Late last month a new parliamentary report titled ‘Justice, Impunity, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’ was launched in London. A few of my gapper colleagues attended the launch, and Kevin kindly wrote a little Ctrl.Alt.Shift-esque report for us. The facts can seem a little overwhelming at times, yet it will hopefully give us more of a grasp of what is happening in this beautiful country, and give us some mechanisms to engage with the issues…
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If you have hours:
Read the report into ‘Justice, Impunity, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’:
http://www.appggreatlakes.org/images/stories/APPGReports/9%20october%20drc%20mission%20report.pdf
Read DFID’s Country Plan for the Democratic Republic of Congo:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/DRC-countryplan08-10.pdf
If you have minutes:
Read my [Kevin’s] article about the event on Ctrl.Alt.Shift:
http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/#/Magazine/article/425
Read pages 4-8 of the report, which is the Executive Summary and the Summary of Recommendations:
http://www.appggreatlakes.org/images/stories/APPGReports/9%20october%20drc%20mission%20report.pdf
If you have seconds:
Consider these facts and stats:
*Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo who have been raped during war are being imprisoned for aborting their resulting pregnancies, and then being left to starve in overcrowded cells.*
*The budget for each prisoner currently being held by the DRC government is $6 per year. Starvation is common, so naturally so is bribing or breaking your way out of jail*
*Although damage awards for military crimes totalling $1.5 million have been awarded, not a single penny has ever been paid. The entire budget for damage awards is just $5,000.*
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You can always check out our blog, Congolese Dawn, to read about some of our experiences while were in the DRC.
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