Rape persists in Congo, even when the war is over
…The vicious war that claimed the lives of more than 5 million people in Congo’s eastern flank might be officially over but the violence continues, particularly when it comes to women. During the worst years of the conflict, armed groups used sexual violence as a weapon but now rape perpetrated by civilians accounts for a large percentage of cases. Doctors and NGOs fear it has almost settled into something approaching a norm in a society ravaged by war.
A study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health concluded that 1,152 women are raped every day in Congo, a rate equal to 48 per hour. That rate is 26 times more than the previous estimate of 16,000 rapes reported in one year by the UN.
The highest frequency of rape was found in North Kivu, Fazili’s home province and the area most affected by the conflict, where 67 women per 1,000 had been raped at least once.
“The message is important and clear: rape in (Congo) has metastasised amid a climate of impunity, and has emerged as one of the great human crises of our time,” said Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
There are no precise figures relating to the number of children born from these rapes, but they are thought to number in the thousands. Abortion is illegal in Congo, so the women have little choice but to carry the pregnancy to full term.
Others have seen history repeat itself. One aid worker in Goma tells the story of a teenage girl born as a result of rape who became pregnant after she herself was raped.
“It has become a generational tragedy,” she says.
(Source: caraobrien)
