Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dozens of women are still being raped in the most brutal manner on a daily basis in the Democratic Republic (DR) of the Congo. More than 200,000 rapes have been documented since the beginning of the Congo wars in the mid 90s. According to United Nations estimates, around 400 cases per month were reported in 2009, which represents a mere fraction of the actual rapes. Most of the women are attacked while out in the fields or are forcibly abducted from their homes. The perpetrators are armed, are members of the Congolese army, militias, or rebel groups. What they have in common is their brutal behaviour. Many victims are abducted, sometimes raped repeatedly for weeks on end, and then abandoned in a severely injured state.

medica mondiale’s project partners are thus faced with enormous challenges. Every day women rape victims come to the total of four partner organizations in the Kivu provinces in the eastern region of the nation. The needs of these women are immense. According to one of the project heads: "They are in need of everything - medical care, psychosocial counselling, help with their families and their communities, economic aid."