Some wars make headlines; some do not. In the messy aftermath of the Rwandan civil war, refugees fled to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). As many as 100,000 of the Interahamwe, a militia partially responsible for the Rwandan genocide, crossed the border to avoid prosecution for acts against humanity.
Winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize in Documentary and the inspiration for a 2008 U.N. Resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war, this extraordinary film, shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shatters the silence that surrounds the use of sexual violence as a weapon of conflict.
Human rights defenders working to end violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) do so in the face of grave threats of violence against themselves and their families. Justine Masika Bihamba is coordinator for Synergy of Women for Victims of Sexual Violence (Synergie des femmes contre les violence sexuelles), a women's human rights organization working in the DRC.
Mark Leon Goldberg chats with Dana Goldstein of The Daily Beast about her article on US - Congo policy. They also chat about Sri Lanka and the creation of UN WOMEN.
The administration launched a $17 million program to fight rape in Congo—but is it effective? Dana Goldstein follows the money—and asks if Hillary Clinton's rhetoric matches reality. Plus: See our entire Congo package on Giving Beast.
In a society without a word for “rape,” Chouchou Namegabe did the unthinkable—she aired graphic testimonies of rape survivors on the radio. Delphine Minou profiles one of the world's bravest journalists.
In her lifetime, approximately one in three women around the world will suffer violence simply because she is a woman. Sex trafficking, rape during times of war, and domestic violence are destructive forces not just for women, but for entire communities. This cannot continue.
Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Ruined," tells a powerful and moving story about the suffering and survival of women in violence-ridden areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Conflict in the vast African country has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions forcibly displaced over the past two decades.
