st October 2016
- Summary: KIBATI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE - NOVEMBER 7, 2008) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) PEOPLE CARRYING BAGS ON THEIR HEADS RUNNING, UNDER FIRE, GUNSHOTS HEARD VARIOUS OF FARDC (Congolese army) TROOPS ON GROUND TAKING COVER IN GRASS, GUNFIRE HEARD WOMAN CARRYING BELONGINGS RUNNING VARIOUS OF WOMEN CARRYING CHILDREN AND BELONGINGS FLEEING VILLAGE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE FLEEING WITH BAGS ON THEIR HEADS
- Embargoed: 16th October 2016 14:18
- Keywords: DRC Congo Mama Jeanne Mama Jeannette rape
- Location: KIBATI, BUKAVU, MASISI, UNKNOWN LOCATIONS AND KITCHANGA , NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- City: KIBATI, BUKAVU, MASISI, UNKNOWN LOCATIONS AND KITCHANGA , NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA002526VRRB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
NOTE: DR. DENIS MUKWEGE HAS SEPARATE EDIT: 0045-NOBEL-PRIZE/PEACE-DENIS MUKWEGE
The Democratic Republic of Congo's 'Mama Jeanne', 'Mama Jeannette' and Dr. Denis Mukwege are contenders for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for their fight against sexual violence.
Jeanne Nacatche Banyere (Mama Jeanne) and Jeannette Kahindo Bindu (Mama Jeannette) have used their church network since the early 2000s to seek out survivors of sexual violence all across the country, providing support and ensuring that they receive treatment and help.
They also work alongside gynaecologist Mukwege who set up the Panzi Hospital in Bakuvu, offering physical and emotional treatment to some of the hundreds of women who are raped in the region each year.
Mama Jeanne started by filling her home in the mountains in Masisi with women and children who needed care and protection.
After she married her husband Prosper, their home became an orphanage and a reception centre for raped women.
In 1994, Mama Jeanne was given the responsibility for children from another orphanage who had fled to Goma during the Rwandan genocide. Currently, she is a leader of aid organisation JOIN's team of female field workers who work among raped women and children in eastern Congo.
Mama Jeannette joined Mama Jeanne in 2004. She primarily concentrated her efforts to help raped women and children found anywhere from Goma to Minova and Masisi.
The number of women and girls raped in eastern Congo is unknown, but experts and campaigners say the scale is enormous. Swedish Prime Minister and former United Nations' special representative on sexual violence in conflict Margot Wallstrom has called Congo the "rape capital of the world".
Violence is frequent in both North and South Kivu provinces, with rebels commonly using rape as a weapon to intimidate and drive communities from their lands.
For decades the country, with its vast untapped mineral and oil reserves, has experienced war and chaos.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo on Friday October 7, at 11:00 a.m. (0900 GMT).
The prize, worth 10 million Swedish crowns (1.4 million U.S. dollars), will be handed over on December 10, 2016. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
