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WAR ON WOMEN:
RAPE LEGACY OF DRC CONFLICT
In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, brutal and systematic
rape has become a weapon of war: gang rape, rape with guns, with
torches, with bits of wood.
As the security situation improves, thousands of victims are walking
100s of kilometres to seek treatment at health centres - and tell
aid workers the full horrors of their ordeal.
 "Two
or three years ago" says one doctor in the eastern city
of Bukavu, "we would see about 50 cases of sexual violence
a year. This year, every month, 150 new cases are referred to
the hospital." |
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WFP fears that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Large areas of eastern Congo have not yet been reached, and
such is the stigma of rape, that many women are just too scared
to talk about their experiences. For each victim who has sought
treatment, often for severe internal wounds, doctors estimate
that some 30 more women or young girls have been raped.
At another clinic in Goma, the number of women seeking treatment
has been rising steadily since June. Here, WFP provides monthly
rations to some 100 rape victims, as well as the100 relatives
caring for them; many reach the clinic malnourished and must
wait several months before they can be operated on.
Despite the presence of a UN peacekeeping force in Bunia,
rape remains a daily threat for women in eastern DRC: in the
fields, on their way back from market or in their own homes.
Victims say all the armed groups are responsible.
Click on the individual testimonies to hear the victims
describe their terrifying ordeal in their own words.
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June
23, 2003
