DRC: Using rape as a weapon of war

Women, some of whom have been sexually attacked, take part in a sewing workshop in Muganga camp, eastern Congo run by our partner, Caritas Goma [Peter Kristvik Risholm]

Mick Quinn explains how communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are trying to come to terms with the sexual violence suffered as a horrific legacy of conflict

Conflict between different ethnic groups in eastern DRC is nothing new – it has been endemic since independence back in 1960. But rape, used as a weapon of war, has increased dramatically since the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda in 1994.

It is estimated that around half a million women have suffered extreme sexual violence carried out by armed groups in the past 15 years – including the Congolese army, police and paramilitaries.

Characteristically brutal attacks

All sides use appalling violence to subdue their opponents, and this includes the widespread rape of women and girls, deliberately intended to subjugate communities living in conflict zones.

Rape was no longer an opportunistic act, but a deliberate tactic. In one South Kivu town alone, called Shabunda, a statement by the local Bishop to an EU inquiry claimed 70 per cent of girls and women had been sexually assaulted.

Attacks are characteristically brutal in the extreme, often in front of the victims’ children and families. Many women are killed, maimed or infected with HIV.

Trauma from such widespread sexual violence destroys the spirit of traditional community life, and excludes those who suffer and their families.

Desperate for help, those in suffering turned to the Church for solace, and many dioceses have tried to respond despite incredibly limited resources.

Hospitals run by nursing orders provide basic medical services where possible, while church volunteers make arduous trips to isolated villages to counsel entire communities traumatised by such systematic violence.

In the Archdiocese of Bukavu, South Kivu, our local partner the Justice and Peace Commission (CDJP) set up “listening centres” , where those affected by rape can get support, counselling and transport to local medical centres.

Since being set up, the listening centres have provided support to 12,000 women who have been raped, and their families. Each woman receives clean clothing, soap (a precious commodity), a place to rest and recover and the attention of trained social work assistants.

Unfortunately, despite so many people having been helped by the centres, only 36 criminal cases have been taken on by the authorities, of which only four resulted in guilty verdicts in court.

However, lessons learned at the grassroots and being turned into messages to inform national and international decision makers working on peace and reconciliation agendas in the wider Great Lakes region.

The recent Synod of African Bishops resolved to promote the existing co-operation between CAFOD and DRC Church structures as a model for other countries of the continent that may be in, or emerging from, conflict.

We are especially proud that the CDJP Bukavu project has been able to call on the specialist skills of our Rwanda psycho-social programme officer, who has many years’ experience in working with communities left traumatised by the genocide there in 1994.

Circumstances may be different but the impact is the same, and CDJP Bukavu staff have benefited hugely from exchange visits with their Rwandan counterparts.

The success of the programme saw new centres opening in Kasongo and Bunia. In Bukavu, which has seen a gradual return of something approaching peace, there is now a trauma outreach service to remote villages which suffered attacks.

Also, community awareness-raising sessions take place which influence village leaders and the men to reduce the stigma that all too often adds to the suffering of women who have been raped.

Counselling is now available for victims’ husbands and families, and communities are urged not to abandon the children born as a result of rape.

Justice for victims may be a long time coming, but pressure from overseas governments, international NGOs and the UN is forcing the DRC government to at last take seriously its responsibilities in facing up to the problem.

Mick Quinn is CAFOD’s programme manager for the DRC

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