The New York Times reported that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or F.D.L.R., gang-raped at least 150 women in July and August during a weekend raid on a community of villages in eastern Congo, according to United Nations and other humanitarian officials.
Recognizing the numerous difficulties faced by survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide — particularly orphans, widows and victims of sexual violence, many of whom had contracted HIV or since died of AIDS — the General Assembly adopted a resolution requesting the Secretary-General to encourage relevant U.N. agencies, funds and programmes to provide assistance in the areas of education, medical care, skills training and microcredit programmes aimed at promoting self-sufficiency.
On 30 September 2009, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1888, which demands that all parties to armed conflict take immediate action to protect civilians, including women and children, from all forms of sexual violence, and urges greater measures by States and U.N. entities to combat this scourge.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon, mainly against women, is rife in armed conflicts in Africa, Asia and Europe, and called for States to strengthen prevention and protection measures against the crime.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to report to the Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1820. What will we learn? A year after adopting the resolution, Congo remains the worst place on the planet to be a woman. Over 12 years, in a regional economic war for resources, hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped and tortured, their bodies destroyed by unimaginable acts. The Security Council’s implementation of Resolution 1820 in Congo — the very place that inspired it — has been an utter failure.
Rwandan rebel forces, government army soldiers, and their allies have raped at least 90 women and girls since late January 2009 in the volatile North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Human Rights Watch.
Stephen Lewis, who penned the foreword for The Men Who Killed Me, speaks at the 10th annual Policy Forum of The Institute for Inclusive Security in Washington, DC, about the need for women’s participation at peace talks.
Our book partners, Stephen Lewis and Eve Ensler, were in Toronto last week speaking about the horrific sexual violence afflicting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
