Femmes du Congo

Sexual Violences in the Media (September/October 08)

ALERT

Death threats made against Congolese Women's Right Activist (in NGOs > Alert Section)

  

 

North-Kivu: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed deep concern Friday over the increasing number of killings and other human rights violations such as rapes

"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed deep concern Friday over the increasing number of killings and other human rights violations recorded over the past few days in North Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and called on all parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law.

"During previous outbreaks of fighting in this region, we have seen horrendous large-scale summary and arbitrary executions, rapes, disappearances, torture, harassment, unlawful arrest and arbitrary detention, not to mention wave after wave of mass displacement," Pillay said. "Over the past days, a number of fresh violations have been recorded by UN human rights staff in the region."

In the provincial capital Goma, the main perpetrators of looting, killings and rapes, appear to have been renegade soldiers belonging to the national army known as the FARDC, many of whom have fled the fighting. Other serious abuses, including targeted killings, have been reported from areas held by forces of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), commanded by Laurent Nkunda.

UN human rights officers on Thursday gathered information about a number of incidents that had occurred overnight. They visited one house in Goma where five people had been murdered, four others wounded and one three-year-old child was missing. Neighbours believed that the killings took place during an episode of looting. In another part of town, a FARDC soldier killed a man and his eight-year-old son, and wounded two other children belonging to the same family. The soldier, who left his uniform at the scene of the crime, is reported to have been later arrested by army authorities. Another FARDC soldier was reported to have been shot dead while looting, which was widespread in certain areas of the town. In one incident, a barman is said to have been shot dead by FARDC elements because he had failed to serve them quickly enough.

In rebel-held areas north of Goma, CNDP fighters are reported to have fired indiscriminately at a clinic into which government soldiers had fled, leading to civilian casualties, and later in the week a similar incident took place at a clinic in Rutshuru.

Human rights activists in both Goma and rebel-held areas have told UN staff that they have been threatened or narrowly escaped being killed. There is fear of both the FARDC and CNDP. According to an unconfirmed report, in the rebel-held town of Rugari, the President of the Civil Society has been shot dead by CNDP fighters.

"The total number of civilians killed so far is not known, but this is clearly an extremely dangerous situation," said Pillay. She called on the government to put in place radical institutional reforms so that its security forces can play an appropriate role under the constitution and fully respect the human rights of its citizens.

"What happened in Goma should not have happened, as most violations were committed by looting soldiers belonging to the government forces," she said. "I urge the government to take swift and significant action to control their soldiers and protect the civilian population."

Pillay called on the international community to help the government put the reforms in place. "Without far-reaching reforms, human rights violations will continue and sustainable peace will not be achieved," she said, adding that an end to impunity was essential. "Thousands of vicious killers and rapists have escaped punishment over the years in eastern DRC," she said. "This feeds a cycle of violence and lawlessness that will end only when those responsible are brought to justice."

Geneva, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 31 October 2008, http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/854EF2676DF5F1C2C12574F3004EB1DC?opendocument

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Situation in North-Kivu: HRW reports rapes in Goma and calls the international community to protect civilians

The United States, European Union, and African Union should urgently intensify diplomatic efforts to protect civilians and bolster the UN peacekeeping force in eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. As a result of the fighting in North Kivu, which resumed in August after the collapse of a January peace deal, tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing fighting between government troops and combatants led by the rebel general Laurent Nkunda.

“International leaders who successfully intervened before should act quickly to prevent the crisis in North Kivu from reaching catastrophic proportions,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Diplomats from Washington, Brussels, and Addis Ababa helped broker the ceasefire at the start of the year. Now the most senior members of their governments must back them up to bring an end to this crisis.”  
 
Rebel troops led by Nkunda took the town of Rutshuru on October 28, 2008, causing thousands of people to flee. Late on October 29, the rebels stopped just short of Goma, capital of North Kivu, after Nkunda announced a unilateral ceasefire. A rebel spokesman had said that their forces expected to take Goma in the next few days. Close to the Rwandan border, Goma is home to more than 500,000 people, including thousands of people displaced by earlier fighting.  
 
