Clinton Demands Justice for Rape Victims in DR Congo

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Related subjects: Africa, Diplomacy & Politics, DR Congo conflict, Gender Equality, Global, Humanitarian Crisis, J.E. Robertson, Rights & Freedoms, Security & Surveillance, U.S. news, United Nations Comments (3)

12 August 2009 :: J.E. Robertson

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the US secretary of State, has denounced the brutal treatment to which women have been routinely subject during the long and many-faceted civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 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.”

The war in DR Congo is the deadliest since World War II, with over 5 million people having lost their lives, as many as 1 million since a peace agreement was reached in 2004. The civil war in DR Congo is also one of the world’s most complex, with 14 different neighboring countries having been involved in one form or another, backing competing factions fighting for control of the nation’s vast mineral wealth.

The Kivu conflict, however, also is rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which some feel sparked the initial outburst of violence in DR Congo more than a decade ago. Refugees from both the Hutu and Tutsi factions in Rwanda have clashed in Kivu and eastern DR Congo since the conflict began, but have now come center stage as the government seeks to put down the rebel militia.

In meeting with Pres. Joseph Kabila, in Kinshasa, Sec. Clinton expressed concern for the complexity of the challenge facing the war-torn nation:

We know that the DRC, its government and people face many challenges from a lack of investment and development to the problem of corruption and difficulties with governance to the horrible sexual- and gender-based violence visited upon women and children in the country.

Clinton also visited Goma, the largest city in the war-torn east of the country, and the heart of Congo’s epidemic of rape and gender-based violence. She announced a new aid package of $17 million specifically devoted to combatting rape and gender-based violence, and Kabila accepted the offer. Clinton said there can be “no impunity” for those who commit rape or sexual assault, and called for arrests, prosecutions and punishment for the guilty.

On her historic visit to eastern DR Congo, Sec. Clinton visited personally with rape victims at a refugee camp which holds some 18,000 internally displaced Congolese civilians. But, as reported by AllAfrica:

Sexual violence in the DRC is not limited to its conflict areas, she added. Like other countries, she said, the DRC has incidents of domestic violence and criminal rape, and stronger laws are needed. “There has to be strong prosecution and law enforcement and judiciary actions to make it clear that this is unacceptable, that there is no excuse for it. And that’s what I hope we will see,” Clinton said.

Clinton also pledged US support for UN-backed efforts to end the conflict. The secretary of State was clear that the US views violence against women as something that must cease even before the conflict is brought completely under control. She urged the DR Congo government to make sure its forces never engage in sexual violence or justify it as part of the chaos of war.

As the most powerful woman to have visited the Kivu conflict zone, Sec. Clinton is a resounding voice for women’s rights and enhanced security in the region. Her presence in eastern DR Congo has focused the world’s attention on the rash of rape and impunity that add to women’s torment in the midst of conflict in the eastern DR Congo, and the US is expected to keep pressure on Kinshasa to act to combat gender-based violence and assaults on civilians.

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