Every day, 40 women are raped in the Eastern Congo. It’s a well-known reality that has been documented and reported by media, NGOs, international institutions and States. But nothing changes, sexual violence is still widespread. So what more can be done?

The Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the DRC raises an enraged cry of alarm to the international community to denounce the atrocities being committed in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by rebel groups and elements of the DRC armed forces.

Massive displacements, arbitrary assassinations, pillage, torture, kidnapping and a still undetermined number of rapes, but a certainty that WAR, ONCE AGAIN, IS BEING WAGED ON THE BODIES OF WOMEN AND GIRLS.

The conflict now raging weighs heavily on the civilian population. The UN estimates that 250,000 people have been displaced by conflict since the end of August. The conflict, like the massive displacement of civilians, greatly increases the risks of sexual violence committed against women and girls. In fact, they are the first victims of armed conflict. Recently, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed the denunciations of NGOs concerning the existence of rapes in Goma last week.

As activists and workers working with the victims, we have for many years repeatedly denounced the systematic use of sexual violence by all of the armed groups present in the DRC, including the regular forces of the Congolese army.

Resolution 1820 of the Security Council of the United Nations on June 19, 2008, stressed that, used or ordered as an arm of war, sexual violence can considerably exacerbate any armed conflict and is an impediment to re-establishing international peace and security. It states, among other things, that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.

Therefore, we, the women in the Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence, our bodies battered, demand:

• That all parties to the armed conflict immediately and entirely commit themselves to putting an end to all acts of sexual violence against women and girls.
• That all parties to the armed conflict immediately take the measures necessary to protect civilians, especially women and girls, against all forms of sexual violence and that all those responsible be brought to justice or sanctioned by military tribunals.
• That the Congolese State guarantee the security of all its citizens, in particular women and girls, as well as activists and defenders of human rights, in times of war as in times of peace.
• That the Secretary General of the United Nations establish directives and strategies that will enable MONUC, in the respect of its mandate, to better protect civilians, especially women and girls, displaced people, refugees or those trapped in combat zones, against all forms of sexual violence.
• That the Security Council establish an international commission to investigate crimes of sexual violence committed in the Eastern DRC since the beginning of the conflict in order to put an end to the impunity that contributes to the perpetuation of sexual violence.
• That the international community demand that the parties find a lasting and definitive solution to the conflict and that the rebel groups are disarmed.
• That the bodies of the United Nations, the Congolese government, and donor countries, including Canada, restructure the joint initiative against sexual violence in the DRC so as to integrate the experience of local NGOs in the development and implementation of programs to curb the scourge of sexual violence.
• That the Congolese government, the United Nations, in particular the MONUC, the International Criminal Court and the international community implement the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertuk, in her mission report (A/HRC/7/6/Add.4) of February 28, 2008 to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council.
• In this regard, we particularly demand that the International Criminal Court implement the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur to 1) investigate war crimes or crimes against humanity—including sexual violence—committed after July 1, 2002, in the cases in which the Congolese authorities have been unwilling or incapable of investigating or prosecuting, and 2) to take appropriate measures to protect victims and witnesses and their intermediaries who collaborate with the Court.

So that bodies of women cease being a battlefield, so that sexual violence ceases to be an arm of war, so that Congolese, both women and men, may take back their dignity and finally have the hope of living in peace, the Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence invites you to join it by SIGNING THE PETITION HERE.