On the night of October 29, government soldiers created chaos in Goma. At least 20 civilians were killed, including 5 children, and more than 13 people were injured when soldiers looted shops, attacked civilian homes, and stole vehicles. Soldiers reportedly raped women in their homes and elsewhere. In one case, soldiers raped three family members at their home and then shot dead a male relative.  
 
Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Louis Michel, the EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, are both in Congo today. South African president, Kgalema Mothlante, is also expected this week. They should press Congolese President Joseph Kabila to take urgent action to avert further loss of civilian life and destruction to the region.  
 
The diplomats should call upon Kabila to cut ties between the Congolese armed forces and combatants of the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an abusive armed group largely made up of Rwandan Hutu, including some who participated in the genocide in Rwanda. Human Rights Watch researchers recently documented cooperation between Congolese army soldiers and FDLR combatants in fighting Nkunda’s forces in mid-September. According to a November 2007 agreement between Congo and Rwanda, the Congolese government is supposed to disarm the FDLR but it has not done so.  
 
Frazer is also due to visit Rwanda, where she should deliver a strong message to President Paul Kagame to end his tacit support for Nkunda. Frazer said on October 29 that Rwanda allowed its territory to be used as a base for Nkunda.  
 
A peace agreement signed in January between the Congolese government and 22 armed groups, including the group led by Nkunda, collapsed in late August when combat resumed between Nkunda’s forces and Congolese army soldiers.  
 
Heavy fighting since then has displaced more than 200,000 people, according to UN estimates. Currently an estimated 1 million people are displaced in the province of North Kivu alone. Human Rights Watch researchers documented the deaths of at least 70 civilians and injuries to another 150 since the start of the fighting in August, figures that probably represent a small percentage of total civilian casualties.  
 
Peacekeepers with the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), which is supposed to protect civilians, have been struggling to keep Nkunda’s troops from Goma. In recent days crowds in Goma and other places have stoned UN troops, angry that they are not doing more to help them.  
 
“UN peacekeepers are too few and too ill-equipped to protect civilians in this difficult terrain,” said Van Woudenberg. “Member states have to deploy more peacekeepers with greater military muscle if they want to end this crisis and avoid further humanitarian disaster.”  
 
High-ranking Rwandan authorities deny that they are giving any assistance to Nkunda, but Human Rights Watch has evidence that Nkunda recruits hundreds of his most experienced troops within Rwanda, many of them demobilized soldiers from the battle-hardened Rwandan army. Although exact numbers are not known, the fact that some 200 Rwandans have left Nkunda’s ranks over the past 18 months to enter a UN-run demobilization program for repatriation to Rwanda provides some idea of the scale of this problem.  
 
Nkunda, himself Tutsi, claims to be protecting Congolese Tutsi from oppression by the government in Kinshasa. Congolese of other ethnic groups suspect Congolese Tutsi of collaborating with neighboring Rwanda, remembered for its harsh occupation of the region. The presence of Rwandan recruits among Nkunda’s combatants fuels hostility toward Congolese Tutsi as well as toward Rwanda. In recent research in North Kivu, Human Rights Watch found that some 40 Tutsi and other alleged sympathizers of Nkunda have been arbitrarily detained in Goma and some of them tortured by state agents.  
 
“Senior diplomats should insist that President Kabila put an immediate end to the targeting of Congolese Tutsi and hold to account those responsible for abuses against them,” said Van Woudenberg. “It’s up to the Congolese government, not Nkunda, to protect its Tutsi citizens, as it protects all other citizens.”  
 
Last night, the UN Security Council called for respecting the ceasefire as well as prior agreements between the parties. It urged Kinshasa, Nkunda’s group, and the Rwandan government to renew efforts to find a political solution. It also encouraged member states to explore ways to provide more troops to strengthen the UN peacekeeping force by the start of next week. " 

HRW, Press Release, New-York, 30 October 2008, http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/10/30/congo20107.htm 

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 North-Kivu: Amnesty international called for the Security Council to step up pressure on armed groups to release sexual slaves (extracts)

The organization also called for the Security Council to step up pressure on armed groups to halt all attacks against civilians and to immediately release all children associated with their forces as well as women and girls held as sexual slaves.

