Congo (Kinshasa)

An expert in the use of rape as a tool of war today said Congolese soldiers raped Central African women as “punishment” for supporting rebels who attempted to overthrow then president Ange-Félix Patassé. The women were able to identify the nationality of their attackers because the soldiers spoke a language the women could identify as Congolese.

It is critical to prevent conflict-related sexual violence before it happens, a top United Nations official stressed today, stating that the problem warrants continuous consideration by the Security Council as it deals with fighting in countries such as Libya, Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Innocent Zahinda recently started his new job here as the last of six members to be appointed to the staff of Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative for sexual violence in conflict.

The official spearheading United Nations efforts to combat the scourge of sexual violence during war today welcomed the decision of authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to prosecute several high-ranking military officers accused of rape.

Congolese men and women have different views on sexual violence said Jocelyn Kelly, research coordinator for the Women in War program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative who presented research at Simmons March 29.

Kelly recently returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she investigated genesis, patterns, effects, mitigating and preventative factors around sexual violence.

In her early days as US secretary of state in 2009, Hillary Clinton went to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and was moved to tears when she heard first-hand stories about what rape had done, and was continuing to do to destroy women, families, communities.

Security is gradually returning to parts of the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Security is coming back little by little. It is not perfect yet, but I must say that our freedom of movement is much better,” said Alphonsine Omoy, a resident of the town of Bunia in northeast DRC.

United Nations human rights officials are providing technical and logistical support to military justice authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the rape trial of General Jerôme Kakwavu, the highest ranking national army officer to be prosecuted for such crimes.

A United Nations report unveiled today highlights the deprivations endured by thousands of victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including poverty, denial of justice and lack of access to medical and psychological treatment, and recommends the establishment of a reparations fund.

Eleven soldiers found culpable in the rape of more than 50 women in the Congolese town of Fizi Centre in January, have begun serving lengthy sentences in the provincial capital, Bukavu. Their speedy trial and sentencing by a mobile court is a welcome sign of a new commitment to ending impunity for sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.