Conflict-related sexual violence emerges as a crisis in Congo

In May 2011, a study was published concerning an inexcusable human rights crisis.  The Associated Press reported on the story in the central African country of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  The study indicates that approximately 1,152 women are raped in the DRC every day.  This translates into a rate of 48 women being raped in the Congo every hour.  The study also indicates that on average, 29 Congolese women out of every 1,000 had been a victim of rape nationwide.  Compared to women in the DRC, women living in the United States face a lower incidence of rape.  The annual rate in the U.S. is 0.5 per 1,000 women. A woman in Congo is 58 times more likely to be a victim of rape than a woman in the United States.  

This staggering information is based on the occurrence during a 12-month period from 2006 – 2007 where more than 400,000 women in the Congo were raped.  The DRC has a population of nearly 72 million people and is about ¼ of the size of the United States in terms of land area.  From 1998 – 2003 an armed conflict in the DRC left over 3 million people dead.   

It is estimated that at least one out of three women in the world will be beaten, coerced into sex, or suffer other forms of abuse in her lifetime, according to Dr. Helene D. Gayle – President and CEO of CARE, an international human rights group.  In many circumstances the woman knows her abuser.

Statistics indicate that rape in the DRC is worse than most other countries in the world.  Ongoing military and natural resources conflicts have created an atmosphere where rape against women has become far too common.  In a May 12, 2011 Associated Press article by Rukmini Callimachi, Michael VanRooyen – director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, says:  “The message is important and clear: Rape in (Congo) has metastasized amid a climate of impunity, and has emerged as one the great human crises of our time.”

The International Violence Against Women Act of 2010 (IVAWA) was introduced during the 111^th United States Congress.  Although the IVAWA has been introduced, its legislation has not been enacted by Congress.  If the Act is passed it would address: violence against girls in schools and promote employment and educational opportunities for women.  Additionally, the Act would make ending violence against women a diplomatic priority for the first time in U.S. history and require the U.S. government to respond in a timely manner to major incidents of gender-based violence during armed conflicts.

As an international community, we should not tolerate this type of physical violence.  We should urge our elected officials, the Union Nations, the African Union, international governments, and human rights organizations to be advocates for women who are subjected to rape. 

The practice of conflict-related sexual violence should be stopped.  Our collective effort should be to encourage a societal culture of protecting the rights of vulnerable populations in the midst of war and other humanitarian crises.  I believe that a society with less physical violence against women (and children and men) will be a society with higher standards of living, a safer and more peaceful society.  Let us aim towards a goal of intolerance of rape and work together towards a society of equality and the restoration of human dignity.