Armed combatants have brutally raped tens of thousands of women, girls and babies in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and many are dying “needlessly” because the country’s health care system is incapable of dealing with the crisis, an international rights group said on Tuesday.
London-based Amnesty International said the huge number of rape cases “represents a human rights and health crisis requiring both an immediate and a long-term response”.
The DRC’s impoverished, transitional government is struggling to cope with the aftermath of a 1998-to-2002 war that divided the Europe-sized nation into lawless rebel fiefdoms.
Fighting between former rebel factions, government loyalists and militiamen has continued sporadically in the east since then, as the government has sought to regain political control over former rebel areas.
In a new report called Mass Rape: Time for Remedies, Amnesty said the government and the international community are not doing enough to treat survivors, who are often unable to access health services to treat them at all.
“Tens of thousands of survivors are today suffering. Many are dying needlessly,” the rights group said. “It is impossible for survivors to access decent medical care.”
Amnesty did not specify when the rapes occurred, but said the victims included men, women, girls and children — even babies.
“Some of the victims have suffered multiple rapes and other forms of sexual violence on two or three separate occasions during the war by different forces. Others have been raped by up to 25 combatants or used for months or years as sex slaves,” Amnesty said.
Many of the rapes were carried out in a brutal fashion. In some of the worst cases, fighters tortured women by pushing bayonets and sharpened sticks into their vaginas.
“While countless women and girls are now in desperate need of treatment and many are traumatised by their ordeal, no organised or comprehensive response has so far been developed to assist them,” Amnesty said.
The government “must assume its responsibility to prevent, punish and eradicate sexual violence, and demonstrate that such behaviour is not tolerated”, the rights group said, adding that international aid will be needed.
“Unless such crucial steps are rapidly taken, tens of thousands of known and anonymous victims will continue to suffer.”
In April, the French aid group Médécins sans Frontières issued a similar report saying tribal fighters and former rebels have raped thousands of women in the eastern DRC. — Sapa-AP
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