High-level Consultation in Goma calls for Eradication of Sexual Violence and Ending Impunity in the Great Lakes Region

June 18, 2008 (UNIFEM) - “Rape as a weapon of war has become a defining characteristic of the armed conflicts in the Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular,” said Ambassador Liberata Mulamula at the opening of a high level consultation on Eradicating Sexual Violence and Ending Impunity in the Great Lakes region in Goma, DRC.

Ambassador Mulamula, as the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), urged for a coordinated approach to bolster efforts to prevent, protect, end impunity and eventually eradicate sexual violence.

The consultation, organized by the ICGLR Secretariat in partnership with UNIFEM, brought together representatives from the ICGLR member states, the United Nations and other development partners, and Civil Society organizations from across the region.

The aim of the consultation, held on June 16-18, was to develop a regional action plan to domesticate and implement the ICGLR Protocol on the Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children in the Great Lakes Region.

Goma was chosen as the meeting venue following the January signing of the “L’Act d’Engagement” between the DRC government and the Congolese armed groups, committing themselves to the cessation of all acts of violence, including sexual violence.

The Vice Governor of the North Kivu province, Felair Utaichirwa, officially opened the consultation, referring to sexual violence as a shameful scourge in the region and reiterating the DRC’s commitment to bring an end to it through the domestication and implementation of the protocol on the prevention and suppression of sexual violence.

The consultation noted that in conflicts of the Great Lakes region, including those in Burundi, Northern Uganda, Sudan’s embattled Darfur region, Central African Republic, eastern DRC, and during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the bodies of girls and women have increasingly become the battleground for armies, rebels, and militias as they seek to destroy and humiliate one another.

“Presently, at least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime,” said UNIFEM Regional Programme Director for Central Africa, Josephine Odera. “This consultation affords us an opportunity to agree on measures to stop sexual violence and reverse the culture of impunity that pervades the region, be it in times of war or peace. Under the auspices of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, we have a ready framework in the Protocol on the Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children in the Great Lakes Region.”

Presenters at the consultation included Ministers, vice Ministers and advisors from Gender Ministries in DRC, Burundi and Central African Republic, members of the Police and Armed Forces in DRC’s North Kivu province, a representative of the Rwanda National Police’s Gender Based Violence Desk, survivors of sexual violence from Burundi and Central African Republic, representatives of traditional leaders from Burundi and DRC, and Members of Parliament and Civil Society Organizations from the ICGLR member states.

Director of the well-known Panzi hospital in South Kivu that provides free medical and psycho-social support to victims of horrific sexual violence, Dr. Mukwege, addressed participants on the work and challenges facing interveners in this area.

According to OCHA, in South Kivu alone, 16,000 cases of sexual violence were reported in 2007. By viewing the powerful film by Lisa Jackson, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, participants were taken beyond the mind-numbing statistics and brought face-to-face with the devastating, personal testimonies of sexual violence victims in Eastern DRC.

In solidarity with efforts to end sexual violence, over 70 participants took up the invitation to sign on to the UNIFEM internet based campaign, Say NO to Violence against Women.

Key recommendations at national, regional and international levels include: calls for funds from national budgets to prevent sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), provide medical and psycho-social assistance to victims, and strengthen state institutions intervening on SGBV issues; strengthening of medical structures to facilitate necessary support to victims; replication of successful initiatives to support SGBV victims such as the multipurpose service centres and GBV Desks within Police stations and military units; intensify political pressure for ratification of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes and domestication of the Protocol on the prevention and suppression of sexual violence against women and children; promote a global mass movement to end SGBV; and further financial and technical support from the United Nations and development partners to strengthen capacities of member states to prevent, eradicate and punish sexual violence.

UNIFEM has been identified to support the implementation of the protocol by the Steering Committee on Social and Humanitarian Affairs, chaired by OCHA.

The consultation was organized with further support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Mission to Congo (MONUC).

From:http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=697