Amnesty International also called on the Security Council to step up pressure on the DRC government to deliver meaningful security sector reform, so that its armed forces are capable of protecting civilians in a neutral and professional manner, with suspected perpetrators of human rights violations excluded from the ranks of the national army and police.

AI, Press release, 30 october 2008, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/thousands-flee-fighting-in-drc-20081030 

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Resurgence in rape and recruitment of child soldiers

For every two children released, five are taken and forced to be child soldiers, said Amnesty International, in a new report released today on the ongoing conflict in the province of North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Many of those recruited had already been reunited with their families after having been freed from armed groups who had previously kidnapped them and forced them to fight as child soldiers.

According to Amnesty International, of the former child soldiers who had been reunited with their families in North Kivu through a national demobilization programme, as many as half may since have been re-recruited by armed groups.

“It is precisely their previous experience with armed groups that makes them valuable recruits and puts these children at greater risk,” said Andrew Philip, Amnesty International’s expert on the DRC, who collected eyewitness testimony in the region. “The more they know, the more they are at risk of re-recruitment. In this case, experience can be deadly.”

The report also uncovers the extent of continuing physical and sexual abuse of women and children in the conflict, despite government and armed group commitments to bring such atrocities to an end.

Child soldiers who attempt to escape are killed or tortured, sometimes in front of other children, to discourage further escapes.

One former child soldier told Amnesty International how two youths were beaten to death in front of him and other child recruits “as a lesson to all of us not to try to escape”:

“[The boys] were brought out of a pit in the ground and presented to us during a training session. [An armed group senior commander] then gave the order to beat them. Two soldiers and a captain pushed them down into the mud. When they tired of kicking them…they beat them with wooden sticks. The punishment lasted 90 minutes, until they died.”

Other children, taken captive by the DRC army on suspicion of being armed group fighters, reported that they were ill-treated and tortured in military detention.

But it is not only children who face extreme abuse in the eastern DRC.

“The human rights situation in North Kivu is appalling,” said Andrew Philip. “Armed groups and government forces continue to rape women and girls. Even infants and elderly women are among the victims – some of whom have been gang raped. Disturbingly, rapes are often committed in public and in front of family members, including children.”

One 16-year-old rape survivor described how she had been abducted by two junior army officers and held captive in an army camp in North Kivu for several days before she was released. In the camp, she was raped nightly by one of the officers.
“The other officers and soldiers in the camp didn’t seem to care or be willing to take responsibility”, she told Amnesty International. She now suffers flashbacks and persistent headaches.

In its report, Amnesty International issued comprehensive recommendations to the armed groups, DRC government and the international community aimed at stopping human rights abuses. The recommendations include a call on armed groups to immediately release all children associated with their forces, and measures to end to the horror of sexual violence.

Amnesty International report, «DRC: Resurgence in rape and recruitment of child soldiers», 20 September 2008, http://www.amnesty.ca/amnestynews/upload/AFR620052008.pdf 

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Dungu: Thousands flee LRA attacks on northeastern villages

«At least 17,000 civilians have been displaced after attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord Resistance Army (LRA) militia in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and cannot access humanitarian aid, according to a UN official.

"The LRA are ... killing and looting and this caused the displacement of people," Tane Bamba, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in the province of Orientale, said.

LRA fighters carried out simultaneous attacks on the villages of Kilwa, Duru and Nambia in Dungu territory near Garamba National Park, along the DRC-Sudan border, on 17 September.»

IRIN, «Thousands flee LRA attacks on northeastern villages», 29 september 2008, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80654

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ICC extends outreach to victims of conflict to the south of Bunia, Ituri (DRC)

On 7 and 8 September 2008, the Outreach Unit of the International Criminal Court (ICC) held two information days for the populations of Mwanga and Gongo villages, located more than 25 km to the south of Bunia (in Ituri).

