http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/story/0,,1947147,00.html
· Scale of attacks emerges as fighting decreases
· Rights groups say militias see it as weapon of war
Chris McGreal in Goma
Tuesday November 14, 2006
The Guardian
Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped over the past decade by soldiers, rebels and ethnic militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The scale of the assaults has become increasingly evident over recent months as growing numbers of women have emerged for treatment with the reduction in fighting ahead of presidential elections, and because medical workers have been able to reach areas in the east of the country long cut off by conflict.
The survivors have given accounts of villages subjected to repeated assaults in which many women and girls were serially raped and men killed.
Although there are no comprehensive statistics, in one province alone, South Kivu, about 42,000 women were treated in health clinics for serious sexual assaults last year, according to statistics collected by the human rights group, Global Rights.
While rape has been a product of many conflicts, its scale and systematic nature in eastern Congo has led some human rights groups to describe it as a "weapon of war" used to punish communities for their political loyalties or as a form of ethnic cleansing. On occasions men and boys have also been raped.
Doctors and women's groups working with the victims say the attacks are notable not only for their scale but also their brutality.
Among those receiving treatment in the relative safety of the town of Goma in eastern Congo is a woman from Kindu who was repeatedly raped in May 2005 but was only able to reach a hospital for treatment earlier this year.
The 54-year-old woman, bent double over a stick after surgery to save her womb, said her village first came under attack from a group of Mai Mai, an ethnic militia recognisable by a preference for wearing animal skins and amulets believed to give magical powers.
"There were Mai Mai in the area. They came in the morning and raped me, two of them. That didn't disturb me so much after what happened later," she said. "In the afternoon five men came into the house. They told my husband to put three kinds of money on the table: dollars, shillings, francs. But we didn't have any of that kind of money. We are poor. We don't even know what dollars look like. So they shot him. My children were screaming and so they shot them. After that they raped me, all of them."
As she lay bleeding the attackers thrust the barrels of their guns into her vagina.
The woman identified the second group of armed men as members of the interahamwe, the extremist Hutu militia that fled into Congo 12 years ago after leading the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. The interahamwe used rape as a tool of genocide, telling women that they would bear Hutu children and that would be the end of the Tutsis. Thousands still hide out in the forests of eastern Congo.
The Doctors On Call Service (DOCS) hospital in Goma has seen close to 4,000 women for rape over the past four years. One in four required major surgery. More than a third are under 18. "They really come with very bad wounds," said Justin Paluku, a doctor. "For example some have their vaginas pulled out. Most of them have been raped by four, five or six or even 10 men. A village will be attacked and all the women are raped. They kill the men and rape the women."
Immaculee Birhaheka, head of a women's rights group in Goma, Paif, said those women who make it to hospital are just a fraction of those attacked. "It's impossible to know how many women have been raped in the war but it is hundreds of thousands," she said.
Some human rights groups are calling for the leaders of groups responsible for the tide of rape to be brought before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
One militia leader, Thomas Lubanga, founder of the Union of Congolese Patriots, went on trial before the the ICC last week for the forced recruitment of child soldiers, although his troops were also involved in the systematic rape of civilians.
Mrs Birhaheka says the Congolese authorities must act where the international court does not. Her women's rights group was at the forefront of a campaign that persuaded the DRC parliament to pass a new tougher law on rape earlier this year.
"There have already been 10 prosecutions in Goma under the new law, some were soldiers and some civilians," she said. "Before it was the women who were regarded as the criminals and condemned. That's changing. Now at least there is a recognition that rape is a crime."
Case study
Among the thousands of women attacked was a 23-year-old from Walikali who travelled more than 90 miles (150km) to hospital in Goma, where she had surgery after being assaulted by members of the Rwandan Hutu militia, the interahamwe.
"Where I lived they were in the forest ... we had to go there to find food. There were four of us and we were stopped by seven interahamwe," she said.
Two of us tried to run away. One was shot dead. The other got a bullet in the leg. They still raped her. I fainted because there were seven of them.
"I really got damaged. I couldn't hold in my urine. I heard those people came back and killed my father."
Case COD 011106.CC.VAW
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Brief description of the situation:
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by reliable sources, including the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ASADHO), member of the SOS-Torture network, of the rape of a girl of 13 years of age and the rape followed by killing and mutilation of her mother Mrs. Malenga Ramazani, 37 years-old and mother of five children, in Kichula, a village located near mount Mitumba, in the Eastern Province of South Kivu.
