More information and articles on violence against women in conflict:
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Listen to recent coverage of the situation in DRC from PRI’s The World.
Watch an amazing and arresting film The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo on HBO this March. Key Cinema showed it last September and it has been entered in the Indianapolis International Film Festival this spring and is one of two finalists for the Eric Parker Award for Social Justice. Read a passionate article in The Nation to get prepared.
Christian Peacemaker Teams. In the Fall of 2005, CPT sent an exploratory delegation of four CPTers to Burundi and the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The group met with human rights organizations, peace groups, civil society leaders and church leaders to gain a better understanding of the conflict in the Congo and whether or not such groups would find a violence-reduction project helpful in their struggle for peace. The delegation was struck by the suffering of Congolese women, who repeatedly asked them to help spread the word about their situation. The initial exploratory delegation recommended that CPT send a delegation of women to the DR Congo with the expressed purpose of learning about how Congolese women have been affected by the conflict and supporting their efforts towards peace and change by amplifying their voices in the international community. In late October, 2006, a CPT delegation of eleven women traveled to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to meet with women who have experienced rape and sexual assault, as well as women’s organizations, human rights groups, and churches working with these women. The diverse delegation included women from the U.S., the DRC, Colombia, and Kenya. Read their report here.
Women for Women International in 2005 empowered over 30,000 women survivors of war to move toward economic self-sufficiency with our year-long program of direct aid, rights education, job skills training and small business development. See their work in Congo.
Women’s Edge Coalition , consists of over forty organizations and fifteen thousand individuals committed to the economic empowerment of women and girls worldwide.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women provides resources about the impact of conflict on women and girls. Here is their Gender Profile of the Congo.
Background information and research on women�s economic empowerment developments.
United Nations Development Fund for Women– Economic Empowerment
International and Regional Conventions
Comprehensive Gender Resources
United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
World Organization Against Torture
Human Rights Watch’s explanation of the use of rape in war
Amnesty International’s insights
V-Day is a global movement that supports anti-violence organizations throughout the world
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Background/News Articles
“Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War”
“Not Women Anymore” (article contains a good brief summary of the history of conflict in the DRC)
A list of links to articles, books, websites, groups
Recent articles
“Rape, forced labor, reprisal attacks and torture surge in eastern Congo”
“Rapes Soar in Eastern Congo’s Culture of Impunity”
Interview with a soldier (April 30, 2009)
Research Report from Human Rights Watch, 2002
“Soldiers Who Rape, Commanders Who Condone” (July 16, 2009)
A summary of recent events: “Waking the devil: the impact of forced disarmament on civilians in the Kivus” or
Opinion/What Should We Do?
“There Is No Congo” (March 2009):
As of March 2008, what the U.S. is doing and recommendations on what it should be doing:
“Panel Decries Neglect of Sexual Violence in Congo”
Books
Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones
The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth, and Reality
The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa
On a more general note, Women and Violence
Groups
Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
V-DAY: joint campaign with UNICEF called “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource: Power to Women and Girls of DRC” http://www.vday.org/drcongo
Women for Women International
Local
V-DAY (there must be chapters at local colleges—at least they have events at several)
