Surviving Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
2010; Bridgewater State University; Volume: 11; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1539-8706
AutoresSusan A. Bartels, Jennifer Scott, Jennifer Leaning, Denis Mukwege, Robert Lipton, Michael J. VanRooyen,
Tópico(s)Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
ResumoAbstract Since 1996 a deadly conflict has been ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Within this conflict, sexual violence has been inflicted upon women as a strategic weapon of war. Given the challenges of working in this setting, this sexual violence epidemic has not been well studied. The current work is a retrospective chart review of women presenting to Panzi Hospital in 2006 requesting post-sexual violence care. The goals were to describe the demographics of sexual violence survivors and to define the physical and psychosocial consequences of sexual violence in Eastern DRC. A total of 1021 patient medical records were reviewed. The mean age was 36 years with an age range of 3.5 years to 80 years. Approximately 90% of sexual violence survivors were either illiterate or had attended only primary school. There were significant delays between the incidents of sexual violence and presentation to Panzi hospital (mean = 16 months, median = 11 months). Physical consequences reported following sexual violence included pelvic pain (22% of women), lumbar pain (11%), abdominal pain (7%) and pregnancy (6%). Thirty six percent of women reported being concerned about their health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) plus HIV/AIDS were the most commonly singled out health concerns. Six percent of women reported that their husbands had abandoned them after the rape and abandonment was more common after gang rape or if the sexual violence resulted in pregnancy. Treatment programs for survivors of sexual violence must specifically address the economic hardships faced by victims must meet their time-sensitive medical needs and must provide them with psychological care. Keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo, rape, sexual violence Introduction In the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), conflict has displaced 3 million people (1) and claimed an estimated 5.4 million lives (2), more than any conflict since World War II. The conflict began in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and despite international peace agreements in 2003, the violence and insecurity continue in Eastern DRC, where numerous armed militias continue to terrorize local populations and to rob the region of its mineral wealth. Rape, sexual slavery and violent attacks on women have emerged as a prominent modus operandii of many of the militia groups operating in Eastern DRC. The true extent of the sexual violence is not known. However, the International Rescue Committee reportedly assisted over 40,000 Congolese rape survivors between 2003 and 2007 (3) and in the province of South Kivu alone, the UN reported 27,000 sexual assaults for the year 2006. (3) Since rape is often underreported, is likely that these numbers underestimate the true incidence of sexual assault. Human rights organizations have described the extraordinary brutality of sexual violence in DRC, which includes gang rape, instrumentation, kidnapping, forced marriages and genital mutilation. (4-8) Anneke Van Woudenberg, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) specialist for Congo, believes that rape is so widespread that it [rape] has become a defining characteristic of the war in DRC. (9) Rape as a weapon of war has been employed by warring parties and occupying armies since early historical times. (10) Sexual violence is now recognized as a crime against humanity as declared in the Fourth Geneva Convention, (11) the Criminal Tribunals of Yugoslavia (http://www.icty.org/) and Rwanda (http://www.ictr.org/) and the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court. (12) Yet despite the progression of international norms, sexual violence in intrastate conflicts continues. In many modern conflicts, sexual violence has become ever more prevalent and destructive. Mass rape campaigns have been documented in Sierra Leone, (13-18) Rwanda, (19-23) Liberia, (24-26) the Balkans, (27-29) Uganda, (30) Sudan, (31-35) and DRC. (3-8, 36-38). …
Referência(s)