According to the information received, on 13 October 2006, around 3 p.m., Mrs Malenga Ramazani was hoeing in her field with her daughter, when five men belonging to the Congolese Army (Forces Armées Congolaises) wearing uniform, led by Shabani Maneno of Brigade n° 118, commanded by colonel Ngufu, encircled them. After threatening them, they raped the minor girl and took the mother to the top of the hill « elahuli n’icupa ». There she was raped repeatedly by 9 men during 3 days until she passed out due to the traumas and pains. Then they shot her in the vagina and started mutilating it. Her daughter, once released, could inform about the facts. Suffering of a vaginal trauma and conjunctivitis, the girl was taken to Bujumbura (Burundi) for gynaecological and ophthalmologic care.
The technical team of Ferufavide-Absl[1] then found the body of Mrs Malenga Ramazani and after gathering evidence, with the family’s authorization, filed a complaint before the competent jurisdiction for the violations perpetrated against the girl and her mother. Despite the fact that at least one of the perpetrators has been identified, namely Shabani Maneo, they still have not been arrested and no investigation had been ordered.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned by the increase in sexual violence in the Democratic Republic the of Congo and recalls that according to article 4.c of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, all States have a duty to “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons.”
Furthermore, OMCT recalls that as a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified in 1990), the Democratic Republic of the Congo should respect its article 19.1 that establishes the duty to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.” Moreover, article 19.2 specifies that “such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective (…) for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.”
In addition, OMCT is deeply concerned the authors of these violations may not face criminal proceedings and continue enjoying freedom and impunity.
Action requested:
Please write to the Congolese authorities and ask them to:
i.Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the minor girl victim of rape, in particular by ensuring her access to the necessary protective measures and medical and psychological care;
ii.Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the severe violations described above, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and to apply the civil, penal and/or administrative sanctions provided for by law;
iii. Guarantee adequate compensation to the girl and her family;
iv.Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards, especially by implementing the recommendations issued by the UN Committee against Torture during its 35th session (see paragraph 12 on violence against women, CAT/C/DRC/CO/1).
Addresses:
-Le Président de la République, S.E. Joseph Kabila, Présidence de la République, Kinshasa-Ngaliema, République Démocratique du Congo, E-mail: upp@ic.cd
- Le Vice-Président de la République en Charge de la Commission Politique, Défense et Sécurité, M. Azarias Ruberwa Manywa, Cabinet du Vice-Président de la République, avenue roi Baudouin ex-3Z, Kinshasa/Gombe, République Démocratique du Congo, E-mail : vice_presidence.rdc@ic.cd
- Le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères et de la Coopération Internationale, M. Ramazani Baya, Cabinet du Ministre, bâtiment du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Kinshasa/Gombe, République Démocratique du Congo
- Le Ministre de la Justice et Garde des Sceaux, M. Kisimba Ngoy, Ministère de la Justice et Garde des Sceaux, BP 3137, Kinshasa Gombé, République Démocratique du Congo, E-mail: minjustrdc@yahoo.fr
- Le Ministre de l’Intérieur, Ministère de l’Intérieur, Fax: +243 88 02 042, E-mail: mininterieur@yahoo.fr
- La Ministre des Droits Humains, Mme Marie-Madeleine Kalala, Cabinet du Ministre, Boulevard du 30 juin, Kinshasa/Gombe, République Démocratique du Congo, Fax: 00 243 12 20 664, Email: min_droitshumains@yahoo.fr ou mindroits_humains@yahoo.fr
- Observatoire National des Droits de l’Homme (ONDH), Cabinet du Président, avenue Sendwe, Kinshasa/Kalamu, République Démocratique du Congo, Tel: +243 98313740 / + 243 98271199 / + 243 98407633
- M. Théo Kiakwima, Directeur adjoint de l’Agence Nationale des Renseignements, Tel: + 243 995 8610
- Ambassadeur, Antoine Mindua Kesia-Mbe, Mission permanente de la République démocratique du Congo, Avenue de Budé 18, 1202 Genève, Suisse, e-mail : missionrdc@bluewin.ch, Fax : +4122 740.16.82
- Chef de la mission diplomatique auprès de l’UE, Jean-Pierre Mavungu, Mission permanente de la République du Congo, 6 avenue de Foestraets, 1180 UCCLE
-Ambassade de la République Démocratique du Congo à Bruxelles, Rue marie de Bourgogne, 30 – B 1040 Bruxelles, Belgique. Tel : + 32 2 375 47 96, Fax : + 32 2 372 23 48
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of the Democratic Republic of Congo in your respective countries.
Geneva, 1st November 2006