Justice, Impunity, & Sexual Violence in Eastern DRC

by emma | Dec 23, 2008 | Africa, Social Justice

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…

– – – –

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.*

– – – –

You can always check out our blog, Congolese Dawn, to read about some of our experiences while were in the DRC.