What Progress On Justice For Rape Victims In Congo's Kivu Conflict?

Posted by jrobertson, Dec 8 2009, 04:29 PM

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the US secretary of State, during her visit to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, denounced the brutal treatment to which women have been routinely subject during the long and many-faceted civil war there. The DR Congo war has claimed an estimated 5 million lives since 1998, with only brief periods of relative calm in a war of many interests and shifting fronts. Even now, there are two conflicts raging in the eastern Kivu regions, and thousands of women are reported to have been raped this year alone.

Secretary Clinton called on Congolese youth to stage massive demonstrations against endemic corruption, the deadly ongoing conflict in the eastern region of North Kivu and neighboring territory, and to call for an end to rampant extreme sexual violence against women. The UN has documented at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence in eastern Congo since the conflict first flared in 1996.

It is believed the number of cases of rape and gender-based violence is far in excess of those figures the UN has been able to verify, and there is almost no recourse for women subject to rape in the course of the ongoing conflict. Government and rebel forces both continue to attack villages and kills civilians, making rape committed by their forces or in the chaos ensuing after an attack less of a priority for security forces.

Sec. Clinton called the conflict in eastern DR Congo “truly one of mankind’s greatest atrocities” and urged the Congolese people to understand that “Together, you can write a new chapter in Congolese history”. Advocacy groups say the incidence of rape has expanded wildly since the onset of new military operations in the beginning of 2009.

Reporting from Goma, Human Rights Watch says:

Killings and brutal sexual violence against women, girls and also men have massively increased in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since the start of military operations in January 2009, the Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group of 88 humanitarian and human rights organizations, said today. The coalition urged Hillary Clinton, the United States secretary of state, who arrives in Congo today, to press the Congolese government and United Nations peacekeepers for more effective measures to protect civilians and to pursue justice for serious crimes.

The conflict in North Kivu has now spread to South Kivu, with 56,000 of the 800,000 refugees having fled Uvira territory there in July alone. Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam for DR Congo, warns ”The UN-backed offensive that was supposed to make life better for the people of eastern Congo is instead becoming a human tragedy,” adding that “Secretary Clinton needs to make it very clear that US support for the UN’s efforts in Congo is not a blank check and that civilians should be protected.” [Complete text...]