Rape became a problem in the beginning of the war when rival militias used it as a tool to “threaten and demoralize communities that they believe supported the other side.” Since the beginning of the war sexual crimes have increased South Kivu, for example, had “27000 sexual assaults in 2006 and in the first half of this year 45000 cases have already been reported."
Many victims are raped and tortured in front of family members; family members are often forced to rape within the family (incest). Women are being raped to a point of vaginal fistula, a condition which requires multiple corrective surgeries. Many women do not even live long enough after the offense to have the option of surgery.
One woman visits the Congo in a effort to provide relief and reflects on her trip-
"Before I went to the Congo, I’d spent the past 10 years working on V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. I’d traveledto the rape mines of the world--places like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Haiti,where rape has been used as a tool of war. But nothing I ever experiencedfelt as ghastly, terrifying and complete as the sexual torture and attempted destruction of the female species here. The violence is a threat to all; young girls and village elders alike are at risk. It is not too strong to call this a femicide, to say that the future of the Congo’s women is in serious jeopardy." -Eve Ensler, V-Day founder and playwright
1 comment:
The deep reason is that the rapists have been circumcised in front of all the family too.
cf. Van der Kolk B. The compulsion to repeat the trauma: reenactment, revictimization, and masochism. Psychiatric clinics of North America 1989; XII (2): 389-411. http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/vanderkolk
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