Under the cover of war in The Democratic Republic of Congo rape is being committed on a massive scale
In the Democratic Republic of Congo as many as 500,000 women and children have been raped in acts of war. Sexual violence has become so widespread that the UN’s Margot Wallstrom, described Congo as the ‘rape capital of the world’. Medicin San Frontiers (Doctors without borders) says that over half of all the rape cases it deals with worldwide are in DRC. The UN now recognizes sexual violence used in armed conflict as a war crime. This will not stop the crime immediately, nor will it erase the physical and psychological damage suffered by those abused. Optimists say that it is a move in the right direction. Others believe that without concrete actions – steps taken to address the route cause of the conflict and lawlessness, rape will continue to be used as a weapon of war.
Category: Features
According to several UN reports, the unregulated exploitation of minerals, used in the manufacture of devices such as phones and computers, has fed a conflict which has raged since 1996. It has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of as many as 6.9 million people, and seen the rape, mostly by armed men, of more than 500,000 women .
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