Over 280 persons – mainly female victims of war, members of civil society, elders, and members of Catholic and Protestant congregations – were, for the first time, able to receive information on the role and activities of the ICC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in general and in Ituri in particular. This was also an opportunity for them to express their interest in the fight against impunity and their concerns regarding issues such as the mechanisms for identifying victims and modalities governing victim participation in the various stages of the proceedings, as well as the slow pace of judicial proceedings and the prosecution of other warlords in Ituri.

This exchange of information was followed by a lively debate, largely concerning the current state of affairs in the Kivus. The debate enabled a number of issues to be addressed at the same time as providing an opportunity to gauge the expectations of the participants. The villages of Mwanga and Gongo are inhabited largely by the Lendus and Babiras, and were the scene of deadly attacks during the armed conflicts in Ituri.

ICC, press release ICC-CPI-20080909-PR351_Eng, 9 Sepetember 2008, http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/419.html

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LUBANGA CASE: Trial Chamber I maintains stay of proceedings

On 3 September 2008, Trial Chamber I rendered a public redacted decision rejecting the application of the Office of the Prosecutor to lift the stay of proceedings in the case of The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo imposed on 13 June 2008.

“The proposals outlined in the application demonstrably fail to meet the prerequisites set out hitherto by the Chamber to enable it to lift the stay of proceedings, and they infringe fundamental aspects of the accused's right to a fair trial” states the decision.

On 13 June 2008, Trial Chamber I imposed a stay on the proceedings of the case The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. The Chamber came to the conclusion that the Prosecution had incorrectly used article 54 (3) (e) of the Rome Statute which allows the Prosecutor to receive information or documents, on the condition of confidentiality, which are not for use at trial but solely for the purpose of generating new evidence. The Chamber concluded that this misuse has had the consequence that a significant body of exculpatory evidence has not been disclosed to the accused, thereby improperly inhibiting the opportunities for the accused to prepare his defence. In this case some documents were obtained from information providers, such as the United Nations and NGO’s with agreements not to be disclosed. 

The Chamber noted that some of the requirements set previously by the Chamber had been met. However, in yesterday’s decision, the Chamber reiterated the conditions which need to be satisfied before lifting the stay in the proceedings:
Firstly, that the Trial Chamber can adequately review - on a continuing basis for the entirety of the trial– the documents in question, in a way which is susceptible to a meaningful appeal.
Secondly, that there is some real prospect that the accused will be given sufficient access to any documents which the Chamber considers to be exculpatory.

However, the Chamber stressed that if the first condition is met, the Chamber would be prepared to assess which documents need to be disclosed and whether the proposed method for disclosure accord with the accused’s right to a fair trial.

The Trial Chamber indicated its awareness of the importance of this decision to the peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the victims and the accused. Furthermore, the Chamber expressed gratitude for the attempts of the source providers of the documents concerned to resolve these difficulties, and underlined that these information providers had entered into the relevant agreements with the Prosecution in good faith. The Trial Chamber also noted that there have been some real developments in the position of the United Nations as a result of discussion between itself and the Prosecution.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will remain in the custody of the International Criminal Court following the Appeals Chamber’s decision to grant suspensive effect of the appeal of the Prosecution against the decision on the release of the accused until a final decision is taken on the appeal.

ICC press release, ICC-CPI-20080904-PR350_ENG, 4 September 2008, http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/417.html

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Ex-Monuc senior officer tried in France for sexual violence

French court on Thursday sentenced a former mechanic employed by the United Nations to nine years in prison for raping young girls when he was working in Africa.

The court also ordered that Didier Bourguet, 44, undergo psychiatric treatment.

Bourget was accused of raping some 20 girls aged between 12 and 18 while posted in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2004.

The Frenchman, who was responsible for the maintenance of United Nations peacekeeping vehicles, admitted during the trial to having paid sex with the girls, but insisted they had consented.

DR Congo police arrested Bourguet in the eastern city of Goma in October 2004 and turned him over to FrenchFrench state prosecutor Pierre Kramer rejected his defence and said Bourguet showed "an absence of compassion for his victims" living in harsh economic conditions.

Kramer argued that the girls were "under duress given their age and the economic context" of their countries.

The prosecution had asked the Paris court to sentence him to 12 years.

