WUNRN
CONGO - WAR LEAVES LEGACY OF SEXUAL
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
A 17-fold
increase in civilian rape between 2004 and 2008 in the Democratic Republic of
Congo underscores the wartime legacy of sexual violence.
A sign in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, reads ‘Never Again: Respect the
Rights of Women.’
(Mary Knox Merrill/The Christian science Monitor/File) <HR
Goma, Democratic
In
the Democratic Republic of Congo, sexual violence has become so common that the
eastern provinces are sometimes called "the ground zero of rape."
Tens
of thousands of women here have been raped by armed combatants seeking to
destroy communities by assaulting the women, who are often shunned and
sometimes abandoned after sexual assaults. In
Or
at least it was. New data suggest that rape by combatants is on the wane in
eastern
An
April 2010 study by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) found a 17-fold
increase in civilian rapes between 2004 and 2008. The study surveyed more than
4,000 women, in the same years, who sought treatment at
"We
also speculate that perhaps poorly rehabilitated and poorly reintegrated
combatants are playing a role," she adds, "men who have left rebel
groups but … continue to perpetrate crimes that perhaps were ongoing while they
were armed combatants."
A
similar change appears to be taking place farther north. In Goma, capital of
"Before,
[rape] was like a gun in a war," says Mireille Kahatwa Amani, a program
director at a legal clinic run by the American Bar Association (ABA).
"Today, things have cooled down….But the [mind-set] remains in people,
especially in soldiers."
Jocelyn
Kelly, also of HHI, says one reason for the rise in civilian rapes may be a
breakdown of social structures. "If an older man was bothering young girls
and engaging in inappropriate behavior, theoretically the leadership would come
together … and say, 'That's unacceptable,' " she says.
The
war has displaced many leaders, destroying those structures. "We hear from
both men and women that it's no longer easy to enforce social mores," Ms.
Kelly says.
But
the increasing prevalence of civilian rape is not unique to
"Violent
societies beget violent societies," especially when they refuse to
acknowledge or seek accountability for wartime trauma, says Mr. Kapila.
Desiree
Zwanck, a gender adviser to Heal Africa, says that civilian rape and military
rape are actually mirror images of the same phenomenon: a lack of respect for
women. "Wartime violence against women, and ... mass rape … is a magnified
and very intense version of inconsideration, you could even say misogyny, that
exists in most male-dominated societies," Ms. Zwanck says.
Part
of Zwanck's work at Heal Africa involves mediating between rape survivors and
their families, in part to help overcome the gender biases that she says
underpin sexual violence. One useful tool, she says, is microcredit.
"A
lot of families here are in such dire need that they are actually more inclined
to accept the woman back into the household when there is an economic incentive
for it," says Zwanck. "[Women] themselves feel this gives them an
added value, and that their families and communities respect them more, when
they are able to manage their own funds, their own livestock, or their own
little boutique."
Other
groups conduct outreach programs aimed at men, explaining what rape is and
trying to instill a respect for a woman's right to refuse sex. But the message,
says HHI's Kelly, isn't getting through. "It's great in our Westernized
world that we all know more or less what sexual violence is and why it's wrong,
but those messages aren't necessarily being conveyed to the youth of the
DRC," she says. "They see sexual violence ... on a massive scale.
They also don't see anyone getting punished for it."
Maria
Eriksson Baaz, who interviewed 226 soldiers in eastern
Her
report quotes one soldier's explanation of the need for public trials.
"His wife will start to cry, his children will start to cry: 'Ahh, Papa.'
Then other people who are watching will understand; they will start to be
afraid: 'Ahh, so that is the way it is.' "
But
Kapila says the long-term violence eastern
Related
Video: In attempt to prevent rape
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