New reports from Physicians for Human Rights and Doctors Without Borders document a 'massive influx' of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. What can be done to stop it?
New reports from Physicians for Human Rights and Doctors Without Borders document a"massive influx" of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. What can be done to stop it?An aerial photograph from 2023 of the Rusayo camp for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Goma in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds of thousands of Congolese have found refuge around Goma after fleeing fighting further north.
Women residents often venture into nearby fields to grow food as best they can and into forests to forage for plants to feed their families and wood to sell or use for cooking., there’s been a “massive influx” of sexual violence in eastern DRC in recent years. When group representatives interviewed local clinicians about patients, they heard harrowing stories: Children as young as 3 years old raped; victims sometimes held days or weeks in captivity; others penetrated with sharp objects.
Toure says the risks are both outside the camp and inside it: “If you go to fetch water in the camp, it's a risk. If you go to the restroom, it's a risk. A lot of the daily tasks become risk calculations.” In all the years of fighting, sexual violence has been an issue. More than a decade ago Margot Wallström, the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, called the DRC the “But, as the two new reports show, there’s been a terrible new turn. Rapes are surging far beyond anything seen here before.Experts say that an air of impunity has long pervaded the eastern DRC when it comes to sexual violence.
“This is not to say that the U.N. peacekeeping forces do not have problems, but nevertheless, they were providing civilian protection,” he says, adding that they also helped with health and education. While the withdrawal is ongoing, there is no timetable for the next phases and some peacekeepers remain in the area. Still, Nantulya says, the damage was already done, giving perpetrators of violence a greater sense that they will not face consequences.
“It has worked to some extent,” she says. “And if something happens, there's always someone who can help the other. And we’ve seen it help with resilience. We have seen that being in that collective actually gives them strength.”
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