Prosecutors told the court that Bourguet sought out girls through go-betweens during his postings in the Central African Republic from 1998 to 2001 and in DR Congo from 2001 to 2004.

One of the victims, a Congolese girl now aged 16 and living in Canada, told the court she had been abused after being served a cup of tea that had made her dizzy.

A police officer testified that Bourguet had engaged in sexual acts with about 24 girls, paying between 10 and 20 dollars (seven to 14 euros) each time.

Lawyer Emmanuel Daoud representing one of the victims said that between 15,000 and 20,000 rapes were committed each year in the DR Congo by soldiers, rebels and, sometimes, UN personnel, he said.

PARIS (AFP), Thu Sep 11, 2:42 PM, http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/france_un_trial_centraafrica_drcongo_rape

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UN Sexual Misconduct Allegations Won’t Go Away

Soldiers implicated in abuses have been sent back to India, but locals say prostitution remains rife at peacekeeping base.

Although a group of Indian peacekeeping soldiers accused of sexual abuse in eastern Congo have returned home, allegations of misconduct continue to surround the battalion.

The United Nations confirmed last month that an internal investigation had uncovered credible evidence that members of an Indian unit stationed in North Kivu province “may have engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse”.

A UN source said around 100 peacekeepers from India allegedly used children both to work for them and to hire Congolese girls for sex. The source said the children were used as domestic servants and to pimp for prostitutes, some as young as 12 or 13 years old.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said he was “deeply troubled” by the findings, and the Indian government promised a swift and thorough investigation.

Under the regular six-monthly troop rotation, the soldiers concerned left the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, in January but local women say their replacements are continuing to break UN rules.

Peacekeepers are strictly forbidden to socialise with local people, but Mapendo Polepole, a 28-year-old prostitute from Goma, who heads an organisation of women living with AIDS, told IWPR that Indian soldiers from the camp in central Goma are regular customers.

“They have sexual intercourse with us, without condoms, in their jeeps, during a patrol and in their camps,” she said, adding that the soldiers pay 20 US dollars for her services rather than the going rate of two dollars.

Peacekeepers are not allowed to seek entertainment outside the barracks or leave the camp after 6 pm. The UN says all personnel are made aware of the mission’s code of conduct and “no-go areas” before signing on – and their battalion commander is responsible for their actions while they are on a peacekeeping mission.

A UN official in New York admitted the regulations were sometimes hard to enforce. “No matter how many rules we have in place, there is always a way to go around them. It is so hard to monitor,” said the official.

Polepole says peacekeepers in Goma have continued to flout the regulations since the 100 peacekeepers left. Her allegations that prostitution was continuing on and around the Indian base were repeated by other sex workers in Goma.

Mado Kahindo, 24, says Indian peacekeepers still come to her home for sex. “They stop their patrolling jeep in front of my hut after midnight,” she said, adding they refuse to enter the house as they do not want to be faced with a prostitute’s children. “I have to come outside for sexual intercourse in their jeep.”

Feza Ramazani, 30, said she is among the many prostitutes who wait beside the road for the Indian soldiers as they pass by on their patrols. She says the sexual encounters can sometimes be rough. “Very often we get bruises on our breasts because of the way they touch them,” she said.

Polepole recalled an incident back in April when a sexual encounter with an Indian soldier turned violent.

“After the trick, he gave me 30 dollars before handing me over to his fellow soldiers who raped me in a chain,” said Polepole, who was injured after she protested that none of the men were using a condom.

An NGO worker told IWPR that sex without condoms is common practice for local prostitutes and their UN clients.

“Prostitutes tell us that the blue helmets insist on having sex without condoms,” said Zawadi Binti Sharif. She said that out of economic necessity, the women have little choice but to comply, “Poverty is a threat in our fight against AIDS.”

Nick Birnback, chief of the peacekeeping force’s public affairs section in New York, told IWPR that a “zero tolerance” policy was in place and any peacekeeper who broke the rules would be sent home.

“There is simply no excuse,” he said, adding that MONUC has recently increased foot and vehicle patrols to ensure soldiers are respecting the curfew.

