Rape and sexual violence as weapons

In almost the entire continent of Africa, the resurgence of tensions and the proliferation of armed conflict are visible. This situation raises serious consequences among the communities especially in women, jeopardizing peace and the development of future generations.

After more than 30 years of dictatorship and about 15 years of repetitive armed con-flicts, the DRC remains trapped in a recurring situa-tion of "neither peace" "nor war" with the result of grow-ing insecurity of people with the massive violations of hu-man rights. Each year it is more criminal than the previ-ous year.

Women face a more dramatic dimension of these wars with the perpetrated sexual vio-lence on women of all ages. Rapes and sexual violence are used by the belligerents as a weapon of war and a means of destruction of communi-ties.

These actions leave serious consequences in women, and in some cases death. The rural women are the first victims of armed conflict because of the proximity to the sites of the belligerents.

In assessment of this context of life to the persistence of insecurity caused by the pres-ence of foreign armed groups like the FDLR, the LRA and uncontrolled internal militias, the woman sees herself plunged into a state of vulner-ability exacerbated due to her social position in our respec-tive traditions.

Some of our customs are the basis of violations of the most fundamental rights of the woman who finds herself de-prived of freedom, participa-tion and growth because of her absence at a stage of deci-sion making. This is in accor-dance with the custom of re-ducing women‘s role of a simple guardian of the house-hold. This situation gives a societal imbalance that affects all areas of life.

In DRC women can only fol-low the news if her husband is at home, she has no right to touch the radio and the hus-band locks it in his bed room when he is absent from home.

The media has been a real factor in promoting gender-based violence, by spreading messages that give the sub-mission of women and superi-ority of man. Even within the media, the women are not placed in positions of respon-sibility because of in consid-eration of the problem of lack of competence and capacity as mentioned by the men of the media.