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Women, Peace and Security Initiatives: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
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In-Country

Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the DRC
January 2008
The Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is an initiative launched by women’s associations in Eastern DRC to bolster the fight against sexual violence. The Campaign is supported by the Coalition for Women's Rights in Conflict Situations.
The scope of sexual violence in the DRC is a well known reality that has been documented and reported by media, NGOs, international institutions and States. Initiatives and calls for mobilization against sexual violence have multiplied over the last four years, but have not brought any concrete results on the ground. Born of the need to bolster the fight against sexual violence, the Campaign aims to ensure that the assistance mobilized goes directly to the victims.

To sign the online petition, please click here

For more information on the campaign, please click here

Women Lobbying for Peace in the DRC
Christian Peace Makers, November 2006
A team organized by the Christian Peace Makers recently returned from a peace mission of all women volunteers to the Eastern part of Congo. The trip was an eye opener for the team and the Congolease women they met asked that they assist them in lobbying for peace. Upon returning from the trip, the team wrote an account of the situation for women in the DRC.

For the full story, please click here

Over 20000 People Reached by Successful Advocacy Campaign on a Gender Sensitive Electoral Law in the Democratic Republic of Congo
UNIFEM, November 25, 2005
A two weeks high level advocacy campaign to promote equal access of women and men to electoral mandates and electoral offices has concluded in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The campaign was organized by different women networks and organizations, working together under a ‘Coalition for Gender Equality’ and supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), MONUC, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs.
For more information, please click here.

Women's Fabric Project
Community of Disciples of Christ in the Congo
Global Ministries, in partnership with the Church of Christ of the Congo and the Community of
Disciples of Christ of the Congo (CDCC) have initiated a fabric project that they hope will raise funds for women’s projects that will help women across the country rebuild the social and family infrastructure. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is recovering from a long war. The social life of the country is ravaged with people without adequate food and clothes, displaced families, and children without schools to attend. The CDCC will have special fabric made with the CDCC name and logo for the CDCC women to sell. The fabric will be distributed to 20 church posts under the direction of the president of the CDCC women located in Kinshasa. To learn more or contribute to the project, click here.

Brazzaville Women's Literacy Program
Church of the Disciples of Christ of the Congo
The DRC is emerging from many years of civil war. There has been much suffering from poverty, malnutrition, disease, and hunger. Families cannot afford to send all their children to school and it is usually the females who are not educated. Because of and in addition to this, women are discriminated against and have few rights. The Eglise des Disciples du Christ au Congo (EDCC) is primarily working with the Lingala-speaking population. In 2001, Madeleine Mehaffey, Global Ministries missionary to the Republic of the Congo, started a literacy program. This program is very important because it gives women the opportunity to continue to learn through reading, which will open new knowledge to herself for her family, and help this community recover from the devastation of the war. To continue and expand this literacy program, new funding is needed. Global Ministries seeks special contributions for this effort. Please click here for more information and/or how you can help.

WOMEN ADVOCATING FOR RESOLUTION 1325 IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – A LIST
Compiled by Aningina Tshefu Bibiane and the PeaceWomen Project
Aningina Tshefu Bibiane and the PeaceWomen Project together compiled a list of concrete actions women in the DRC have taken to advocate for implementation of Resolution 1325. This list was featured in the 1325 PeaceWomen E-News Issue #10, 4 October 2002 alongside a profile of Bibiane.

TAKE ACTION: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
February, 2004
Despite a recent peace agreement aimed at ending the five-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), massacres, mutilation and rape continue in the eastern part of the country. Within a 10-week period in 2003, more than 100 cases of rape and sexual abuse were reported, including sexual torture of women committed in front of their family members.  Gang rapes, sometimes performed in public, have been used to terrorize women and girls and to humiliate civilian populations suspected of collaborating with enemy forces, in order to pressure these populations into submission.  The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among combatants has added considerably to the trauma faced by victims.  Throughout the conflict, rape and other forms of sexual violence have been used routinely as a weapon of war by all parties involved.  In many cases, further wounding or killing the victims follows these acts of sexual torture.  Additionally, many of the girl children being forced to serve as soldiers on the frontlines are routinely raped and used as sexual slaves by adult commanders.  Click Here to stop violence
against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo!

Missions at Kabinda, Kananga, and Mbuji Mayi
August 2003
The Young Women Christian Association jointly with the Catholic Church of Kabinda made two missions in the District of Kabinda, one of the most affected regions during the war suffering large human, material and environmental loses. The first mission aimed to identify and develop an analysis of the region, and the second one, intended to identify all girls, women and widows victims of rape before, during and after the war. In addition, the Catholic Church of Congo, Women and Family Department, organized on August 14, 2003 a four-day seminar on violence and women and children basic and fundamental rights. To read the full report please click here. For more information contact The Young Women's Christian Association.

DRC: Eastern Women Call on all Actors to Work for Peace
October 18-21, 2002
A women's group from the South Kivu Province, called Societe Civile, called all stakeholders in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to resolve their differences and to channel their efforts into establishing a peaceful and stable nation. They issued a statement with recommendations to the United Nations Security Council and the international community, the government of the DRC, the Rwandan-backed rebel Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD-Goma), the Mayi-Mayi militias and the citizens of the DRC. To read the full text of the statement click here.

International

Rape as a Tool of War in DRC
Amnesty International
Throughout five years of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thousands of women and girls have been raped and killed with complete impunity. Amnesty International is calling on the Democratic Republic of the Congo to put an end to sexual violence against women and girls and to fulfill its obligation to provide the victims with an effective remedy to bring those responsible for human rights abuses and violence against women to justice. They have set up an Online Action Center for this and other issues related to violence against women. Click here for more information on this issue and how you can help.