In light of the problems, Birnback said the MONUC official responsible for military conduct and investigations is to be relocated from the capital Kinshasa to Goma. “Over 90 per cent of MONUC forces are in the east and so it would make sense for him to be much closer to the troops who are the source of disciplinary concern,” said Binback.

For those who want to complain, MONUC has set up a hotline where locals can report any wrongdoing by peacekeepers. Safe areas have also been established where Congolese can meet confidentially with UN officials.

However, Birnback admitted that these measures might not always be effective. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that people are aware of it – or they may be afraid to use it,” he said.

Polepole said she would not report the attack on her, as prior experience suggested there was no point. She said Congolese police believed women like her deserved this kind of treatment, and reporting incidents of sexual violence to the police was most likely to end in the arrest of the woman herself.

The Congo peacekeeping force has been beset with bad publicity in recent years, with 140 cases implicating soldiers in prostitution or sexual abuse recorded in 2004-06.

News that the Indian contingent was accused of abusing young girls came to light last month after an investigation by the UN’s Office of the Internal Oversight Services.

With no power to prosecute, the UN has handed details of the allegations to the Indian authorities, who are responsible for the troops they contribute to the peacekeeping mission, and will decide whether to pursue the case further.

UN troops from India and Pakistan have also been accused of smuggling gold and trading weapons with Congolese rebels.

Birnback says bad publicity of this kind is tremendously damaging to MONUC, the world’s largest peacekeeping force, with 18,500 troops deployed in Congo.

“Anyone who takes peacekeeping seriously is deeply disturbed when they hear about things like this,” he said, "UN peacekeepers have played a central role in the stabilisation of the DRC over the past several years. When the hard work and sacrifice of so many is overshadowed by the unacceptable actions of a few, it's bad for the UN and bad for the people of the Congo."

The Congolese wars have claimed millions of lives and have been marked by sexual violence on a massive scale.

A recent report from the Human Rights Centre at the University of California, Berkeley, the Payson Center at Tulane University and the International Centre for Transitional Justice found that almost 16 per cent of those surveyed in three eastern provinces – North and South Kivu and Ituri – had been sexually violated. Nearly 12 per cent of those were the victims of multiple assaults, the survey found.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court, ICC, has three Ituri rebel leaders in custody and an arrest warrant outstanding for a fourth man. Sexual violence charges feature in all but one of the cases – that of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who is accused of recruiting children to fight in the Ituri conflict.

Reports that the soldiers sent to Congo to protect civilians from the violence are themselves accused of sex crimes against children has angered many in the region.

Christine Musaidizi from the NGO Children’s Voice says extreme poverty makes minors particularly vulnerable to exploitation.

“The striking poverty of parents and the abdication of [responsibility] of the Congolese state is happening at the cost of children’s lives,” she said.

By Taylor Toeka Kakala in Goma and Lisa Clifford in The Hague (AR No. 186, 12-Sep-08), http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=hfrfacr346657&l=en&s=f&o=346697

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A women activist who works to stop the use of rape as a weapon of war in Democratic Republic of Congo honored

Five brave and selfless advocates of human rights from Burma, Congo, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan have been awarded the prestigious 2008 Human Rights Defender Awards, Human Rights Watch said today. All five have been persecuted and threatened for their work.

Mathilde Muhindo, Democratic Republic of Congo  
 
“Women and children are paying dearly for the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Mathilde Muhindo. “Sexual violence in eastern provinces should be seen in its proper contexts – a war within a war. A war against women.”  
 
Muhindo, once a member of Congo’s parliament, works to support rape victims in South Kivu, in eastern Congo, which has been ravaged by armed conflict for over 10 years, up to today. She draws attention to the widespread and systematic use of sexual violence by government troops and armed groups – including sexual slavery, gang rape and mutilation – and to the disastrous consequences for the victims.  
 
As director of the Olame Centre, a nongovernmental women’s rights organization, Muhindo provides urgently needed psychological and practical assistance to victims of abuse and empowers women to fight against pervasive discrimination and sexual violence. To address the crisis – tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped – she also founded a parliamentary committee to investigate rape as a weapon of war.  
 
In partnership with Human Rights Watch and other groups, Muhindo has pressed the European Union, the United States, and others to address ongoing atrocities in eastern Congo. She led a coalition of local women’s organizations that advocated successfully for a comprehensive law on sexual violence. Muhindo has faced death threats for her work, but refuses to be silenced. Human Rights Watch honors Muhindo for her unfaltering dedication to the safety, health, and rights of eastern Congo’s most vulnerable, and often forgotten, women.

Human Rights Watch, «Five Activists Win Human Rights Watch Awards Honored for Courage in Exposing Abuse and Seeking Justice», 15 September 2008, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/15/global19810.htm

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United Nations Security Council resolution on rape as a war tactic: an analysis by Rights & Democracy

On June 19, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war and a threat to international security. The crucial issue now is whether this resolution will actually contribute to international efforts to end sexual violence committed against women in the context of war.Rights & Democracy, which has been at the forefront of international efforts to see sexual violence recognized as a weapon of war, believes the Security Council resolution is an important step toward this goal for the following reasons:
 

  • Acts of sexual violence committed before and after a war are now part of peace and security issues that could be brought before the Security Council;
  • The resolution allows the Security Council to intervene in situations where the extent or level of sexual violence requires such intervention;
  • The resolution excludes crimes of sexual violence from amnesty accords as part of peace negotiations and underlines the importance of ending impunity for such crimes;
  • Requests that the United Nations Secretary-General submit a report to the Security Council by June 30, 2009, on the application of the resolution in conjunction with situations of war brought before the Security Council.

Rights & Democracy will be monitoring the implementation of this resolution closely, especially in the context of its ongoing work on sexual violence in Burma and the Rights & Democracy-coordinated Coalition for Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situation's work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Established in 1996, the Coalition works to:(...) ensure that crimes committed against women in conflict situations are adequately examined and prosecuted. The main focus of the Coalition's work is to promote the adequate prosecution of perpetrators of crimes of gender violence in transitional justice systems based in Africa, in order to create precedents that recognise violence against women in conflict situations and help find ways to obtain justice for women survivors of sexual violence.
 Other links:Rape: Weapon of warhttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/RapeWeaponWar.aspxResolution S/RES/1820 (2008) Women and peace and security http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/391/44/PDF/N0839144.pdf?OpenElementUN: Finally, a Step Toward Confronting Rape in War http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/06/19/global19161.htmCongolese Women's Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the DRC Gets Underway http://www.dd-rd.ca/site/media/index.php?id=2224&subsection=newsPanties for Peace Campaign http://pantiesforpeace.ca 

OTHER NEWS :Launching of the Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), during Great Lakes Region of Africa: The Challenges Facing Civil Society Conference
Montreal, 22 janvier 2008More information

TV Broadcast CBS 60 Minutes: The DR Congo's War on Women  War Against Women: The Use Of Rape As A Weapon In Congo's Civil War, January 13, 2008,  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/60minutes/main3701249.shtml

An Appeal fom the President of FIDH to end sexual violence A Swiss newspaper, “Le Temps” published an article written by Souhayr Belhassen, the president of the “Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme” (FIDH). She calls for an end to crimes of sexual violence and impunity. « Quand la guerre s'arrête, les crimes sexuels ne diminuent pas » - by Souhayr Belhassen (FIDH) - 10 janvier 2008  http://www.letemps.ch/template/opinions.asp?page=6&article=222965 (In French)

A UNFPA report says that the number of sexual violence increased of 60% during the second half of 2007. Charles Wasso Isunga, « Congo-Kinshasa: La violence sexuelle bat son plein au Nord Kivu » La Prospérité - 10 janvier 2008 http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200801090795.html (In French)

Impunity for sexual violence crimes in KinshasaThe Center of Legal Aid and Medical Assistance For Women and Children Victims reports sexual violence cases. Some of these cases were reported to the police, but no action was undertaken.
Violences sexuelles - Des cas impunis signalés à Kinshasa - Le Potentiel (RDC) - 9 janvier 2008 - http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200801090236.html (in French) 

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